update

so i thought i would be better at posting in 2013, but apparently not. a lot of things have been going on, and while i've been parked at my computer almost every day, and the urge to write has been there... i just have not gotten around to it.

perhaps if i moved some of the inanity of my twitter and facebook posts to here, i'd write more often. angazi.

so, let's see, what's been going on:

kid moved to joburg to live with ex. they're working on a relationship, and kid sees why i was constantly putting my foot up his ass as far as his grades: i didn't want him to have to competed with the teeming masses of uneducated people who are looking for work.... which he ended up having to do anyway, because a) he didn't apply for university entry for this year; b) his original game plan for what to do this year was superseded by the war in mali and despite my constant entreaties, refused to make a plan b; and c) while he did get a bachelor pass, it was a low-end bachelor pass. he's supposed to be applying to universities for next year's entry, but he is yet to contact me to tell me, "okay, i need you to pay these application fees" ... so it looks like i will have to put my foot in his ass when i see him close to his birthday.

i'm already going to be *that* parent -- wherever he goes [he has, essentially, only two viable options], i'll be getting him an apartment to live in. this was in part forced upon me, because university housing for first-year students is only for people whose overall matric exam average is above 65%, and his.... was not. but i have already told him that he's on his own afterwards [ie he has to have above 65% during his first two years of university]. if i have to pay after the first year, it will be at considerably less nice digs than he'll have for his first year.

i'll be moving to joburg, part time, in the near future. it's time to go husband-hunting essentially. basically, the kind of guy i want is not to be found in cape town. if i were into fem dudes, i'd be fine. but i'm not. if i were into married closet cases, i'd be fine. but i'm not.

but also there are too many south africans who believe that there is only opportunity in johannesburg -- which is funny because, several of my friends have been personally poached and headhunted from elsewhere in africa [and particularly zimbabwe] for well-paying positions in cape town which they can't get south africans to fill. it's one of the reasons that i tend to roll  my eyes whenever "educated" (note the quotes) south africans say they can't find work in cape town. i tend to think that they must have *really* bombed in the interviews in order to be able to say that. if you walk into an interview with a huge chip on your shoulder and thus giving off a ton of negativity... no, you probably won't get the gig. so why do it? at some point the south african warm blanket of victimization has to end....

...which brings me to another weird and creepy part of the dating pool equation: i'm pretty likely to end up dating someone that i'm old enough to have made, as i just can't deal with dating someone else with apartheid mental baggage. [ex has it like whoa. ugh.] i've explained it to kid, and he's like, "yeah, i see it in [various of his relatives who are around *my* age], and i can see how you really don't have time for that mess." i have an internet stalker who's around my age who doesn't seem to have it, but we won't actually meet until i'm in joburg, but honestly, i'm not putting too much stock in it as yet. sizobona.

but also -- johannesburg just wasn't ready for me when i moved here eight years ago. it has moved into its own for the "educated-free" generation, which now includes the "born-frees" ie those who have been born or educated since mandela came out of prison [comprising those born since 27 april 1994, the date of the first all-race elections]. now joburg is ready for me, despite being a) at altitude and b) so far away from water. at least it will be cheap for me to be here during high season this year -- but honestly, i think i will stay in johannesburg during high season, or maybe even go to durban if for no other reason to avoid all the vaalies that come down here to clog our beaches and marvel at the clean air. besides, i have a house walking distance to a beach... that's paid for *and* puts money in my pocket every month. no need to actually be in it all the time.

i've been getting more and more back into transcripts after essentially stopping work around this time in 2010. i've been mainly subcontracting for a friend of mine, but i need to get more of my own gigs, just from an "i want to work less for more money" standpoint. but the rate from my friend that i get isn't bad for here -- and it's still significantly higher than transcription offices in south africa pay out. on a blah day, i get more than a week's pay for those at the lowest end of the employment spectrum; on a crazy hectic day, i earn more than a month's pay than those at the bottom. since i live for free, i'm not exactly crying in my soup.

i guess the other major thing that's been going on relates to *how* i'll be moving to joburg part-time sooner rather than later [my original plan was to do this at the end of this year, *after* medupi went online so i wouldn't be subjected to power cuts which could interrupt my work]. ex has been staying in what was formerly kid's bedroom. of course, a major reason why i'm permitting this is because kid asked me nicely. plus, i live pretty close to ex's work, unlike his family [ex grew up in cape town; most of his family are here]. it's been interesting having him around. he's still smoking hot, but to the surprise of most people who know how we were when we were together, it hasn't been... "on". most children want their parents to be together, and kid is no exception, and he pretty much called it out when we were on speakerphone. i'm like.. "nah". if i could smash without getting involved... oh yeah, i'd be in it. but since that is a definite impossibility... it's better to leave sleeping dogs lie. he turns 40 tomorrow, and is staying in joburg an extra day to properly party. my spidey sense tells me that it's a good thing that

okay. so that's the update. i'll make some business related to stuff i've seen on the news, facebook, and twitter, over the next few days i guess.

it's been a minute....

it's been a minute since i posted in here.

i've just been so busy with my business and dealing with stupid people that i just haven't had time to blog.

i think i'm going to do a post a day in 2009, but that doesn't start for 9 more days, so....

i'm in lesotho right now. it was torture getting here because i had to take the bus [long story -- it has to do with people not paying me in a timely manner]. 16 hours of blah-ness. but i made it in one piece, even though my cellphone didn't. fortunately it was a R200 vodacom cellphone.

i have to get a new sim card when i get back to cape town, but that shouldn't be too much hassle, so. bah. i think i will just email them now, and deal with it when i get back.

anyway... i've been in seven countries this year. it's been a while since i've been in that many countries in the same calendar year, and i don't think i will swing that in 2009 -- but i probably will in 2010, although i will not have stamps for all of them (i will be in schengenland), but i guess i will just have to mark them on my passport or something.

countries that have stamped my passport in 2008:

united states
united kingdom
south africa
swaziland
zimbabwe
namibia
lesotho

yup, that 48-page passport a few years back was a very good idea.

ooh, lookie, i get to fill in that hole in south africa from the map on two posts back. [that's lesotho]. i suppose i should go to botswana in march, as i now have that country surrounded as well. that said, there's no cheap hotels there -- this one is cheap, by my wallet standards, but it's quite posh in reality. R400 a night -- my spot in namibia was also R400 a night but was nowhere near this nice. and it certainly didn't have unlimited internet access. [i cannot stress how happy i am about that part.]

a few things...

i haven't posted in here for a couple of weeks, because i've been pretty busy with life.

and also, sarah palin is so full of fail that i cannot believe that saturday night live isn't even bothering to *invent* things for tina fey to say; they are just using her own words.

i really despise katie couric, but i was actually feeling sorry for her -- because the look of "i can't believe this heifer might be our next vice president" that was all over her face was just priceless.

---

also, i went to namibia. i had a great time, even though i got robbed. [i'm a big dude. in order to rob me, you need to be either a) more than one person, b) armed, or c) both. there were three of them, and i got dragged for 50 meters by a car, ending up with some serious road rash, so i'm calling that (c). ... but it's cool. i'm okay.]

while i was in namibia, they kicked out mbeki and brought in motlanthe. the nice thing about this is that he will stop wearing street clothes when they interview him on television. south african politicians are about the worst television political guests in the world, showing up on teevee wearing the first thing in their closet [ie almost never a suit] and not even bothering to comb their hair half the time.

sadly, this is a reflection of the south african people at large. ugh.

i have a lot of work to do, but i promise to update on thursday when i have a free moment.