LP records

I am busy with a clean out in my life, trying to simplify my world. I found a whole lot of records that belonged to me, Richard or my dad. It was such a fun, nostalgic trip, skipping down memory lane. Remembering the classical music my dad loved and played depending on his mood, everything from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture with the cannons and bells to Ravel’s Bolero. I still have all the albums. Lovely childhood memories.

Also the records of my youth, the most memorable being the replacement of the original Rodriquez Cold Fact. The original got damaged by my first boyfriend Neil who managed to knock over a red candle and the record ended up with red wax all over it. I have two that are still sealed, Noddy has an adventure and Creedence Clearwater Revival greatest hits, double album. Then, there are the records that Richard owned when I met him and the ones that we bought together. So many of these bring back wonderful memories. 

I even know the exact day that one of them was bought; Saturday the 3rd October 1981; Climax blues band Flying the flag that we bought at Stereo Haven in Kempton City. I found a diary entry of mine that mentions it! And Scott Dawson and John Cross are part of the day too. Life is so interesting. 

Sisters

I love this picture of Tarryn and Kiara. It was taken on one of Tarryn’s visits back home, which are few and far between, but we are awfully grateful that she gets here at all. Kiara was still in uni and Tarryn took a drive to Pretoria to visit her dorm room. She left this message on Kiara’s board on her door. Pouty was Tarryn’s nickname for old Kiara who swayed between being Pouty and Lucy (short for Lucifer) in those days. She has changed so much since then that we don’t have much to tease her about and her name is simply Kiara.

Online dating profiles

That was a fun exercise. A friend got some info about a mutual contact, who apparently, has a profile on a dating site. My friend wanted this confirmed so I, being the female, agreed to create a profile and skulk around the site to see if we could establish some evidence. I was ready to stalk the men of Gauteng. The last time I did this, I found 2 work colleagues and a family member so I deleted myself and never ventured back. I logged on yesterday and these are my findings:-

I really think guys out there need some help. You are clearly, mostly-clueless about photos and they are your means of attracting a person, and getting them to want to find out more about you. A photo taken from under your chin and up your nostrils is not the smartest pose.  Please look at the camera, a sideways glance into the future makes me wonder what the other side of your face looks like.

A photo with you and your wife confuses me, especially your wedding photo! You and any lady, arm in arm, is going to raise questions that you probably won't get the opportunity to answer.

When you and two buddies are in the same picture, do I guess which one is you, or do I get all 3 of you?

Photos of you displaying the fish you caught are not appropriate, nor are photos of kids, what is that? You are marketing yourself, and then I must want to meet you based on a photo of,(hopefully), your own kids or grandkids. Photos with you and kids are just weird on a dating site.

If you are taking a selfie, don't do it in the mirror so I can see you holding the phone, that and not being able to perform a simple photo crop, drops your IQ by 20 in my books.  Clear black and white photos stand out nicely from the blurry, nostril pose that seems to be favored by red-faced sweaty blokes with nauseating nicknames.

I never did get to find the person we were stalking, but we had some good laughs and have hopefully helped someone to find a partner using a better profile photo. I intend to create a profile for a single friend of mine so we can see if the females are any better at the photo thing.

I'll update you soon.

Until next time,

Have fun.

Tasha

Cashless journey - the summary

That was a fun experiment!

I survived very easily until the very last day. I went to Melrose Arch to the iFix store and met a friend for pink drinks. We were talking about the project and he said the only cash he ever uses is at parking machines at shopping centers. We both agreed that Meltose Arch would have modern enough machines to accept cards and I would not have a problem. Bruce, we were mistaken, no cards at the parking, and I had to give in and haul out the cash. Almost made it. 

Vaughn on the other hand had problems almost every day. Here is his update:

Ok, this hasn’t been easy!

Wednesday: No cash required, the canteen that serves food, only accepts cash and no cards-my stomach was growling J

Thursday: No cash required, my wife however had to put R80 into an envelope for my child’s event at school-I hope that is ok? It didn’t come out of my pocket though.

Friday: We went through to Kievits Kroon and there I paid R9.50 at the toll gates

Saturday: No cash required

Sunday: R9.50 at the toll gate going back home

Funny how, when you know you can’t use something-the world makes it obvious that you need it for that time period!!

Well tried Vaughn!

I really think that cash is on its way out.

I'll be thinking up a new experiment soon. 

Until then, have fun.

Cashless journey day 4

Well, so far so good, it's been a really easy journey. I have cash on me, for just in case, but I have not had to use it yet. I needed some nails to put up pictures in my scrapping room today and couldn't find the right ones; I drove to the corner hardware store and after the chap working there had painstakingly handwritten up each item I bought, he took a deep breath and asked if I had cash on me, as their card machine was in for repairs. Sorry dude, no sale. I left and drove a further 500m to a building store where I could get the nails and pay by card. Let's hope the next few days are as simple.

Cashless journey Day 1

Last week I had a coffee meeting with a vendor that I had not met before. We met at a coffee shop, the conversation flowed and it was an easy comfortable meeting. The discussion turned to the demise of the ATM and how little we make use of cash. I said I could easily go a week without using any cash and he said he would love to be part of the experiment. The only rules we would have would be; no cash for 7 days and if we did need to deviate, we would document the fact. I agreed to blog about the experiment.

Day 1 

So far so good, went out for lunch, no cash required, out to dinner and I was concerned that I would need cash for the parking machine but the place we went to had free parking.

The day of the tattoos

It was the 13th February 2013; Richard's birthday and 14 years since he was last with us. We had decided that we were all going to have tattoos that incorporated our family symbol in some way . 8x was always special to Richard and I, and became a family code of acknowledging how much love we felt for each other and our little clan. The 8 and x lent itself beautifully to another symbol that I loved - the infinity sign, so that was what I had done on the back of my neck. 

We went off to the tattoo place, which was at a home in Edenvale that had been recommended to us by Caroline - a precious family friend. I was pleased to see how clean and professional the whole setup was the and was most grateful that I went first. I think I would have chickened out if I didn't. We discussed the position of the tattoo, the size of it and the colour that I wanted incorporated into the symbol. Off I went and had no idea what to expect. 

My prior experience with tattoos was only watching Tarryn and Luke getting theirs done in Thailand in 2010. I'm surprised I ever agreed to have it done after watching Luke's performance! It was a bit painful, but I got through it fine and was very pleased with the result, even though I have never been able too see it, excepting for photos and using mirrors. I often forget that I have a tattoo.

Kiara got a beautiful feather outlined in white ink with 2 beads hanging off it that had the 8 and x in them. Devin got his dad's name and the infinity sign underneath it and Tarryn had 8x on the inside of her middle finger. She also had the go-ordinates of our house above her hip and a beautiful saying that is special to her and her cousin Anthea on her foot.

I loved this ceremony of honoring Richard and having a visual display of our shared family bond.