Our House in the middle of our street...

I just have to say that I love meeting people, talking with them, learning about them. There is nothing more poignant than making new friends.

My friends are from so many different backgrounds. Not one of them is the same; each being a veritable individual. We have our arguments, discussions on worldly issues, random banter, and jokes, but accept each other implicitly. I find it is the differences that make these individuals so interesting, and I find them all unique and wonderful.

I pride myself on being a good host to those that visit my house, no matter the circumstance. Friends are always welcome to pop by, and they know they can find a bed, a shoulder, and an ear, in good and bad times. My house has seen a world of people enter its doors, people that come from so many different worlds to my own.
 I have always believed that 'variety is the spice of life', and that it is the differences that make everything more interesting, and it is through that that I have learned to enjoy people more. I have always tried to learn from people, and tried to see how the world seems to them, and I am sometimes surprised by how they answer.

My house is always open to a friendly face, a story, and a cup of coffee between friends, and I hope that people start to understand that it is not through violence and intolerance that we will change the world for the better, but by being understanding, and always keeping an open mind, and a smile.

By Bike

Today, I decided to go to work by bicycle. I wont lie, and say that I was trying to be environmentally friendly, but rather that I am still oddly struggling to get my drivers license, due to a rather unfortunate series of events.
Let me make it clear that I do actually know how to drive, but unfortunately I do not know how to bribe. South Africa has its little quirks, like any country, and one of them is the annoying K53 license, the people who give you the test are hell bent on failing you any chance they get, and believe me when I say, that sometimes the only way to actually get your license in SA, is to grease a few palms.

I decided on going by bike, firstly due to the fact that I do actually enjoy driving around on my bike, and secondly, that I have no other real means of transport, other than asking friends, or my brother, to take me.
I give art classes, predominantly in Oils and acrylics, but I do dabble in the uncharted world of water-paints and gouache. Packing a rucksack with all my brushes, paints, palette, and canvas. I set off to work on my bike at around 7:30, thinking that my trip would take me about an hour, which it did not. I took all the roads that I knew would get me there the fastest, and that were also the most scenic. Why make a trip boring too? I really do love South Africa, there is much left to be desired for sure, but it is truly a beautiful country.
I have been to many places in the world, having been brought up in Zimbabwe, Belgium, and Greece, and also having traveled extensively through Europe and parts of Africa. I have the one advantage of having grandparents in both France and SA, meaning that I 'have' to go visit them both. So I can say without a doubt that I do live in a wonderful country.
I run ever second day, about 10km, and find biking quite different. I was told that it works a whole set of different muscles than running, and I am sure he is right, but I cannot say that I run for that reason, and definitely am not a fitness fanatic. The reason why I run is that it gives me time to think, and to get away from what I usually do everyday. I think of it as meditative.

Maybe it's because this is a stream of consciousness, but even I have lost the point I was trying to make. So I will just leave you with: I started looking all fresh faced and bushy tailed, and arrived looking sweaty and bedraggled.

One of my poems

Untitled

I can hear the sheep all bleating,
hateful looks, all fleeting.
They wish, they want,
they cannot get,
the one true thing they need.

I have heard the preachers praying,
that their jobs are not worth playing,
that they could do with a dime or two,
to find that last liquor drop.

They try to buy their way to paradise,
their broken heart they try to cauterise.
All singing the song that they should have,
the world by a tiny shoestring.

Hugo de Groot 2009

 

Maybe it is the way I look, or the way I act, but people always seem surprised to find out that I actually write, and that sometimes I even go so far as to write poems.  

 

Often, writing is personal, an expression of self, and much like art, writing is ego. Many will exclaim that their writing is just a form of reporting, and has no egocentricity. However, most of them are lying, they write because they want to express themselves. 

I love writing as much as I love drawing or painting; it allows me to confront my fears, make peace with the world, find a solution to a problem, calm the mind and ease stress. I find that writing allows me to enter another world, a place to allow my imagination to run wild, and to place my thoughts.

Furry Friends

One of my many weaknesses is my love of animals.I cannot seem to help it. I have adopted quite a few street animals in the past, and most probably will end up caring for more in the future. It is always a boon to return home to wagging tails, and soft 'meows', from your furry friends.

Madness... nah!

Madness has always been one those things that I could never quite understand. Just because a person thinks differently than you, acts differently, does not necessarily mean they are mad. It might just be that you are the mad one for having such average thoughts, that you end up falling into the trappings of delusion.

I have known for a very long time that I did not want to have the average life, I could not fathom how anyone could be happy with leading a life that was empty of excitement and novelty. Some people are happy with all the ideals of a normal life, but I just cannot find it in my heart to allow myself to fall into the social norms set out for us. I understand the need for stability, but it is one of those things that I have never been able to adhere to. Maybe I am mad, but then, so are the people who have changed the world.

Dread of Morning

I don't know what it is about mornings. There is something so dreadful about having to get up in the wee early hours of the morning and then setting out for the day, maybe it is due to my suffering sometimes from insomnia, or the fact that even when I'm sleeping I have a tendency of waking up at random, but the fact remains that I dislike the whole morning procedure.

I have always found trying to figure out what I want for breakfast a pain, there is only one certainty, and that is, that there is going to be coffee involved. Coffee is basically 'the' lifeblood for the tedium that is mornings, without it I am sure I would not be able to function normally. However, food is always a problem, eating something is fine, but the having to prepare it too, is a schlep. I try to avoid breakfasts that are too involved, those huge 'bacon and egg, with toast, and cereal, and, and, and...', and rather stick to something small, like an apple with a rusk (a type of a biscuit especially made for dunking in coffee, just so that some of my non-South African friends can know what I am talking about). It might seem like too little, but it is enough to get me going, and then maybe have a bigger lunch.

Getting dressed, or actually finding the right clothes has never been one of my problems, and it is not because I have impeccable fashion taste, quite the opposite, I don't really care what I wear, as long as it is comfortable. I keep all my clothes as simple as possible, never owning colours that don't go together, and making sure that everything can be washed with the minimum amount of effort. I am lazy that way. I like to be able to pull any clothes out of my cupboard knowing that they will work together no matter what combination I get.

I think the worst part about mornings is the part where you actually wake up, and then have to will yourself to actually get up. It's a struggle, even if there is something I really want to do. I know the old adage of "The early bird catches the worm", but if I could kill the bird afterwards, I would be just as happy and maybe a little avian homicide would help me sleep a little better, especially since those d*** birds seem to get up pretty early to start their chorus of chirps and whistles.

First try, first thought

It might be a little conceited, but I want the world to know that I exist, and that I want to experience the world like no other, or maybe more accurately, like people that think as I do. I have always been fascinated by every facet of humanity, culture, and a little of everything in general, so it might come as no surprise that I have not found what I really want out of life.

People like me, and most probably you, are dreamers, trying to find the ideal in everything. We spend our time with our heads in the clouds metaphorically, and sometimes literally. We would have been explorers in times past, looking for the unexplored, trudging through the jungles and finding the rare unseen world.

I have travelled extensively, I have seen many parts of the world, but I want to see more of it. I grew up as the child of a Diplomat; never living in one place for more than four years at a time. I seem to be more attuned to travel than most, and maybe that is why I want to see more. If I could find my way to travel everywhere I would do it in a heart beat.

I want to write my thoughts down, what's going on around me, show how I see the world, and maybe you'll find some resemblance of yourself in my writing. I have never walked a conventional path, and probably have no direct route to any of my goals, but hopefully through writing on this blog I will find some cohesion to my world.