Archive for February, 2010
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
News this Sunday morning is that the M5 off-ramp at the N2 and N2 up to Vanguard Drive (in both directions) are closed in the vicinity of the Athlone Cooling towers.
The city landmark has apparently become unstable and is busy crumbling.
It’s hard to imagine our towers disappearing from the N2 when it has been there for all my life.
It’s even harder to imagine what will happen to traffic Monday morning if those towers aren’t stabilised today.
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Sunday, February 14th, 2010
I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day, because I hate being told what to do and how to behave, but mostly I loathe being emotianally manipulated by the media and society in general.
Fortunately I haven’t seen or heard too much advertising this year.
Except one advert that I enjoyed on 5fm for an insurance company where a guy was trying to insure his heart.
Last year I wrote that Valentine’s Day should return to its original concept of showing interest in a potential love interest.
My sentiments, cynical as ever are:
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Saturday, February 13th, 2010
When Pieter, played by Ivan Botha, first arrived in the Laan, he was such a angry, volatile and rude character. Yet we saw beautiful blue eyes and glimpses of his lovely smile once in a while.
So we knew it existed!
With time, we heard more about his background story – like his mother dying in a car accident when he was very young and him growing up in an orphanage. Shame, man!
Okay, so there was a good reason for Pieter’s anger, but still…
Then he fell in love with Annelie, giving us a bit more of that dazzling smile, although she (and we) were still intermittently treated to moments of pure rudeness.
Of all the people in the Laan (excluding Annelie of course), Isabelle was the only one to look past the anger and rudeness and saw Pieter’s talent. Most of us, like the other 7de Laan residents, would have written him off. Not Isabelle.
She became more like a big sister figure to him, encouraging him to trust his talent, resulting in him winning the art competition.
The big secret though was that Pieter is Ryno’s half brother and despite what he says, Pieter wants a relationship with his older brother.
Seems like after Pieter’s accident (or was it a suicide attempt), Ryno might be more open to such a relationship as he offered to pay for Pieter’s surgery.
We’ll have to wait and see.
Hopefully Pieter will remain around the Laan for a while still as he is certainly eye-candy for the ladies.
Posted in 7de laan | 12 Comments »
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
This past week has been very traumatic for me.
If one of those e-mail surveys that friends send from time to time had come my way and asked when was the last time I cried, it would have been earlier this week when I found out that I was the target of office gossip.
Wednesday I went on a course – fortunately.
I finished early and visited with my family at my parents house. Fortunately my sister and two nieces were already there when I arrived, so I spent an hour or two playing with the 1 year old and the 3 year old. It helped being around the really important people in my life.
By Thursday morning, I still felt bruised, but a lot better.
Instead of worrying about the gossip, I focussed on the rules I’ve created for myself in the work place:
1. Do not discuss my personal life at work – it’s off-limits to everyone.
2. Do not form part of cliques – I had to disengage from one at the start of this year.
3. What ever anyone in the office says it’s not personal – just work. They don’t really know me due to rule 1.
4. This is my job, not my entire life.
By Friday I had my game face back on. And anyway, I can’t stay angry for long.
I’m working towards my dream job, the rest is just background noise.
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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
So far this year has not gone according to plan.
Gone is my resolve to have a quiet year, just doing my job and staying uninvolved in office politics.
Recently aspects of my job suddenly required me to become more involved and more visible.
Which I can handle. And am excited about.
What I find unbearable is the fact that not only have I become the subject of malicious gossip, it reached my office buddy. And now our friendly banter is all gone.
Today he wanted to know why I have the best computer equipment, never mind the fact that its been that way for the past 7 years, because I spend most of my time on the damn pc.
The implication being that I’m receiving special treatment.
As far as I know I have never been the subject of gossip at work before.
It sucks!
Not because of the gossip itself, but because now I can’t trust anyone in my team when they are nice to my face.
And an office friendship is now ruined because people chose to believe gossip instead of talking to me.
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
