Writing retreat

Some of my blog readers are my friends (in other words, people I knew before starting to write this blog). The problem with having your friends on your blog is that they send you (nasty) emails or chats when they feel that you have not done your duty in keeping said blog updated. Benni, this update is for you!

Master's
I often hear of people going to "a retreat" to find or centre themselves. I always find this slightly ironic since a "retreat" is also a tactical move in battle where you choose to run away instead of facing more casualties. Since I'm battling with the Master's, I've done a bit of both this week. I'm visiting a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere.

I'm grateful that I managed to connect to the Internet today. My phone's network-based location is just "Southern" (mostly sunny). It doesn't even know that there is a (teeny weeny) town here. My friend isn't on leave so I work on the Master's in the day.

The view - it rained later in the afternoon

Part of the visit's success lies in the myriad of activities available: staring at the view or listening to the chickens. I can't even waste lots of time on the Internet since my network connection is precarious, to say the least. I can only connect to the web when the front door is closed and then only when my modem graciously agrees to function and not disconnect itself.

I've gotten some writing and planning done. For my visit it rained in the afternoons so I'm afraid that I tend to take a nap when the temperature goes down. On the other hand, the tactic of applying your derrière to the chair is working quite admirably; I've made notes and planned out notes and connections between two seemly disparate novels. On the other hand:

I've been sitting on the hard chair to the point where I've had to add a cushion

Project 36

The downside to there being nothing to do is that I’ve been snacking. Not the healthy Marthie Leach kind, the kind with fat and stuff (technical term describing my knowledge of unhealthy foods and my reluctance to think about what I’ve been munching): chips, my old friend chocolate and co.

You can't drink the tap water (without boiling and filtering it) and we miscalculated how much water I drink a day. Luckily we could made a supply run yesterday, but before that I was dabbling in carbonated sodas and lots of coffee to satisfy my liquid needs.

I'm a bit worried about my weigh-in when I get home >.<

Picnic time

My blog deals with preparing for yea old reunion (do I really want to go?), the Master's (of much blergh at the moment) and, alas, losing weight. But then nice things like picnics happen. Hooray! They interfere with Project 36 since I end up eating things I shouldn't, but it's good for the soul. Also, everyone knows that birthday cake doesn't cause fat even if it's chocolate cake.

I love the Pretoria Botanical Gardens. I used to fly my kite there when I was even younger and shorter than I am today. I also have vague memories of bringing tadpoles home. More recently, my friends have birthday picnics and open-air meetings there. Also, I go there as an excuse to play with my camera.

Here are the results of the time spent not having a lovely time and chatting, but playing with said camera.

Yummy bones on a black plate

Soft and delicious fangs ...

... that you can have much fun with

Black birthday balloons

Shadow of a mohawk

More fun with mohawks and umbrellas

Silhouette time

A different mohawk than the umbrella candidate

The birthday girl playing with the balloons

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Despite good intentions, despite the blog... I succumbed to the wonders of ice cream today. You see, I figured that eating a Magnum mini once in a while couldn't do any harm. After all, have you seen the advertisements ?

Eva Longoria - the face of Magnum

I'm just sure that she doesn't give in to temptation and munch three mini Magnums in one day. That only works out to 1.5 usual Magnums, but still not a good idea. The next enemy this Easter is Lindt chocolate bunnies. Chocolate is my borg. "We are the Chocolate. You will assimilate us. Resistance is futile. We will go straight to your hips."

On another note - the sleeping is still not stopping. I slowly wake up, roll over and look at my cellphone (who still owns a watch?) and realise that half of the day is gone. What am I recovering from? Am I catching up on a year of sleep? Perhaps it's combined with my desire for chocolate and indicates that I'm ready to go into hibernation. I have heard that bears lose a lot of weight while hibernating...

P.S. Shaved my legs today