Skateboarding Dog

LMAO! I love how he balances his weight and even leans to the side when he wants to turn! Clever, fearless little thing.

Look at all the fun he's having!

Isn't he just GORGEOUS!?

My Afrikaans word of the Day

So I was sitting here, minding my own business, when for some reason the Afrikaans word for matches went through my head (okay, I was actually, very idly, playing with a match book). I was just struck by what an awesome word it is...

"Vuurhoutjies" - literally translated means "little fire wood". Now tell me that's not the cutest word EVER!

Okay, yes, this is the kind of crap I'm doing when I should be cleaning out my flat. But procrastination brings out the best in me!

So my Afrikaans word of the day = vuurhoutjies.

Of course if you're from the Cape Fletse, you just call them "metchies" but that's cos we prefer the best of both worlds.

Madam and Eve

Okay this made me laugh out loud...

DICK IN A BOX

I can't help it!! These videos make me laugh...

I mean come on, you can't go wrong with classic (and classy) lyrics like "Chrismas... Dick in a box. Hanukkah... Dick in a box. Kwanzaa... Dick in box".

I'm On A Boat (ft. T-Pain) - Album Version

I just love The Lonely Island... they're hilarious.

15 books in 15 minutes

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose.

1.Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
2.The Belgariad/ The Malloreon - David Eddings *
3.Phantoms - Dean Koontz
4.Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt
5.Flowers from the Storm - Laura Kinsale
6.To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
7.Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
8.Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
9.Cujo - Stephen King
10.Rachel's Holiday - Marion Keyes
11.I am David - Ann Holm
12.Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
13.Runaway Jury - John Grisham
14.Charlotte's Web - EB White
15.A Knight in Shining Armour - Jude Deveraux

These are in not in order of preference... I just put them down as they came to me. Some of my all-time favourite books and I there are so many more.

* (The Belgariad and Malloreon series' consist of 20 books in total... but since the two series' follow the same characters - I put it down as one story).

Jizz In My Pants

This is SO funny! "Don't tell your friends or I'll say you a slut. Plus it's your fault you were rubbing my butt..." mwuhahahaha.

How many have you read?

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x+
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien x
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x+
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee x+
6 The Bible x (some of it)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x+
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x+
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy x
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare x
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck *
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll x+
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame x+
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis *
34 Emma - Jane Austen x+
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen x
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis x+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini x+
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell x+
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown x
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery x+++
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy *
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding x+
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel * (sorry Nu, STILL haven't gotten round to it)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck x+
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac (Troy I have this if you want to borrow it) *
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray *
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker *
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro *
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White x+
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton x+
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad x (hated it)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams x
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare x+
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Joel's t-shirt comes home!

So, Johanna and I were trudging around the streets of New Orleans - what a hardship, sigh - trying to find the perfect t-shirt (the "naughtier" the better) for our good buddy, Joel. We looked all over town, left no stone unturned or shop unexplored... seriously, SUCH a trial - when, as if by magic, I looked up and saw The Perfect T-shirt. Well at least the perfect t-shirt for our darling Joel (ahem).

(Seriously Joel, bru, you need a tan!)

We bought it on the spot, after only very briefly wondering if he'd be offended by it, before shrugging that concern off as unimportant. Anyway, we felt that the t-shirt by itself just lacked something. So we made the little slideshow below, to prove to Joel that we DO sometimes think about him when he's not around.

Back to work we go!

A belated Happy New Year folks (it still counts in January).

Why I love the Cleanest Little Town in Texas...

Those of you who know my good friend Johanna will have heard of her home town Shiner, Texas. I don't know why but whenever she spoke of it, it simply came alive for me, her stories of small town life fired my imagination and I have wanted to visit it since I first heard her speak so fondly of it(well, sometimes, not-so-fondly). I suppose being from a relatively large city, I wanted to experience small town life for myself… the grass is always greener and all that. When Johanna returned to the States two years ago, I warned her that I would be coming for a visit and that she would have to take me to Shiner when I did (she now lives in New Orleans). This past winter (summer for those of you in SA), I finally got the opportunity to visit Hanna-chan. The plan was to spend Christmas week in Shiner and New Year's in New Orleans.

I arrived in New Orleans at 2:30 in the morning after a SIX hour delay at snowy Newark airport… those six hours were spent on a PLANE – waiting for the damned thing to be de-iced! Meh… the only thing that made the wait bearable was the lovely couple sitting next to me! We had a blast chatting and getting to know one another and I promised to meet them for drinks when I was back in New Orleans. Never got round to that, sadly. Anyway I was too wiped out to actually be excited about finally arriving. Johanna dragged me out of bed at some ungodly hour the following morning (it was before twelve) telling me it was for my own good and that it would help me with the jetlag. We spent much of that day roaming around the French Quarter (seriously, even now that Saturday remains a haze in my memory… I was pretty out of it), while I marveled at how cheap things were and how guys were very vocal about the fact that they liked my butt (kind of nice after years of feeling inadequate and whale-like in Japan). It was a lovely, leisurely first day… not too stressful. I discovered the Wal-Mart (to Kristen H's disgust I took to it like a duck to water) and had a blast at the Bath and Bodyworks where EVERYTHING was on sale… woooooot! I have soooooooo much nice smelling stuff now.

The following day we, Johanna, her antisocial cat, Draco (he's okay for a cat. A bit bipolar… with the occasional murderous tendencies, but a good cat to have in a car) and I, set off for Texas. I was pretty excited – it was an 8 hour drive on the highway and while the scenery wasn't all that interesting (it never is when you're on a highway), I still found it fascinating… I craned my neck to catch glimpses of the bayou as we whizzed by while getting acquainted with the current top 20 (cos we had local radio stations playing) – seriously… I HATE that stupid Beyonce song (Put a ring on it) and don't even get me STARTED on Akon's infantile "I wanna make love (nananana… eeeeeeeek!)". Finally… after hours and hours of driving (we stopped occasionally) we got off the I-10 and drove through a few teeny little towns until we hit Shiner (yay)…

It was quite dark when we arrived but we could see her parents' Christmas lights from quite far away. I didn't know what to expect but the warm welcome I received from Ron, Faith (Johanna's parents) and Nolan (J's brother who arrived a few days later), Chewy, Mysi, Baby (the dogs) and to a lesser extent Pumpkin, Gypsy and Tinker (the cats who were all stressed out because Draco was back to torment them) was entirely unanticipated. I was overwhelmed by the genuine warmth and hospitality I received from Johanna's parents. I see now where she gets it from. What lovely people the Darileks are…

So what can I say about Shiner? Well, let's see… for a small town it's got a LOT going for it. I think the Darileks were worried that I'd be bored… but if there's one thing they know about me now it's that I am easily entertained! Everything was new and exciting for me and no detail was too small or mundane for me (I mean I was excited when I woke up on my first morning there and saw COWS when I looked out my bedroom window!! I've seen cows before, of course, but these were like RIGHT THERE – waiting to be petted – I didn't get to pet them though – woe. They're not very friendly cows; they wouldn't even come when I tried to feed them). I loved every second of my time spent in Shiner and I must say that the town and its people have stolen a great, big chunk of my heart.

Shiner is famous for its beer. The Spoetzl Brewery (celebrates its centennial anniversary this year and I JUST missed out on taste testing the Shiner 100. Darn it!) is a must-see. We visited three days in a row and the only reason we didn't go more often was because they closed for Christmas and wouldn't reopen again until after Johanna and I had left for New Orleans, alas! The beer was really starting to grow on me… and if you know me at all, you'll know I'm not a beer drinker. But since they offer four free sample cups on every visit, there's no way I could avoid drinking it. And by the end of my stay I could even tell the difference between the Blonde, the Bock and the Hefeweizen. Just colour me a connoisseur now, people! I went on a Brewery tour and while I'm still a bit dodgy on the inner workings of a brewery, I at least got to see the pretty copper pots and the beer bottling area (cool)! I also bought loads of coasters (which are going down quite well in the omiyage area) and other stuff from the gift shop.

I did a LOT of shopping in Texas actually… Johanna, Faith and I went on quite a few shopping trips – during which time I managed to get some new clothes, underwear and BOOKS!! It was fabulous browsing around bookshops again… one of the things I miss the most in Japan.

If I had to list every single moment of my time in Shiner, I doubt this post would ever end, so I'll break it down for y'all.

Things-to-do-when-you're-in-Shiner (in no particular order):

1. Visit the Brewery

2. Visit Welhausen Park

3. Pet a horse

4. Visit the Brewery again…

5. Go on a 'Gator ride around the countryside

6. Break into the Old School for souvenirs

7. Break into a lovely old man's house and steal his chairs

8. Replace aforementioned chairs with spiffy new ones

9. Move aforementioned old chairs to another surprise location.

10. Touch a dead deer's head (and try not to shudder while doing it)

11. Try to find a trailer park and take pictures of it before anybody can catch sight of you

12. Fire a gun

13. Insert yourself into a nativity scene (if you're there at Christmas) to get that perfect picture

14. Visit the Brewery man, the beer's free.

15. Try to feed some cows…

16. Go to a barbecue (the steaks are huge and the people are fun)

17. Go and check out the Christmas lights if you're lucky enough to be there in December.

18. I hear Kloesels is nice but I didn't get to visit it.

19. I hear 10^th Inning is… uhm… interesting… I really wanted to visit it but Johanna said, "over my dead BODY" (or the equivalent thereof! Something about going braless…)

20. Check out Patek's Grocery Store (they have salt and vinegar chips!!!)

21. Get a photo of the one traffic light!

22. Check out the Municipal Park

23. Learn the Texas two step

24. Take a drive out to Scooters in the neighbouring town of Moulton and try their awesome frozen margaritas.

25. Touch a dead catfish head.

25. Go the Drive-In (another first for me).

26. Unintentionally moon some poor unsuspecting fella in the men's bathroom at the drive-in (I'd forgotten that until now! I think I blocked it from my memory. The lady's room was occupied and I snuck into the men's room. I am QUITE sure I locked the door… but as I was finishing up and pulling up m'knickers, the door opened and I screamed bloody murder, while the poor cowboy type dude at the door managed to keep from screaming bloody murder too and scrambled to safety with a few apologies. Man I ducked out of there so fast and then hid away in the car for the rest of the night! Faith tried to coax me out to take some pics but I was too embarrassed and afraid that I would see him again!! Not cool… cringing even now as I think about it! That poor guy…)

27. Get a cowboy hat from Beran's – so that you can blend in! Luckily I also got a Texas football t-shirt as one of my Christmas presents from Ron and Faith – which, combined with the hat, made me look like a local (for real, y'all!)

I did lots of other fantastic things! Christmas was great. The Darilek side of the family tried to teach me how to fire a gun in the morning (yeehaw! I sucked at it though) and we also tried to feed the cows. They (the Darileks, not the cows) were loads of fun and made me feel like part of the family. The Chumchal's (Johanna's mum's side of the family) afternoon Christmas visit was a little noisier for sure, because there are loads and loads of kids on that side of the family. They were very excited about all the gifts they had to unwrap. Every so often we (Jo, Faith and I) would surreptitiously sneak off for a breather in a quiet, child-free zone. Even the poor dogs were starting to look a bit wilted by the end of it all. Still it was great… the food was AWESOME… I now wish I'd eaten more (isn't that always the case?). I still long for that peppermint fudge that I got only a taste of. Sighhhhh. I must say, that's the drunkest I've ever been on Christmas. I thank Johanna's wildly alcoholic Hurricanes for that (plus the jello shots we had before twelve that morning!). It will go down as one of my more memorable Christmases and I thank the Darileks and Chumchals for making me feel so much a part of things… I was even asked if I'd make it an annual event. I promised to be back for Hanna-chan's wedding (no pressure, J :P)

The Darileks

The Chumchals

I also managed to make a quick call home to my own loved ones… and I was happy to hear my mother's voice on Christmas day. By that time, they (the Anders fam) had finished their own Christmas lunch and were all having a relaxing afternoon siesta. Apparently it was too hot too move… *envy*!

All in all… my week in Shiner, Texas was eventful, fun and NEVER dull. I would love to visit again… like I said before, it stole a huge piece of my heart but I think the main reason it made such an impact was because of the people I met. Johanna, Faith, Ron and Nolan, the other Darileks and the Chumchals (Fred and Virgie especially) thank you for making me feel so welcome… I will never forget you and I will cherish the memory of my visit to your wonderful hometown forever. Peace and love to you always.

Let's Reunion!!

Hey y'all (practicing cos I just KNOW I'm gonna pick up the habit again after staying with Johanna for two and a half weeks :D)...

I'm outta here tomorrow. I may upload some pics and stuff while I'm away. In the meantime I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah/or whatever other major holiday, being celebrated this December(from whatever religion) applies to you.

Anyway, so Johanna and Natasha, Part 87 and 3/4 to commence soon! YAY...

Geseende Kersfees en Gelukkige Nuwe Jaar!

00Z

Looks like the Madam and Eve boys really don't like old Julius. Who can blame them? He is a contemptible little dumbass...

Gatvol

To those of you who don't know "gatvol" means "fed up" (that's the polite translation).

Writing Assignments

Howzit folks... been ages since I blogged but that's because my life has been pretty mediocre lately, so I had nothing much to say about the life and times of Natasha Anders the First. Besides, I hit my blogging peak with that cricket post two years ago... and just couldn't ever manage to top that again. Been on a blogging downhill slide ever since.

Anway I digress, today I thought I'd share some student writing with you. So some background info: I started a Speech Skills class with my 4th grade chuto kids a couple of months ago (1st grade High school for those who don't teach at chutos. Sixteen year olds for those who don't teach in Japan at all). Basically I suggested that whenever we have a team teaching class scheduled, we forego the textbook and teach the kids public speaking skills instead. Next year they have to do a public presentation after getting back from their homestay in Australia - and I wanted them to be prepared and confident for that. In addition to that, the kids have been asked to start a journal - for lack of a better word(not a diary) - to practice writing as they are required to write their own speeches every week for the speech skills class. Their first assignment was a rather dry self-intro... but I've been pushing for some creative writing assignments and last week the teachers overcame their sceptism and asked the kids to write a fictional story as their second assignment. Here are a few of the offerings I liked (mistakes included):

1
Once upon a time, there is a little girl who was born into a a poor family. She was very happy and the family got along well but she felt sad once every year at Christmas. Of course her family didn't have enough money to buy presents for Christmas. She thought that if they were rich, she could give presents. But she knew that her father and mother worked from morning till night. So she had patience every year. One day when Christmas was drawing near, she wrote a letter to Santa Claus. It said, 'Please give a present to my parents. They are working all day long. I don't have enough money to buy presents for them. SO I want you to give a present.' Santa Claus read the lettter during the night. He thought 'This child loves her parents. I'll give them a nice present.' Next day the little girl woke up and she was surprised. There were a big Christmas tree in the garden. She and her parents were very happy. It was a memorable event for them and they were all living together happily.

2
One day a she-chick went to her friend's home and played until evening. They said goodbye and she returned home. Suddenly it started to rain heavily, but she didn't have an umbrella. She took shelter from the rain under a tree. "I wish it would stop raining." Just then, a hen, her mother, came to her with an umbrella. "Mom! Thank you for coming for me!" Mother said "That's ok. Let's go home, and drink hot milk." (Random, huh? N)

3 (Christmas seems to be a regular theme. I like this one)
Once upon a time, there were a Santa Claus and reindeers, rabbits and monkeys. On the day before Christmas, the Santa had a cold. He said "If I were fine, I could go to the houses to gave presents." The animals were at a loss. The reindeer said, "Let's help him and carry the presents by ourselves." The animals agreed with him. The reindeers carried a sledge with animals and many presents. Monkeys looked at the map and led the reindeers. Rabbits went through the stovepipe and put presents. They completed the task. One Christmas day, there were may happy smiles of children, animals and a Santa Claus. Fin

(Santa's Helpers)

4 (From a student who was at this year's summer camp. Joel must have made quite the impression on her. Uhm...)
In the old days, there was a big castle. In it lived a princess. Her name is Natasha. Natasha loved a person, his name is Joel. Joel is a farmer. But Natasha had a fiance, his name was Genius. Genius is a prince. Natasha always thinks, "If Joel were a prince, I would marry him..."

5. This one reads like a HCA fairtytale (cho kawaii)
It was a fine day, there was a lonely little witch. While she was strolling in the forest she got hungry. At that very moment, there was a bakery between the trees. An old man was running the bakery. the little witch wanted to eat a delicious loaf, so she talked to him. "Would you give me a delicious loaf?" The old man replied, "I'm in trouble now. I've used all of my match. If I had match I could bake a delicious loaf for you." The little witch thought and said "I am a great witch! I'll light a fire in your oven." She tried. At first she didn't have confidence. But she finally made it. "Look! I could make it!" She said. "Oh, really. You're a real witch! Thank you very much. I will bake a delicious loaf. Wait a while." He said. They talked until the loaves were baked, about their own life, dream, hobbies a... and more. Without notice they had become friends. They ate delicious loaves together. They were happy.

6. Freddy the Leaf-esque (I thought it was so good that, at first, I wasn't completely convinced it was entirely his)
On a very cold day, there was heavy snow. The next day, there was snow over everything all around. A few children made a snowman. The snowman was bright with a carrot nose, a bucket hat, twig arms and glove hands. Children played with him but after a short time they lost interest in him and he became lonely. When winter was ending, he became to have feelings. He was afraid it was getting hotter day by day and spring was coming. He was afraid of death. He felt it. "I wish I could live one day longer. I want to see everytime of the world. I don't wanna melt" He said. But spring came. There was no snowman where he had stood. There was only a little pool. Though in early summer a flower was buded in that place. It is likely that it will see everything for the snowman. Fin

7. Pretty grim. But one of my faves
Today is Christmas. The town is in a festive mood. The children are romping around too. But only Edward is watching them playing in the street from his room. He murmured "If I had legs, I would play with them..." Beside his bed, there is a sheet of paper in a sock. Even Santa Claus can't grant Edward's wish...

(Poor, lonely Edward)

8. Very cute
Once upon a time, there were three cats. One day when they were walking in the garden, they found a lot of cream in a large pot. They wanted to eat it, so they tried to lap it but they fell into the pot and into the cream. The littlest cat couldn't swim and began to drown, so the biggest cat let the littlest cat step onto his back and help the littlest cat climb out of the pot. The middle cat tried to creep up the pot but he simply couldn't creep up. So the biggest cat let the medium cat out of the pot in the same way. Then the biggest cat was so tired and he couldn't creep up. He was drowning. "If he hadn't helped us, he would be saved!" the others shouted. They looked for something to do but they could do nothing. They thought he would die. Then they cried hard. The biggest cat was rowing in the cream to try and creep up the pot. Just then the cream became butter and hard. So the biggest cat could step onto the ground from the butter and he was saved.

9.
"Do you want to become a transparent man? If you were a transparent man, you could do anything and everything." A witch said to the man. The man think that it is very good chance and he said "yes". In an instant the man became a transparent man. The next day, the man stole some money and jewels from many people. The man feel satisfaction. But the man suddenly noticed a serious matter. The man said "If I were transparent forever, I can't use some money." The man didn't know how he return to the ordinary man. Nobody knows where he is now. If a witch ask "Do you want to become a transparent man" to you, what will you answer?

10. A bit Narnia-ish
Tom liked reading adventure stories, he wished he were the hero in the books when he read them. One day, he was reading on of them under a big tree, suddenly the book shined and he was dragged into the book. He woke up and looked around. He noticed that he was in the world of the book which he was reading because the scenery around him looked just like what he saw in the book. He was the hero in the world. He had many adventures. For example, fighting the dragon, crossing the ocean, entering the forest, climbing the snow-covered mountain. He made a close friend during the adventures. He had many adventures with the friend, but the friend parted from him. When he left Tom, the friend gave him a beautiful ring. Tom began to wear the ring every day. Many years have passed since then. He became sick. He was beyond help. After several days, he died watched by many friends. "Tom. Tom" he heard a voice calling him. He woke up. He was under a big tree. His mother was looking at him. He was a boy. He noticed that he had a very, very long dream. The he was surprised because the ring his close friend gave was still shining on his finger. Was that the dream or the reality.

My students are great! They put so much effort into excelling at every little assignment no matter how muzukashi or mendoksai they think it is. Of course, these are but a few. A large percentage of them were average - but good. These were just the ones I found entertaining. I enjoyed marking these. I was just about falling asleep marking the self-intros last week. It got so bad my supervisor suggested I listen to music while working, to help me stay awake. Not so this week... I was entertained from beginning to end. Okay... cheers okes!

Good Idea Bad Idea - Whistling

Lmao! This takes me back! It's my favourite Good Idea, Bad Idea! For some reason it's the one that stuck in my head for years and years. I loved this show. Siiiiiiiiiiigh! Used to rush home everyday second day to watch it.

For Annabelle

Look what I found... this takes me way, way, wayyyyyyyyyyyy back (okay not THAT far back)... I knew you'd be one of the few people who would appreciate it (well, maybe Vonnie would too... didn't know her back when this song was popular). Good stuff man!

Hey Annie

Here's another one... good old-fashioned homegrown talent. Whatever happened to Sugardrive anyway?

Presenting Mr and Mrs Van Der Schyff

One of my best friends got married a week and a half ago and as with every other recent landmark moment in my friends' lives, I missed it. I knew she'd look gorgeous... and the groom wasn't too shabby himself - even though we know the brides are gonna outshine all on their special day.



Thanks to Lynn for her/Shane's pics... and congratulations to Mr and Mrs Shaun and Lorinda Van der Schyff. I so wish I could have been there. You both looked stunning and so totally in love.

Hugs and kisses

Natasha