Letter to my Dad

Dad’s are amazing human beings (just like Mom’s!).  Here follows some great examples why they are SO great …

Dad’s are the “go-to guys” when Mom usually says no.  They are the one to help you with the manly stuff, i.e. the best option when buying a car, new tires, checking your car’s water, oil and tire pressure, hanging up accessories in the house, changing light bulbs, helping you carry heavy boxes, washing the dished (yes, my Dad actually does this!), making the BEST braai EVER and so we can go on for hours. 

But the reason I am writing this post today, is that it is the birthday of my Dad – the most wonderful, awesome and intelligent man I EVER knew.  My Dad is a quiet man (I am very much like him in this way) he is a strong man, a great leader, a sports fanatic (rugby very much, closely followed by cricket and Formula 1), he doesn’t show his emotions, but you get this certain look or smile and you know “I’ve done him proud”.  My Dad is loyal and a very good judge of character.  He is a good listener (not while he is watching TV though!) and hates to be centre of attention.  He LOVES to work on our families nerves – especially if he gets reaction out of it.  He washes his cars every week himself and he takes extremely good care of it – guess that’s where I learned it!  He’s that type of Dad who phones around to get you the best tire for your car, at the best price and he will leave 5 minutes earlier from his work to meet you at the place, so you don’t have to let new tires be put on your car alone.  My Dad is a perfectionist and he absolutely hates a dirty house!  He is a man of few words, but you definitely know if and when you are in trouble.  My Dad goes silent when he is upset.  My Dad NEVER lifts a hand towards me or my sister and he adores my Mom.  His quote whenever they go out for an evening or away for the weekend and I stay behind – “Ek soek nie enige nonsens nie”, which translated in English, is “I don’t want any nonsense”.  Funny enough, I can still remember the first movie my Dad and I went to watch – Lion King 1.  It feels like it was just yesterday.

I definitely have the best Dad in the world and I love him to bits!  He is the greatest man I will ever know and I treasure every moment we share. 

Happy Birthday Dad.  May your day and the years ahead be blessed with love and joy.  May we only make you proud.  You are the best Dad any child could ever ask for and we thank God everyday for a man like you in our lives.

Conventional is a good fallback position isn’t it

Conventional.  What does this mean?  I know conventional as being related to words such as conservative, conformist, straight, predictable.  A proper definition of conventional from Wikipedia are as follows:  “A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom”.

Having the background and the heritage of both French Huguenots and “Boere” and being an Afrikaans South African, I grew up with certain rules, guidelines or a proper way of doing … well, stuff.  This is a very stiff culture – you either do something this way or you are frowned upon by the older generation.  I guess this is starting to change with the new Afrikaans generation making its mark.  Personally I think it is quite sad, as there are great morals and values which are now being completely lost.  But, enough about that, it’s a whole other topic.

I think someone not acting in a conventional manner can be described as a rebel.  A rebel is daring, unique, an individual trying to make a mark in society – this is how I see a rebel.  Why shake hands the conventional manner when greeting a stranger when you can just, well, hug him or her?  Why drive on the right side of the road, why not the left?  Why work when you are done studying instead of becoming a beach bum? 

It is just SO easy for us to fall back into our conventional manner when we are uncomfortable.  We lose our uniqueness.  Don’t take the easy escape road of quickly changing to conventional.

Come ON, BE a Rebel!!

Fantasy Worlds

I am a sucker for a good book or film.  I am talking about the fantasy type of books and films, not necessarily romance, adventure or comedy – although fun to watch.  I absolutely HATE horror – I won’t sleep for weeks.

I am currently busy reading the Harry Potter series.  What a fantastic story!  I watched the films before I read the books.  As we all know the books are always better than the films.  I was SO upset when I found out how much information and details was left out of the films! 

Not only in the Harry Potter series, but in all I read and watch, I live myself into this amazing world of magic and danger, magical creatures and a whole range of different characters.  I love putting the puzzle together, just to find out that a crucial part is missing and plotting what will happen next.

How wonderful would it have been if such worlds did exist?  Or do they exist?  Sometimes I wonder by myself of this possibility.  I wonder if we really know of everything happening around us. 

I admit, I have one wild imagination.

You cannot chase 2 rabbits at the same time

Thinking about the strange scenario of chasing two rabbits at the same time just seem utterly ridiculous.  I have this image in my head of me trying to split into two, just to be able to run in different directions, falling around, slipping though heaven knows what and in the end not even catching one rabbit. 

Impossible?  Maybe not, but hell, it’s going to be one heck of a mission or is it?  This image makes me think that we are usually trying SO hard to get around in doing as much of as many different things we possibly can at once, that we do not plan accordingly, do things half-heartedly and completely miss the point. 

We have to priorities our personal and professional lives to be able to cater for more than one “rabbit”.  

My First Congress

My place of work gave me the opportunity of attending my very first Congress at the end of August.  Imagine my surprise when I received the e-mail of confirmation.

A colleague was busy putting together a poster on a Bluetooth exercise he did at one of the Universities.  As the information he gathered was lacking, he asked me to add some of the information I had on my companies Facebook and Twitter sites.  I included the information and to my surprise he added me as co-author of the poster. 

It was one of the greatest feelings ever.  I am 23 years old and I have the opportunity of doing a poster at a Congress.  Although my Manager highlighted to the committee that the poster should have been a presentation, her suggestion was turned down.  Even this could not bring the excitement down, as I will still be “visible” at the Congress.

It just goes to show that with hard work, good ideas and good relationships you will get rewarded in some way or the other.

The Dangers of an Idea

Alain made the statement that “nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you only have one idea”.

In my opinion this is a very true and strong statement.  Put yourself in the position of having a fantastic idea.  You are extremely excited, but yet, you do not know what to do with this idea.  Hence, your brilliant idea is wasted.

An idea needs other ideas to formulate it into becoming a reality.  We have to keep trying to think of new ideas to keep our creativity flowing.  If not, we might risk the danger of becoming complacent in with the way things usually are.

Have an idea?  Write about it, blog about it, sing about it … just don’t let it be the only one.