Slack Lining

While spending a day in the park, walking in the fresh air and then relaxing under the shade of a tall pine tree, I saw what I initially thought, were some crazy hippie types. I was intrigued as the one hippie type started tying a length of rope to a tree. My initial thought was that she was going to tie herself to the tree in protest of something (as it is her democratic right to protest) but she didn't.  She tied her rope to another tree about 10 metres away. 

Suddenly it made sense, she wasn't a hippie, she was a slackliner - now, I felt bad for having judged and assuming that they were hippie types.  

The line, which is not a rope at all. It's made of flat nylon, the type used to strap motor cycles to the back of trailers, wide enough for the foot to rest on, strong enough to hold a persons weight. 

She got onto the line. One foot on the ground, one on the line. She used one leg to lift her body up. I was intrigued, not at the fact that had bigger legs than I do, but at the fact that she was able to balance from such a precarious start.  

I was fixated as she walked on the slackline. I needed to try it.  I approached her and her friends and she agreed that I could have a go.  It was awesome. I really thought that I would not be able to walk on it, but it wasn't bad at all. It's so amazing how the body starts to adjust to the motion of the line.

I managed to get up to about four steps before falling off. If i had known before Christmas how easy slacklining is to do, I could have saved myself some cash instead of using it on PS 3 peripherals. 

Would I do it again? Yes, most def! 

One more thing ticked off the list. 

All Yoga'd Out

On my journey for inner peace, calm of mind, relaxation of the body and girls in yoga-pants, I decided to try a yoga class with my friend who had previously attended.

I knew exactly three things about yoga before yesterdays class, its meditative in some way, it requires flexibility and balance comes in handy. I've tried to meditate several times before, but I usually end up waking up two hours later - more power nap than meditation. When it comes to flexibility, I'm a little flexibly retarded. The last time I was able to touch my toes without bending my knees was when I was five years old. Balance however, I'm able to do.

My arrival at the class seemed a little too quiet for me, "Ah, people are in the meditative states" I figured. The instructor asked if I had been before, I told her no, so she showed me the breathing technique. She handed me a tissue to disgard the gum I had being chewing, "How did she know I had gum," I wondered to myself. She loaned me a yoga mat, which I was afraid would smell like someone else's sweat - surprisingly, it didn't. She also told me not to drink water until she said it was OK to do so... "This is a Cult", I immediately concluded.

I couldn't wait to start, to sit like Buddha and get my mind relaxed and have an out of body experience.

That's exactly unlike how it happened. The studio was as hot a kitchen on a hot day with 100% humidity. I started to get heart palpitations. I wanted to get out. My eyeballs were drying out. I felt anxious. How long was this going to go on for... I hadn't asked and now I was stuck in front of the class, not knowing what to expect.

During the first 10 minutes, my body was in shock. Just the introductory breathing exercises had me breathing heavily. 80 minutes later, the class ended. I was completely soaked with my own sweat. I had not felt any more spiritually enlightened, enlightenment had utterly eluded me, perhaps I perspired it out.

I had just had a slow-motion workout in a completely humid environment. I'm not sure how good that is for the body. I survived. Bikram Yoga. One more thing of the list.  

The Religious Beggar

I'm not sure what the politically correct phrase for this is - I wanted to refer to the guy as a hobo initially, but I'm afraid the homeless with access to the internet would not have been too happy. I've decided to stick with 'beggar' just to be safe.

So earlier today, while driving through Durban city a beggar came up to my hire car window. He started a small conversation because my window was down. He started off by telling me how wonderful my 'colour' was - I think he was referring to my aura. He then told me how blessed I am and that the Lord is good. I told him not to bother going on, because I'm an atheist. He then told me that Atheism is a new concept, that people throughout the ages had had a necessity to have a god. The best part of this was what he said next:

"Why don't you park off so that we can buy each other a cup of coffee and talk further about god?"

This is a man who had just asked the guy in front of me for some loose change, offered to buy me coffee - not coz he was a good Christian, but because he was sneaky. I know that he was trying to use me. I know he actually meant, "Why don't you come buy me some coffee."

Sneaky beggar did make me smile though.

Be nice to somebody today

Whoo Saaah

Last week while on leave, I was driving around the streets of Johannesburg's northern suburbs, from mall to mall, with no real purpose - anything to relax. The intention of my leave was to wind down, take some time off to watch some movies, play some Wii and not much else.

Now, most people who've travelled to Jo'burg know how uptight and highly strung Gautengers can be (This is the part where the readers who know what I'm referring to would go "LOL"). Anyways, while stopped at an intersection there was an accident right in front of me. I wasn't involved, though I couldn't move forward. I had to change lanes and kinda circumnavigate. The traffic lights continued to change a few times and I missed what would be my normal opportunity to cross the intersection. This was very difficult. I had no space to reverse and had to edge my way into the next lane. Eventually I managed to get in and slip behind a guy already crossing through - but, at the same time, the guy from the other side also tried to make his way through and my enthusiasm blocked him from going all the way.

This is the guy this blog post is dedicated to. The gentleman in the Hyundai H1 who swore me, told me to stop being a f**king c**t, gave me the finger and then sped away.

Whoo Saaah my good man. Take some leave and chill out. Maybe go to a nice beach in Cape Town. Enjoy some Long Island Iced Teas on Long Street. Nothing happened to your car. I didn't see you giving way to the car in front of me. If I had seen that, I assure you, I would have allowed you to pass. I would have tried my utmost best not to make you be late by an extra thirty seconds - Whoo Saah

Liking Gadgets

I've always been a 'liker of gadgets' - and in fact, I consider myself somewhat of a 'thingie gay'. Recently at work, the temptation to buy gadgets and electronic devices has increased tenfold (amongst everyone in the office) in a 'keeping up with the Jones' ' type buying frenzy.

A few months ago it started something like this:

Guy one bought himself an ASUS EEEPC. He liked it  so much, that he bought another one with exactly the same specs. He then bought another ASUS but this time a larger one with more memory and larger screen.

Guy two likes the idea of a netbook and decides that he too will participate in the 'gadgetry acquisition' competition for that month. He gets himself an IBM S10, small, fast and slim and sexy.

Guy three then wins a Dell Mini 10 NetBook - which is not fair coz everyone else had to buy theirs. His one, is small, fast, slim, sexy and shiny.

Guy two then buy an iPad while in the USA and also wins an Amazon Kindle (not fair either). iPad, by virtue of it being an Apple product, trumps all previously purchased netbooks by all other guys in the office.

At this stage guy two is the winner and I'm not even a player at this stage of the 'competition'.  

I (Guy four) then change the game somewhat by getting myself a set of Bose Noise Canceling headphones? No one takes my entry into the game seriously, so I'm obviously the looser. To add insult to injury and to worsen my pain, I ordered a Kindle from Amazon and... to my surprise... they have no stock.

To date my gadgets comprise the following:

• 32" Sony Bravia (already obsolote - HD Ready...not even full HD)
• Philips Home Theatre System (HTS 8100)
• iPod (A necessary thingie gay gadget, in fact, I have two)
• Bose Noise Canceling Headphones (so far the best gadget I have)
• Krups ESpresseria XP 7240(Coffee/Espresso machine Combo)
• Nintendo Wii

I know my collection of  gadgets is not that great from someone who admits to being a lover of gadetry. My limit at the moment is due to money and not the fact that I have no creativity in choosing some thingie gay stuff.

I will soon update my 'still to get list'

Staying Cheap

Several months ago I was writing about what I thought were some interesting techniques to save some cash. It was supposed to be a series on saving money - but that didn't happen as well as I expected it to.

I have the unpublished posts in drafts - if anyone would like to review them before I publish, let me know.

For today however - I want to talk about second hand stores such as "Cash Converters" and "Cash Crusaders".

I walked into Cash Converters last week and was surprised to see the amount of interesting items they had which were in such good condition (which I would buy). They had all the geeky stuff I like - Celestron Telescopes, Onkyo amplifiers, sports watches, laptops, etc..

Where I could see a definite money saver was at the vast selection of DVD's which they stock. I have quite a significant amount of money "invested" in DVD's, but I think that I could have saved quite a bit of money buying most of my DVD's at Cash Converters. I think the most expensive second hand DVD which was on sale was 50 bucks for "Hitch" (www.kalahari.net stock it for about R100). It's not a huge saving and you most probably wont find the DVD which you want, but in the long run, it will save you some cash if you are collecting DVD's and do enjoy watching an original and not a bootleg copy.

:)

Fragrant Red Wine

I dont know much about wine. I know the basic fact that it's made of grapes, and apparently the older the wine is, the fancier! I don't often drink wine and when I do, it's seldom alone. I'm ignorant on the subject of wine. I don't know what a good blend is, I don't know what a sauvignon blanc is and how it differs to a cabernet.

Frankly, to me, a full bodied red wine tastes like the inside of the wooden cask it was kept in (thats probably the only taste I'm able to identify, after "grape juice". I have a suspicion that this however is a characteristic of the wine). If I am drinking wine, I prefer the cheap, sweet variety - I don't have any particular prefernce. By now, I'm sure it's evident that I'm not a regular wine drinker.

What I do like neverthless about the whole drinking experience, the single event which I enjoy the most, the simple thing which entices me - is the smell of the wine. I love to whirl the glass beneath my nose, while I inhale deeply and smell the rich, velvet sweetness of the grapes. I imagine the barrel that the wine had been kept in and the trees that grew closeby. I can taste the nuts and smell the oak.

A memory about a taste

Remembering the taste of strawberries

I'm sure that before this memory, I had tasted a strawberry, but no previous memory comes to mind when trying to remember the first experience of a strawberry.

At the age of five, my grandparents and I went to visit my grandfather's sister, brother in-law and her family in a small town called Vreiheid. They lived on a small holding, in a house made of red bricks. Kobus was their youngest son, closet to me in age, older was his sister Lizette, who wore thick coke bottle spectacles, and her older brother Freddy, he was cool with a blue BMX which had no brakes.

I liked Freddy the most. No one in the family noticed that my granny and I were brown or that we didn't speak the same language. It was ok, Freddy was able to translate it into that fla flum fla.

One day, behind the house, we were playing in the garden. Freddy and Kobus said that we could pick strawberries. I had never seen them in their original form and so, was very excited. We crawled in the rich red soil looking under the strawberry patch, looking for the red fruit. I found one and tasted it, and experienced a strawberry for the very first time.

Back in Action?

I'm not sure if I'm back in action or not. I've been suffering a sever case of bloggers block. I had some posts pre-created, yet I didn't ever post them, due to a slight anxiety.

My point for now however is this, I'm brave enough to expose myself once again and I hope that I continue to post every now and then.

About that time...

Almost the end of a year, almost the start of a new one - looking back, I try to see what I've achieved, based on a list of 'Things I need to Achieve' in the beginning of the year.

I set myself some personal goals, health and well being, personal fitness, etc. being fairly high up on there. Education; registering with UNISA to study a Science degree part time

The fitness aspect has been ok I guess. I started kick boxing earlier in the year, it's kept me very motivated and I'm enjoying it. Cycling however has really come to a standstill though I want to start on that in the beginning of 2009.

Education - I completely missed the open period in which to register, so that didn't happen at all.I want to take a short course in creative writing, guess what, that didn't happen either. I had intentions of learning a new language (from a CD kit) but this also didn't materialise.


I won't say that it's been a bad year, however, I think I could have done a bit more.

Why Stubborn-Delon?

Started thinking, why did I actually name my blog 'stubborn-delon'.

To be completely honest I think I named it that, due to a sheer lack of creativity. My right-side neurons were not firing, I knew I wanted to create a blog, but to name it 'stubborn-delon'... What was I thinking...?

Yes, I am stubborn, but that does not define me altogether. What else could I have called my blog? What other word could I have used to define my 'web presence'?

'Geek-Delon' perhaps - (initially my blog was going to be dedicated to technology)

Maybe something that doesn't contain my name at all - 'Empty and Alone', but that sounds too sad and kinda implies that I'm suicidal.

'Exploits of a Boy Genius' - I've always considered myself a genius, but without the extremely high IQ, kinda like 'Powder' but without the ability to summon electricity and use his other super powers.

With all these possible names however, nothing that I write ever seems to relate to my stubbornness, my boy genius ability, my geekiness or my aloness - so, this depresses me some.

I am unable to define myself - eish, know what i mean?

The Bond – a 'hands on' approach

A bond is the negotiated amount that the bank will give you, the period of the loan and the interest rate. Like the name suggests, it’s a contract between you and the bank. A bank is less likely to grant you a bond if you have a bad credit rating or no credit history. They want to know that they will be able to receive your payments regularly. If they do grant you a bond despite your negative rating, it will be at an interest rate that is not favourable to you, i.e. several percent above the prime lending rate of the Reserve Bank (prime +). This may be your situation if you have been out of the country for a while or haven’t paid any loan or account on time or regularly, or had no clothing accounts(Clothing accounts are important to have to build a good credit rating).

For you to get a good interest rate, you will have to have a regular income, some form of a favourable credit history (credit card, loan) and a reflection that you are a prompt payer.

A standard bond is 20 years which is exactly 240 months (12 months x 20 years). Without getting too technical, let me try my best to explain how to ‘make’ money on your bond. Bear in mind though, that ‘making’ money on a bond is actually ‘saving’ money in the long term.

Let me first point out the important factors which a home owner will need to know, n, i, pv, pmt. (some important terminology)

n is the number of months of your bond, the term of the loan.

i is the interest rate, which is possibly the most important factor to any home-, property-, or vehicle owner.

pv is the principal value – also the purchase value (or the value of the loan)

pmt is the amount you will be paying per period, ie., the monthly repayment

Again, saving on a bond does not provide you with immediate cash in your pocket; it’s not a way of earning an extra income, but a way to save money. The money you will make with this technique is realized when the property is sold or when you pay off the property in less time than anticipated and have that much extra cash per month to spare.

Because this is an equation, each ‘term’ bears influence on the others. However, PV is normally going to remain the same.

The quicker you pay the bond off, the more money you will make when you sell it. One way of doing this is to increase the value of ‘pmt’.

For example:

If your bond is for R500 000 (pv), with i=15% and n = 240, your pmt will need to be R6583.95. I would like to show the equation here, but I wont, due to font restrictions.

If you were to pay 10% more than required that is R6583.95 + R659 = R7242.95 your can reduce your period from 240 months to just 160, which is 13 years.

Do I have your attention yet?

Further to the above example, and for illustration purposes, if you were to double the monthly installment, your bond will be paid off in less than 5 years (52 months to be exact)

Ok, so that’s what happens when we vary the value of pmt.

Next, let’s look at how the interest rate influences your bond term (n) With the values as above, we know that i=15% means that n=240. It would be nice to show the equation with all of these values punched in.

However, if i were reduced from 15 to 14.5… n drops from 240 to 208, which is about 17 years.

We’ve saved ourselves three years by negotiating a better interest rate! If i were further reduced to 14%, n ends up around 15 years or so!

In all bond and loan repayments there is a principal portion (used to pay the bond) and an interest portion - The banks make their money on the interest portion of course.

When we make a payment to the bank, pmt = R6583.95, using the same values as above, in the first month, the value that eats into principal amount is R333.95. The value that is interest is R6250.

Let me expound on this. Your property is owned by the bank until you’ve paid it up completely. In your first month, all that you contributed to the R500 000 house is R333.95. The rest is all interest and goes straight to the bank.

In percentage terms 95% of your first bond installment is contributing to the banks share price on the JSE and a measly 5% is a contribution towards your house.

Now, this mechanism that the bank has does not work in your favour. The first time that the principal portion starts exceeding the interest portion is… wait for it… somewhere between year 15 and 16, that is ¾ down the line. For almost the entire period of your bond, most of what you had being paying was contributing to interest.

How I plan to get money back: Discovery Vitality together with FNB currently offers a home loan. This gives you a chance to re-negotiate your interest rate. Also, depending on your Vitality status, you qualify for up to 10% of your monthly bond payment back as cash per month, up to a maximum of R1000. That means that if I was paying R10 000 into my bond, I will get R1000 back to do with as I please – which for me is putting it back into my bond. :)

In Search of Wealth

Being a home owner has made me aware of ways to save money in the home purchasing arena. There are definitely some things I would do differently next time around, some things that the banks don't tell you, some things you figure out as you go along.

My search for wealth is actually a process of eliminating unnecessary costs and trying to overcome credit card and other debt, searching for cheaper car insurance, life cover and the like, using a Discovery Credit card to get money back on my monthly purchases, etc., etc..

Following Amanda's theme of a series of blog posts, I will do the same and try to keep you coming back for more tips on how to save a few rands here and there.

The Bucket List

I've been quiet, I've been busy, stressed, caught up, suffocating, lazy, pre-occupied and far too tired to blog in months.

In the beginning of the year I drew up a list of things I wanted to achieve for this year. Feeble things to others but significant things to me, health and wellness, language, learning, etc.

It's generally going well, though i have not yet got the 6-pack I wanted. Started kick boxing, cycling a little more though not much else -It's halfway through the year, though I need to start picking up and doing more of what I want.

Now in Orlando, FL

My body is confused, jet-lagged, tired, exhausted. I'm not altogether sure how I feel right now, but its evident - from the bags under my eyes, to my lethargy and waking up at 3am, which would equate to around 10am in South African time.

Well - can you blame me? The trip from SA to Frankfurt was some 10 hours long. On my arrival, I had to set my watch back an hour. Even with this reset - the sun didn't come out until around 9am.

Thoughts on the German Pretzel
For the first time yesterday (at least I think it was yesterday - it could have been tomorrow, but I'm not entirely sure what today is...) I had a German pretzel. I walked around Frankfurt Airport for several hours, passed the same preztel stand numerous times and had been enticed - not by its shape, but at it's size. Let me describe the flavour - imagine rough sea salt on fairly dry bread. Or like pretzels that you find at the shops - but saltier. They make you thirsty and thats why Germans have beer!

Thoughts on Starbucks
Ok, ok, I had to try Starbucks coffee! I could not fly 20 hours and not have Starbucks, right. Imagine it like this - The finest coffee beans from Brazil, Costa Rica and Colombia - done to, what coffee beans have done to them - ground, then have hot water passed through them. No Sugar, no milk and really, very hot - lots of caffeine, cause I'm really buzzing at the moment.

Thoughts on Pizza
Pizza Hut right here at the hotel, sell personal pizza. It's a pizza for one, but really deep, lots of cheese with salami on the top. The whole thing is like greasy cheese on a deep oily donut without a hole, topped with salami.

Boiled Eggs and Chopsticks

Boiled eggs and chopsticks seemed like a really nice title for a blog post. Now however, as I put finger to keyboard, good ideas seem to escape me.

Let me speak about the idea for a minute and where it sparked from. I was at the shopping centre the other day and felt a little bit adventurous. I wanted to try some Sushi. I have tried Sushi on a previous occasion, but, I lack the whole Sushi culture thing. I'm a small town coloured boy - and all I've ever known was bunny chows and fried chips. I don't know the names of the sandwich thingies, the seaweed things or even the rolled salmon things. So, being brave I decided to sample a random pre-packed selection of raw-fish Sush goodness. I ran off home, all very excited and hungry too. I dipped the first piece into the soya sauce and very delicately applied some wasabi using the chopsticks provided.

The explosions of flavour were awesome - yet still I couldn't see what all the hype is about - so I faked it!

That should explain the 'chopstick' part of the title.

The following day I thought that I would employ my culinary talents and create some mean boiled eggs. I did so, boiling those eggs to perfection.

I did the whole 'crack the egg open with the teaspoon move' mushed it all up and applied it to some bread. Boiled egg on bread, just like bunny chow, this is what I'm more au fait with. This is the life I know... :)

Hello World

I know that I've been very scarce lately, looking back, I don't really know why. I did experience a tremendous amount of writers block, which I still seem to be suffering from, in spite of it however, i thought that I would just get this one post out.

More Travel: I want this year to be full of travel adventures for me. I was bitten last year, by the proverbial travel bug on my trip to Holland. I notice that the people with the most interesting stories are the ones that have lived out of the country or have done much travel abroad. I want to sit in a bar over a pint of Guinness one day, talk of tales of helping migrant workers cross the borders out of oppression... or something that sounds vaguely entertaining or even

Losing money: I have been trading forex online with some forex website i found last year. Things in this department have not been altogether successful. As i type this, I am US$ 8 down - not good, especially since i was down $ 25 dollars on Friday. I know and understand the risks, I am not the gambling type, but i remain hopeful.

Making friends: I feel a need to know more people. I like people and I like going out with people. Problem however, is that all my guy friends seem to be getting married. That means less boys nights for me, due to more romancing from them... Go boys...

Heres wishing a great 2008 (albeit Feb) for all those who may come across this blog, regualr and non-regular alike.

Sebagos

As I walked in the shopping mall today, trying to change a pair of over-sized jeans, I couldn't help but notice a pair of Sebago Docksides. My gosh, an instant feeling of nostalgia as I walked back into the store that I had just exited from.

Sebagos were the epitome of 'cool kid'. Sebagos were like the cocaine of footwear.. in price that is!

It was a while before I got my first (and only) pair of Sebagos back in 95, wine red 'Classics'. I wore them for church almost every Sunday, with chocolate brown Dickies, brown check shirt and stretch Paris belt.

I was the cool kid for a while, while I could fit into a size seven shoe. I'll never forget the handmade craftsmanship, the smell of the leather, like a brand new car - the smell that never faded.

It's funny how I coveted those shoes until my dad bought me a pair one year. I saw them today and smiled. I can afford them on my own now, but if I were to buy them, I assure you, it would only be to feel like I did back in 95...

What the ...

This being 25 is still rather traumatic for me. I'm a quarter of a century old for goodness sake. I should know by now what I like, I should know by now what I want to achieve. Instead, it seems that I am experiencing life in a rather hap-hazard way. I should accept responsibility and water the freakin' plants right?

When I was in high school and tech, I always told people that I thrived under pressure - that i enjoyed burning the midnight oil and cramming months of notes the morning before the big exam. Looking back, this was and excuse for laziness and flakiness. I'm just a procrastinator - why should I do it now, when I can do it tomorrow instead?

The reason I admit to this is because in recent weeks I've been feeling an over-whelming amount of work related stress and stress related to social engagements. It feels good to express this right now, so bear with me - hopefully I will get to the point soon. The thing is this, most of my youth was spent swatting, seldom preparing sufficiently but managing to get through. However, being and adult is different - life is not like a school test! The experiences are real. It's not about 'John bounces a ball, how big is the cow?' The tests involve peoples feelings, relationships, friendships. The sad part is, that the major development of who we are, who I am today has taken place a while ago. My characters has been moulded in those days when I was swatting for exams and studying late the night before.

I wonder if I can change who I am? Is it too late?

Round is a shape

I'm trying to get in shape. I've got the gym membership, I've got the bicycle, I've got the time, damn it, I've even got the towel and sneakers, but I just don't have the motivation to do it. In the past few weeks, I've gained a quite a bit of 'meat around the edges' and I just about resemble a 'chunky monkey'.

I know that I've got to do something, just reading the mens health magazine doesn't quite cut it. I need those hours in the gym. I need to cycle, run, row, push some iron, eat correctly and kick the m&m's...