Yes Dear, You're right, I'm sorry.

The most important two rules about marriage are this:


1. In the event of a disagreement or difference of opinion between husband and wife, the wife is ALWAYS right.


2. In the unlikely instance where the wife is in fact wrong and the husband is in fact right, refer to Rule 1.


So, I got married over this weekend. It starts a completely new and exciting adventure, one which I'm both happy and thankful to have my beautiful wife involved in, because lets be quite honest - without her I probably wouldn't have lasted this long. She is, and hopefully will always be (providing she doesn't wise up and leave my ass), my good luck charm. Why she thinks I'm worthy is completely beyond me (and most of my friends and family's) comprehension, but we all agree that I'm the lucky one!


Thanks need to go out to many, many folk, without whom I would've either had a heart attack or started World War 3. 


So special thanks go out to Linelle, my Hill Billy Lynotherapy fellow sufferer and ever willing running partner, the "20 Min's" a day kept me sane and in some sort of stable mental frame of mind to be able to help out where I could with all the wedding prep.


Another big thank you must go out to my best friends Heather and Jem (my best Best Man), without you both I don't think I would've found my way up to Chapman's Peak to make the ceremony, not to mention all the before and after little things Angela and I didn't even know we were supposed to consider. Heather is an amazing wedding co-ordinator / dominatrix, she should have beaten me more and I'm glad she didn't.


To Jenn, we definitely would not be married now without you! The pre-, during- and post-ceremony and reception was amazing, not to mention your incredible wedding cakes. I'm just a little sore I didn't get to eat more wedding cake on my wedding day, however I'm appeased by the three half-cakes we have yet to wolf down between Angela and myself, though I'll be doing more of the wolfing I'm sure - just because I'm greedy...


To our families for putting up with us while we both seemed to be a little direction-less at times, and at all times overstressed, you're all amazing! Thank you so much for all your support.


There are many more to thank and I will get around to you all personally, but in the meantime thank you all for sharing in our incredible day and the start our journey together, we look forward to sharing our lives with you all as we write new chapters in our Journey Book. Pictures and Thank You notes to follow!

What shall we do with the tired bachelor?

Three days of "Single Life" remain, and I can't wait to start the "Married" part. 


All the stress and worry before and on the day is worth it and it's just amazing from then on, this was the news I got from a good friend who got married himself on the 13th. He's currently, as I write this, on a plane to some exotic destination with his "new" wife for a decent honeymoon. Nice!


I've taken to running twenty minutes every morning now, having been motivated (or should I say guilted?) out of bed to join my running partner, and fellow tortureree Linelle, as she herself is also going through the Lynotherapy motions currently and is restricted to 20mins on fun and stress relief at a time too. 


I can tell you it's frustrating having only 20mins to run a day, but I've decided to use the opportunity to cold turkey it into my Vibram Five Fingers and am solely running in them. As such, the 20mins restriction is a bonus as I am able to slowly build up my feet and my form at a rate which won't hurt my physio-fixing or break my body.


I've been given the nod from Benita to be able to increase either my mileage or time by ten percent a week, so pretty soon I'll be back to running 10km...


Climbing and running have been keeping us sane so far, after the excitement and frantic panic of the wedding is over, I think we'll both sleep a little better and decent training can take the place of all the wedding planning.


Just three days left...

So - A week of catch up, both literally and figuratively.

Well, after the last post I did go out and do something active! Not sure on the precise order, but it had something to do with running with Angie out on the Rondebosch Boys High grounds in our Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) to get used to running in them more often (Angie has taken to wearing them as often as she can, even for jaunts to and from the shops which we both seem to be doing more frequently, both the VFF wearing and shopping) as is understandable with the wedding "looming" just two weeks away.

To be honest, and yes I realise I'm digressing somewhat. I'm really looking forward to the wedding for numerous reasons, and although one of them happens to be so I can get it out of the way and Life can go back to some semblance of normalcy, the main reason is this: I'm looking forward to seeing my beautiful, smiling Bride in her lovely dress and surrounded by friends and family.

Okay, digression out of the way. I then went climbing the following day and outdid my pitiful Tuesday attempt at any route and killed a 17, two 18's and two 19's solidly - all top-roped but without breaks and all in a single block. I have my eyes on a 23 Derek completely blew away on Tuesday that involves lots and lots of stretchy, stretchy moves and some creative foot and handhold maneuvering.

If you have time and are interested in the Five Fingers even a little, check out this site, Pete's writing is brilliant and expansively explanative! http://www.runblogger.com/

That's enough blogging for one day, more to follow soon - possibly with a gym session and a "full" week of climbing and running thrown in for fun, if I can commit and stick to it this time.

Cheers for now.

So - new directions...

After much time spent away from the net, and subsequent experiences earned in real-time life, I've decided to change the focus of this oft-neglected blog... Haha, yes, I intend to post now about what I'm actually doing rather than what's happened or what I plan to happen. So, tonight I'm heading off to CityROCK in Obs for a nice climbing session! I'm in desperate need to release some stress and get some exercise.


Till next time, ciao!

So - this blog thing's supposed to be umm, like regular?

It's been a while since I've blogged, duh! Well, I guess between being blocked at work, finding out I actually have a life and that I can run too - somewhere in the midst of it all I've happened to find love thrown in the mix too, I've been really lazy to just sit down and write.

This has to change if I'm to develop any sort of following - this obviously assumes you are reading my blog and have managed to get to this point already without hitting the back or random blog buttons already (for which I'm eternally grateful, well maybe not eternally but I'm sure you get the idea) and like what I write.

I should take the time to tell you a little of my comings and goings over the last month but I won't bore you, suffice to say that in the course of this week I'll post about my running experience, my first half marathon and how incredibly amazing Knysna is... I will, but just not tonight. I leave you with bated breath.

So till my next post, have fun.

Labour of Love...?

The intricacies of Life are starting to wear me down. A depressing note to start on, but bear with me for a little wallowing - it has, after all, been a long and trying year.

This weekend was filled with relationships, what with repairing, breaking, discarding, ignoring, deliberating, forming and just catching up, it was more than a little eye opening...

Having decided that before the year is finished, I wanted to start the new year with less broken and damaged relationships than I had when this year started, I decided to mend a few that I had a huge part in wrecking - and really being the only one at fault for the mess if I have to be honest. Suffice to say, the drama leading up to the particular "repair" I planned ended up being far more stressful and taxing than the "repair" itself. Go figure!

Having done a lot of soul searching over the last few months since my most recent break-up, I must admit that after everything I don't think it would be worth it to try and form another romantic bond with anyone. Well... that isn't entirely true, sure it would be worth it, but I'm not bothered to schlep through all the hassle and teething required for a new attachment - I just don't think I could do it, even though I want it more than anything else in the world.

The revelation that I'm not the only person who feels this way is even more incredible, discovering more than a few friends of mine have also had enough of the drama and hassle that seems to go hand in hand with relationships these days. I do take heart in a newly wed couple I met on Saturday, very much in love and incredibly inspiring to see, and the very thing I long for... Maybe I should just admit defeat in this area of my life and resign myself to the fact that no matter how amazingly perfect a person I may find, I'm far from perfect - and that is, and always will be, the downfall of every serious relationship I form, me.

So I think I'll just stick to finding incredible friendships and leave the romantic stuff to the pros.

Life's little choices

Finally back again, and writing...

It's been a strange few months to say the least, yet another emotional roller coaster fraught with decisions, opportunities, chances and learned wisdom.

What to say - I've had a great couple of months and in the weeks ahead I'll outline just some of what has gone on. Don't fret though, it's all good!

Well, now that I've told you all this, I'm going to have to follow through and not procrastinate, but I'll do that later.

Life's little surprises!

Funny thing happened this weekend, well not just the one thing - but we'll get there in a bit. So, as I was saying before I interrupted myself, a funny thing happened this weekend: I started thinking (shock, horror, is the world coming to an end? And no, it doesn't hurt!) and questioning things I shouldn't be questioning because it just ends up with me running around in circles like a over-excited kid in an amusement park and then spending the next three weeks in a state of morose agitation and self-doubt which is pretty pointless an exercise.

It so happens that the great source of my consternation can be cleared up in a matter of moments, I just happen to be too lazy or too scared to actually address it - the scale of lazy or scared very much depending on my current caffeine level. So I best bite the bullet (the metaphor in this cliche is slightly more meaningful if you can guess the reason for the consternation), pull myself towards myself and really just address the bloody issue.

One of the other things that happened this weekend is I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in about six months - this is unacceptable, six months without meeting up, chatting over the phone or even emailing one another lit a fire under my posterior and I have made huge inroads into catching up with a great deal of my friends - and should you be one of them, my humblest apologies for being such a gormless idiot and not getting on this sooner. On the bright side though I was able to see one of my favourite cousins and have a good natter about quite a few things.

I worked pretty much the whole of yesterday, arriving at work at just before eleven in the morning and chipping away at a current project I'm enjoying emensely - leaving at just after ten in the evening to go home, on the way I managed to run out of petrol, and being that time of the month incidentally, no cash either! I ended up pushing my bike for seven kilometres, thought I best try to start it for good measure after the long push - lo and behold, it starts and I'm able to ride the rest of the way home which is approximately five kilometres further - so not out of petrol... Until I arrive fifty metres away from my security gate, this time completely out of petrol. It gave me a lot of time to think, reflect and mince my thoughts - needless to say, having to get up at four in the morning after arriving at quarter to twelve, and the depressing mood I'd endured during the afternoon and evening didn't leave me with warm cuddly notions to fall asleep to.

I seem to have woken up on the right side of the bed this morning, albeit with a few things still weighing heavily on my mind and made my way to work. Facebook first and a cup of coffee, to find out my ex-fiance is now married. This puts a huge smile on my face, knowing that she is happy now is strangely a great comfort. Just one of Life's little surprises I guess.

It's the weekend again...

Well, another week's shot past at the speed of, well faster than it should have in my humble opinion. I'm certain these time-bandits are laughing like maniacs at our collective mad scurrying around, trying in vain to get through all the week's work and various things-to-do in the remaining time they've not managed to steal yet because we would in fact notice. Hmmm.

I am in awe at the notion of it almost being the middle of the year already, it feels like last month I was sitting up at Beverlac with family and friends and enjoying my Christmas holiday - then I realise I probably will end up repeating what I've just committed to electronic paper again in another six months, which I will still feel passed in the mediocre space of a week.

In other news, the most amazing morning yesterday in Cape Town, a complete example of a year's weather system in the space of a morning, from spring to winter in the space of a few hours and an incredible light show to experience at the same time, I can't think of a more amazing or memorable ride to work, and I count myself lucky to have been able to watch it. The lightning storm, beautiful clouds, thunder showers and sun shining through the clouds took my mind off everything on the way into work and I arrived with a touch of sadness, not being able to continue watching the awesome show. (Oh, and just a note to say I unfortunately didn't take these beautiful pics, I wish I did though, the first one's by Lisa Scott and the others I have no idea.)

In other, completely unrelated news, I'm a grinning Cheshire Cat today, having just received a 15% increase in salary thanks to my hard work and effort - so I say "What bloody recession?" Ha ha ha ha, oh bugger - I'm starting to sound like one of those time-bandits...

And so the weekend starts.

I find it rather funny that all the work deadlines for the quarter always find themselves due in between the myriad of public holidays in and around Easter. If you're an employee, why do you slow down and get less productive, after all there are a lot less days around this month to do what is needed to complete the various things that are required to be finished.

Seriously, and if you're an employer, how do you expect to get any productive work through when, for example, April 2009 has every week being a working day shorter and your employees are acting as though the long weekend's have already started...

Now we all have to slog a little harder to fit what we should do timeously in five days, into the hectic four days allotted - thank you Religion, Government and a complete lack of sense.

Mind you, it's a great time to see one's friends and catch up on the busily frantic last few months, but wait - scratch that because all our friends are away on holiday someplace else... Maybe they're the clever ones.

Moaning aside, it is rather nice to have three and four day long weekends for a whole month, and today it starts with a good afternoon surf, some beer a bit after and time spent with an amazing bunch of people. I'm looking forward to the weekend - lets hope the politics take a small holiday too.