Emotional eating...

Don't reward yourself with food.....you are not a dog!

A true leader

A good leader inspires men to have confidence in him, a great leader inspires them to have confidence in themselves

                                                - Anonymous

My one

A casual model pose on the streets of Maputo, 2012

“He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. 
But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. 
He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. 
Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyse.

Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there.  
Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.”
- Bob Marley



 Thanks Vanilla Blonde for this very quotable quote from good ol Bob!

We rocked that boat! Part 2

Miller Rock the Boat, the album! Read the poem I wrote about our crazy adventure to nowhere here (literally, because the cruise goes up to Portuguese Island off the coast of Mozam and back to Durbs) 

 

We rocked that boat! Part 1

 So at the end of 2009, four of us went on an epic cruise holiday, the first Miller Rock the Boat. Due to the fact that we are now all scattered around the country doing our 'real life', I figured this was the only way to show the girls my scrapbook album...until our pending reunion when we can relive the memories anyway :)

 Here's the poem that I wrote at the end of the album, which needs to be read after a good look at my scrapbooked album here.

  We rocked that boat

Hawley, Trash, Fluff and Ed

Planned to go on a cruise

So we rented our digs out

And bought 6 bottles of booze

Turns out it was Miller Rock the Boat

-       an awesome fluke indeed

So we all met at Durban Harbour

Bags packed as agreed

And so the boat set sail

-       the drizzle didn’t stop the party

We just drank our Millers,

Met Grant and Anele (that gap sure is tarty!)

Everyone was between 18-35,

The partying was non-stop

Swimming pools

Jacuzzi

And concerts at night

And a swaying night club at the top

Our cabin was quite tiny

Two up

Two down

But no porthole.

Buffet meals were served all day

But cocktails were our goal

We had a friendly Asian waiter,

Who Trash mocked, thinking he couldn’t understand

Turns out he did – how awkward!

He definitely stole our cruise photo from the stand!

We jammed to the Parlotones

-       the biggest groupies you’ve ever seen

Then Ed got bummed at Trash and Fluff

Who got to have photos sitting on his knee

We met some awesome people,

Ed met them even more

We swam in the pool at night

We shouldn’t have let those drinks out of sight

And so the last sun rose in the distance,

We sipped tequila, still awake

It was chaos at breakfast

-       we were nightmares at breakfast

But we’d had all the fun we could take

Hawley, Trash, Fluff and Ed

Went on a cruise together

Great memories

Incriminating photos

And so many laughs

This album is proof we’ll be friends forever

Chicken soup for the soul

Was our aptly named dinner last Wednesday on the eve of National Soup Day, which calls for everyone to share some soup with someone in need.

My housemate, Meg and I, rustled up a delicious and soulful chicken soup for our house of hungry Acropolites.

Ingredients:
- Chicken on the bone (for 10 of us, we used 2 packs of enormous breast and thigh pieces)
- Vegetables - lots of them. We used pumpkin, onions, potatoes and a big pack of pre-chopped soup mix from Pick n Pay
- Stock (we ended up using 4 cubes of chicken stock in total)
- Packet soup (we substituted with 4 cup-a-soups because we didn't preempt the need for something to bind all the ingredients together into deliciousness)

Method:
- Pop all the chicken (bones, skin and all) in a big pot of boiling stock and leave to well, boil
- After about 15 minutes, get the potatoes and pumpkin (and any other hard veggies you have) boiling in another pot
- In another 25 minutes or so (or however long it takes to have a relaxing (individual) bath between step 2 and 3), take the chicken out of the pot. Pull off the skin and the meat should then fall off the bone with a gentle tug from a fork. Shred it as finely as you want or have the patience to endure. - After taking the chicken out, add that mixed bag of soup veggies to start boiling in the juicy chicken water

- Ideally, at this point you have a giant pot in which to mix everything together, adding some more water (this is not a stew after all!!) and letting it simmer.
- Mix up a concentrate of whatever dried soup you have lying around and add in the simmering mix.
- Add spices and salt and pepper to taste (although remember that the stock has added quite a lot of salt already)
- You can then choose to leave as is if you prefer a chunky soup, or blend the 'stodgy' part together.
- Allow everything to soak in the deliciousness for a while longer and then voila, dinner is ready!

 Serving:
- Offer your hungry guests (or male Acropolites) the option of making themselves some toast if they really feel that this soulful soup is not manly enough for them yet!

Post-dinner:
- Make so much extra that you can happily give some away in honour of National Soup Day...and take some to work for lunch!

Obsessed with distraction

Obsessed with Distraction

By Michael Lane, Executive Director, Delve Christian Ministries

 

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature -- trees, flowers, grass -- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls. - Mother Theresa

A few months ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Peter Bregman, wrote about his experience with the new iPad from Apple. To summarize, he spent about a week with it and then decided to return it, but not for the reasons you might expect. It was not broken or ineffective. On the contrary, Peter decribed the iPad as being brilliant and he found that it was able, for the the most part, to do everything he wanted. So why did Peter return it? Because it's too good. He found himself reaching for it at all hours. Even worse, he found himself reaching for it at times when he should have been doing something else, such as sleeping or spending time with family.

I can relate. I don't own an iPad, but I do own an iPhone so I know first hand exactly what Peter is talking about. It's the first thing I reach for in the doctor's waiting room or while waiting for others to arrive to a meeting. That's reasonable, I suppose, but lately I've found myself reaching for it in the car at long red lights or when I'm watching television with my wife. That's not reasonable, and it's gotten me into some hot water.

The point Peter was trying to make is that we've lost our respect and desire for quiet, introspective thought. It's so easy to fill our minds with information or tap into entertainment that there is no longer a need to ever be without it - not in the car, not in our bedrooms, not even when we're camping or on vacation. Every moment of the day, regardless of where I am, I can check my email, watch a podcast, update Twitter or read the news. The vast majority of the time, there is not a single email, news story or social networking update that comes even close to affecting my life, but I read them all anyway. At the very moment when I sense that I am not listening to something, reading something or doing something, I instinctively reach out for anything that will occupy my mind and keep me from...well from what? Boredom? Silence? My own thoughts? Not being productive? I'm not sure, but I think it's some combination of these fears.

Up to this point, Peter and I agree completely. It's clear that many of us are addicted to filling our heads with worthless information and mindless entertainment whenever we sense that our minds are not completed engaged. When we do this, something very important is lost. However, Peter and I will diverge here when it comes to exactly what it is that we are really losing. His blog goes on to talk about the value of boredom, and the role that it plays in the creative process. I'm much more concerned with what all this is doing to our prayer time and our relationship with God.

Scheduled prayer time is wonderful and essential, but the most impassioned and meaningful prayer happens spontaneously when we have a quiet moment and an open mind. Two of the most powerful times I've ever spent with God were both unplanned and unexpected. One occurred while I was riding up an escalator in a mostly abandoned Toronto skyscraper, very early in the morning, waiting for my new job to start. The other happened in a dark, quiet room as I held my sleeping newborn daughter. On both occasions, I took advantage of the peace and silence to reflect on God's goodness and fully experience my appreciation for everything he's done. I felt the presence of God, and I was overwhelmed with peace and joy.

These moments both took place before I owned my iPhone, and I am humbled and frightened to realize that neither would have happened otherwise. If I'd had my phone with me on that escalator, I almost certainly would have been listening to a podcast. While I held my daughter, I would have also been reading the news. How many similarly amazing encounters with God have I missed in the 24 months since I have had access to instant distraction on-demand?

I have never deliberately distracted myself with my phone in order to avoid spending time with God, but the effect is the same nonetheless. It is simply not possible to read the news and also carry on a meaningful conversation - not with my wife and not with God. When I have an idle moment and I choose to pick up that phone, I have simultaneously also made the choice to not spend that time with Him.

So, am I getting rid of my iPhone, as Peter did with his iPad? No, I'm not. I respect his choice, but I also understand that this is not the fault of the phone, and especially not the fault of Apple for creating such a compelling device. It's my fault, and getting rid of the phone would be a temporary solution which does nothing to address the underlying concerns. What I need is a ongoing dose of humility which reminds me that the world will not end if I don't check Twitter and Facebook every hour. But most importantly, I simply need to remember that every time I pick up the phone and choose to occupy my mind with empty noise, I am closing it to the Holy Spirit and the conversation He wants to have with me in that moment. I hope that you will do the same - pause and reflect before your pick your distraction tool of choice, and ask if your time would be better spent in quiet conversation with God.

This has really got me think, for the original devotional and more ideas about Christianity, go here