Working for that vacation October 15, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Life.Tags: exercise, gym
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I’ve just come back from the gym. It was horrible. It’s the first time I’ve been in God knows how long. Two things pushed me to it. The first was an email from Discovery telling me that if I didn’t go six times before the end of the month, they’d cancel my membership. The second was the thought of having to buy a new swimsuit for the summer. One that covers all the rolls and blobby bits. I quite like my current swimsuit. And I really think it deserves to be worn more than one season.
So there I was, a little bit of rowing, a little bit of stepping, barely burning any calories. The bicycle kills me. Mentally I mean. It is so boring, so mind-numbing, so half-bodied. Every minute is a schlep. I was much more comfortable on the treadmill where the time seemed to fly.
Even so, I got to the end of my 45 minutes and thought “I hate the frakking gym. Wtf am I thinking?” My face was red, I was sweaty all over, my hair was wet, and I basically looked like a drowned rat. Then I started getting a bit light headed and I guess the endorphins kicked in. They aren’t kidding when they say exercise is like a drug.
I still think gyms suck. But I guess I’ll be back tomorrow.
A productive day September 25, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Admin, Books, Life, Movies.add a comment
Because the M&G went to print on Wednesday evening, we all got Friday off. I was working on Heritage Day (ironically by choice) so today was actually the start to my long weekend. I woke up and went to the place you go to have breakfast alone ie Mugg & Bean on 4th Avenue. Decide to indulge in the guilty pleasure of an full English breakfast (baring the back bacon) and read my book. I’m reading Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. I’m enjoying it but I’m waiting patiently for him to stop harping on about UFO nutters. It seems almost like his personal bugbear, he just can’t get off the damn UFOlogists. I mean, there are a lot more things to debunk than just UFOs.
Anyway, I digress. After that I went to the video shop to get 17 Again. We’ve been trying to get this movie since about July and it just never pans out. Well, I finally have it. Yay me, and a victory for lovers of cheesy movies everywhere!
Then to the pharmacy for a refill on my prescriptions and then I went to the nursery down the road to buy pots and some potting soil. After that home to clean up the horribly messy kitchen and then to pot the paatija ie the lemongrass that we got from Sameer’s dad’s garden.
After this morning I’ve come to the accept the fact that I am a god-awful gardener. Really, you would think that planting a couple of bulbs would not be that hard but it took way too much of my mental energy and the plants still looked lopsided and half dead by the end of it. I’m hoping they will survive. I think Sameer’s dad will totally give up on me if I go back to Cape Town one more time asking for paatija.
After that I came back inside and watched random YouTube videos for way too long. But I found this one which was awesome and should be watched by one and all! (I missed the Emmy’s this year, see.)
Then I went to the movies to watch The Time Traveller’s Wife. This movie only got so-so reviews but I liked the trailer.
You all know about Sameer and chickflicks, so given that he was at work all day, I thought I might as well seize the opportunity. There was a lot about the movie that I liked, but it still wasn’t amazing. Eric Bana was hot (I would so do him, grey hair and all) and yes, I was bawling my eyes out by the end of it but I just have the feeling that there was a lot missing. So, immediately after the credits rolled I went to Exclusive Books and picked up a copy of the book. Geekness! Wonder if this whole “movie thing” was just a ploy to sell more copies of the book? Anyway, now I have something to do while Sameer inevitably monopolizes the Xbox this evening.
Then I did a quick food run at Woolies and came home and cooked chicken curry ala Nafisa. It’s gonna be lekker. Didn’t make any rice since I was planning on having it with sana (saadan?) ie rice cakes but now I’m having second thoughts. Ooh, and I was all Sameer-like and washed all the dishes as I was cooking.
Anyway, now I’m here having a mild asthma attack. That seems so normal these days but it really makes me irritable. Think I will double my doses of Symbicort until all this whatever-it-is clears up.
But all in all, I thought it was a pretty productive day. I got a lot done, I felt upbeat. It was a great day off as far as I’m concerned. And it’s still not over. When Sameer (eventually) get’s home we’ll have dinner, and watch 17 Again, and then he’ll play Xbox and I’ll read my book. Until then I’ll play Geowars. Woot! I think this weekend is shaping up for more goodness.
The Adventures of Team Parker: Return to Cape Town September 21, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Food, Life.Tags: Cape Town, Eid, Ramadaan
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This Eid, one of the craziest I’ve had in years. It was non-stop visiting from the minute Sameer got home from mosque. Sure there were two brief lulls (also known as “lunch” and “dinner) but the rest of it was spent driving from one end of Cape Town to another, punctuated with “Eid Mubarak”, handshakes and kisses, quick tastes of cake, pudding, sana, barfee, pies, eclairs, cashew nuts, chocolate, trifle, tart, fruit khier, sherfurma, tea, cooldrink and punch. I get a stomach ache just thinking about it. Oh, and random aunties asking me when the “little Sameers” are coming. (I don’t know about that but what about the little Faranaazs? Why the discrimination?) There were loads of babies, babies everywhere and very, very sick elderly people. My six o’clock I was suffering from sensory overload. I couldn’t take all the noise and bustle any more. I’m used to an afternoon lull on Eid, a chance to go home and change out of my outfit, take a nap or maybe a shower if it’s hot. Quiet time to recharge before going out again for the afternoon session of greeting but there was none of that this year. I became extremely irritable. Finally reprieve — a visit to see the Nordiens’ new house, a chance to do something quite and normal if only for 15 minutes. Sit on the couch eating potatoe chips and talking about normal things, handshakes and kisses kept to a minimum, no questions about little Sameers or Faranaazes and nobody sick or dying. Then round two.
Our last visit of the day was perhaps the best. We went to the Hendrickses and shared a wicked cream cheese/peanutbutter/orea tart and then initiated a Skype chat with the ODLMs, which was probably not such a good idea because ten minutes in we were suffering a sugar high. I don’t know what being drunk or high is like but after this I think I have a pretty good idea. We laughed so hard that we couldn’t breathe and I can’t even remember why. In the end Sameer (who hadn’t had as much sugar as the rest of us) had to terminate the call because we’d become incoherent.
For people like Sameer and myself — who are generally uncomfortable in social settings — seeing the Hendrickses is always a validating experience. It always reminds me that we’re not abnormal weirdos who don’t fit in anywhere. We’re just different. But there are people who get us, appreciate us and make us laugh. And we make them laugh too.
We eventually got home after eleven and crashed from exhaustion. Longest. Eid. Ever…
Maudlin pre-Monday September 6, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Admin, Life.Tags: daily grind, wanderlust
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So I’m in bed with me netbook, supposed to be organising things, reading my paper and whatwhat. But I’m feeling a bit maudlin and I have a bit of a headache, which I don’t normally have, what’s up with that.
This weekend was not awfully productive. Played some Xbox, watched some TV, saw District 9 (it was alright, dare I say slightly over-hyped?), had some friends over for dinner yesterday so there was a lot of cooking and cleaning involved.
I baked banana bread. It was nummy. We were having that toasted and topped with mascarpone cream and honey ala Melissa’s. Then I checked the label on that triple cream and saw it’s 50% fat wtf?! Bad mascarpone, bad bad!
And then I felt fat. And then I felt sad. And then I had chips! And then I felt fat. And then I felt sad.
Something cyclical about that.
So here we are. Me feeling like my life needs a bit of an overhaul. And feeling somewhat sad and aimless. And like I’ve had just about enough of Joburg. Getting them itchy feet again. Want to pack everything in a duffel bag and catch the next flight out of here, just me and Intrepid Hubby. Of course, on a trainee stipend that ain’t gonna happen.
*sigh*
I’m losing my lus, like seriously. Need a change.
The horror of imported milk August 14, 2009
Posted by faranaaz in Food, Shopping.Tags: carbon footprint, emissions, import, locavore, milk, Pick 'n Pay
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Imagine my horror last week Sunday, when while drinking my coffee and idly reading the back of a carton of long-life milk I realized it was imported from Argentina. My mouth fell open, coffee dribbled down my chin and I let out an appalled “Oh my god!” There was a lot of spluttering and complaining and guilt and trying to figure out what kind of milk we should buy next time we go shopping.
Now look, I’m not a bunny hugger by a long shot. But I believe in trying to live sustainably. I recycle, use CFLs and turn my lights off whenever possible, make a point of eating at least one vegetarian meal a week (it’s baby steps to vegetarianness for me alas), and take short showers. I’m not totally hung up on keeping my carbon footprint small, I’ll admit. I still drive a car though I’d love to give it up, but that’s hard when you live in Joburg. I don’t check my clothing labels for cotton content and I’m not really a locavore. Hell I’ll admit, the coffee I was drinking when I spotted the “Product of Argentina” tag on the offending carton is actually imported from Ethiopia. But I believe it’s all about balance and making simple choices that have a big impact.
The Ethiopian Limu coffee tastes like mana from the heavens. And I’ve been working on the same 250g bag of it for months now, so I don’t feel too awful about it. On the other hand, we chug through at least a litre of milk a week and we are indiscriminant milk drinkers. We would fail dismally at a blind lactose taste test. Switching from one brand to another would be no skin off our backs.
I blame this whole thing on Pick ‘n Pay. Why are they stocking this foreign milk on their shelves anyway? When we shop, we usually just pick the cheapest one off the shelf. That said, we would happily pay a few extra rands for local milk, to support local farmers and evade the massive carbon footprint that must be associated with shipping milk across the Atlantic.
Shame on you Pick ‘n Pay for making me have to think too much about the milk I buy!
Here’s the saddest part. I can’t even remember what the brand of milk was. I’ll have to go home and check the cupboard if you want to know. And then I’ll have to update this blog from work on Monday because SCUM OF THE EARTH TELKOM have still not fixed our phone lines.
[Reams of profanity edited out.]
Irritatingly, we still have about five litres of that Argentinian stuff sitting on our shelf and it will be at least a month before we go shopping again and can pick a local brand.
I still can’t believe we bought imported milk. *shame*
