Back again....

You know you haven't written a blog in a long time when you cant even remember your password! Now I just hope I remember my new password!

Since my return from the states....which now seems like ages ago now....life has been, to put it simply, HECTIC!!

You would think, after attempting to study last year around this time that I would have learnt my lesson that October is generally a busy month....but NOOOOOooooo! I signed up to do a six week course on Intellectual Property....with an exam on the 16th of November. So what happens?
1) I have the BIGGEST schedule change of my life to work through,
2) Everything starts picking up at work during October,
3) I have a novel to plot for,
4) My exam is halfway through my novel writing month (yes, I'm still determined to write another novel)
5) A few health challenges....
...but I'm pushing on and pushing through. I'm way behind where I should be on my modules but I'm hoping this weekend will be a boost in cracking through some of those modules.

But otherwise things are going. Life has been challenging the past few month where I've had to learn a lot but have also been annoyed with life and with God. A friend and I chatted last night and I was mentioning the frustrations and is it wrong to be annoyed with God - angry that things aren't the way you were hoping to be and yet, at the same time wondering if God rolls his eyes at me as I continually fall into the same sin over and over and over again. In conclusion and thinking about our conversations in bed last night, God already knows that I'm going to keep making mistakes but His Grace covers me...and I'm probably letting myself down more than Him as I continue to try and not sin, He knows I'm angry and He knows my struggles....and even though I'm annoyed with most of His plans, He still knows whats best for me. I guess its just that whole thing of trusting and leaning on Him, to know He's looking out for me and that He will give me the strength to overcome things/sin that I keep falling into.

So anyway, this is a short brief blog. I still plan on writing a blog on the snow we had here....however many months ago....since snow is rare in SA it was a big thing. So maybe, when I find time, I'll make that blog movie of Snow!

Until next time....

A photo from a day at the cricket on Saturday....

A city in the state of New York...

When I was young, I had this thing for New York City. As I grew older, it became more and more of a dream to go there. I honestly never thought I’d actually get there, but my friend Jeanne made it happen!

I was tired by the time we headed to NY – but I still enjoyed it and picked up energy from the vibe around NY….and picked up pace walking with Jeanne! J I can only hope she didn’t find me too slow as I paused to take pictures or too quiet as I absorbed this unbelievable reality.  It was something unbelievable to see and to get to walk around – sometimes I would think I was in a dream…like standing at the bottom of the Empire State…wow. Thankfully King Kong didn’t show up while we were there! We walked that place flat… …well close enough and we conquered the subway!! *high five* We had a slight detour the day we arrived, but after that we got the subway down to a tee…except for when they were working on a line and we landed up being detoured away from our destination….but then we caught a yellow taxi! We didn’t see everything but we saw a lot…I think one would need a month to see everything special in NYC.

We did a few walking tours, one day we did Chinatown and Historic Downtown and then another day we did Times Square with Broadway and Greenwich Village. We also did Battery Park, Washington Square Park, Broad Street, Wall Street, 9/11 memorial, Staten Island, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, United Nations, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park……just to name a few. J

Jeanne got us a nice place to stay in Harlem, within a decent walking distance to the subway as well as a bus stop for a bus ride to the airport.

I appreciate Jeanne taking time off work and doing this adventure with me…and thanks to Paul for letting her travel with this odd South African. It was a fantastic time and I’d honestly do it again.

 

Some pictures from NYC...

Delayed planes and more...

My flight from Oregon to North Carolina was not as plain (or in this case, plane) and simple as I was hoping. My flight out of Oregon got delayed…and them some more and we only landed up boarding around 1:20am! This meant I missed my connecting flight out of Houston. The flight to Houston was long and also frustrating as I felt I couldn’t rest or sleep as my mind was running through scenarios….even though before my whole trip I said I’d take things, like this, as they came. We landed in Houston three minutes before my next plane was due to leave….by the time we reached the parking bay, my plane was gone without me.

Stupidity seems to rule when I don’t sleep well as I think one of my most stupidest mistakes on my whole trip was made in Houston airport, where, without thinking, I walked OUT of the security area to find out about my next flight….meaning I had to go through the WHOLE security check AGAIN!! *sigh* One learns from these mistakes though….so after standing in the security line for more than 30 minutes, I made my way to the airtrain to go to a new terminal and hope to catch the standby flight….or I’d have to catch another airtrain and head to another terminal. Tired and frustrated without any communication with the outside world (Houston airport only gave me 40min free wifi), I parked myself and my bags in a corner in hope of getting on this flight….wondering how I was going to let my friend know which flight I was on. I had let her know that I was going to be on one or the other before I ran out of wifi. I chatted with a lady who asked a lot about Africa, and was tempted to ask if I could use her phone to text my friend…but I still wasn’t sure what was happening so it wouldn’t have helped anyway. People boarded and I waited. I was the second last person on that flight! I was so relieved cause I had a window seat and thought I could catch up on some sleep…..only to find I was next to a mother and her under two year old son who, not only took my window seat, but took a liking into me and kept passing me things. He finally fell asleep and I thought ‘Yes, I can snooze’ only to hear the announcement that we were beginning out decent and would be landing in about twenty minutes.

So I arrived, finally, in North Carolina to meet my friend, who was waiting even without knowing which plane I was on, for the first time after all the years of communication, tired and frustrated with life. Jeanne did a good job though at keeping me going, entertained and awake despite all my yawns that could have easily swallowed a person.

The day of the nightmare long day…well maybe I should specify…after that nightmare of planes and airports, it because a nicer day…it was still a long day though. Jeanne and I went to a shop…the first for me, surprisingly, since my time in the states, and I was “lost” at the number of varieties of items available. Jeanne was kind enough to let us chill at her house for the rest of the day…I did my best to stay awake. I also got to meet Paul finally too. The next day was, thankfully, a bit more restful day and Jeanne was kind enough again to let me sleep in (the first time the whole holiday) before driving me around and taking me to see our head office in Cary. It was nice to meet people you work with and have worked with and to see this office you hear about it. We also went to the Wake County animal shelter where I got to look around at dogs before we headed home with Tango. We then plotted our time in New York….

Finally on the plane leaving Portland...around 1:20am

 Tango

 Olivia

 Paul and Jeanne

I know Jeanne doesnt like her picture to be taken...I never actually got to ask Paul if he does...so I drew a picture instead.

(I think my first rough drawing was better than this one)

Beautiful Oregon

So, I've been trying to think of various ways to write about Oregon....but truth is, it was just that amazing (as was the whole trip) that I'm not sure how to write about it.

In Oregon we did something EVERY day with our friends...which was good as it kept the jet lag at bay! Since its hard to write about it, I'll just post some pictures from the various days there!

Day 1 - 28 June: We arrived in Portland around supper time. Our good friends took us to Red Robin for supper where I took this picture for my sister.

Day 2 - 29 June: We headed to the beach for the weekend for our friends family reunion at Yachats. This is one of the places we stopped on our way. 

Day 3 - 30 June: One of the paths we walked on a wet day. Was beautiful scenery. (Sorry its sideways, the origional isnt...)

 Day 4 - 1 July: Standing in the Pacific ocean.

  Day 4 - 1 July: I just loved the greenery!

 Day 5 - 2 July: Heading back home, we stopped at a few more places along the coast.

 Day 6 - 3 July: A personal highlight...WHITE WATER RAFTING! This is my groups raft heading down a rapid.

 Day 7 - 4 July: Getting to experience the 4th of July was also something special. A lovely day ending with fireworks!

 Day 8 - 5 July: Shopping day...so this picture was taken at the outlet store!

 Day 9 - 6 July: Columbia River Gorge!

  Day 9 - 6 July: Mount Hood! Another favourite for me!

 Day 10 - 7 July: Portland Rose Garden

 Day 11 - 8 July: The day  my friends left for various destinations so it was a chilled day at the house after church in the morning.

 Day 12 - 9 July: My last day in Oregon was spent mainly in the state of Washington as we went to go see Mount St Helen's before heading home, packing and getting to the airport for my flight which was delayed until 1:30am!

So this is just some of the beauty I got to see in my time in Oregon. I had a fantastic time and really do appreciate the effort my friends (and their family) made to take us places. I'm also thankful for their families who made me feel very welcome!

San Francisco days, a San Francisco night...

So my time finally came as I headed to the US of A’s

A place I had heard a lot about,

A place I’d never been before.

With a friend by my side, we hit the foreign ground as the plane landed.

We then headed to the city by riding in the train, then we walked it flat by foot,

All along the waterfront, all along the piers, all the way until we came to that famous one.

We stopped at pier 39 just as the sun began to set,

And there before us was Alcatraz and Golden Gate to our left.

We walked, and shopped and ate some food,

And as night settled in, we walked the hilly streets once more.

Come morning we were on the move again, heading back to pier 39 for our bay cruise,

Around the bay, under the bridge and around Alcatraz we went, all incredible views to see.

As the San Francisco city skyline welcomed us back to shore, it was time to fetch our bags,

Catching a Cable car collected our things and went back to where it all began.

Soon we were back in the sky, jetting off to our next adventure….

 Arriving at the waterfront...

 Alcatraz to the left, Golden Gate bridge to the right...sunset middle :)

 Cable Car

 Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

A special blog

This is a special blog to wish my oldest nephew, Andrew, a happy 10th birthday!! I made this just for you!

Happy Birthday Andrew!!

You might want to turn the volume up....I havent quite got the sound right! :)

Something new...

So yeah, I  haven't been inspired to write a blog in a while simply cause I haven't had anything to really blog about....BUT in saying that, in 9 days time I head on an adventure for a few weeks and I'm sure I'll be blogging when I return!! So keep a look out.
Due to this adventure that is about to happen, I've been experimenting with video/movie making and things, so I made a video yesterday of my dog, but my sister says its like a obituary....so maybe I'll skip that video for now so I decided to make one today of the braai I had.
First "published" video so no laughing!!
Enjoy

Anxiety in disguise...

It's a hot summer's night and you're fast asleep in bed. You suddenly wake up...was that a sound or not. You pause and wait...nothing. You roll over to go back to sleep, and then it happens again. That noise! That familiar noise that makes you stomach sink. Your heart is already racing as you turn the light on. You glance around the room and there it is....a stupid parktown prawn!! (PTP)

Your mind races as you come up with an idea of how you're going to capture it without waking the rest of the house up. A tub! You quickly, and quietly, stumble out of bed, out your room to the kitchen and find those empty margarine tubs in the cupboard and then head back to your room, closing the door quietly behind you.

You jump back onto your bed and lean over to find the PTP...but it's no where to be seen. Your heart skips a beat as your ears turn extra sensitive to hear a noise....any noise. Nothing. Heart racing, you know you cant go back to sleep. You hit the curtains in case it's climbing up. Nothing. Taking a deep breath you jump into the middle of the room and get down to look under the bed, dressing table and work table...no sign of it. You sit there, tub in hand waiting.....and then you hear it. A scratching sound coming from behind a box. Your heart starts racing all over again! You wait and wait for what seems like hours and finally it comes crawling out from behind the box. You watch it as it makes it out further, but it's still on the skirting board...and you know you can not capture it there....so out of madness, you try talking it into either walking on the wall or the carpet....preferable before it goes behind the bedside table. Finally, a few inches before it goes behind the bedside table it listens to you and crawls on the carpet. In that split second you POUNCE and put the tub over it before it can jump and get all angry at you. Holding the tub down firmly you hear it jumping underneath. THUMP THUMP THUMP....finally it stops. As your heart begins to slow, you realise the lid is still in the middle of the room....so using your feet you pull it towards you and slowly lift the one end of the tub and slide the lid under until you can close it....big little PTP is stuck inside!

You make your way to the door with tub in hand and place it on the floor with a brick on top of it....no ways it's escaping!! You climb back into bed but still can't sleep as the PTP jumps every now and then or seems to be "scratching" it's way out. It bugs you until morning when my dad come and takes it out and deals with it.

The point of this story is that it reminds me a lot about anxiety. Our mind is like my room, and the PTP is something small and stupid that keeps me awake or anxious. We may think we have the situation under control in a little tub in the corner of our mind....but its still there and it still keeps us awake at night, anxiously. Until we give that small thing over to our Heavenly father to deal with, there isn't much we can do about. So don't be anxious about anything - give it to God instead.

 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6 & 7

Thankful...

Sometime life seems to get away from us, at least for me, and I find it hard to be "happy" because things are not going "right" even though, in some way, things are.
Last week was a rough week. Stiff neck, sore shoulders and killer headaches all week make it a long rough week, specially when it feels like other things are also all against you. I had decided, about a month or two ago to try something: every night list things I'm thankful for.
It took off well, and then, as with some things with me, I forget to do it or it dies....but over the past few weeks I've been determined to thank God for things....even last week, when things were tough, I had lots to be thankful for...
*Coffee and a good chat with a good friend Friday night
*Painkillers (yes, I was extremely thankful to whoever discovered them - specially a 'migraine fix')
*Family who love me
*Walks with a friend in lunch breaks
*A sister who spoils me
*A quietish weekend
*A big holiday in a few months
*Coworkers who can make you laugh
.....Just to name a few.
It will be something I will continue to try and do daily - and honestly, sometimes it surprises me after a BAD day how many GOOD things one can actually mention in thanks....

......GIVE it a try too!

Copyright © J Robus



Some kind of wild....

So a week into 2012...it's been an up and down week with tears and laughter. I'm still on leave for a few more days and think I'm ready to go back and face the hecticness of the month or two ahead. I think its the first time I feel RELAXED... ...the fact that I'm reading my third book in two weeks can vouch for that...since I'm not really a reader.... ...odd I know.

So my sister and I embarked on our annual trip to Krugersdorp to visit our friends at the Lion and Rhino park. I love this annual trip for a few reasons:
a) I get to spend the day with my sister and her kids,
b) I get to practice my manual focus photography on my SLR, and
c) I get to enjoy God's creation.

We had fun this year...then we always do and even got caught in a thunderstorm. I walked past 6 ostriches with my niece on my shoulders so that we would appear bigger than them so they wouldn't attack us... ...it was something I learnt as a kid, if you come across an ostrich, make yourself as big as you can... ...so since my niece and I both needed the bathroom which these 6 ostriches happened to be 'guarding', I went forth with my sister and nephew in the car, probably laughing their heads off, but the ostriches did leave us alone.

So, I thought I'd share some photos for ya'll...

That's how we felt at the end of the day!

I think Zebra's have such character...

One of the ostriches!

I like this one....Male lion coming towards us in the thick grass!!

Our one eared wild dog... ...shame, he ate last. Clearly the loss of an ear shows something about him.

2012

So its 2012....an hour and ten minutes into it for me. I sit here in the dark with dear Jark, who has been my 'venting ear' of late, listening to the fireworks/firecrackers outside. I'm not sure why, but then maybe deep down I do, but this “festive season” hasn't felt very festive to me. Honestly, my attitude towards the end of December and more specifically the New Year has been “so what”? It's another day. Another year where you hope things will happen....blah blah blah....

I sometimes wonder if its just me who always scrutinises the past year and thinks of what a failure I've been...or its been....even though I also know, deep down inside, that that is not necessarily true. Am I just hard on myself that every year that passes I think of things I should have done better or wonder what I did wrong that things didn't go to 'plan'? Do I set to higher standards for myself and then get annoyed when things don't go to 'plan'? Or is it because I feel I hope and then feel prayers don't get answered? Anyway, I don't know the point of this blog...probably cause I'm tired and I'm scrutinising life again....

 It's everything you wanted, it's everything you don't

 It's one door swinging open and one door swinging closed

 Some prayers find an answer

 Some prayers never know

 We're holding on and letting go

This is Jark watching House MD