Epic Weekend Much Much Much!

Whoa…what a freaking weekend…I’m actually relieved in a small way that it is actually over.

Friday evening was supposed to be pretty tame(yeah what was I thinking?) with a couple of drinks with my sister at Cool Runnings in Benoni. It’s always great to start the weekend with an ice cold Hunters and great conversation. I was due to leave when my sister did but I ran into friends that askedme tostay for a couple of drinks and this turned out to be the rest of my evening, with me bumping into more people that I knew that insisted I stay for “one” drink…but it seemed like every time I turned for the door, another drink would appear…must say I had a Tequila Slammer…which proved to be pretty tasty.

I eventually had to drag myself away from the hooligans at Cools and headed over to my intended destination for the evening which was “Book Club” with the gal pals. On arrival I was greeted with the warmest of wishes, a fire in a wheel barrow and sparklers(thanks to MINKI!). The drinks were plenty and we really did have a jol, speaking of life and love and friendships. The evening drew to a close and I greeted sleep with open arms.

Saturday morning we woke up fresh and early, remember Restless Parent Syndrome, and got ready for our paintballing excursion at PaintballCity in Germiston. There were a tota of six of us, three men and three women, and very cleverly(insert sarcasm) decided to have a battle of the sexes. We donned our outfits, where we women looked more like Smurfs and the men like Terrorists and loaded our guns…can anyone say HKGK!

For half of us it was the first time,including myself, and I really did not know what I was getting myself into. After being struck the first time I promptly decided to forget about the flag and take cover for the duration of the game.

The Ginga Ninja dominated the game, capturing the flag for his team 3 out of the 4 games we played. He also barely got shot, until the ast roud where, after he had run out of bullets, tried to make a Geronimo jump over a ditch in an effort to capture the flag, but alas I was waiting(scared outf my mind) at the bottom of this ditch hoping that I wouldnt be shot. Well I was lucky, as he jumped I managed to shoot him in the leg, he fell then  me and demanded my ammo!

Mr Montie perhaps sustained the worst injuries as he landed in a tight squeeze where my sister had the perfect position to shoot him and she did, at close range. Paintballs are not fun, in fact they leave horrible purple welts that are pretty sensitive to the touch.

Ze German played a very tactical game, taking captives, blocking enemies coming from all sides and getting the women to work together as he ended up with us on more than one occasion. In the last round we were able to use his skill to win the game.

Minki was pretty fearless…pushing forward in order to capture the flag.

My sister and I had te same idea, stay put and look after the flag, which is what we tried our best to do.

That said, Paintball is definitely a winter sport. Once all your gear is on, you literally start sweating buckets. It is nasty. Trying to sit and wait for your enemy to sneak up on you, you have sweat literally dripping into your eyes,you clothes are left soaking wet, and it feels like you have lost hundreds of pounds.

Other than the welts, it was great fun, it got our adrenaline pumping and is a definite must, at least once in your life!

That afternoon it was off to a Homecoming party, where we were able to chill and enjoy great conversation and awesome music. The food was great…in fact I have to get the spinach salad recipe…oh my soul it was absolutely devine! We also hada couple of moments with Jeffrey, yeah, he was there too, how do we know….by the call of the birds….kaaa kaaa!

The Minks and I then did something almost entirely unheard of….we went home and were in bed early. But there is always a reason…and this was becuase the following day was the much anticipated bungee jump! This time we wanted to finish the job as the rain interfered with the First Attempt.

We were all up birght and early to go through to Orlando Towers in Soweto. We were a little worried as the morning was heavily overcast, which if it rained, would yet again postpone our bungee jump, which would’ve been completely unacceptable. So off we rushed to get there in time, we got there, already a little bitof liquid courage under our belts. We were told to register immediately because of the impending rain. So off we went to sign our lives away and get weighed and then strapped in. It was then time to go up in the elevator, where we were a little worried as the actually had an elevator repairman working on it with insulation tape. Up we went, right to te top again, where the heavens decided to be kind and the sun shone through.

Minki, being the one with the greatest fear was told to go first by us. It cant have been easy, in fact, I realize it must’ve been almost impossibly hard to do, but after encouragement ad a few tears, she took the leap into space and fell 100m until the rope bounced her back up and down again…Kaaaa Kaaaa!

No one had to tell Duff to jump twice, he jumped off and into the nothingness no problem, but lot his car keys, which thankfully sailed to the mat below. My sister was up next but after seeingte incident with Duff’s keys, realised she had one loose item she had not taken care of.

Her glass eye!

She was about to put it into her bra but luckily they had a special bag they attached to the bungee rope for such occasions(but doubtfully ever before for an eye!)

My sister jumped and then it was me, and for a few moments I actually considered not jumping. My heart was beating a little faster and I realised that I was frightened. Hell it was a long way down!

I got to te patform where they ran through the safety checks swiftly and asked me to stand on the edge with my toes slightly over…well my body did not want this at all, butI raised my chin and stuck my arms in front of me……and jumped!

For the first few moments when you are free falling and you see the ground rushing up to your face at an impossible speed…well…thats when I thought I was going to die! But then te cord pulls you back up and you feel like you are flying, a totally intense feeling, adrenaline coursing through your veins…totally insane. You the go hurtling to the ground again, and I tried to back peddle as much as possible but, gravity says no.

I was lowered to the ground, my body flooded with excitement and acheivement…I had done it, we all had done it….AMAZING…no….EPIC!

We spent the rest of the day celebrating this great achievement.

What an awesome weekend, spent with great friends, old and new and crossing off items from my Bucket List…one by one.

Yes, a fantastic time was had indeed.

Happy New Year!

I’d like to say I’ve been too terribly busy to write a new years post…but it’s more like it has taken me 4 days to recover from the New Years Party. Not that there were loads of people, it was actually just a small crowd, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t rip the ring out of it.

The party was hosted at Minki’s house and began with a”tame” game of 30 seconds…well not really…we had to add a drinking rule and that we did. There were alot of good laughs with the men pitted against the women. At one stage us girls “threw” a couple of rounds just so that we could drink a little more. As for who won? Well the women of course. Not to say that the men didn’t make a valiant effort.

There was drinking,laughter, dancing, a fire that kicked ass until the heavens decided to open and a frank kitchen discussion that had the Minkster(www.minkipraat.wordpress.com) blushing. As the clock struck we all had sparklers thanks to Minks…a cute little touch that was pretty awesome…although I was unable to light mine(I’m blaming the alcohol here). There was an escapade in a car that has left my shoulder a little bruised and a game of Kings that left a table cloth stained with wine.

I fiercely maintain that the bigger the hangover is…the better the party…well this one was huge, all of us suffered on the first day of the year. It was really and truly awesome to lie in the sun and bake, heads pounding, having the occasional dip in the pool and then later to chill and watch the sometimes if not gross antics of “Kenny vs Spenny”(although that didnt help any of our stomachs much when it came to the humiliations).

Regardless of how you bought in the New Year I do hope it was a happy one. If you’ve made resolutions I hope you can stick to them, and even if you don’t, it’s never too late to change no matter what day of the year. Take each day as it comes, some may be spectacularly great and some may be spectacularly bad. There will be changes and some things will remain the same.

If anything this year, resolve to live each day as if it were your last. Get things done, smile, cry, do what needs to be done. Help a friend, ask for help. Take chances, start a retirement fund, skydive, get married, get divorced…dance until your feet are broken, laugh until you cannot speak, open up to the experiences this year has for you.

Happy New Year!

 

Keep on Rollin’

After Friday afternoon’s dilemma, I must say the weekend was well worth the hangover I experienced yesterday.

Friday evening was pretty mellow considering the drink we had, can you say PO10C? I dont know why we even force ourselves to drink something that looks like methylated spirits and has much to be desired in the taste department. But we did it, we drank the bottle. We also had meaningful gal pal chats and good old fashioned dancing. It was also on Friday evening that I realized that I need to start putting my debit card into my purse, as opposed to dumping it into my handbag, which I may fear is also black hole(I am forever searching for something in there, amongst the cash slips and make up and cards and chargers and jewellary, you name it, it’s in there, somewhere). And you know its particularly bad when you won’t even let your boyfriend have a peek inside(I kid you not).

What was particularly interesting was the fact that, for the first time in a long time, my mother and I had a true heart to heart, and for those of you who dont know me, this is pretty big, especiall at 12am a night. Mom, thank you for lending me your ear, it is much appreciated.

I woke up the next morning, somewhere between a hangover and not feeling too bad. The worst being I was up at 6am, and that I had to work that morning. The best about it, having a little sister to make you a cup of coffee.

Work went as it always does on a Saturday…painfully. I tried to while away the hours by actually doing some cleaning, yes I did, I actually mopped floors…[insert startled surprise here]. I’d also like to say thank you to the genius who brought us www.stumbleupon.com , there is no better way to surf the net than stumbling.

After work and a little bit of hurried preparation, it was off to the Wild West again. It was third time lucky for me as I managed not to get lost going there (Fist Bump if you please). I knew we were in for an evening when I was greeted by not only Jaco but also Marius and Schalk. One of the toughest decisions that afternoon had to be whether or not to buy a bottle of tequila. But while we stood there we all seemed to realize it was a really bad idea. So we got another bottle of Vodka instead.

The plans for that evening were simple. Go to the drive in(which I hadn’t been to in at least 20 years), have some drinks, watch the movies and then go home. Nothing is ever that simple though, is it?

We arrived an hour early, obviously to get a decent “parking”, which we did. We all had ourselves drinks and with a couple of blankets, a bean bag and a few pillows we were set. The radio was tuned into the correct frequency and all we had to do was wait. The movies that evening happened to be ”Three Musketeers” and someting to do with love…I cant quite remember the full title. Now I’m not too sure but sometime before the movie began we stumbled upon a dire fact. The fact that Schalks battery as flat, his car battery. It seems not only the radio but an annoying light in the boot of the car that refused to go off were the culprits.

Now everyone must’ve had his happen to them at least once. It is not fun, and it is made much worse when you realize that you have to push start the vehicle in the middle of a Drive In(Blind One), amongst hundreds of other people(Blind Two) and you aren’t quite sober(Blind Three).

Back to this a little later.

We were still adamant to watch the Musketeers movie, the only downside being we had to strain to listen to it from the vehicle next door. It was probably in th first 5 minutes that we realized(at least from my point of view) that this movie was going to be kak. Other than the appearances of Mila Jovovich and John Malkovich, the rest of the cast and the acting was somewhat lack lustre and undeserving of our attention. So we did what any good samaritans do and spoke(if not bellowed) to one another about various “taboo” subjects throughout the movie(well we actually werent ther long enough to see the whole movie but you get the point).

Schalkatang seems to be a very appropriate nickname for Mr Lavis as he demonstrated his simian like skills by throwing stones at Jaco using only his feet. Marius showed us that silence is indeed a weapon(cause that is how he rolls). And Jaco, well, what is there to say about him? Other than being able to easily give me a piggy back to the drive-in bathrooms(I may be a skinny bitch but I am not petite so it is pretty cool that someone can pick me up and carry me a few hundred metres without dropping me or falling over.) but his sense of humour and his enthusiasm are second to none.

Come to think of it, who needs to watch a movie about three musketeers when you are in the very presence of a few.

About half way through the movie it became blatantly apparent that we were just not going to watch the rest of it, so we decided to hit the road. This meant being push started halfway through a movie wiht a ton of onlooker. I did as any woman would do, I promply got into the car and hid my face so as not to be recognised.

I believe all that were in earshot of us were happy to see us leave. Push start and all.

The rest of the evening was indeed very memorable, which I can honestly say, is a welcome change when visiting the West.

The next morning there was an attempt at “cliff diving” which did not go too well. Jaco made a dive but the rest of us were not too interested in getting frostbite(among other things). Due to our hangovers we were also not very inspired and I wore the personality of a rock(merely talking was enough to have my grey matter smoking from the effort).

After an attempt at watching Pirates of the Caribbean and a nap I had to head back to Boksburg….

…..but a trip to the Wild West would not be complete without my getting lost now would it? Indeed I did. And not only once. I found myself in Van Der Bijl Park, then Kibler Park then in the middle of Johannesburg and then in Germistion before eventually coming out in Boksburg. I tell you I was in no mood for it, especially on top of my hangover.

Other than that, the weekend rocked, I loved every minute of it. And although things may no have worked out as planned I’d like to think the journey counts just as much as the destination.