31.1.08

Death and the Stages of Grief

A few days ago the guard to my apartment complex came up to me. He had been gone a few days. Nothing huge. I noticed but it didn't really effect me that much. Maybe my greetings were a little shortened with the "new guy." He came up to apologize for his absence.
"Are you sick, malaria?"
"Ah, no it is my child."
"Oh, your child is still suffering from the sickness?"
"She passed away."
I proceed to do the thing that I do best, stare at my feet and mumble. He then told me how sorry he was to have missed the past few days. Whoa. Priorities man. I said I was sorry several times because I don't think he knows the word "condolences." It's a long complicated english word that basically means "I feel sorry."
It's amazing how death is treated here. Someone dies, a child or parent, and after a few days of mourning and wailing, everything is fine. It's just a remark in a conversation. Something one skims over when they talk about their week.
"Oh, things have been just okay. I ate nshima. I bathed my dog. My child died. I ran out of talk time. Zambia tied Egypt yesterday. You know, bit by bit."
I wonder how I will react to death when it hits someone I love. My grandmother died while I was in college. That was sad, but I think that it was sadder to me to realize that my family only really gets together during funerals. My mother got married and I didn't attend it. How absolutely ridiculous and rude is that? I am an asshole. When someone close to me dies, and my entire family shows up, how will I react? Will I be stoic? Will I cry? Will I tell jokes that border on inappropriate? Probably all the above. I will give a stoic cry that seems controlled yet hints at my sensitivity. I will then ruin said sensitivity by saying something along the lines, "the bitch had it coming...get it? She was old!" I am quite pathetic but at least I understand my own psyche.

22.1.08

If I Was Affluent

Seems like in the movies/books all super rich people have a quirk. Something that makes them eccentric. Miss Humphrey in the James Harriot series is obsessed with Tricky-woo, her prize dog. Howard Hughes was famous for being filthy and pooping in jars. If I had a lot of money what would I do? I would have an entire year where I wore a new pair of socks for every day. That's 365 socks, brand new. I would wear a pair once and then put it in a box. The next day I would put on another new pair. At the end of the year I would then have 365 pairs of socks that had only been worn once. Not too bad.
Socks are the only piece of clothing that gets remarkably worse every time you were them. Matty G said today that socks are one of the few articles of clothing he cannot wear for more than a few days. Underwear? I've gone a week. Socks? That just gross. T-shirts (if you wash them) feel better the more you wear them. That's why thrift store shirts feel so awesome. They've been used. If I was an eccentric rich guy I would have a new pair of socks for every day.

21.1.08

Taxi Terror

I was at the Emory kids place in Emmasdale. It was a fun time filled with Butternut Squash Pasta and Wine.
It came time to leave, so we all piled into a taxi, a very stripped-down vehicle. We eventually dropped everyone off but eventually it was just I. Sitting in the back with the spikes from the window cranks pointing towards me. As we were rolling at incredible speeds down Independence Avenue something bizarre happened: the hood came up. We couldn't see at all. I yelled, "shit." The cabby slowed us down and we pulled to the side. It was late, so no cars. It was Independence so the road was straight. That is what saved us. I was even thinking about what it would be like to be in a horrible accident at the time of the opening hood. It was scary. I had adrenaline. It was an incredible experience with transport.

16.1.08

Rick Rolled

I just learned of an old internet phenomenom: being rick rolled. This is awesome. I have been utterly obsessed with current.tv. I watch countless segments from infomania and viral videos. It's pretty great. One of the segments was hosted by the hilarious Brett Elrich. In it he said something about being Rick Rolled. Then the Rick Asterly song played. It's hilarious. You basically put a link up for something in demand: See this link for new Starcraft mods! And then your unsuspecting viewer goes to a Rick video. Pretty darn funny. Like a more mischievious hamster dance. Far more entertaining actually.

10.1.08

Mozambique; Return 2


The bus station in Jo'burg isn't that bad. It's the surrounding city blocks that cause paranoia (well-founded from the horror stories one hears). A "crazy" person was spouting the typical "AIDS is God's way of punishing gays/women." I noticed several people finding his tirade amusing, including some white people. These white people ended up being Peace Corps Volunteers from Lesotho. I hung out with them for awhile. Because they were cool? Yes. Because we Volunteers tend to have much in common? Yes. Because we were stranded at a weigh station for seven hours while Intercape attempted to overload our bus with eggs and onions? Yes. It took forever. Everyone on the bus became good friends. Even a guy in a Masai plaid chitenge tried to get everyone to revolt. He eventually invited everyone on board to a wedding but said no one from the bus company could come because they suck (not his language, mine). We made it to Maputo, but most of us were cranky well before then.

7.1.08

Mozambique; Return

Mozambique was fun. It was a lot different from what I expected. Here is a little exerpt from the voyage.

The plane was late in picking me up. The plane in Jo'burg did not have any fuel. It was two hours late. Plus, I had my knife confiscated at the security check point. Sad. I love that knife. Torrey will be upset as well. He bought it for me.

Made it to Jo'burg. The city surrounding the bus station is dark and scary. Much like an episode of Homicide: Life in the Streets but with more trash and more crack heads. Of course I don't think it was crackheads, just that Tsotsi look alot like gool ol' American Crackheads. Odd.