New Adventures 5th - 12th

This week is a bit of a lame New Adventures because I did it in a rush, but I'm sure you'll get the idea...

Friday

Friday evening was my good friend Gareth's birthday so we all headed through to his house for a braai and a hub. Matt and I got him a great cigar for his birthday, which I am sure he will enjoy immensely. The party was fun, and Pierre and I had a great chat about principles in the Bible and what we should expect from each other over a cigar. I really like cigars by the way, so the evening was a good one. We ended up just hanging out and chatting until about 01h30 before Matt, Donovan and I left to have a dota. It ended up being a bit of a fail, but we did do a bit of experimentation with a new strategy which didn't work in the end.


Saturday

Didn't do much. I watched V for Vendetta with my brother after going shopping with him, and then had a few games of dota. Everyone was busy so I just hung out at home and had a mellow evening. Ended up writing a reasonable blog though...


Sunday

Sunday afternoon we went to Donovan's house to watch some football, and then we headed through to a great church called Common Ground. It was Matthew's first adventure to a new church in a while, and Jan came along too which was great. The sermon wasn't amazing or anything like that, but it was Biblical and the worship was heartfelt and I appreciated that.

Janice also came along, and I think he enjoyed it, so that was good.


Monday

Monday I did some shopping and in the evening we started having a dota, which turned out to be a fail game. The second game we tried was also a fail because we were ripping the opposition team a new one, so it wasn't going to be any fun. Then Justin called Donovan and told him he was going to meet a friend at Mercury and would he like to go along.

We all abandoned our games of dota and Gareth, Donovan, Justin and I headed out to Mercury. We left at about 22h00 and after meeting up with the new friend we pretty much danced for 4 hours straight. No qualms. We also met up with Cruz and Nicole, both of whom are people we knew from church, and it was great also.

The music got much better at about 01h30, and we ended up having a great time headbanging to Nirvana and SOAD, which of course got us a lot of attention, even though it didn't work out for anyone in the end.


Tuesday

Tuesday morning I had my medical exam for my application to become an Air Traffic Controller. It was less fun than you'd hope, although I did get my first EKG and x-ray which was fun. I had to strip down to my boxers while the doctor poked me all over the place to test nerve reactions and blood pressure and all that. Then I had to piss in a cup, before doing a lung test. Apparently my lungs are 20% bigger than someone my age and height's should be, so I think that's good.

After sitting there for quite a while, I was told that because I had been on anti depressants I needed to go and see a psychiatrist and get a report, otherwise I would have to wait until June to partake in training, which was rather a daunting thought. After making my appointment I had a fail dota with a bunch of idiots, but whatever.


Wednesday

I saw Andre [my psychologist] and then went to fetch my brother from school. I hate doing that because I hate traffic but it needs to be done and I love him, so roll with the punches.

After the most dreadful trip along the M5 I had a great game of dota with two guys from the top clan in South Africa. Wow, those guys are really good. Then I went out with some friends to see the new Ricky Gervais movie, Ghost Town. It was ok, nothing amazing, but it was enjoyable. It's about a guy who accidentally dies and is then brought back to life during a surgery. After this experience he can see dead people and has to learn to be a kind person. It's funny but not the best film I've ever seen. Come to think of it, of all the films in my favorites category, only one or two of them are comedies...

After the film I came home and read a bit, then watched another two films at home. The first was called "The Heartbreak Kid". It was ok, but the story didn't inspire me to take a risk on girls at all, which is something that I have been thinking about a lot of late. So, probably shouldn't take any of the lessons learned to heart. After that I watched a great film called "Numb". Numb is about a man who suffers from depression and depersonalisation disorder, and his journey from trying to find a cure to realizing that the only cure is to learn to live with it. I think that I enjoyed the film because I could relate to it really strongly, specifically because I have experienced a lot of what the character does in the film, and I have made the same journey. When you are depressed you do dumb things, and nothing feels real. I can clearly remember being in a room, but feeling as if I was watching from a third person perspective and not knowing if I am dreaming or if I am awake. It's the most strange feeling that comes and goes even now, but learning to live with it is the only way to improve. If you don't know how depression works it's worth a watch.


Thursday

Thursday wasn't a good day. I started out by going to the psychiatrist and getting the report, only to find that the medical results needed to be in Joburg along with a signed contract by Friday. Unfortunately the doctor I need to see is not available until Monday, so I may only be able to start training in June, which is what I was trying to avoid. Well, life doesn't always work out the way you want it to, but I suppose it's all part of the journey...

I'm going to sit in traffic again now, as I have to fetch Jon from school, which won't be fun.