Thank you seems to be the hardest word...

Where have all the good manners gone?

I frequently voice this lament while driving around Johannesburg (and I'm sure it's true of other cities also).  Give someone a gap in the traffic and they may as well give you the middle finger because they certainly don't often seem to say thank you.  Those who use turning lanes to avoid traffic queues, drive the wrong way down a one-way, oh the list is endless!

Stop at the garage for some...um...probably chocolate...and the guy next to you says to the cashier "Give me a packet of <cigarette brand>" with not a please in sight.   Sometimes I just strip gears and turn to the person and ask them if they know how to say please.  Needless to say this is met with a variety of replies, from bashfulness to outright hostility.

Perhaps the worst thing of all is that all too often the children are watching.  Children are always watching, and that's how they learn.  Is it me or do children also seem brattier than ever?

Good manners cost nothing, and speak a great deal about one's character.  I implore one and all:  please save them from their dying spasms.  Let's all say please and thank you today.

When the guiding light dims...

Living a life by a set of principles can be really hard.  I believe in "first do no harm".  I am a vegetarian, do not use products of animal origin (such as leather) and do the best I can to make my footprint on the planet a light one.

This may sound pretty straight forward, but you know, it's very hard. 

I have often used  PETA's (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) list of companies who do and companies who don't test on animals list to inform many of my buying decisions.  While I believe PETA's heart is in the right place, I am becoming quite disillusioned with them.  Companies can easily move from one list to another without any transparency as to the reasons why.  You can write to them, but alas, it would be in vain, as you wouldn't get the answers.  For example, the Body Shop is a company who's founding principles is one of doing no hard to people, animals or the environment.  Sadly they were sold to L'Oreal, who is a terrible company when it comes to the testing of animals.  Now the Body Shop is blacklisted. 

Companies such as Estee Lauder have simply moved from the good to the bad list with nary a reason in sight.  How did they change from angelic to demonic overnight?  When you write to the Estee Lauder company they will insist that they do not undertake animal testing or have it done on their behalf.

I am one of those people who cannot blindly play "follow the leader".  I must have the facts at my disposal.  I must understand WHY.  Is PETA using their position to bully and mislead?  I'd like to believe not.

Most of the companies and products that are sold in South Africa would be on PETA's blacklist.  There is not a country specific list, so we are largely left in the dark.

I write to the companies in question and ask about their animal testing policies, and most of them deny any animal testing.  I try to support South African brands, such as Tiger Brands, who assure me they do no animal testing.

As a South African and concerned citizen of the earth, I'd love more clarity so that I may live according to my guiding principles safe in the knowledge that I am still doing no harm.

Study blues...

And so it is that exam season is upon us.  This time is easily discerned in our household:  the teenager is shrieking about something (what she's actually freaking out about is the looming Geography or Accounting, or whatever, exam).  I can be found studiously working on tasks that have absolutely nothing to do with MY looming exams.  I've done family trees, installed Windows 8, tidied my desk a bit, and studied a grand total of one section of my sociology book thus far.  Hmmm.

To vote or not to vote?

Yesterday's voting left me with some food for thought.  Let me start by saying that I am passionate about the fact that people should vote.  If we did not have the right to vote, it is likely a principle we would die for.  But, since we do have it, many people are seemingly apathetic about it.  They are happy to criticize the government, but do buggerall to usher in a new dispensation.  I suppose it's easier to sit on your arse and moan that it is to take responsiblity for doing something about it.

Perhaps I am being too harsh, and they are making a political statement by not voting.  I would rather spoil my ballot as a counted vote of no confidence than just stay away.  I feel it sends a stronger message.  If a million people choose not to vote, that could be the difference between one party's outright majority ceasing to be, and a possibly stronger opposition.

This election, however, really is a turning point in our history.  Even if the ANC win an outright majority, they have had to fight harder for it than ever before.  The people have had enough, and they are making a statment with their x.

That is all.

Circadian Blegh

Since I was a child, as my parents will attest, my natural rhythm has been to sleep during the day and be active at night.  I very easily and quickly fall into a pattern of this nature.  Needless to say the rest of the world stubbornly refuses to fit in with my natural rhythm.  Once in a cycle, though, it is pretty hard to break out of.

Last night I decided that the only way to do it was to tough it out and get up early this morning, and stay up.  I did manage to get out of bed and crawl to the bathroom hoping a shower would revive my tired body.  It certainly did help, but that warm bed looked at me, so invitingly, it required a good deal of willpower to resist it.

In order to keep myself awake, I did what any sensible person should.  I took the child to school and then stopped off to get a vegetable curry pie.  Nothing like curry in the morning to rev you up.  I think it helped, although I have a feeling I will need to keep the Rennies close at hand. 

I'm off to tackle Home Affairs this morning.  Let's hope I can maintain my equilibrium, especially given that I feel like a fish out of water being awake in the daytime.

Nothing fills the time available

I have exams in five days.  And I have a lot of work to do.  What have I been doing you ask?  Well, plenty.  Plenty of nothing.  Isn't it amazing that in the face of intractable deadlines we find ourselves doing all sorts of nonsense other than what we should be.  We reprimand our children for this, but we are more ADD than they are.

So I've played a little Farmville, a little Frontierville, goofed around on Facebook, and did nothing.  I could be cleaning the bathroom (yuck), tidying up the bedroom (double yuck) or cleaning up my study (urgh).

I've decided that there is really only one way to tackle this most enormous task and that is the Flylady way.  So fifteen minutes at a time.  You can achieve anything if you just do fifteen minutes a go. I get that sinking feeling in my tummy about even fifteen minutes.  I say to myself "tomorrow", but I've been saying that for three weeks. 

Maybe I'll think it over in the shower.

Menopause Madness

Sometimes when you hear women tell you their stories about menopause you might think to yourself they are exaggerating.  It is only when you experience these symptoms firsthand that you realise just how much they understated the matter.

As if the hot flashes are not bad enough on their own (and it's like living in your own little tropical zone let me tell you), there are the mood swings.  I turn from a relatively nice person to the devil in yoga pants.  It is a surprise that my wonderfully forgiving and long-suffering husband has not seen fit to divorce me.  I'm a total cow sometimes, and my fuse is exceedingly short.

I eat a diet high in soya, and soya is supposed to help somewhat with menopausal symptoms, so I wonder how bad it would be if it wasn't for the soya.

The worst is that this can go on for the next ten years.  Urgh.

Somebody rescue me from this menopausal madness before someone murders me.