A Quick Catch-Up

So 2011 came barrelling at me with the intent to maim or kill. Seriously, It is already the 25th and already enough things have been happening to fill up at least a chapter or two in my biography. (If you are reading this somewhere far in the future, you are welcome to use this blog as a source to describe the sheer awesomeness that is me).

This year I have decided that I will attempt to do all those things I've been putting off for a while.

The novel
I have set a deadline for the completion of my novel, and have called in the help of the cavalry with the pointy sticks to make sure that I deliver. My manuscript will be completed before or on my birthday. I am about halfway (after I deleted almost 5000 words because I did not like the direction the story was going) and I'm writing like a maniac.

The Masters Degree
Now I may or may not be completely insane, but I have decided to start doing my Masters degree in Criminology this year. I have decided on a topic and had preliminary discussions with the University yesterday. I still have a couple of things that I need to confirm/research before I make my final application, but it seems that I will get the approval I need to carry on.

From there on I have to do the burocratic two-step while jumping through hoops and cutting through about two rolls of red tape. If all goes well, I can start doing my research by mid-next year. I will be blogging about the process, keeping everyone informed about where I stand.

The Writers Blog
Along with the rest of my writer's group we started a writer's blog called Writers in Training, where we share our experiences of the writing process with other aspiring writers. We're in week three already and it is going well.

Crumbling Ruins
In December a couple of us (Dave, Jani, Craig and myself) were having one of our usual random discussions on Twitter when an idea was born. We were going to write a post-apocalyptic novel set in South Africa. It started out as a joke, but 9 chapters in it has turned into something a bit more serious (although still funny).

We each take turns to write a chapter and at the end of each chapter we try to leave the next person in as much doo doo as possible. This has led to a multitude of very interesting situations (including four people in one port-a-potty (as I said: As much doo doo as possible)) and a lot of gleeful "good luck in getting out this" emails which, in my head, is followed by maniacal laughter.

Look out for this, it is going to take the world by storm.

So that's my January 2011 update.

My 2010

This time of the year the internet is full of posts about "The best of" lists etc etc. I thought I'd share a bit about what 2010 meant to me.

This year has been one of the best years of my life. It has been rough, it has been unpredictable and it has been unbelievably fun. 2010 has been my year of friends and fun, of taking risks and following dreams. This year I learnt that it is OK if things change without my consent and that not all change is bad. I learnt that you do not have to meet a person in real life for them to change yours, and that you can have the best friends that you have never met. I have seen the kindness of strangers in support of people they barely know, and I have seen best friends become enemies.

In 2010 I learnt that although a lot of choices in my life might not have been the best, those choices made me the person that I am today. I have learnt that mistakes can never ruin your life unless you let them. I have learnt that a broken heart does heal. I have learnt what the word "love" truly means.

Love is one of those strange concepts that a lot of people throw around without thinking what it means. Think about what you are saying the next time you exclaim: "I love those shoes!". I have learnt that love is not a two way street, it is not a give and take concept. To truly love, is to give without hesitation or restraint. I learnt that love has nothing to do with romance. When I exclaimed loudly and passionately that I do not believe in love I was mistaken. I believe in love, I live the philosophy of love every day.

This year I have met people who have changed my life forever. Some of them I only spoke to once or twice, some of them have become part of my closest friends. This year I have laughed and cried. I saw two of my best friends get married, two people who go together like curry and rice. I got to share in their joy because seeing them so happy made me happy. I had the opportunity to tell them how much they mean to me.

This year I got to follow my dream. I am writing a novel, and although the process is a lot harder than I thought it would be (and I was not under the impression that it would be a walk in the park), I have found a way to express myself. I also got to meet my writing circle, people who through their support and encouragement carried me through the more difficult times behind the keyboard.

2010 was my year of Twitter (of course I was going to mention this). Through Twitter I discovered a whole new world filled with people who were a) not idiots and b) sincere (for the most part). I realised that people who should be strangers to me, became a part of my life. When I miss their morning greetings, or our daily random conversations about the most arbitrary stuff I feel as if a part of my routine has been skipped, as if I'm wearing only one sock.

These people became close friends, and one day I want to travel to the US, Europe and the UK to meet some of them. Hell, my first trip for 2011 is to the other side of my country to meet some of them.

This year I also learnt to say thank you, and I want to say thank you again. To each and every person who inspired me, helped me and supported me. Thank you to those who put up with my moods and tantrums, when the nicotine, caffeine and anti depressants just did not help any more. Thank you for believing in me, encouraging me and sometimes threatening me. Thank you, for being my friends.

2011 is going to be my year again, better yet: 2011 is going to be my dream year!

And yes, I am going to leave you with my "Best of" list, because I can.

Best book of 2010: The Passage by Justin Cronin
Best debut of 2010: Spellwright by Blake Charlton
Best Audio Book of 2010: I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Most anticipated book of 2010: Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Best Film of 2010: Inception
Most anticipated Film of 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Best Musical Score in a film: Inception
Best Graphics and effects: Alice in Wonderland
Favourite Animation of 2010: How to Train Your Dragon

Favourite Game of 2010: Dead Rising 2
Most anticipated game of 2010: Final Fantasy XIII

Favourite News event of 2010: "Don't touch me on my studio"
Spine tingling moment of 2010: SA's first goal in the 2010 Fifa World Cup when a whole country cheered at the same time

I hope you all have a happy New Year, may 2011 bring you only pleasure and opportunity!

A slow week and a writing epiphany

You know those slow weeks where life just continues on and nothing really interesting happens? Well, I had a couple of those in a row. So with nothing interesting happening, I decided not to bore you to tears with the inane details of my non-existent life.

Then I went on leave, and I thought: "Maybe I'll blog." BAd idea, I sat staring at th screen trying to find inspiration for a blog post and gave up. Now that I'm back from leave, I actually have stuff to say. Well, not really, but I thought I'd update you guys in anycase.

The writing wasn't going too well. I wrote a total of 3000 words for the first part of September, which is way too little in my opinion. Then I eralised what I was doing wrong, and my approach to writing changed.

I had this epiphany on Sunday: I was approaching my novel the wrong way, I had no clear direction, just a vague idea of beginning, middle and end. The process in between was pretty much an exercise in discovery writing. But this epiphany wasn't entirely life changing, not yet in any way.

On Monday I started plotting the "in between" bits, and I realised that I was glad that I waited this long to do it. Most of my plot ideas came from thoughts I had while "discovering" my novel in the first 25k words of the novel, they only had to be refined. I plotted up to the halfway mark, and the plotting made me so excited that I stopped right there and started writing again.

And this is where I realised how I wrote. You see, since this is my first novel I had no idea how I would approach writing. I've always been the "set-a-goal-and-get-there-by-any-means-possible" kind of guy, so I jumped in and started writing.

So when the next book comes around I will do the same. I will start off and write the story to get familiar with the characters and the world. As their stories take shape in my head, I will sit down and plot the rest of the novel out.

I cannot garuantee that this will work for anyone other than myself, and I cannot garuantee that my characters won't surprise me along the way, but this is my plan and I'm sticking to it.

Happy writing,

Lood

I think I have an addiction

Actually, I don't think I have an addiction, I know I have one. And I'm not talking about my love for coffee or my need for cigarettes. Nope. I have a book collecting addiction, and it is getting out of hand.

My bookshelves are groaning under the weight of books, and I keep on adding to the shelves. Usually two to three books a week and sometimes more. I cannot resist surrounding myself with that fresh paper smell that you get from opening a book for the first time, or the myriad of colours from the book jackets. A bookstore has a certain appeal, a siren call. It lures you in and drains your pocket, leaving you with just enough money left over for the month to eat a slice of bread every two days.

But I love it. I live with books, for books. If I had the space to dedicate a room to my books, I would. Yes, I'm nuts. But come on people - It's books!

Look at that - It's summer. And for that you get a portable cardboard pug

And so my favourite half of the year comes to an end. I adore Autumn and I love Winter, I find the introspective qualities of these seasons resonate the best with my personality. So I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to my two favourite seasons.

Autumn, to me, is the quintessential time for friends. (The fact that my birthday is in this season has absolutely nothing to do with it) The weather is still warm enough that you could enjoy a braai with pals outside, where the trees are turning spectacular shades of my favourite colours. But should you choose to stay indoors, there's nothing like inviting a couple of friends over, telling them to bring lots of wine and serving a supper fit for a king. For this, Autumn, I adore you.

Winter is a time of introspection, a time where a man can sit back and take stock of his life. You get to reflect on where you are at the moment, and where you want to be and judge that according to where you are heading. Winter is the time for snuggling under blankets, enjoying a good book, or movie with a glass of red wine. Bliss.

To herald in the Spring, I was greeted on Springday (1 September in our lovely hemisphere) by a message on Twitter saying: "Happy Springday. There are only 116 more shopping days till Christmas." - it killed my mood instantly, but more on my hate for Christmas at a later date.

Then a rep came in and showed us this, the perfect faux-pretentious accessory for this summer:

Yup, it is a cardboard pug that you can assemble and carry around with you, complete with the bulging eyes and the face that suggests that Skippy did not see the glass door was closed.

I mean really! WTF?

Lethologica

My brain is going to mush. I blame a stressful combination of work, writing and personal issues for that. You see, I managed to start suffering from lethologica, but not in any clinical sense, and I don't think it's necessary to go see a specialist but it is impacting negatively on my writing.

You see, when a person wants to write a sentence, they usually have an idea of what they want to say, so they sit down and write it down using the words and phrases that best articulate their thoughts at that time. I thought it might also be because English isn't my first language. I find myself knowing what I want to say in Afrikaans, but having to write it in English and somehow those thoughts don't always translate well. But it is part of the writer's bane, I suppose.

At the moment my head is swimming with story, and every piece of the story demands my immediate, undivided attention. The words want to break out and tell the story to the point that my fingers struggle to keep up with my brain. I think if it was up to my enthusiasm, this novel would be finished this week.

I have spoken to a couple of fellow writers, and read the same thing on a couple of author blogs and I must say that I've had a similar experience. The first 10 000 words were the hardest. It took me four months to hit 10k, and only two weeks to write the next 3000. I would like to describe this as the "honeymoon" period in my writing. The story is well on its way and the only thing standing in its way is the fact that it has to be channelled through me, an ordinary human being that has to try and keep one foot in the real world - if only so that I have food to eat.

I have another theory as to why there seems to be periods in time that writing just flows. There are two other writers in my writing circle, The Writing Circle That Has Yet To Be Named (although Dave calls us his fellow WITs - apparently that stands for Writers In Training) and between the thee of us we go through the same kind of writing spurts/slumps. A couple of weeks ago real life decided to get in the way of me writing and for the month of July I wrote a total of 1500 words. Disgusting, I know. But it seemed to me, and they're free to correct me if I'm wrong, that my fellow WITs had a similar issue - The words were just not getting out.

I blame the Universe, or thank it depending on what time of day you ask me. Maybe nature provides these slumps for our weary brains to rest a while, to gain perspective on our stories and give the seeds time to germinate, so to speak. It was just strange that it happened for three people roughly at the same time.

Isn't nature just wonderful?

Book to Film adaptations - My love/hate relationship

I like my job, I really do, but sometimes it frustrates me. You see, before I was in this position, I was completely oblivious to some of the sacrilege going on out there. But now that I'm in a position where I have to be up to date on these kinds of things, it has really hit me: A great film adaptation is a rarity.

Now don't get me wrong. I understand the issue of adapting a novel into a film, there is just no way you will be able to fit everything into a two hour movie. Add to that the fact that actors, directors and the other creative people in the have their own interpretations of the material and you can very well end up with a film that does not even remotely resemble your favourite novel.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see that James Rollins' Sigma series has been optioned for film. And this is not the normal we're-going-to-mutilate-your-book-and-call-it-an-adaptation film option. No, Dino de Laurentiis, the producer wants a completely new story, which, it appears James will have a hand in writing.

This excites me to no end, and not because I am a fan. I have never read a James Rollins book, but fans of the series assure me it is brilliant (hence the fact that they're fans). It excites me because the story would be an expansion on the series, not an adaptation. Chances of people walking out of the cinema going: "The book was better." has been severely reduced.

Sure, some people just nit-pick. I recently heard someone walked out of Kick-Ass because the main character's hair colour changed. But there are some valid issues as well. Take My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, for instance. To make the movie "more acceptable" for the Hollywood market, they changed the ending completely, losing most of the punch of the book. That, to me, is completely unacceptable.

Books that get film options are usually picked because some big wig number cruncher spoke to some creative person and realised that creatively the movie is a viable cash cow with enough fans to make it worth making the film in the first place. But they tend to forget that people became fans of a book for a reason: the books characters and storyline(s) appealed to them. Changing that is like taking someone's idea of a perfect partner, changing the personality and looks and telling the person that this is the love of their life. Seriously, did you think we wouldn't notice?

Books also appeal to people for other reasons. When I read a book, the story comes alive in my imagination. I see the characters, experience their world and share their trials and tribulations. These characters become my friends. When they get transported to screen, it loses the magic. I cannot read a Harry Potter novel without seeing Emma Watson. I cannot read Lord of the Rings without Elijah Wood's sitting in Frodo's place. I hate the movies for this.

On the other hand, I love them. I get to see other people's interpretation of ideas, and sometimes they enrich the story for me. Let's take Harry Potter for example (again). When I read the part about Dumbledore dying for the first time, I was in shock for about a page and a half. It never occurred to me the pain and anguish that the characters had to go through. Everytime I read that part, it shocked me again. When I finally saw the film, I realised that my shock as a reader was not half as bad as the pain that the characters had to go through. My subsequent reading changed my perspective of the scene, and it has become one of my favourites in the series.

I wanted to put a nice cartoon here that I saw a couple of years ago, but I was unable to find it. So I'll just describe it to you.

An old woman and her husband is walking out of a cinema complex, the banner showing that they have just watched The Passion of the Christ. The old woman has her Bible clasped firmly under her arm as she loudly proclaims: "The Books was better!"

I thought it would have been appropriate. If anyone can find that cartoon, mail it to me and I'll post it here.

There we go, some random musings to start this Tuesday.

Keep it real...

My writing life

It seems to be the thing to do these days, blogging about writing. At least for me. Since I started taking this writing "career" of mine seriously, I am learning a lot from the other people. So I thought I'd chronicle my experiences on this blog, amongst all the other things I blog about.

Writing time
In the last few weeks, I've gained truckloads of respect for some of my fellow writers. I'm talking about the brave guys and gals holding down a day job, running a family and keeping up with the Joneses inbetween producing staggeringly beautiful and creative works of fiction (and non-fiction).

As many people here in South Africa know, full time writing as a South African is limited to a privileged few. Many SA authors have to have a day job, or at least do freelance work in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. Include in this those pesky social responsibilities and you're not left with much time to do what you love.

Most of us, I assume, try to do the next best thing. We declare "me-time" or "writing-time" where we switch off the internet, hide our cellphones and lock ourselves in a room to write write write. We also steal a few moments here and there. A quick email to oneself with a great line you thought of while stuck in a meeting, planning characters while stuck in Joburg traffic or making a quick note in one of the myriad of notebooks secreted in and around your daily living space.

Thanks to these moments, I have a wonderfully developed world for my Fantasy novel, with many fine details ironed out, and although my word count hasn't even broken 10 000 (officially) I have a good idea where this story is going.

Now if only I could find a way to make it unnecessary for me to sleep, and all will be well in this world.

Gone for 3 weeks and all of this happened!

It has been hectic. My birthday was the day after the previous blog post and inbetween the various celebrations (took me 3 weeks), the Soccer World Cup 2010, work and writing I did not have time to blog. But I am back.

A quick update on the writing: It's going really well. I'm making progress in leaps and bounds. I finished a chapter today and will be putting the finishing touches on another chapter tonight.

I also made time to read a book in the last few weeks. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. If you haven't read my review, read it here. And while you're there, buy a copy, it is well worth the read.

At first when I started to read Zoo City, I had my misgivings. I mean, I loved Moxyland. It was a fun  read and captured my attention from start to finish. How does an author go about to top that? Well, Lauren Beukes did. Zoo City is more lyrical than Moxyland, it has a more poetic feel to it. The author has a way with words that is hard to describe. It went stop-start at first and I was slightly jarred by the use of the first person narrative, but that lasted all of 3 pages and I could not care about moaning about it anymore. But who cares? Zoo City is a great book and everyone should read it. 'strues Bob!

I am currently busy with Justin Cronin's The Passage and I am properly blown away. The book is friggin amazing. It's also friggin huge! Just shy of 800 pages this horror thriller is sure to set the tone for genre fiction for quite a while to come. (Authors, please just do not immitate the LENGTH of the book. I would like to finish more books quicker, and not break my back luggin them around) But I digress.

Expect an update as soon as I'm done with it (which might take a while since it is, if I haven't mentioned it, almost 800 friggin pages long!). If you cannot wait, get more info here, and here.

On a semi related note: I'm going to the Joburg launch for Zoo City on Thursday evening. It's at LoveBooks. More info can be found here. If you're going, drop me a mail and we can catch up there. Which reminds me, I still have no animal for the launch party!

Then on another unrelated note: Since Bafana Bafana's dismal performance against Uruguay last week wednesday, only one person has tried to sell me some WC 2010 memorabelia. I count that as a win! (Just thought I'd let you know!)

I also watched a couple of DVDs in the last few weeks. but I'll update the world on those later.

Filing

So I finally got round to doing my filing this weekend. It was horrible. Do you have any idea how much filing accumulate in the space of three years? Neither did I.
So my filing looked something like this:

This image I stole from the vastness of the internet, but it gives you the idea of what my system looked like.

This weekend managed to convince me that filing is the eternal spawn of Evil, and that in the right environment, Filing function like bacteria. Keep it the right temperature and it multiplies like there is no tomorrow. Either that, or some malicious fairy multiplied the documents.

But I learnt a lot about myself while doing the filing. I could trace the last three years of my life, what I did, where I did it. I learnt that somehow, as a student, I survived on R2500 a month on what appears to be a steady diet of cigarettes and red wine (I cannot remember this, which probably means that it is true).

I learnt that I could get round for a good week on just one tank of petrol, now I'm lucky if I make it 3 days. I learnt that a packet of smokes was R20, and I could afford to smoke a box+ a day. Now I cannot afford it, and I wake up coughing if I try.

I found till slips indicating that I frequently bought pies and that I apparently enjoyed them. (Must be during the red wine phase, I cannot remember this either) I also realised that wine became expensive when I wasn't looking.

The there are the gaps in my filing. Somewhere along the way, I lost 6 months. No statements, slips, payslips or any other correspondence. If someone finds my lost months, send them back to me!

That would teach me to keep my filing up to date! But then again, WHY?!

My fingers are starting to annoy me...

So I seem to have some bad habits, habits that turn out to be hard to break. Sure there are the regular ones that people often gripe about: smoking, being overly fond of red wine, insisting that I do not need a filing system etc etc.

My newest bad habit pisses me off though. Somehow the middle finger on my left hand has become overzealous. No, it's not that, I generally flip people off with my right hand. And no, it's not that either! Get your minds out of the gutter for once.

No, I use my overzealous middle finger to type the letter "e" on the keyboard. Now what could be wrong wit that, you ask. Well, stupid finger insists on being quicker than the others and this results in words being spelled with the "e" (and sometimes other letters) in completely the wrong order, making me look like an illiterate buffoon in the process.

And that's not the worst of it. This nasty habit has been rubbing off on other fingers, and now they think it's fine to go goofing off whenever they want. Left ring finger, for instance, insists on double typing letters for the fun of it. So not only do you get random e's, you also have double a's, q's, s's and more floating around in a sentence. As a copywriter/aspiring writer this poses a bit of a problem (I just had to correct poses, for instance - imagine where that went!). I have to triple proof read my stuff before I can actually start proofreading my stuff. Soul deadening I tell you!

I was tempted to type this whole blogpost without fixing the mistakes just to make a point, but you see, I could not get it over my heart.

Now that all the world has been notified of this random piece of useless information about my life, feel free to continue with yours.

Pissed off

It is time to talk about one of my biggest pet peeves of all time. Conversations in public toilets. Where in this great big universe does it state that you have to talk to me while I’m pissing? Seriously. There are public toilets all over the place for one reason, and one reason only: To urinate and defecate in peace.

If I want to have a conversation with you, I’ll phone you, or go to your office. I’ll invite you over for coffee. I’m not going to invite you for a piss. In a public toilet I do not care how you are doing? I don’t care “what’s up?” I definitely do not want to discuss the latest office gossip, or even work.

As if it is not uncomfortable enough that you have to watch me while I’m trying to piss, do not dare speak at me. Now, I am painfully aware that this process happens differently for the fairer sex. Apparently, you are able to gossip and piss at the same time. Well in my case, the age old adage is true: God gave men a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time.

I used to have a deep seated fear of public toilets. They absolutely freaked me out. Till about 5 years ago, I refused to use them. I still avoid the dodgy ones as much as possible. Funnily enough, I had absolutely no qualms about using them for other activities, especially during my high school years, when the toilets were the place where I got my hourly nicotine fix. But then again, in high school no one uses the toilets for their intended purpose.

So you might wonder where this random rant came from, and fear not, I will tell you. So I was in the loo at work when Colleague walked in. Now Colleague works on the other side of the building, a place that I rarely go to, except when I go steal sweets from a friends office (more on that later). Of the three urinals, the two on the left were open. So, because Murphy is duly aware of my intense hatred for discussions around the pisser, Colleague would choose the one next to me and proceed to ask me how my day was. Being the poster child for friendliness, I answered him curtly in an attempt to get him placated and have him shut up. But, alas! No such luck. He proceeded to start talking about work, and every so often looking at me, dangerously ruining his posture and with that, his aim.

So I finish up, and turn to the washing basins, and would mister go and turn around as well, completely forgetting what he was busy with. Luckily for me, I was out of the splash zone, but still. It was close! None of this would have happened if Mister Colleague just kept his trap shut and pissed like a normal person.

So this post was born out of almost being pissed on. Universe, take note: The next person to speak to me while I attempt to alleviate the pressure in my bladder, will be pissing through a tube the next time he has to. Be warned.

Why are we allowed to say what we want?

Right, now I'll start treading on toes. Freedom of speech is a ridiculous concept. The whole idea that anyone should be allowed to say whatever they want is absolutely ridiculous. Take that idiot stepfather of Cezanne "Barbie" Visser. He compared adv Barbie to Nelson Mandela. Someone should slap prof Johan Lemmer. 


Yup. you read it correctly. He compared a sex offender to one of the greatest men to ever walk the face of this planet. Now let's give a couple of truths. Mandela was a terrorist. He was arrested for it and spent 27 years in jail. But Mandela is also a freedom fighter. A man that furiously campaigns for equality, freedom and respect. He was labelled a terrorist because his views did not coincide with that of the ruling class. The system did not fail him. To be precise, the system worked perfectly in that time. Now you can argue that the system did fail him after he became president. Even though he tried his best there was just no way that the utopian SA that he visualised was going to happen in just a couple of years.


Adv Barbie on the other hand, diddled a few kiddies, got involved with a despicable specimen of the human race, she was caught and she stood trial, she was found guilty and now she's going to prison. The system did not fail her either. If you argue that she was in an abusive relationship and the system did not help her, well pooy for her. How was the system to know she had problems? Did she go out looking for help? Did she go the police?


So, Johan Lemmer, I don't know where you bought your title, but seriously. Give it back. This brings me back to the topic of freedom of speech. Should we be allowed to say whatever we want, as long as it does not incite hatred or violence towards others? Shouldn't we implement a "License to Speak"? Have it function like a drivers license, if you fuck up, you pay a fine. If you fuck up too often, your license gets revoked and you can suffer in silence. 


This will save us from idiots like professor Johan Lemmer and Julius Malema. We will also get rid of a couple of TV presenters who were inappropriately touched on their studios, as well as the people who touched them. So I say. Let us go out there into the wide world spreading the message of licensed speech. We'll be agents. Bloody agents of change and reason.


We should start a petition. Or march. Or picket outside parliament.

The Fun Theory

The Fun Theory is most probably one of the cleverest initiatives I've come across in a while. I was plotting along on Facebook and saw a link my cousin posted a couple of days back. It was a link to a Youtube video about the “Fun Theory”. Intrigued I clicked on it. I loved it! The whole concept was amazing. But you have to see it for yourself. Below is three of the “Fun Theory” initiatives, as displayed on the website.








Why would this intrigue me, I wonder? I do believe in conservation, to an extent, but I’m not fanatical about it. I will most certainly not chain myself to a tree to stop someone from chopping it down. I don’t give money to animal shelters, poor people, beggars or AIDS orphans. Then why did this grab my attention?

I think it’s the behaviour modification bit. Does this prove that we can “force” people to do the morally correct thing, like throwing trash in a bin, just by making it fun? Can we stop crime this way? If we fine people for breaking the law, can we not pay them for not breaking it? Some insurance companies here in SA, refunds you a part of your total instalments if you have been claim free for a period of time, rewarding you because someone else did not break the law. (Or, because you actually took the time to learn how to reverse without demolishing anything…)

Can we change our own behaviour by making it fun for ourselves? Feeling fat? Would you rather gym, or dance? Want to learn to play a musical instrument? Would you rather take lessons from a strange old lady, or pester a friend into divulging some secrets? The list is endless. By implementing the “Fun Theory” in our own lives, we might be able to attain some form of fleeting happiness.


Keep it real...

Hedonism vs Masochism

Striving to perfection has long been a hobby of mine, to the extent that I actually made myself sick with expectations. My other problem was that I denied myself meaning and happiness through my search for meaning and happiness.

Take for example the idea that wealth and success leads to happiness. For many a year I've been under that same impression. In my striving to a wealthy and successful life, I've missed out on small pleasures along the way.

Another idea was that to be completely happy, one needs to be in a healthy fulfilling relationship. But many people, myself included, suffered from this delusion. The contrary is however true for some of us (especially those who doggedly seek perfection), true happiness is when you are in a place where you can control the level of perfection.

This leads me to the African concept of Ubuntu. Ubuntu as a life philosophy, can be roughly explained as "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu" or "people are people through other people". Its wrong. There is no such an idea that any person can consciously affect your human-ness. A more apt description of this would rather be "people are people through their perception of other people".

The concept of Ubuntu also has reflections in Western philosophy. Martin Buber, in his writings on the "I-Thou Relationship". He said : "Let no attempt be made to sap the strength from the meaning of the relation: relation is mutual." This again emphasizes that without our perception of the influence of others their attempt at defining a person's humanness is useless.

This, in short, means that through their perceptions of other people (and to an extent their world around them) people define their humanness (and by extent, their happiness). This would essentially explain a lot of the social and psychological phenomena that a lot of people try to define. Take for instance the idea of battered-wife-syndrome. Even though the woman in question is severely maltreated, she still experiences a level of happiness to the extent that she loves her partner. This is because she experiences her partner as a loving caring person, and perceives their general interaction as pleasurable.

My point, and I do have one, is that a lot of people mistake masochism for a type of hedonism. And don't get me wrong, there are people out there who thrive on masochism and are very happy for it. At the end of the day there are just too many people who do not truly know themselves, and by extent do not know what would make them happy. These people strive towards socially created goals in a futile attempt at obtaining happiness, and they end up miserable and sad. And they've done it to themselves.

WISIWYG - What I See Is What You Get

Good morning fellow cave dwellers and welcome to my blog. For those of you with keen eyes, and a moderate amount of brainpower, you'll see that this blog is new, like really new, like I created it this morning new.

The idea for the blog basically evolved out of my need to give people my opinion, the fact that a good friend launched his new blog which got me excited to start blogging myself, since it looked like a lot of fun as well as one of those extremely inspirational moments that us Gemini's sometimes get.

The idea for the name (for the blog, not my name, which I will probably cover in a later post) refers to:
a) The fact that I'm blogging from my room, which I call my cave (It actually resembles a nest sometimes), and
b) My understanding of Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Now for those of you who have no idea what the Cave allegory refers to, read the wiki article and then come back. And don't fret, you'll only have to read the opening paragraph to understand where I'm coming from.

So this blog is basically my interpretation of the shadows against the wall. I will in no way or form claim to be a philosopher (unless I'm drunk, or stoned), since I do actually know a couple of philosophers and respect their great, and sometimes hard to follow, theories and trains of thought. But back to my cave wall. If our perception of reality is affected by the relative position of the fire behind our backs, then this blog is my interpretation of the shadows against the wall. (Hence the title of the post. See? There is method to the madnesss that is me!)

I will be covering such a range of topics in this blog, it would be hard to list them all. My main focus will be on whatever is happening in my life at the moment, so be sure to hear a lot from the entertainment media retail environment (I work in the books, games, movies and music retail industry) with the odd book and movie review (because I can), musings on politics and religion (because I find the discussion surrounding that enlightning), bitching and moaning about idiots (I really, really dislike stupid people) and general life in sunny South Africa.

Just a general warning: I'm like using profanities, that's just me, so skip over them if you don't like reading them. And don't flame me about them, I'll just delete your flame, or better yet, direct the profanities at you.

Another warning (and you might have noticed this), I write from a first person, train of thought perspective. And believe me, I derail quickly. So I apologise for some of the posts beforehand, they might make little sense! Ooh look! Roadkill!

I won't make any promises as to the regularity of my posts, since I cannot create my own inspiration. I'll just wait for the world to happen, and then comment on it.

Let me take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to Dave (remember the blog I mentioned earlier? That's his...)! I hope you have a good one!

Well, that's all from me for now,

Be good, be awesome,