My new Favourite

Thanks to my friend Linda, I have found a new favourite website.... http://icanhascheezburger.com/ and here are some of my favourites

The Cape Town Stadium

I think ours is better

TV Porn

I don't know why I do it to myself, but I listened to that ignorant, opinionated ass of a Gareth Cliff this morning on 5FM. He was going on about the small group of people dictating to DSTv about the porn channel. For those who don't know, our local satellite channel wanted to add a pay per view porn channel to our TVs, but decided not to do it, after the majority of their viewers decided against it. So this morning the radio DJ had a issue about it again saying they are weak and lily-livered.

Now make no mistake, I have nothing against porn. I think its very cool, but half the fun about watching porn is having to do it in secret so your boss doesn't catch you, or your partner doesn't walk in on you, or your mother doesn't open the bedroom door.

Secondly, I am very sure that the porn on TV is going to be straight porn only, and there is just nothing natural about straight porn.

A Stolen blog

Ok, so today I stole this blog idea form Wozzel and A Million Miles From Normal, but it is so funny, I had to...

Here is a link to some really funny graphs, but this one is my absolute funniest:

The B day of the big CN

As you may or may not know, today is Chuck Norris's birthday. This morning there were a few new Chuck Norris jokes on the radio which I really enjoy and its always great when you have never heard tehm before, so here goes a few, if you have any more (that we havn't heard before) give em to me...

Chuck Norris can Mixit from a public phone....

Chuck Norris went to the VIrgin Islands once, and they are now called....The Islands

When Chuck Norris plays Monopoly, it really effects the world economy...

and my favourite....

Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer....

Now go onto goolge and typ "where is Chuck Norris" and hit the "I'm felling lucky" button....

The Bread Wagon

This is the new company car I am driving around in. I wish I could call it my passion wagon, but I can't coz I ain't feeling any passion driving in it. Therefore it is the Bread Wagon. I feel so depressed.

Oscar night

Tonight is the screening of the Oscars that happened in Hollywood last night. If you want to watch is tonight on TV, and don't want to hear anything about winning, go to another blog now........


Firstly, I don't understand why MNet decided it was a good idea to screen the Oscars tonight INSTEAD OF Grey's Anatomy. Do they really think there are that many South Africans who care about the Oscars, that they can just bulldoze Grey's. What are we supposed to do tonight???

Then. I saw Avatar, and thought it was good. Was it the best movie I have ever seen.... No. Was it worth winning an Oscar for the best movie this year.... No. However. I am pretty sure that the whole world is sick and tired of hearing about America's glorious war in Afghanistan. The movie that won best picture and best director is The Hurt Locker. Yet another movie about the reason why America is in Afghanistan, or how they are saving so many lives in Afghanistan...I mean who really gives a toss????

Yes I did not think that Avatar was the best movie ever, but I am pretty sure it was better than another American war movie.

The fact that Avatar was the highest grossing movie of all time, also doesn't hold much water with me. That just means that their marketing machine was working well.

So tonight I have to watch how the Americans glorify themselves and justify their war in Afghanistan AGAIN, instead of watching Dr's fight about who is going to take out a spleen.

Its the weeeeekkkkeeennnddd baby

Its Friday. I can not tell you how happy I am its Friday. Two days of no work, and the first week at the new job out of the way. At least I got a few appointments in this week already. I am not sure what is going on with me at the moment, but I am feeling like I am drifting in and out of reality and life. Sometimes I am here and in the moment and living it and going for it, but then all of a sudden, I check out and find myself somewhere completely foreign and so disconnected from my surroundings. Its gotten so bad that people at the new job had remarked on it and asked me where I am and what I am thinking of. Its quite scary.

Then there is the new job. The people here are really unhappy. They all complain and slant the bosses and its really worrying.

So today I am in that checked out mode. Things are really flying past me today and its just not sticking.

WHAT TO DO

Arts & Culture

There is a hell of a lot of talk at the moment in the country about the reaction of Lulu Xingwana, minister of Arts & Culture, in Johannesburg. For those who don't know the story, a brief synopsis:

Minister arrives at art exhibition sponsored by her department for R300 000.
Minister sees photos of black woman nude and embracing by Zanele Muholi.
Minister storms out of exhibition calling photos "pornographic" and "immoral" and "against nation building ideals".
Country very upset.

Yesterday I spoke to a friend who called her a representative of our constitution, and it does not matter if she has a personal dislike for the material. I now realise, a word for word quote by someone else.

My issue is as follows. If she had an issue with the nudity and the pornographic nature, I agree with her. I am equally disturbed by how many "artists" get away with palming off porn on us, labeled as art. When does porn become art? Is a picture of male genitalia art when its on canvas, but porn when its on my cell phone? I do agree that our society has lost allot of moral ground because we desensitise our self with pornographic images in the name of art.

Young school boys and girls can buy an art book portraying images of naked males and females, in very provocative poses, but they are not allowed to buy a Hustler magazine. Now there is the idea that porn is made for sexual gratification, and art is done for the artistic value. A 13 year old boy is going to get exactly the same "feelings" from an "art" book as he is going to get from a porn magazine. I also don't think that just because she is the minister of arts & culture, she has to abandon her moral fibre, or is it accepted for ministers in this portfolio not to have a moral compass at all. I believe that if something is offensive to her, she has the right to express it. I also don't like "nude" art, as I think it is something private, and people who pose for this, has no inner moral shame or respect for themselves.

On the other hand, if she stormed out because it was two woman embracing, again, I agree with her. It is against nature for two woman to be together, and for a man and a woman.... It should be men only!!!!!!!

Seriously though. I am not as upset as the rest of the country. I believe she has a right to say if something offends or crosses her own moral boundary, and that boundary should not move because of a job, or because of the nation saying so.

EVERYBODY...get off your high horses, and look at your own moral compasses.... Besides, have a look at the artists work, Zanele Muholi, some of it is really not fit for showing in public.

BAFANA BAFANA

So is anybody else cringing for the World Cup....

100 Days

So today we celebrate the 100 days until kick off for the 2010 World Cup of Soccer. Whoo Hoo!!!! Everybody is so excited and cant wait. Well that is what they said on the radio this morning. Everybody was supposed to be wearing something in the South African colours, however there were very few people who where wearing something South African. Maybe its got to do with the fact that FIFA has changed its mind on the over 400 000 overseas visitors they were expecting. Maybe its got to do with the fact that thousands and thousands of tickets were returned from overseas clubs because they could not afford to travel to South Africa.

Once again the ugly side of the tourism industry reared its head. The greedy "lets take the foreigners for a ride" side. Hotels who used to charge around R1500 per night is now charging R5000 - R7000 per night. Airline tickets are reported to have gone from R2500 to around R9000 for a domestic ticket. No Wonder nobody wants to come here. Do they not realise that this "great gift" of hosting the World Cup was a mission from the get go. South Africa is not just a 2 hour flight away from Europe (the biggest soccer supporting nations), its a 12 - 14 hour flight, which means getting here in the first place is very expensive. So now they decide to price the event completely out of the market by increasing the domestic service. It doesn't matter, they pay in pounds....

I for one hope the world cup is an international flop. That way they will have to give the tickets away to South Africans, and the hotels and airlines can suffer, like they should.

But that is just my opinion.

My First day

So I started my job today, after being at home for the past month. I am so nervous and the whole new guy thing is kicking in. On top of that, they are expecting me to just jump in and start bringing in business. The office and the people are nice, so I should be fine.

Its really tuff though to start a new job and having to find new friends amongst people who have been working together for ever, and to have to establish yourself again, but it had to be done and I had to leave my previous job. The fact that I left one job I hate to go into the same thing, is not to be mentioned right now.

I work with 5 girls and two other guys, of which one is gay and the other is...actually I am not sure what he is, but he sort of keeps to himself and another girl here. All in all, they are a bunch of very quiet people. Not really the norm for me...

Spain Photos

So here is a link to my Picassa web album for my trip to Spain.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jacobccoetzee

Valentines

So as you know by now, I am out of a job, due to my own choice, but being my turn to do something for valentines this year, I was crapping myself. So finally I found something that was affordable and still fun to do. I organised a sunset hike up Klapmuts hill (a hill in the Stellenbosch wine lands) and a picnic at the top. I thought it was great! Hiking up through the vineyards reminded me of Spain again. I so desperately want to be back in Spain walking the Camino. And your back in the room. So the evening was great as we had a nice picnic on the hill with very sweet J C Le Roux sparkling wine, vomit! Walking back we walked in the dark with torches. I hope T enjoyed it as much!

My piece of joy.

As part of my quest to stay out of jail due to bad debt, I joined a casting agency as an extra. We shot an ad for M&M's today where we were in a park and then hundreds of bouncing egg shaped M&M's falls from the sky. It was so much fun. I felt like I was in my own version of the Bravia tv ad with all the colourful councy balls. This was during one of the breaks after all the balls had been dropped. It was great! Even if my neck got crispy-fide and it wasn't fantastic pay.

Its been a long night

Last night we went for prawns (not the District 9 type) at 2 friends place. Tristan had maybe one glass of wine too many, and we only left at about 1 am. Roughly 4 hours past his bed time. So today he is passed out on the couch. I am not sure what Lucca's season is!

One week on

So today it has been a week since I resigned, and I have still not found a new job. Its getting very stressful now, and I am not sure what to do. I need to get a job right now because I have bills to pay, however, the only thing I find myself applying for is for sales jobs again. The problem is however much I hate it, I need to do something while I study to get into the Ad industry. I could just not be at my previous job for much longer. So now I am just applying for anything, and when I hear the job, my stomach turns again because I know I am going to be in the same situation of hating what I am doing and be there for who knows how long. I feel like sitting in a corner and just fading away. The end of the month is drawing near and I am still a sales rep. Other than sales, I don't know what to do. I have to work to pay for studying. Its all a little crap right now.

Day 1

Today is the first day of my job-hunting. I have chosen to call it "job-hunting" and not "jobless life" as previously thought of. I resigned yesterday and was told to leave yesterday. This is normal practice with key personnel. Its so you don't poach clients while you are in your last month, or don't steal secrets from the hard drive. It makes me feel a little good: At least I was considered key personnel. I have been looking on all websites already for a new job and will be doing so every day.

I must admit though, every now and then I get this fluster of panic where I think about the 1st of March an dont d not having a new job yet by then. Then I sit in a corner at home, cry a little, and feel like jumping off the roof of my house. When I realise that this will only make me break some bones, I get over it and go on. I have never been in this position before. I have been retrenched before, but have been able to find a new job within the first few days.

Although it is great to be able to look for a job from home, it really does feel a little hopeless. At least if I had to work my last month notice, it would have felt like I was still working and doing something. Now it just feels like I am jobless at home....

So please send me any and all job opportunities to keep me from standing on the street corner with my cardboard sign.

Keeping you updated

Its been a very long and very tuff few weeks back form Spain, and its now culminating in me resigning from work and leaving the same day. I have a month to find a new job.....Will write again when I have something to write about.

2010

Its a new year. Its 2010. Its South Africa's big chance to shine!!!

I want to vomit.

I came back from my amazing pilgrimage and all I wanted to do since I have been back here, was to go back there again. I started working again this week. While on the pilgrimage I realised that I am on a career path that I am not happy with. I don't want to be what I am. The problem is that I don't know what I want to do. At work things are returning to normal. The pressure of finding appointments is in full swing, and that is what I hate. I don't want to battle to find appointments, and then go to them and beg them to stay in our hotels. I am sick and tired of doing that. I want a job where I do something completely different, maybe a little more creative industry than tourism.

2010 is not starting out very well for me. I have figured out that I don't want to be in the career I am in anymore, but I don't know what I want to do. On top of that, I only know how to be a sales person, as that is what I have done my entire working life.

Blog posts will slow down dramatically for now, as I am not very inspired at the moment, and don't really have much to say.

Happy 2010!!!!