Oliver

In case he gets visitors

Take off

Toys are getting a clean and it bugs him that I've moved his stuff out of the cage

1, 2, 3... UP!

What's going on down there?

Loving his ball a LITTLE too much!

On 11 March 2011 at 14:46...

... this happened. And it was felt around the country as evidenced by the map of seismic activity...

Personally, it was the longest-lasting earthquake I've ever experienced. It devastated the northeastern part of Japan and triggered a series of gigantic tsunamis that swept away everything in their destructive paths. The effects of this one will be felt emotionally, psychologically and financially for a very long time to come.

It's been snowing...

... in Nagaoka. Snowing a lot. Naturally, I hate it (ignore the happy face in the pic... I'm just fabulous at hiding my despair).

They just called to me...

Something about these just screamed my name!! I just felt compelled to buy them for some reason.

The Family

Liewe heksie en die geel motor.mov

The End

It was AWESOME while it lasted. Well done South Africa! Well done Spain! Well done Paul the Octopus!

More M&E

Well played, Ghana!!

Man, this result isn't a fair reflection of the actual game. Ghana outclassed Uruguay tonight and I loathe the death-by-penalty shootout result.

Thank you, Ghana! Africa loves you.

Ghana vs Uruguay 1/4 fnl (in progress)

2nd half of extra time and THIS GAME IS KILLING ME!!!! Come on GHANA!!!

England vs Germany (in Progress)

33 mins in... 2-0 Germany.

Uhm... ouch England! Here's hoping they can actually put up a bit of a fight here. Cos this is so sucking for them at the mo'. Go on, England.

PS. Maybe I should start rooting for the teams I DON'T want to win, because I seem to be jinxing those I actually side with.

M&E's World Cupness

Italy vs Slovakia (in progress)

...and it's 1-0 Slovakia.

Oh dear... I wonder if this year I'll be subjected to another drunken phone call from Chevon, only this time the tears will be of pain instead of joy cos her beloved Italy crashed out without making it into the final 16. That would suck, them being defending champs and all. And I'd have to deal with drunken, depressed Chevon and distraught, devastated Nathan.

Oh well, here's hoping they win! Because not only would it be a crying shame for the defending champs to put up such a paltry show but it would also be a crime for the WC to lose such a damned fine looking man like Fabio Cannavaro this early in the tournament. That tragedy alone would be enough to send me into a tailspin of despair.

So come on Italy. Get your bloody act together man!

The Unthinkable

Today... the worst thing imaginable happened... some of my 11 year old male students started to making vuvuzela noises in the classroom. They thought that they were being hilarious of course, they kept saying, "Natasha-sensei, Natasha-sensei... bvubvuzera!!! BZZZZZ!!!".

And then to make matters even worse, they were pretty damned good at producing an accurate imitation of the monotonous buzzing. And they did it with these hilarious deadpan expressions on their faces, all serious while, "Bzzzzzzing" at me. After that went on for a while, they'd crack up laughing before starting up again.

Siiiiiiiiiiigh.

Well done, Bafana Bafana

We all knew that it probably wouldn't amount to much unless Bafana Bafana scored a shitload of goals against the French, but we all desperately wanted that win and damn it felt good. The Boys gave the tattered and beleaguered French team a run for their money and had so many near misses in the second half that qualification into the next round was closer than any of us had ever realistically dreamed.

The boys played like warriors and I'm very proud to be a South African today (and equally happy not to be French - ouch! I mean what an awful and embarrassing WC they've had. The disgrace, the draaaaamaaa). The best thing about having this WC cup in SA (the WORST being vuvuzelas. But yeah, we won't go there again :P), is that the country is SO football mad and we have been desperate to host this tournament for so long, that Bafana Bafana doing well would merely have been the cherry on top. This is one host nation that will NOT lose interest in the tournament because their team exited early. Nope, if I know my countrymen they will support their second, third, fourth favourites with equal fervour and devotion.

Cos that's the way we roll down in old Minami Afurika.