This Week...

1. I decided I was finally going to back up my entire photo collection to Flickr, so they'll be kept safe and cozy, long after all of my hard drives die. Only after I had paid money for a subscription, did I realize the upload speed was so slow that it would take my computer running 24/7 for 4 months to upload all of my photos. And now i'm committed to it. Commitment sucks! This is why i'll never let myself get married. I blame Flickr. So my poor computer has been running for 4 days now, all day and all night. I feel horribly guilty. I keep wanting to offer it a refreshment or bake it some cookies to thank it for its tireless work.

2. On Monday, I planned on taking a long walk up to the hills and sit there (as I often do), and Dog tricked me into taking her with me, by spinning in circles at the door and being cute and wuffly. In a moment of weakness, I forgot that she doesn't like me and so I brought her along. I spent two hours sitting on the most glorious mountainside with her staring up at me with absolute contempt in her eyes.

3. Too many people I love are suffering this week, through various unfolding situations. Some people I love suffer because of terrible things they can't control. Some others suffer because their in situations where rational thinking has gone out the window. Having spent 25 years of my life thinking irrationally, it hurts my heart to see it in others. To be helpless is to suffer.

4. On the positive side, i've spent so much time this week reflecting on impermanence. Good things will never last, but neither will bad things. Everything passes, and that's really quite awesome. I'm facing up to a really, really icky reality this week which is probably in my 'top 10' of 'really unpleasant things that can happen to Mo'. But honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Love and grow.

5. On my 'fun run' last night, the moon was bright and the water in the bay was completely calm. It was absolute bliss. I sat on a rock and let a little spider crawl over my hand. So much love.

6. Yesterday I shamelessly allowed the girl at the Clinique counter to spend an hour or so giving me a complete makeover. I like to think that they enjoy doing this, so if it made her happy, I feel less guilty. In the end, my face just looked fuzzy and orange. It's lovely to know that I don't need to spend £150 on makeup to feel beautiful. I'm lovely and beautiful just the way I am.

7. It was Cricket @ Skukuza this past weekend! This means it's been a year since I was in Kruger. This confirms that i'm not imagining things- this has definitely been the shortest year of my life! Probably the very best, but definitely the shortest. I even squeezed into last year's cricket shirt to mark the occasion.

8. The cricket shirt was definitely tight, because as of today, i'm on Day 11 of Pancake Week! This means i've had pancakes for two meals each day for the last 11 days. At first I was ashamed of this, but now I realize that it just another thing that makes me awesome.

9. I caused a little stir on Facebook this week, by posting photos of my beautiful pet python, who i've had for 11 years. I didn't expect so much negativity! A few people I love and care about made some painfully disapproving comments, which were enough to make me remove the photos. But one friend I haven't heard from in 10 years, sent me a long message which concluded with the idea that I needed to be 'taken out and executed' because I kept a pet python. I wanted very much to reply that in 11 years, my morals and views on animals rights have changed and that I will never, ever keep a large python again, but that since Kitten was my responsibility now, I am committed to him and will give him the best life he can possibly lead. But I didn't want to do this, so I 'un-friended' her.

10. I don't like that I have words like 'un-friend' in my vocabulary now. I would love to leave Facebook. I don't like that i'm bound to it. In the past, it's made me quite the stalker and it hasn't been entirely healthy. I watch my mom waste countless hours each day with her 'Facebook friends'. She hasn't met a friend in person for years and years. It breaks my heart. I hope I can set an example by leaving and re-learning how to communicate using such things as letters and telephones. Honestly, what I really need is for all of my good friends to join the SANParks forum. Then I could leave Facebook behind for good! I can dream.