Reading Material for Bored Minds

2007-06-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

it has been an absolute age since i frequented the old blogstead. absolute age. i cant believe im back. as you all probably know, the facebook craze has gotten a hold on us all. even gordon. and thats saying something.
so if any of you ever get a facebook, you can look me up. im there. with pictures. but no amusing stories. alas.
so we just got back from our north american adventure. and let me clue ya, it was a goooood time. i enjoyed every minute. every single minute was enjoyed. but im not going to wax eloquent on our US/Canada trip... im going to wax eloquent on the WORD AND DEED BIKATHON!!!
so word and deed arranged a bikathon to raise money for my mom's clinic. noble of them, it realy was. they raised alot of money. however, we miskins youths were recruited for the charity bike ride. and we, being of the miskin consitution, did not relish the thought of going 20 or 50 kilometers. it was done tho. we did the 20.
so at about 9AM we set off down the keldermans drive way, to the church where we would be given the bikes that were being loaned to us. they were... amusing to my mind. i found mine, and promptly burst out laughing. it was a schwinn. one of those granny kind of bikes. with the nifty little rack things on the back. complete with elastic band things. morgy had a different kind of bike, which would later prove to be not so great.
anyhow, we set off to jordan all happy and great. it was an hour bus ride or so, to the place where the 50 km riders would start. good times. we dropped the 50 riders off, and cheered their brave nobility. then we sat back down on our bus seats and heaved a sigh of relief that we were not one of that number.
about 15 minutes later we were dropped off on the 20 km starting point. there we had a few problems...i couldnt get my bike stand thing to go back up, and gordon had to raise his seat. after these were solved, we set off.
a couple kilos down the road we hit the niagra falls. a few minutes after getting there, and after almost running down a few thousand japanese tourists, i got off my bike (which by now had about 4 water bottles piled on the back thingy) and pushed the cumbersome contraption through the masses. i got some strange looks, but thats ok. i mean, not many tourists bike past the niagra falls, so its understandable.
anyhow, after the falls came a hill. it was a rather large hill, and wiped most of us out. however, i bravely pedalled up the hill. it was tough, however. and a trial of one's endurance. we made it however, and proceeded down a barely discernable incline. the wind was pleasant upon our visages, as it was a particularly hot and muggy day.
about two hours later we pulled up to what we thought was the end of the road. we heaved a sigh of relief, only to suck it back in in dismay when we were informed that there was a mere 11 km left to go. woopee, i thought. only 11. and here i thought we had reached the end of this exercise. owell. after drinking enough water to douse a rather large flame, and waiting for morgy to return, we set off on a pretty serious downhill. poor hannah kelderman went crashing into the bush... but she took it like a trooper. i admire that child immensly.
so the last 11 km were a torturous affair. i thought it would never end. it did, however, and i was never more glad to cast a bike from me. (figuratively speaking, i didnt actually cast it)
we ate hot dogs for supper. and got home at about 11 that night.
i tell you, i slept extremely well that night.

testing testing 123...

2007-04-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

its been forever since ive updated. and blogger wouldnt allow me to post. so this is a test to see if it will work.
if it does, i will use this computer for my blog, and update for real during the week.
thank you for your patience...

township sunday

2007-03-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

about two weeks ago we miskins went out to the rural area, hamanskraal. my dad was going to preach in one of his student's churches. the student's name is oupa. dad preached two sermons, both of which were translated into Tshwana (im not exactly sure how to spell that...) by oupa.

the first service was at about... 9:00. it was in a small little room, that was packed to capacity. there was very little sitting space. our family was going to sit in the front row, on an uncomfortable little iron bench. there was, however, not enough room for us all. as i was looking for a seat, i noticed some frantic waving from the back from some youths. they were pointing to a small space on the bench, where i could sit. why not? i thought. so i headed all the way to the back of the packed little hall. the bench in front of me was almost on top of my knees, causing me to have some major claustrophobia. they did move the bench up however, so it got better. so that was a major... culture difference for me. it was good though.

the second service was at about 11:30 or so. this one was a longer one, since mom was doing a little talk on prayer for the youth after the sermon was finished. at one point in the service dad was talking about how Christ was beaten, and he asked "did He fight back?" which was translated. dad intended to answer the question himself. but one man, who was listening with rapt attention answered "NO!" :)

and i failed to mention it was one of the hottest days of the summer. and all the black men in the congregations were wearing a suit coat. so it was a very interesting and good experience for us miskin youths to go out there and experience that.

it made me appreciate the fact that our church we have nice, relatively comfortably plastic chairs. that we dont have a little hall packed to bursting point, with temperatures akin to a pizza oven. it made me appreciate what all i do have. its easy for me to concentrate on what i dont have. to say "oh, i wish i could see so-and-so" or "i wish i had that" or something to that effect. but those people have so much less than me. and it opens your eyes and shows you that you have alot. and it makes you wish you had never moaned, coz you really have more than enough.

btw, i felt very pale that sunday...;)

the results of the miskin kids being home alone with nothing to do...

2007-02-16T04:44:00.000-08:00

well, like this title suggests, we were home alone. my mom and dad had gone to Bible study, and we were just sitting around talking about the cheesiness of some people on Valentine's day. so then we hit on writing poetry, and we came up with a few limericks... there are four stanzas, and i will put them all up. i came up with most of the first lines, and gordon and morgy helped to fill in the blanks, since i had many of those...:) ENJOY!!!

1. the man, to his true love:

When i think of your eyes that are green,
they remind me so much of a queen.
Every time that you grin,
I go into a spin
and I feel like Ive ruptured my spleen!

2. the woman's loving reply to her beau:

Darling your lips are like roses,
They cause me to think about Moses.
They're so full of hair,
I dont know if they're there,
Espesh when your whisk'ry mouth closes.

(some poetic license was taken in the last line of this stanza, the word "especially" would have been too long)

3. The man's affectionate reply, dwelling on personal beauty:

Darling, your voice like a chopper,
Is seen by most as improper.
Every time that you bellow,
I'm a quivering fellow,
And i feel like I've just some a cropper!

4. The woman's enamoured response, dwelling on physical beauty:

Dear heart, your nose like a dagger,
Oft times sets me a-stagger.
If too quickly you grab me,
Take heed! lest you stab me,
Yet i mean not to sound like a nagger.

i think we miskins should either start a talk show in which we speak of the general flaws of the human race (ourselves included) or publish a book of satirical writings. what think ye?!?!?!
till lata!!!

convention get together

2007-01-31T09:42:00.001-08:00

last friday, we miskin youths (at least, gordon and i) had a whole buncha people over. namely, people who went to convention with us last year. convention is a long story, i'll save that for another rainy day.
so to remember good times, we had a get together at our place on friday. we had about 12 people over, if im not mistaken. the shindig started at 2:30 on friday afternoon, and we estimated that it would end at about... oooh... 7:30.
so the fun got underway. people started arriving, and things started going. first, the guys played some computer games and such, and the women (the girls, including me...:D) went and prepared food for the mongolian barbeque we were going to do later. i had to boil about three tons of egg noodles.. woohoo. the rest of the girls cut up veggies and stuff... and raw chicken.
after that was all done, everyone decided the pool looked extremely inviting, and alas, no one had any swimming attire with them (except lydia who was sleepin over, and me and gordon, coz we live here..:D) then corrine and marni could take it no longer, and they borrowed a shirt from morgy each, and went flying into the pool. that opened the floodgates, of course, and soon every time i blinked, some guy would run past in a pair of gordons shorts... i had to rub my eyes out to make sure i wasnt seeing things...
anyhow, after a swim, we all got out the pool and went to make ourselves supper. it was a good time. we all had to grill our own food... poor emile was last in line. so long was he in line, in fact, that he ate all his raw green and red peppers. he didnt want raw chicken on his plate because of some bacteria that would infect his plate... emile is very clever. and very cool...
anyway, then we chillaxed and later we watched a movie... everyone left at 12:15 or so. now, pics.

since then, we've just been going to school and having a blast at school. at least, i have. school is soooo much fun. i have lots of friends this year, in contrast to last year, when i was still mopey, boring and weird...;) this year is cool. i hang out with lydia, and she DEFINITELY makes school as much fun as it is. without her i wouldnt have NEARLY as much fun as i do. honestly. otherwise, im friends with ethan, and nathan. and emile. and zacki, who is extremely cool. and a whole bunch of people.
nothing HILARIOUS and funny has happened as of late, but i thought to myself today "my poor readers... suffering because of my long sojourn in the land of silence. its about time i went to lift their spirits and post on something... if not funny, then at least it will be a post"
and LO AND BEHOLD!!! i come to my site, and the only new comment is a plea from the very heart of erika "UUUPPPPDATE!!!!"
so here you go, erika.
and the rest of you.
tara for another month or so... KIDDING!!! sooner than that i hope...

at very long last!!!

2007-01-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

well well, its been a while since ive written anything about the old homestead on 24 freeland. or on our lives. wow. it has been a long time!!!
weeeell, i suppose i can bravely pull up my socks, eat an energy bar, stiffen my upper lip and tackle this large task. keeping you all (relatively) updated really is such tough business.
on the "work" side of life, we're all back at it. mom is back at the clinic full time. everyday excepts weekends. during the holidays she took a day off here and there to sort out the house. so shes back at the clinic. dad went back to lecturing at Mukhanyo today. and we three youths of africa are... back at school. we went back last wednesday. weewee!!! its actually not that bad, once one is back in the swing. in fact, after a measely week of school, it feels like i was never gone. weewee!!!
this school year brings some interesting changes. this introduces the "change" side of life.
1. we miskins now eat good ol' brekkers as a family every morning at 7:00 AM sharp. i suppose the principle behind the idea is noble and true and great, but its not always such a topping way to start off the day... some days we dont say a word, coz we're all too tired. either way, thats the scoop.
2. we have a new teacher upstairs. auntie karla. she makes things much more efficient and... well, organized. see, uncle johan (or sir) was/is not very bothered by admin and organization. so now we have this new teacher, who is all into "procedure" and checking goals and stuff... sigh. where have the good days gone?
3. along with auntie karla came a host of new names for us... nicknames. like "mr. moppet" or "mrs. muffet" or "pops" when was the last time uncle johan called me "my pops"?!?! NEVER!!! id keel over if he ever did... either way, im glad im not in a class with auntie karla (explaining the structure of our school down to the details of classroom arrangement is work enough for another post...) coz if i was in a class with her, i would be subjected to much humiliation and much "mrs. moffet"-ing.
on the "humour" side of life, there is much to be said. i mean, we're The Miskins!!! humour. its a good time.
so the other day at table we were discussing how ppl in the Bible times used to rent their clothes alot. so gordon said "they must have had alot of robes..." so i quipped "well, if you had a look in David's closet youd probably see two sections... robes for wearing and robes for tearing!!!" and if that wasnt enough to set the fam rolling, i then added "he could have written a book!!! 'the wear and tear of daily life'!!!" my family thought that was brilliant... i myself didnt see it as that hilarious.
apart from that, we laugh alot at school when we're not working. at break the other day, my friend lydia, me, morgy and elaine were sitting watching the guys playing hand tennis. lydia then said something that shocked me, and i grabbed her water bottle saying "i shall pour the waters of shame upon you!!!" meaning to sprinkle a few drops on her leg... in my enthusiasm and fire for correction, i squeezed the bottle a TAD too hard, and poured the rivers of shame on her leg!!! poor child, she went to class looking like she had drooled on herself (from when morgy sprinkled her) and her pants were wet, from where the rivers of shame flowed... good thing the pants were black...
apart from school, there really is no news. mrs. faasse is arriving tonight... WEEWEE!!! we're all gonna go fetch her at the airport... the only down side is her plane is landing at 10:00 PM, so im gonna be totally dead tomorrow... we'll see how i cope...:) wish me well!!!
you know what my punch line of the week is? neither do i. help me think of one...:)
kk, see you all later...
enjoy!

what happens when the miskins go hiking...

2006-12-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

yes, we miskins went on holiday last week. and yes, we did some serious relaxing. and yes, alas, we did go on a hike. do you really want to know what happened?! of course you do!!!

well, there are three trails to do at the farm where we were staying. one trail is an all day trail. the other is a five hour trail. and the last, easy, trail is a 5.5 kilometer, 2 1/2 hour trail.

so dad decides, we miskins are going to do the easy trail!!! TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!! POOH!!! we will do it in less, he boasts confidently. ok, we agree. sure, we'll hike the less-than-two-hour-trail.

so we kiddies are aroused at 7:30 on friday morning to go hike. i didnt even shower. alas though, we peer outside, and lo, there are clouds that descendeth!!! so after speculating for about half an hour on wether it was going to rain or not, we decide, we shall eat brekkers, and then see how the weather fares. cool. then i got to shower...:)
well, we ate. royally. a really nice breakfast, including fried mushrooms and onions (which is REALLY REALLY nice...wow) and then dad decides rather than risk rain, we will go to a little country town and enjoy a day there. so gordon decides to clean himself up for that. and i even fixed my crazy hair.

so after gordons bath, and my hair fixing, dad decides, well, the weather isnt that bad!!! LETS HIKE!!! so we had to change back into our hiking gear, and kiss our good hair days, and clean bods good bye. this is the mountain we scaled. dont be fooled, it was a big deal.

we set off, all fire and enthusiasm, with yours truly taking pictures of many things. then it got steep and strenuous, so we stopped under a tree for about 15 minutes. there we sat, mopping our brows and drinking water. and, of course, bemoaning that the "easy trail" was not as easy as we had thought it might be. then we're off again. until we get to a stream. where we rest around for about 2o minutes at least. by this time, we're not even 1/4 of the way, and morgy is already proposing that she and mom stay at the stream, and meet the rest of us down at the house.

after our "brief" rest, we set off again, after dad who went on ahead of us. by now, the clouds have vanished, and the mid-summer african sun is baking down upon our heads, causing our upper lips and brows to sweat, just a tad.

we walk up the one side of the mountain, on a winding trail. by the time we get to the top, another rest is needed. for water, and for pictures. dad then announces "THE WORST IS OVER NOW!!! NO MORE UPHILL!!!" the view from where we were was stunning as well, calling for photographs to be snapped left and right. this is what the view was like:

so as soon as this rest is over, we climb over the fence, and lo and behold!!! are greeted with some more strenuous uphill. what fun!!! so up up up we go. not that far, you must understand, but our limbs were by now heavy and unwilling to go up any further. but after braving on, and much grumbling, we reached the top of the mountain. and there what did we do? why, we rested again!!! and we drank some water!!! morgy drank alot tho, so we chastised her for it. and she wasnt happy with our reprimanding of her. all this time we were waiting for dad, who unfortunately started feeling rather ill.

by now we were really done with uphill climbing, and were walking along the top of the mountain and the view really was something. but mom was walking with dad, who was ill. so the three miskin kiddies forged ahead. by the time we were significantly ahead of mom, she hollered what sounded like "dad... wait...find...shade... wait...us..." so we figured we should find some shade and sit around, wating for the parental authorities to come along. we waited for a little bit... then they caught up. so after they had some water and some rest, we set off again. but then we miskin kiddies, by now thoroughly sick of hiking, struck off on our own, following the little trail indicators. we decided to finish the hike within the hour. thus we had 1/2 an hour to finish it.

so off we went, all good intentions and shining hopes. they all vanished when we were confronted by, *gasp* some MORE uphill... this one pretty intense, because after all this hiking, our limbs were on strike. but so great was our desire to get done already, that we scaled the uphill in a record time of THREE MINUTES!!! (i checked on my watch) heartened by this new achievement, we were ready to get back within fifteen minutes. until we rounded a corner of the mountain peak, and saw the house way down there, shining like an oasis of hope that we would never reach, by the looks of things.

yet, we pressed on. now the hike became a downhill trek, which was quite dangerous at times, if one was not careful. slippery rocks and loose gravel and all that. so the whole way down we were all looking down at our feet, making sure that we would not fall. by now we were all sweaty and icky, tired, feeling mutinous, and longing for the sun to give it a rest already!!!

but, at long last we made it back to the house. and we vowed that we would first pour ourselves something to drink before we sat down, lest we be too tired to rise again. and so we did. we stumbled into the kitchen, and poured ourselves some coke!!! then we went and sat on the porch in a kind of exhausted stupor and sipped our coke. half an hour later mom and dad arrived back.

the rest of the afternoon was spent lying on our beds or sleeping, whichever we preferred.

my only regret from the hike? that we didnt take a south african flag to put up on the top of the mountain, so that people would know we had been there.

oh, how long did we take to do the two hour hike? well, with the miskins, two hours is unheard of.

it took us four hours.

talk of cheesy...

2006-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

you want to hear of an irony? or of a cheesy thing... course you do.
the western influence is very very strong. its amazing. so now its the Christmas season. which in much of North America means snow and cold and stuff like that. so here we are in SA in BLAZING heat, since its mid-summer, and STILL they will haul out the santa suits... and some poor man has to prance around in a hot red suit, complete with fake white beard, in the heat and sun. along with this are the adverts all over the place... boasting "snow" and holly like its winter.
along with all this are the Christmas lights that some people put up... its actually really depressing. i havent sighted any fake snow yet, but if i do, dont worry, i shall tell you.
now to complete this set of... ironies or cheesy things, the radio...;)
every now and then they get festive and play a Christmas song or two... now there is a station called "Jackaranda... lifes greatest hits" (they play lots of lame songs...:D) and this station plays everywhere. so gordon, dad and morgy stop at a petrol (aka gas) station to fill up our car's tank. and what do they hear? what song is tickling their ears? none but our all time favourite "let is snow" yes yes, the weather outside is so hot its frightful, but i doubt anyone will find a fire burning in their fireplace very delightful right now... but what can i say? let it snow? if that doesnt strike your funny bone... i dont know...:D
or shall i say, we africans should give up on trying to have the "all american" Christmas complete with snow, and just make up our own cool traditions. that sounds great to me.

a small note

2006-12-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

guess what? its hot here. very hot. so im just writing to say this:
I PITY YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO DEAL WITH SNOW!!!
im no sucker for cold. so you have my deepest sympathy, all you who are living in the snow. or any cold weather.
and dont say im mad for not liking snow. im just african, and by now im far too used to relatively warm temperatures all year round. the winter isnt hot, but its warmer than in MI. its in my blood stream.
so until i think of some events worth blogging about, i hope this note of sympathy finds you all well, wearing your winter woolies, drinking your hot chocolate, sledding down union, skiing or snowboarding and making snow men. i hope at least one of you can do all of the following for me, since i wont be doing any of those this december...:)
ENJOY YOUR CHRISTMAS SEASON ALL MY READERS!!!

heya

2006-11-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

its been a long time since ive updated... and its discouraging that no one comments... but i know my fan base (hahahaha...:D) is larger than my commenters, and i have many readers... so for the sake of those people, i shall persevere...

only, i have nothing to say... so i'll post a pic or three...:)

COME VISIT US!!!

2006-11-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

come to the miskin house, where every room has a sturdy wall... windows to keep out chilly winds...

where it is electrically sound...

gorgeous sunsets...

deep-thinking hosts...

and furry friends to keep you company when you are sleeping...!!!

howdy hoo...

2006-11-06T05:38:00.000-08:00

hey there yon people out there who know and care about us!!! WOOHOO!!!
its monday today. i dont particularly enjoy mondays. actually, i dislike mondays. but hey... they cant be avoided.
so we have THREE WEEKS till the long december holidays... wow. this year has FLOOOWN by my window. i dont know bout you, but i think life just gets faster from now on. i speak under correction, of course.
so now i guess i should write about random stuff. well most of you know that we're building. what most of you DONT know is that... two weeks ago mom and morgy went away on holiday (leaving gordon and me here to do school work...grr... and dad...) so i had to cook. DISASTAH!!! actually, it was fine up till sunday. course, sunday lunch is like only happens to be like the main meal of our week. so i had to make a roast... cool. only, i had NO idea what temperature to put the oven on... so i spiced up the meat, and chucked it in the oven, so to speak. then i guessed that 180 degrees (celcius) would be a more or less corect temperature... woe betide my foolishness. so we went to church, and the whole service i was having evil premonitions of upcoming doom. aka, failed lunch. and lo and behold, we got home and our meat was BURNED!!! as well as the potatoes i put in with the meat (WAY TOO EARLY!!!) so... dads like "its not your fault..." i still shed a tear or two... i was so embarrassed. anyhow, we set about making more (new) potatoes, (since the other ones were like pieces of coal) and making vegetables. after all that was successfully accomplished, dad pulled out the meat (which was still edible...) and started cutting it (gordon was absent at this point in time...) and started commenting on it, with every cut. heres what he said...
"well scally, its looks like we're going to have some dry...*whirrr* (electric knife cutting) well done... *whirr* ruberry... *whirr*... hard *whirr*... crumby *whirr*... dry *whirr*... well done *whirr"... ..."
then i hollered "STOP IT DAD!!!" as i gasped for breath after laughing so hard at dads comments... he was kidding...
and then we ate... and dads like "well, son, its not completely uneatable..." to which gordon said "yes, only about 80% intolerable..."
they are so lucky i laughed. they are so very lucky.
anyhow then our power started having "issues" to say the least... and i woke up one morning to have my shower... so i went to the bathroom, and turned on the hot water, and pottered around, waiting for it to heat up (it takes a while...) so after about... five minutes, i was like "ok, its not getting hotter..." and i could no longer wait, as i was behind schedule, so i jumped in. i should be awarded a medal for courage. either that or a ticket to pine rest for insanity. coz it was SOOO COLD!!! i never never never want to do that again. so i quick finished, and got out, teeth all a-chatter. you could hear me down the passage chattering away... i was so cold i put on a long sleeve shirt under my school shirt (good thing it was a coldish day...) and sat under my blankets in misery for a while.
so apart from cold shower, burned roasts, building, living under three inches of dust all the time, messy rooms and many more such things, our lives are technically pretty normal. happy us.
tara!!!

a tribute to parents...

2006-10-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

i love my parents. theyre the best. so i thought id dedicate a post to them today, coz theyre such great people. my mom and dad... how i love 'em... we all grip about parents a little every now and then, but we all love them dearly. so heres to moms and dads all around the globe!!!!

the question...

2006-10-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

i think the world at large has gotten busier. why, i remember the days of yore where only a TERRIBLE post got four comments... not one that i put lots of effort into!!! but nowadays, no one comments on anyone's blog. it is a sad state of affairs that brings to mind this question:
IS BLOGGING STILL WORTH IT?!?!?! SHOULD I DELETE THIS BLOG?!?!?!
oh, random pic of the week. this is what my room looked like whilst we were building.

the cape: part one

2006-10-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

hello everyone. we just got back from the cape, and i thought you would appreciate an update on the happenings of the last week or so.
so on wednesday we arrived at the airport at about...5 o'clock. vick then took us straight out to the farm (jointly owned my mike, his wife corne, corne's sister agnes, and corne's parents) where we would be staying for a while. we got there and said hello to the family, who were happy to see us, as we were happy to see them. after hellos were said, and luggage was put in our rooms, i went to the bathroom. i closed the door properly, not knowing that it has a habit of getting stuck... so when i tried to open the door, it wouldnt open. "oh great..." i thought. no one was near us, so i lamely called out "erm, help... hello?? help please... im kinda stuck...hello?!?!?!" this was the second time i got stuck in a room that week... not good for the record. however, then sera (my 4 yr old cousin) walked into our room calling for me. i then said "sera, im stuck... can you get help??" "oh ok scally," was the reply "i'll go get my dad..." mike then arrived and let me out. i made a mental note in my head "never close that door properly again..."
the next morning however, i forgot all about my mental note. i got up and went to shower, closing the door. i then realized i quick wanted something, and hooray!! the door was stuck. so here was me... in my pj's and a sweatshirt, stuck in the bathroom AGAIN. i was turning the options over in my head, since i didnt think anyone would hear me hollering. then i saw the windows right by the toilet... i was like " you know, i bet i could jump out of that window, if i squeezed..." as i was thinking about this, it seemed the best idea. as i was getting ready to jump out however, oupa's workers rounded a corner of the house, right by the bathroom, and i quick jumped off the toilet seat (upon which i was standing...) and walked nonchalantly back to the sink... first i closed the blinds though. it would not have looked good... a kid with bed head, in red hat society pj's leaping out of bathroom windows with a happy cry, all at 8:00 a.m or earlier in the morning. then i figured "well, im in the bathroom, ive got my clothes and i might as well shower..." which is what i did... then morgy walked in and became my second saviour from the clutches of THE BATHROOM!!! nothing much happened that day... i spent alot of time with sera and just having a good time.
friday. it was cold on friday. and it was the day i learned how to ride/drive a quad bike. yes, gordon taught me. he took me down to the little dam, and told me the know-how, show me how to apply the know how and then said "scally, you try it!!" ahahahaha... i thought. theres a body of water near us!!! "but what if i run into the dam??" i nervously asked gordon. to which he soberly (and rather irritatedly) replied "then i'll be REALLY mad, and you REALLY suck..." heartened by these words of encouragement and friendship, i embarked on my maiden voyage. i roared off in confidence with a grin on my face, savouring the cold wind blowing my awesome hair. hahahahaha... thats hilarious!!! in all reality, i puttsed off at the steady pace of... oh, 6 kilometers an hour, nervously biting my lip. by the time i got back from my trip around the light pole and back, gordon was tapping his foot. "come on, this isnt an old lady's wheelchair race!!!" were the hearty words i was greeted with. he then hopped on and showed me how its SUPPOSED to be done... yay. then he said " you drive me back to the house!!" oh. great. so i did. at my steady speed of... 6 k's an hour. he then said, "you can kick it up into second, we dont have to go this slow the whole way home..." so i did. and went up the the daring speed of 13 k's an hour. "youre getting a little over confident" gordon remarked in all sarcasm "13 is a little fast..." hahaha. thanks. but i didnt crash, and i rode it quite a few times, till mike told gordon that morgy and i shouldnt for various reasons (too easy to spin outta control...etcetc...)
than at supper that night, it was a jolly affair. during the duration of the meal, mike got a little hot, so he took of his sweat shirt. this created the whole "fuzzy" effect on his hair, and it looked really funny. so i was snickering to myself about it, and he enquired "whats so funny, huh???" to which i replied "nothing, its just your hair looks kinda fuzzy..." he then proceeded to say "MY HAIR HAS BODY!!! IT HAS LIFE!! JUST COZ YOUR HAIR IS SO BORING AND FLAT DOESNT MEAN MINE IS!!! MY HAIR LOVES LIFE!! IT LOVES IT!!!" this eccentric speech was accompanied by crazy hand gestures and hilarious facial expressions... and i thought if someone were peeping in through the window, they would find us a mad bunch of people... my uncle yelling about his lively hair, and me and gordon guffawing at his speech...
ok, thats a long post, and theres still more to be written... so i'll write it on another day. hope you enjoyed it...:D

a very cool saying...

2006-10-02T02:40:00.000-07:00

"i have found the paradox that if i love till it hurts, there is no more hurt, only more love."
mother theresa.

P.S... thanks for the birthday wishes guys!!!

one year ago...

2006-09-21T01:08:00.000-07:00

since i wont be home on my birthday itself, i thought id post this now.
who woulda thought that so much could change in one year of my life? lets take a look.
October 1, 2005.
wellwell, look where i was. happily situated in Grand Rapids, MI. i was turning the not-so-ripe-old-age of 15 and having all my friends over. we were making a movie. o yeah. "twasnt a murder" . who are my friends? why, i'll show you all their beautiful faces. thats us, right there. great kids.we spent the day running around our garden in OUTRAGEOUS outfits (aka, gordons jeans, wigs, big old glasses, a tshirt stuffed with a pillow, my moms old wedding dress and other stuff...) and laughing our heads off. it was a great time. course, theyre still my friends. but i have other friends now. take a look. they have both left my school, but they are friends still. any way, back to birthdays. i digress. i remember my birthday with you people as if it was yesterday, not yesteryear. life goes fast, i must admit it. the old cliche still rings true, doesnt it? differences between the two birthdays are... many. my bday in the states: it was fall, here my bday is in spring. i was in america, well, now im in africa (duh...) i had 8 friends or so then... i have about... three now, only one of which is actually in my school. im afraid you cant make much of a movie with 3 people...:D oh, this year im celebrating my not-so-sweet sixteen in cape town... which makes it really-sweet-sixteen i guess. no driving for me (hallelujah...:D). and i guess thats it. theres nothing i really WANT for my birthday... cept stuff for my room.
birthdays are an emotional time for some of us:but for others of us, its not such a big deal. but hey, when youre spending your birthday in a WAAY different way than you did the year before, you realize that life changes like really fast. *snap* like that. and i guess i wanna say that even though i miss you guys alot still, i realize that you gotta move on and just... live life. its kinda fun actually...:D
now, let us round this off in a most appropriate manner... a-one, a-two, a-one, two three:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha... joke's on me!

Things one should never do...

2006-09-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

1. never bite a hang-nail off your finger, causing it to bleed, and then try to play scales. its not pretty, and biting a hang nail off your finger hurts.
2. never start a conversation with the line "soo...hows the weather?" or "strange weather we've been having lately..." there are alot more inventive lines that will probably work better. try using " whats your favourite food?" or "OMW, I LOOOVE YOUR SOCKS!!!" they will melt like butter...
3. never wear socks and sandals in public. especially socks and flip flops. the whole strap-between-the-toes thing doesnt work with the average white-and-grey fruit of the loom socks. or hanes socks, for that matter.
4. try to refrain from inside joking around company. theres nothing as irritating as having kids laugh around you at a joke that you absolutely dont get... example: fred and jerry are around some random kids their parents invited over...
fred: "hey jerry, member the paint incident??"
jerry: "how could i forget... and you were like all over the place..."
fred: "hahahaha...stop it, im laughing too hard...heeheeeheeehaha..."
random kids: "who are these dorks??" :D:D
5. never go to a school like queenswood christian school, if you are not prepared to work for your stay... trust me on this one. and never get caught mid-conversation by my teacher (uncle johan), when you're supposed to be working, despite the fact that you've been working hard all week, and would dearly love to have a brief respite from working all day long.
6. never head bang to an extremely good song violently. besides the fact that you will get a head ache, people will think you are possessed and will avoid you at all costs. and dont stick your tongue out as you head-bang, you will then look like a retard doing the doggy-gone-mad impression.
7. never ask some one who dislikes fish fish-paste to eat on your toast. even though, as a south african you love to eat it on white toast. the fish-paste hater will not appreciate your act of innocent kindness...
8. never anger your father by arguing with him about playing scales... just go along with his will, and play your scales. you'd think i'd have learned this by now...
9. never crack a corny joke in the presence of gordon, no matter how funny you found it. lucky for me he's such a nice guy, else he would have punched me long ago for my many insults to good humour...:D:D
10. never go over to your friends place, and talk in your sleep. especially when your friend is talking to people via text messaging long after you fell asleep. its embarrassing when the address the issue the next morning...
11. never get into the habit of biting your nails... its a hard one to kick...

ok, hope ya'll enjoyed that... if not, kick me!

one million apologies...

2006-09-02T07:39:00.001-07:00

ok, i knooooow this took forever. and i bet youre thinking its about time. so i thought id put up some random stuff for you to enjoy, till i post again...:D
1. i have about 18 pairs of shoes.
2. when i was a kid, i used to lisp.
3. gordon used to be an outrageous nerd, with poofy, side parted hair as a kid.
4. as a kid, i was an outrageous nerd as well. with gross, side parted hair. i also weighed about nil.
5. we used to own 3 dogs, a cat, a couple fish, and chickens. that was until the fish all died, and the dogs almost ate our chickens, so we gave them away. and our three dogs, we gave them away when we moved to the states. now, we only have 3 dogs.
6. its the second of september, thus 20 days till morgy turns 13, and less than a month till i turn not-so-sweet 16, and gordon turns 18. wow, arent we getting older?
7. its supposed to be spring here in S.A, but its still cold. not cool.
IM REALLY REALLY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG... BUT I WILL POST AGAIN SOON... if i dont, please remind me to.

Pictures for all you picture hunters...

2006-08-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

here are some pics from our game reserve trip. tell me if theyre cool... coz i think theyre neat... so ya. i hope you like the family pic dud... i think its hilarious!!!

arent we sweet?? nice background, eH??

IT'S EVERYBODY'S FAVOURITE GUY!!!
Gordon!!!!

upon request...

2006-07-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

pictures of our faithful fluffy dog. also know as:

shmikkalukkus
shmeegaleegus
roopy doo
roops
rooples scooples
shmiggy
rrrrrrrrroopit
poopy
and probably a few more...

our holiday to the game reserve

2006-07-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

well well... we just got back from a holiday of... seven days at a game reserve. dont ask me for the name, coz i cant spell it. just know it was right on the border... and it was by the great grey, greasy limpopo river all set about by fever trees. (i got pics of it for you, lynette.) we had a good time as a family, just hanging round doing nothing for a long time. i have some funny and favourite memories, so i'll tell them to you.
we got there on monday night... and nothing much happened that night. but the next night we decided to roast marshmallows. since we didnt bring skewer things.... we went thru the few little kitchen supplies the place had. i discovered a long fork with two prongs (like a meat serving fork) and used that. gordon searched... and all he could find was a bread knife. and morgy found a pasta spoon (metal) with the whole bunch of spikey things on it, so she made like 6 at one time. so i roasted mine (mine and gordons caught on fire...:D) and gordon roasted his... he looked really really funny with his marshmallow at the end of his BREAD KNIFE!!!
then there was the time a giant bug flew in the door while we were eating. morgy then figured "its attracted to light!!" so being a bright spark herself, she got up and put all the lights off, so we were sitting in darkness waiting for this one bug to fly out of the door. dad said it was ridiculous, so we had to put them back on. we finished eating, and dad grabbed a tupperware and caught the bug in that. now, the rest of us (dads heroic family) are afraid of all things that crawleth, so gordon rushed over to our hut (each hut sleeps two/three people, so mom and dad had one, and we had one next door for us 3) and i rushed outside to the little porch, where dad came out with the bug. thinking he was gonna chase me around with it, i unleashed a cry of horror. dad was shocked at his familys cowardice.
then there was the day morgy was so hot she absolutely haaad to swim. never mind the pool was so cold i espied polar bears and ice begs in it. i told her "youre gonne get sick" but no, she paddled about anyway. waded. and then she put her head (which was very hot...:D) under the water, as i, the prophet of doom, shoook my head knowing what was going to come from all this. sure enough, she did get sick. which made two, coz dad was sick and morgy got his bug, and swimming only made it worse.
one of the things you do at a game reserve is drive around in your car and look for animals. or in our case, look at everything that flies. my dad and brother love birds, and thats cool with me. but i mean, there could be like a lion or cheetah running around our car, but they will be trying to make out what this speckled, red-beaked, flying thing is. to each his own hobby. i dont mind birding, its just not my forte.
one of the few kinds of animals we did see were klipspringers. they are very cute little antelope, and they jump on rocks (hence the name) so we were driving, and we saw three right by our car, and my parents are like "lets see them jump!!" so dad starts revving the engine so it goes "VROOOM VROOM..." the little buck did not jump, they just eyed us in distaste. since that didnt work, dad honked our horn (which is kinda wimpy and just goes "poop poop...") but they still didnt jump. rather, they stood still looked at us, possibly considering us the most eccentric tourists ever.
then there was "drivers ed by dad" for gordon. gordon has to learn how to drive manual, so we decided to let him drive on the empty dust roads. at first, he took off and caused whiplash. then he would drive on the most bumpy part of the road, shaking me to a jelly. not to be unkind, im going to be worse. the funniest though, was when we saw 3 sables (rare buck) but gordon didnt see them, so he drove a little past them. dad said "ok son, put it in reverse and reverse slowly and quietly..." gordon nodded, and put her in reverse. he pushed down on the gas a little, but we didnt move. so he pushed some more, and layed his arm across the steering wheel. what happened was the car went roaring backwards (vroomvroom) and the horn honked (poop poop) so it was like "VROOOOOOOOM...PPOOOOPP....!!" it was REALLY funny... morgy and i laughed. after we viewed the buck, took pictures and drove off, morgy and i were still tittering. realizing the gravity of the situation, i said to morgy "stop laughing..." and then turned my head to complete my giggle session. theres another story, but i dont know if gordon will want it up here. if he doesnt mind, i'll put it up in the comment box, K?
another thing was when we went to the confluence look out point (where SA, zimbabwe and botswana meet...) and were checking out the view and looking for lizards and stuff on the big rocks not so far below us. gordon morgy and i were standing together taking it all in, when morgy asked for gordons binocs. she then proceeded to focus them on a rock, saying she saw a lizard. we were like "where?" and she said "well, you cant see his body, but you can see him..." after thinking bout this, gordon and i ragged morgy bout her lizard that wasnt there (at least, we didnt see it.) i thinked we teased her a little too much, coz she was mortally affronted. i said "i think it was a jumping rock... you hear of those you know..." gordon laughed, and morgy walked off in a huff. gordon and i then came to where she and my parents were sitting, and talked of how ragging is a fact of life. and if you dont laugh about it, you will cry.
last story. i love giving people a fright. facial expressions are priceless. if you havent tried it, try it sometime. :D. ok, well i was coming out our little hut, and was going to walk next door to fellowship with the rest of the fam around the braai. it was dark out, so i couldnt see gordon who was hiding in a little nook. i was closing the door, holding dads laptop, and on my way down the three steps, when gordon appeared from the very dust it seemed, and said "hello scally..." i didnt respond for a sec (gordon thought he had failed) when i suddenly made three little gasps in rapid succession. it was like "g-g-gasp!!!" coz i hadnt the strenght to holler. he's lucky i never dropped the laptop.
ok, i'll post pictures next time, coz this is really long.
enjoy!!

this one's for lynette...

2006-07-08T02:46:00.001-07:00

what is friendship??

WHAT A GAS!!

2006-06-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

ok, never mind the title. all will be explained in the duration of this post.
so right now its school holidays, the first week thereof. we got out last week wednesday, and on thursday we went to get our reports at school, then we were done for three weeks!! the first few days we didnt do all that much... on saturday we went to the voortrekker monument... its a big building comemmorating the vicory the voortrekkers had over the thousands of zulus at blood river. long story, im not gonna recite history to you now. but ya, this building is hollow inside, like a big dome i guess, and its really high. you can go to almost the very top and look down. so right when i walked in, i lifted up mine eyes (almost to the heavens, it felt like it, the roof ceiling was so high up) and almost fainted... it was REALLY REALLY high... and i felt kinda... queasy. note, i was still on the ground floor, looking up, not even looking down and i felt kinda sick... so we made the trip up (we being lynette, rachel, sarah, brian, gordon, morgy and i) to the top. you could go out at one point, high up, and survey the city, and of course, look down. but us miskins... never. we were too busy gasping for breath after climbing the long flight of winding stairs, and me, claustrophobia. besides, im a sucker for heights... i just wanted to go down. so we continued up, gordon morgy and i clutching the railings for dear life, and not daring to look down (i did at a point, coz it we were ascending the side of a huge dome thing... and almost screamed.. dark and far down...). when we reached the top, panic set in for the three of us. morgy was in tears of terror, and had to leave with lynette accompanying her. gordon and i roughed it out... terrified. brian for a sick joke walked up to gordon and was like " so how you doing gordon?" and slapped him on the back... giving us both the shivers and sending gordon and me to the railing for support lest something happen... like a monster ascending the heights and pulling us down into the abyss (:D)... meanwhile, the rest of our party were leaning over the edge of the little wall separating us from nothingness, looking down casually... i could barely bring myself to peep over the edge, and when i wasnt clutching the wall... i was gripping the railing on the other side of me, in panic, almost making dents in the metal. i couldnt take a picture of the great heights, i would have dropped the camera. so it occurred to me that day, that the three miskins are TERRIFIED out of their minds of heights... i kid you not. gordon was shaking, and my knees were weak, and my palms were wet and clammy from sheer terror. after our descent i felt ok again... its a genetic thing. neither of my parents like heights either... our fear was a source of amusement to those who were not scared... and if you had seen us, you would have grinned.
enough of heights, its making me feel funny all over again. ok, so this tuesday (yesterday) was where the phrase "what a gas" originated. we (gordon, brian, three cool kids from church (the ndous) and i) went out to the township again with about 20 other kids from the afrikaans church and painted a big hall at one of the orphan care centers. we all arrived, and stretched after being squished in the car for about an hour, and checked out the college first, and then proceeded to the care center. the paint was grey... i thought that odd. i grabbed a roller, and a holder thing to put it on, and started to paint. alas for me, my roller kept coming loose off of its holder thing, so i would bang it on the wall to get it back on, and as i was doing this the second time, some paint spattered off the end and onto my nose and into my eye. i was in some pain, when gordon thought he would point out to obvious to me..."hey scally, its on your nose..." "my nose," i howled, "is the least of my worries!! its in my eye, and it hurts...!!" i got it out my eye, and wasnt blinded, thankfully...:D. gordon decided once again to be helpful and tell me how to get it off. heres what he said " i hope youre gonna shower in turpentine tonight, coz its gonna be hard to get off..." harhar. i got it off with some water, thanks gordon. seems like wherever i go, i come away with a bad face paint...:D during the painting operation gordon coined the phrase "it was/is a gas" when he said "this is the kinda stuff that makes memories. we'll all get together years from now and say 'member that time we painted that hall? that was a GAS!!'" everyone caught onto the phrase, and by the end of the day, it was the saying of the week. at first gordon and the three ndou boys did some graffiti on the walls, arguing we were gonna paint over it anyway... i got a picture of gordon in the act!! (sorry, theyre all on gordons comp :(...) we got about 2.5 walls done when we broke for lunch. then i went to the hospice with sarah and rebe and camden (rebes son of 2 yrs) and oupa and a lady from the church. i was hoping to find dad there, but he had left at about 12... so i missed him. but i did see one of the patients... and she was all shakey and couldnt really understand english. so i didnt know what to say... i said a couple things, and smiled encouragingly. then we went back to the care center, and i found the painting was all done... to my shame. the guys were all playing soccer with some of the township kids... gordon (called "golden" by almost all black ppl he meets... to his horror...;D) said they didnt pass to him much so he quit. i was walking around in my big ol' pj (now painting) shirt... and discussed world cup with abram and maryke... (afrikaans name) and sat around having a nice time. then we all gathered for a scripture reading and prayer, squished in the car, and went home. it was a gas.
so that was our gas of a day.
morgy right now is at lambano, and aids orphanage for toddlers in Jo-burg. so its really quiet at our house... and lynette says shes doing an awesome job teaching the little kids Bible stories and stuff. i miss her round the house (morgy that is) even tho we dont get along, i love her and its not the same when shes not here... come home safe morgy!! (sniffle...)
ok, so start the fad in america. its no longer "this is fun/awesome/great (etcetc)" its "this is a gas" or "that wasnt a gas..." or "have a gas!!"
bye guys... miss you all, and all that.
HAVE A GAS!!!

weekend of weekends...!!

2006-06-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

scahey guys!! its been a long time since ive typed a full fledged scarlett style post... aka, 183298734 words total. but we had an awesome weekend this weekend, so im gonna fill you all in on what happened. some know, but many dont. so here i go.
ok, so we have rev brian here... and on thursday afternoon last week, we all (mom, morgy, jonno (hes a kid whos also staying with us for a bit) saray, lynette, sarah, gordon, rachel, brian and i) went to the pretoria botanical gardens. this was an awesome time, and i chilled with rachel most of the time... laughing at alot of random things, taking pictures, grimacing, and just having an awesome time. i have pics, but, ALAS, they are on gordons computer. that was a really nice time, especially since we came in our tiny little pick up, with some...seven people crammed in the back. rachel laughed so hard she drooled, sarah dished out a kleenex like it was an everyday occurence, sarah and i tried to (unsuccessfully) sing a song that lynettes friend... chris wrote... we sang really off... it was fun to try. that was nice. then, the plan was, since friday was a public holiday, brian would take us (gordon, sarah, lynette, rachel, tristan a friend from church, and i) out to hamanskraal (a rural area) and meet up with a friend of his, named oupa, who has a churhc. we would join some of his church's youth group, and go out and kinda evangalize to some people. so there were about 20 young people total, so we split into three groups... and each group would talk to six families about church and beliefs. i had a hard time understanding, coz most of it was spoken in Xhosa or Zulu, and i cant even speak Afrikaans yet!! that was a really good experience for me, since i have never been out in a township, and i just saw the way they live... and how much i really have. it was cool. then we had lunch at the early hour of 3 in the afternoon... which was a jolly affair. i sat by tristan, and she and i get along quite well. there was one point where two girls just like stuck their faces between ours for pictures... and i was demonstrating this, thus smacking my head and tristans together... causing laughs. and i took pictures of people on the sly... i love doing that. you have no clue how silly some people look in their natural facial expresseions and stuff... so friday was a good day. after lunch, we had a crazy fun game of soccer, guys on girls... eventually we all got too tired to play anymore... and thus our fun game ended. btw, lynette mocked how i run.. sighs. :D. so we all came home, tired and happy that we had such a great day. then saturday, we had another early rising day, for one of the orphan care centers had a party for all the kids. 300 parentless kids in total.
we all went, that is, morgy, jonno, lynette, rachel, sarah, gordon, tristan (again) mom and i. we got to the party to watch some small presentations put on by the various centers... and boy, those kids can sing!! after that, all the kids went outside and played games. rachel started painting faces, which soon turned into the kids just painting, and tristan got a green heart on her cheek (this comes in later). sarah played jump rope, gordon (known as "golden" by the guys...:D) played soccer... and im not sure what morgy did. after wandering around for no reason, tristan and i went inside to help set out all the food... 300 plates, suckers, fizzers, hot dogs and bags of chips. it took a while, but we got it done. there was ALOT of food. so then all the kids came to eat... and some sang. i joined in the singing after a while... and it was good to be able to sing really loud along with everyone else... its a good feeling. after lunch, i decided to let tristan paint on my face. note, i said tristan. we arrived at the face paint area, to find it run by two guys. one offered to fill in tristans heart, and i was waiting for her to get done, so she could paint me. then the other guy told me to sit, and he would do me. ok, cool i thought. so i sat down, and without asking what i would like done, the "artist" set to his task. he was like totally absorbed in his work, and started with blue. once his blue thing was done, he said to tristan "it looks nice eh?" and tristan, doubtfully said "...ya... it looks like a blue tree!!" at which the painter roared with laugher, gave me five, and continued painting. the then drew an "X" shape under the blue tree, and tristan later said, "at first it looked like a spade, then a blue tree, then he drew the X, and i didnt know what it was..." so i sat still, and let him paint. till of course, his face was like a centimenter away from me, then i jumped in surprise... its unnerving to have a guy like eyeballing you from the uncomfortable distance of a centimeter away... but he laughed, so i sighed in relief, kinda. but my uncomfort was growing, this guy was still painting my face, and it was getting to be a long time. i watched tristans face, and she was like wincing as he continued painting. after the blue tree and X, he continued to paint a red stripe on my nose to my forehead, red yellow and green dots all over my face, and red and blue around my mouth. i didnt know the extent of the damage done, but i knew it wasnt good, by the looks i was getting. he finally finished and i jumped up, wanting to examine my visage, and remove all damage done. so i ran to the bathroom with tristan, and rachel saw me, and took a picture. many people grinned. so i dashed into the bathrooms, looked at myself, and almost fainted. after the initial shock, i laughed. i looked soooooo funny!! like ronald macdonald, with hald a clown mouth, an x marsk the spot desing on one cheek, a red stripe on my nose, and randomly placed dots. i thus began scrubbing my face, removing most of the dots, the red stripe (after the paint was gone, i had a faint red tinge to my nose... great) but i couldnt bring myself to remove all the guys work, so i left the blue tree and x. thus, i discovered, i had just been the piece of canvas for one guys artistic impulses, and thus came away heavily painted on, and causing laughs. i wanted to get the guy back, but we left afore i could. it was funny now i think of it... gooood times. so that was about my whole weekend... i hope it was relatively amusing, what i wrote.
luv ya'll!!

The Miskin family: a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2006-06-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

hello. as i said, a picture is worth a thousand words. so instead of typing a thousand words, i'll put up a few pictures. this may take more than one post... if it does, well good for you. i dont know how many people come to my blog... but am often discouraged at the lack of comments... ah well. i'll keep posting if you want me to. i'll have to somehow get the pis of lynette and other good pics from gordons computer... so that i can share them with all you people.

nice newspaper title...
"The Sun" is a bad paper...
you can prob tell

while we were still at the rental place...

sorry there are like no pictures of me on my own blog... ever. but i dont have time to post on of me. so we're having a good time with lynette and rachel and sarah and rev. devries... its a good time with them. theyre all so great, im gonna miss them when they leave. life is busy busy... i hadnt been on the internet all week this week.. and got 19 emails... promptly running out of will power, i decided to write to you people another day. so dont worry, your emails will come soon enough, o friends of mine in GR!!! note to john sikma!!! gordon wants you to email him. and um... i'll post soon... i said that last time, but I MEAN IT!! and i will update on life, and post the pics from the botanical gardens today, and fellowship on the miskin couch... where gordon, sarah, rachel, morgy and i all squished on one couch... and had a good time!! miss you all, dont have the stamina to write more... SO SORRY ABOUT MY LACK OF OOOMPH!!!
miss ya!

FUNNY PICS!!

2006-05-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

hi you fogeys!! member me? the kid who used to run this blog and write posts for you? been a while hasnt it? in case youve forgotten, my name is scarletta miskinivitch. and ive been very busy of late. so dont be mad that i havent posted in like a month... seriously, i think its been that long! ok, well news. nothing really. lynette came last week, and its been good times having her here. i'll post the pics we took the other night up... dancing to oldies..:D:D. goood times! and um, there have been no incidents of hilarity since we moved out of the rental place... unfortunately for you. well, like jokes and stuff, sure, but nothing that you would find gut wrenchingly funny... as you usually do. gordon is still the same, and he has discovered a magnet that he dearly loves. it says " there is nothing as nice as doing nothing, and then resting for a while afterwards". that was a funny one. describes gordon rather well. OMW!! us three miskins have undergone a major change! we are now "model students" as opposed to plymouth where i was always being asked to "please stop talking now..." now, my teachers wish my classmates were like me!! ITS HILARIOUS!! gordon and morgy as well... five cheers for us!! my mom had her birthday yesterday (may 22) and im sure she had a nice day. our rooms are all painted now, so life is DEFINITELY settling into a regular pattern, of going to school, coming home, sleeping, and so on and so forth. on fridays morgy and i have piano lessons, but alas! she has no eccentric husband... mr. knol was SERIOUSLY very funny! but my teacher is good... so thats nice. ok, so i'll wrap up now. and you guys HAVE TO REMIND ME TO UPDATE WHEN YOU WANT AN UPDATE!! COZ I FORGET AND ALL THAT!!! remember, this blog needs YOU if it is ever to succeed and overcome the difficulties facing it!! whate are you going to do about this?? are you going to settle for apathy and nonchalance?!?! or will you grasp this opportunity firmly, not relenting and not letting go, even though great storms buffet thee?!?! this blog needs YOOOU to keep going... DO NOT FAIL YOURSELVES, YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR HONOUR AND YOUR MOTHERS!!! (gasp...) ok... i'll quit now...:D:D.
enjoy the pics, i love 'em myself.

gordon gets up close and personal... he thought you fogeys would appreciate a close study of his face, so he got me to stand in the background and took it. no, we were trying to take a timed picture, and thought the timer was on, when it wasnt, and it caught him by surprise and took this beauty. I LOVE IT!!

this is my famous uncle mike. i needed to post this picture before i post the other ones. you'll see why. he is a really really cool uncle! like the aviators? nice eh??

mike is kind enough to take gordon's CELL PHONE! out of his pocket before he.... (check a look at gordons face!!)

CHUCKS GORDON IN THE POOL!!!

there. that completes the trilogy of laughs. this picture proves that none of the above pictures were posed.

bye!!! love y'all... hope you like the pictures, all you friends of gordon that i dont know about who come to this blog...:D:

Moving Miskins... the long awaited pictures.

2006-04-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

morgy tries to beat off the infamous psymon, as we pack the trailer the night before the big move. this was from the rental place... *shudder at the name*. isnt her face hilarious in this picture?? the thing is, she was "posing" for a "senior picture" and i took it when she wasnt ready.

gordon believes he can fly!!! note how hard we are working... note: all these pictures are from the day we had the great rain, that i published about a while back. this was the afternoon before the rains fell... so thats to put stuff in perspective. the container came the next day. it took me forever to get this picture right. one day i'll put the other ones up... he looks hilarious!

THE NEW HOUSE!!! it looks nice from the front eh? up by the balcony thing... thats where dads study is.

gordon rode to the new house in the trailer... to make sure it stayed shut, and to keep our stuff from like falling out. doesnt he look happy?

mom supervises the work as it is done from the comfort of her beach chair, with a cup of coffee.

our lounge. it looks better now. we couldnt really walk through all that without having to climb over a couch or two.

gordon and i get some shut-eye after a LONG day of moving and unpacking. we were all tired from all the moving, except rupert. he had tons of energy. and we were very glad to have him back.

ok, so the move. the container came... so we had to hire a moving company to help us unpack it. so it was one of the easiest moves ive ever done... i think i only carried one thing into the house...:D. it was sooo wierd to see all our stuff again after three or four months... but it was great!! morgy had SOOO many boxes... the moving company guys when they saw a box that said "morgan's room..." they were like "ooh, morgan..." and they would know EXACTLY where to take it. it was really funny. the move was happy and sad... unpacking everything that reminded me sooo much of all you guys... and all the crazy fun times we had! but still... im glad to have our stuff. we each have our own room... except gordon, who doesnt have a room yet!:D:D:D. hes staying in a small little room that my mom wants as her study, until the room outside (the granny flat) is fixed up, so that he can live there. it took us about a week to unpack absolutely everything... which is pretty fast. we had help though. one thing that distressed me greatly was... the ABSENCE OF PIGGY!! i couldnt find him ANYWHERE!! (for any who need more info on who piggy is, email me). but after about... three days, when the burdetts came to help us (good friends of ours) auntie jean found him... i was sooo glad!! i missed him quite a bit. as you can probably tell from the pictures, our house was in CHAOS for a while... but we had to get it all sorted out, since sarah vandenberg was coming that saturday... it was hectic!! but we had help from tristin and tarryn as well (girls from church... theyre sooo nice). they helped us out a tooon!! the whole moving thing was reaally tiring... we went to bed really early at night, with sore bodies, and REALLY sore feet. the passage way in our house is EXTRA long... and we had to commute down it quite a bit... believe you me!! carrying the various little things we found in totally random boxes from the very front of our house to my parents room... it's a loooooooong trek to repeat about one hundred times a day. i swear, i walked about three miles in that week!! and it wasnt long after we had just gotten everything sorted out, when a friend brought sam the painter so paint our place. so now that our house is in order its being painted. the entrance hall and the lounge have been painted... and now my room is being done. so just as i was comfortably moved in to my room, i had to move out again. its cool though, i was sick of the mustard yellow walls. so ya. i hope the pictures say alot, and that you enjoyed them. there arent that many of me, coz i took most of the pics... :D. so dont feel bad if you dont see like...any of me. harrharr!! bye!
ps... i had this great picture of gordon that i wanted to put up...but i accidentaly deleted it, and now it wont upload.... GRRRR!!! he was lying in his temporary abode, on his mattress on the floor, and all you could see was his head. and his room around him was a total MESS!! omw, i love that picture. he looks like such a total doofus... and depicts him in his natural habitat: bed. he also has a crisis where his computer wasnt working... which was horrible. he was terribly disappointed. but hes doing fine without it now...JUUUST KIIDDING!! he got it to work, and is very glad about that. i think its the one thing out of all our stuff that he missed the most. i missed piggy, and the piano a lot. but thats about all. i'll post more pictures of the move and of life soon, coz there are TONS of pictures that you guys would like.

AN POST SHALL GLADDEN THEE, ONE DAY!!

2006-04-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!! ye frequenters of yon bonny blog!!! an update is forthcoming, do not let thine spirits assail thee!!! i shall make time in mine busy schedule to pen a post worth reading and proclaiming to neighbouring villages!! i have no time as of this current day, but shall make for thee a post, but there is bad news! this post shall probably only come in many moons!! but keep a stiff upper lip, hold thine head high, and walk bravely, with an twinkle in thine eye and spring in thine step, knowing that a post is forthcoming to gladden saddened and melancholy hearts, as you well know i endeavour to do!!!

The Great Rain of 2006 & The Rental House's Final Blow

2006-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

ok, as you have probably figured out, this has to do with a lot of rain. not only that, but we were in this rain. so here it goes. it was the 10th of april, at night. it was the last night we would be at the rental place, and we had just got done moving most of our stuff from the rental to the new house. note, gordon and i had taken all our clothes to the other house, and the only clothes morgy had at the rental place was her pjs (a grey longsleeve shirt, and little shorts. not very warm). we were just arriving back at the rental place from our other house, and it was POURING. i have not seen rain like this in a very long time. it was coming down in rivers. so we pulled up the driveway, and gordon, willing to be the hero of the hour, offered to run to the front door, and unlock the "gate" in front of it, and the door, thus allowing the rest of the family not to be very wet. he dashed out into the night, with great fanfare from the family, dad playing his bag pipes out the window and morgy, mom, and i singing songs to his praise. just kidding. he dashed out, and we waited in the car for a while. morgy then discovered an umbrella, and said she and i should go give it to him, to aid him in his noble struggle. the puddles outside the car were almost knee deep (:D) and i wished i wasnt wearing my "granny slippers" (aka: little brown shoes). so we toddled out the car, bearing the umbrella for gordon, to see him standing in a waterfall, i kid you not. the roof jutted out just enough for all the rainwater to pour off of it in torrents, and gordon could stand nowhere where it didnt reach and soak him. he was fed up, since he couldnt find the right key (there were two on the bunch that looked exactly the same, but only one worked for the gate) and he was soooaked to the bone. we walked up and i asked "need an umbrella?" haha. gordon then shoved the keys into my surprised face and told me to do it. i was caught off gaurd, but rose to the moment. casting aside my cloak, i removed my shoes and nobly shouted "hold my shoes!!" and chucked them at gordon and morgy. my feet were cold. any how, i went to the door, and balancing the umbrella on my shoulder with my chin, i started trying to get the gate unlocked. gordon was watching me, when dad ran up, telling him he had a total lack of initiative. dad then ran to a little porch thing, under a roof (across the driveway) from whence he proceeded to reprimand gordon, who was very mad. i finally figured out i had the wrong key, and tried the other one. after a few twists, it worked. phew. i unlocked the front door then, and told gordon to go give the umbrella to dad and morgy. they came to the house unscathed, and i had to dash out to the car to give mom the umbrella. then i ran back into the house without it thinking "what the hey, im soaked already!!" i was barefoot, and very cold. we all got into the house, shivering.
as i said, gordon and i had no other clothes. but AAAH!! dad did. so what?? we all borrowed dads clothes. morgys jeans were rather wet, so she cast them aside, and put on her pjs. i got dads sweatpants and a tshirt of his. gordon was soaked to the bone, as he had been standing under what was almost the niagra falls for the span of almost 5 minutes of pure chines torture. in compassion, i said i would find other pants to wear, and let him use the sweaties since his jeans had enough water in them to supply a drought stricken country with water for weeks. he was awfully grateful, and he donned those, and one of dads tshirts. i said if he had a moustache and glasses, i would have called him "gordthur" he looked that much like dad. anyhow, morgy soon figured out that her pjs were too cold, so she clad herself in dads pjs. it was hiillllaaaaarious to see her in those...!! she looked so... saggy and stuff. omw, i had a good laugh at her. and me? what pants did our compassionate hero garb herself with? morgy's jeans were, as i said, damp, so i wore those. they were too small, and very tight, but dads tshirt was long and it covered the tightness and the zipper that didnt quite make it. we were all very cold, except mom and dad who never got very wet through this whole ordeal. but wait!! the story doesnt end there!
supper that night was a simple affair, left over veggies from a bygone century, ribs, and some fries. we made do though, and ate the food gratefully. dad was sitting on a rickety little stool that i usually eat supper on. any sudden move on that thing, and you go flying. during the course of the meal, dad was demonstrating something that required him to fling his arms in wide arcs. as he did so, the stool tipped, and he went soaring through the kitchen and crashing into the closets behind him. he was still sitting on the floor, surrounded by the laughter of the rest of his family, and by his own chuckles, when his upper arm was siezed by a terrific spasm. still with his merciless family laughing their heads off at him, he made all the noises he usually does in these moments of spasms... "oooooh, aaaaaah.. hahaha (he was still half chuckling) eeeeeeh... oooh...love, help me!" mom dashed to his side and asked him "whats wrong?" we figured out a way to help him, and the spasm ended. it was rather hilarious and all that... and a bang of a finish to the rental-house era. that night we all slept rather well, i was still very cold, and my toes were frozen. but it was the last night, and if a house had a sense of humour, this rental house had the last laugh.
i will post on our move with pictures when we have the pics on our computer, and when i get all my thoughts together about what to write.
tata

PICTURRRE!!

2006-03-31T03:58:00.000-08:00

behold!!! the work ethic of gordon!!!! we all knew hes an amazingly driven guy, especially with homework, AND THIS PICTURE PROVES IT!! eat your hearts out!!

(comments below, if you wish to comment. thankee mucho)

postings...

2006-03-31T00:32:00.000-08:00

i will now dip into the dim and distant past of us miskin kids. i dont know if ive revealed much of my unusual child hood, so heres some scenarios that we miskin kids created. enjoy!!

with two parents as doctors, we often used to accompany my mom to the hospital where she and dad worked over the school holidays. we enjoyed this quite alot, especially when one particular nurse was there, as she would aid us in our fun schemes by hauling out wheelchairs, drip stands, bandages and all that good stuff. so the stage is set. we are at the hospital, wondering what to do, when this nurse hauls out a wheelchair, the drip stand, and enough bandages to mummify an extremely large individual. ha! the three of us were still young, gordon being about twelve, thus i was ten and morgy was seven. ok, so here we are, using an empty examination room to have fun. we decided that we would bandage our "patient" (morgy) from head to toe (literally) and wheel her down the hallway of the hospital at a high speed. fool proof plan. so we bandaged morgy. we covered her head, including one of her eyes (we werent bad at this you know), both her arms and one of her legs. she looked quite the invalid. any how, after the strenuous task of bandaging her, we sat her in the wheelchair, and roared out of the room, and down the hallway, having the time of our lives. we were all laughing really hard, having fun. we zoomed down the hallway, gordon and i both pushing the wheelchair for all we were worth. we, spur of the moment, decided to turn into an empty waiting room, and sit there, catching our breath, and to prepare for the journey back to our little examination room. we turned into the waiting room, to discover it wasnt empty. the ladies there looked over their magazines, and were more surprised than us three youths looking back at them in horror, especially the invalid. gordon and i promptly fled the scene as fast as we could, leaving morgy to fend for herself, poor child. she sat there for a while, with the ladies staring at her. she then wheeled herself out of there as fast as she possibly could and down the hallways. trouble was, there was another room where two doctors were sitting, facing the door, having a chat. they saw morgy, who kept wheeling herself, faster if possible. they then called "hey!" and morgy jumped out of the wheelchair and pushed it, almost running down the hallway. bear in mind, she was by now sobbing, and still bandaged on both arms, her leg, and her head (covering one eye). gordon and i were down by my moms side of the hallway, laughing our heads off at the poor kid, we were so cruel. but imagine your little sister coming down a hospital hallway, bandaged all over, sobbing her eyes out, pushing the wheelchair you so kindly stopped pushing for her. when she finally reached us, gordon and i had toned out loud guffaws at her expense to little snickers, wiping our eyes of the tears of mirth. mom came out of the room where she had been examining a patient, saw the scene, swooped down on gordon and me in holy wrath, lecturing us, all the time comforting the sobbing morgy with hugs and soothing words. she banished gordon and i to her office (boring place) for a while, and there was no more fun in wheelchairs at the hospital for us. morgy was calmed down by the entire staff taking pity on her and giving her hugs.

another time at the hospital, we bandaged gordon up, as badly as morgy, maybe worse, and gave him the drip stand. what you would do was take a run up, and jump onto the drip stand and ride on it, until it stopped, and do it again. we were proud of our bandaging, and told gordon to go out and show mom. so he wheeled himself, as i held the door open. he jumped onto the drip stand and went whizzing out of our "fun room" straight into a bunch of patients walking down the hallway. they probably thought they were hallucinating, for as soon as gordon almost ran them down, he turned and hastily departed back in to our little room, where morgy and i were having a good laugh. ah, good times, good times.

apart from the good times we had at the hospital, there were many other amusing things we did during the holidays. like the day gordon and i poured some milk for morgy and put salt and pepper in it, for an experiment as to what it would taste like. morgy gratefully took a sip, and immedeately sputtered, coughed and started crying. gordon and i were watching in growing amusement, until she ran to tell mom. our laughter ended, especially when she made us drink it. morgy got the last laugh, unfortunately for us.

the second last scenario i will put forth, is the time gordon and i (is it just me, or does it seem like gordon and i are the evil duo almost every time??haha) decided to dye a couple chips (french fries) green, and gauge the reaction. supper time rolled around, and guess who got the green chips?? morgy!!! (surprise!!) she yelled "hey, my chip is GREEN!!" dad peered at it closely, and told her not to eat it, since it was probably poisonous. gordon and i were snickering, and told morgy and dad the truth. neither were very thrilled.

the last scenario, is about morgy once more. no, gordon and i did nothing this time. we were having spaghetti for supper, and it was slippery. we got our spaghetti from the stove in the kitchen, and had to walk through the rest of the kitchen to the dining room. mom dished up for morgy, telling her "be very careful, because its very slippery." morgy nodded and headed for the dining room, and just as she got there, she tipped her plate, and the spaghetti went everywhere. dad was very wroth, and hollered " GO TO THE KITCHEN!!" as morgy did so he yelled "NO, COME SIT DOWN!!" morgy half oblilged when he yelled "STAND STILL!!!" morgy was so confused she stood there and started crying. i felt for her, but not enough to stop laughing.

i had a fun childhood... oh yes i did. hope you enjoyed this as much as i did while i was typing it up!!!

IMPORTANT!

2006-03-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

We have made an incredibly bold, forward move. It has changed our lives for the better for ever. I don't think our family will ever be the same! We have unanimously decided to change the spelling of the dog's (simon) name. It has changed from Simon to Psymon. Please diarize this point, meditate on it day and night, and modify your lifestyles accordingly. If you have not broken down and wept when you read this post, you are an extremely cold, hard, emotional stone wall. Please remember us as we try to cope with this incredible adjusment.

Tongue twister of the month...

2006-03-08T08:13:00.002-08:00

try this one, we miskins made it up. its hard...

slinking slobbering slimeon slavers on slabs of slippery slime.

the dog simon, or slimeon (because of his drooling habits) inspired this ode.
(comments on previous post, if you please... and read the other post too, if youre new...)

rush rush rush....

2006-03-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

hello guys!!! so sorry i havent posted in forever, but as you probably know, life is HECTIC for us miskins here in SA. not only did oupa die, but dids was sick. but we are thankful to the Lord that she is now discharged and is at home. but she lives out in the middle of nowhere with my step grandad, and i wonder how long it will be before something bad happens again. we want them to come live with us when we move into our new house, but i dont know if that will happen. any way, thats one thing we are still praying about. otherwise, thanks alot for the thoughtful emails and stuff, it meant alot to me that you guys are thinking of us. well, life is calmed down an inch, but we're still rushing (hence the title...) around the place. life is just... BUSIER here. our container is having problems, the company keeps saying we didnt pay, but we did, but they say we didnt... blafsh blafsh. the long and short of it is, that theyre not releasing our container... pray some more, miskin. er, well... school is going great for us... i have friends now, and they're fun... at least mine are. santie though, likes to scare me. those of you who know me well know i like to do that to people as well, but am scared very easily. so she jumped out at me when i came out of the bathroom the other day, and i like snorted i got such a big fright, pulled a great face and turned all white. she was laughing for a very looooong time. her laugh makes me laugh. then of course, there is the house. arg... its not getting any better... here goes:
(this probably wont be that funny, but i hope its midly amusing and informative)

the lady who is renting it to us is this stiff necked old afrikaans lady, who lives out on a farm and gets up really really early. so last week, she pitched at our house at like 7:00 a.m to get something, the rent i think. ok, so shes tramping round the house on the noisey wooden floors gettting this and that from here and there. i was TRYING to sleep, i mean, it is seven in the morning, good grief. so she had to get something that mom thought was in gordons room, so the poor guy gets out of bed (i feel for gordon, hes not an early riser. neither am i) and puts shorts on so that when mrs. vandersluis walks into his room, he looks presentable. the thing she wanted wasnt in his room, so he sat there until after she had left waiting for her to come in. by this time, i was awake, but lying with my eyes shut in bed, hoping to go back to sleep. it didnt work. she left telling mom that she USUALLY comes at 6:00 a.m, so we're lucky she came so late. i almost squealed.
then, the other day, old faithful did its faithfulness: the toilet didnt work properly. AGAIN im trying to sleep, and this toilet flushes loudly. so my dad flushed the toilet, and walked out, tramping down the hallways, which is really quite noisy. ah, i think, now to sleep again. TARA!! five minutes later, dad is back, at the flush like theres no tomorrow. no prob, i think, you always have to flush twice. ok, couple minutes later, dad is back. flushing with a vengeance. what is this, methinks. he flushed like eight times that morning, and then i think it finally worked. i was like " its time the plumber came to check out this relic of a toilet"o well...
then there was the time we had moths the size of baseballs flying around our home... morgy and i walked out of our room, and saw these massive things flying around the light. "eeeks, theres birds in our house..."saith morgy. i thought they were bats... but dad came out of his room to check it out, and declared them to be humungo moths. gross. mom forthwith rushed into their room, declaring "i dont need these moths... OOOOOOh!!!" a moth had flown into my mom, startling her out of her wits, and causing her to flee the scene into the bathroom. it was funny, i tell you. heres mom in the bathroom "brushing her teeth". so dad grabbed a grey t- shirt and was leaping around the room in effort to kill the foul creatures. all i heard was "earh...unnghs.... ampsh..." etc etc, as he jumped around flapping his t-shirt. he did get them finally, and squashed them beneath his black shoes. it was very funny... free entertainment...then there was the time gordon had a moth flying around his room at night. he saw the thing, and thought to himself "oh no". so he put off the light, because moths are attracted to light. "peace at last..." he thought. and went to bed. "flutter...flutter...flutter...flutter...flutter..." by this time gordon had one eye open, since moths are annoying as they fly around in the dark. ok, he closed his eye. "pff..." nooooo, gordon thought, it cant be. it was. the moth had landed right next to his head on his pillow. so gordon leaped out of bed, and grabbed a t-shirt and threw it over the moth. he then threw the shirt across the room, removed it and squished the moth with a shoe. he said he almost screamed when the moth landed next to him, and i dont blame him. theres something creepy about a bug landing next to your head in the dark.
then the other night, i had a mosquito flying around my head. it was about 2 a.m, or so it felt. i was really sick of it all, coz just as i would be drifting off to sleep, it would re-appear at my earside, and whine in my ear. i was by this time, going half mad from sleep deprivation, and was starting to dream up crazy ways to get rid of it. i knew i would never be able to squish it, i cant even squish a mosquito in when its right in front of me. suddenly, it dawned upon me, the perfect solution. why dont i move to the other side of my bed!!! it would NEVER find me there, i thought to myself in my delirium. so i moved to the other side, chuckling at my genius. JUST as i was drifting off, there was the familiar "eeeeeeeeeee..." of the mosquito right by my ear. "rats... who did it find me here?" i thought. i then put my pillow over my head, and finally fell asleep. next morning, morgy was giving me an odd look. "why are you on the other side of your bed?" she asked. ok, stoofus, i'll explain. "i was trying to get away from a mosquito last night" morgy had a good laugh at that one. then a couple nights later, we had a fly in our room. so morgy rushed into the bathroom and grabbed the mosquito spray, so make it go away. she proceeded to close the door, and rush over to our beds (which are pretty close together) and sprayed liberally all over the area. it was like a gas chamber. in effort to disguise the fumes, she grabbed her bottle of perfume and sprayed tons of that too. i was about dead in our home-made gas chamber, so i fled the scene.
now, washing the dishes. this is what gordon and morgy and gordon are doing at this very moment. the yellow rubber gloves helped alot. at least we dont feel the floaties any more, and our hands dont get all wrinkly and shrivelled. but, they do have a down side. when you take the gloves off, a sick smell of rubber glove wafts off your hands and into the nostrils of all innocent passers by, who then think you havent bathed for months, and give you odd looks, and avoid you at all costs. now, one of the rubber gloves have three holes: one in the thumb, one in the index finger and one in the pinky. so the water gathers like little pools at the end of these fingers, and smells pretty gross. so gordon put his hands in the gloves this evening, and said it was like putting his hands into a swamp. he felt a newt in there, he said. any way, so you wash, and when you take the gloves off, your hands smell like wet rubber gloves. and now the innocent passer by faints, instead of thinking you some unclean bum. and WITHOUT FAIL when we put the gloves on, our noses start to itch like crazy. i had to get poor ol' gordon to itch my nose twice. he kindly obliged by rubbing my nose (none to gently) with an old dish rag that smelled really bad. such is dishes.
then the other day, gordon was singing " fix you" by coldplay, while we were doing the dishes (oddly enough, when we do the dishes is when we joke around the most, most of the time). any way, gordon started seranading simon (the dog.) this is what he sang "simon: i will tryyyyy to fix you...." he sang that a couple times, and simon was whining. so then i said to gordon "you know gordon, that isnt all that healthy to sing to the poor dog..." gordon laughed out loud, and stopped singing that song to simon. simon is still annoying... he smells bad, slobbers and whines alot. i fell bad though, all he wants is some affection. thing is, when i give it to him, my hand smells bad, and he doesnt want me to stop. then i get mad, and biff him on the head. its time we got our little rupert back.. which brings up rupert. hes staying with friends of ours, who have a FEMALE daschund. they got along so well, that now there are puppies on the way. these things are going to look very very funny, but i think they'll be cute. we want to keep one, and i hope we do.
just to prove how boring this house is, i'll put forth one scenario. from oupas house after he had died, morgy discovered a treasure. A PAIR OF CRUTCHES!!! ohboyohboy... she was happy with those. she was limping around oupas house with those all the time. then they came back with us to our "rental estate" where there are long spacious passage ways, just right for crutching. just kidding. the passage is about ten feet long. but so bored was morgy, that she hauled them out of our room, and crutched down the hallway and throught the lounge, into the dining room (where my dad has his study), through the kitchen, and down the passage to our room, where the parade started again. at supper, dad complained about them. "one day, im going to walk into the house, trip over them, and break them into TEN pieces, i promise you." gordon then quipped " you wont break them dad, you'll be using them!!" when asked why she played with these amazing pieces of technology, she said "its fun!!" silence. "FUN??" sputtered dad, "tells you how boring this house must be..." and really it is, come on!!! i was so bored the other day, i tried out the crutches. dad saw me limping through the lounge, and sighed. i decided it best to put them away. so i did.

okok, that better keep you post wanters quiet for now, that is a very very long post. i hope you almost smiled, thought of gordon and morgy and me with fondness, and i hope you read it all. guys, i miss y'all. see you soon one day though... keep praying for us, and if you have needs, i will pray for you too. tata!!!

Grief

2006-02-27T04:55:00.000-08:00

on saturday last week, my oupa, mike bartman, died. he was 77 years old. we didnt expect him to die, but he did. we were picking my aunts shell and bron up from the airport, when the hospital phoned my mom and told her that oupas breathing wasnt good. we rushed to the hospital, and mom, bron and shell went in to see him. mom said he looked really bad, and she didnt want us to remember him that way. so morgy, gordon, hannah (my cousin from england who came with bron) and i went down to the cafe to buy milkshakes with the money mom gave us, and to wait. half an hour later, oupa just stopped breathing and died. bron and shell took it really hard, this had been the only time they saw him. we were all upset. mom phoned mike, who got a plane ticket, and came down that night with his wife and daughter. it didnt really sink in for me that oupa was dead till last night. i never got to say goodbye. i never told oupa how much i loved him. dad says he knew. i can only pray that he did. oupa wasnt like other grandparents. he was never very affectionate. he never really hugged me, or told me that he loved me. he did buy us shoes though. and nice things on our birthdays. he used to have his classical music blaring at night, when he was all tucked in and stuff, before he went to bed. he practiced medicine up till a few weeks before he died. i remember he always used to do his crosswords in his chair in the morning, while we kids ate breakfast. he had his nicknames for us: frankie (morgy) ukkel (me) and rastus (gordon). and no one else will call me that again. i loved my oupa, and he loved us although he never told us. i miss him, and wish i told him the last day i saw him how much i do love him. the last words i said to my oupa were "i'll see you next week then". but i never did. i wish so much, that i said more. but i didnt. and well, i cant change what happened.

Gordon Dreams A Dream

2006-02-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

hey guys! gordon stumbled out of bed this morning, sleepy eyed and half asleep still, got dressed and ya. then it hit him. he had had a fantastic dream, a dream of wonders, the dream of dreams !!!! any way, he could not wait to share his wonderful dream with us, his lowly sisters who spent the night dreaming of simon pursuing them through dark alley ways and such (just kidding. i couldnt remember what i had dreamed) ANYWAY, gordon came dashing into the kitchen shouting excitedly "MUST TELL SCALLY AND MORGY ABOUT MY DREAM!! I MUST I MUST!!" he ran into the kitchen, grinning his ears off ready to tell all, where he was greeted wiht a cynical stare from morgy (eyebrow raised), and me, with my mouth gaping open, my spoonful of cereal halfway to my mouth. the spoon dropped out of my hand, which had been numbed with shock. the sound "tink..." of the spoon hitting the floor echoed around the room for a full minute. ( we were not used to this kind of excitement from gordon this early in the morning.) gordon cleared his throat, and asked if we had poured him some cofffee. i simply nodded, my vocal chords still not quite recovered. he sat down and started eating his brekkers. he swallowed and looked at us, we were by now over the shock and eating once again. he announced
" i had a great dream last night... i dreamed we were thatching a roof. and strange and wonderful things were happening i tell you!!! the thatch was leaping from the ground to our waiting hands, and we got it done in no time at all... WOWW!!! ( he said this to instill in us the sense of wonder he was feeling, i was sipping my coffee, and morgy was still raising her eyebrow) ok, then i dreamed that the people in America kept trying to phone me, but my phone wouldnt work. so i ended up with A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MESSAGES, one hundred and eighty, i tell you!!! (he was foaming at the mouth by this time, because of the weightiness of the message he was proclaiming) but then my phone got a virus. just as i was puzzling on how to fix it, mr. sikma and john showed up wearing shirts that stated " i am a south african". john and i then went to a mall (not sure which one), and i asked john how fiddler on the roof went, but he totally ignored me. he kept walking into a store , and changed into timosi (my oupas 50 year old gardener from malawi) ... strange i tell you. okok, thats not all though..(i almost choked, as i was hoping this crazy fiasco would now end) then bruno ( a kid from our school) appeared at the back door, dressed like a bum. for some reason i had a strange foreboding about him. he asked me where a laundromat was, and i told him. then he told me to go with him in his car (this kid is in 7th grade) but i refused. fearing for your safety (talking to me now) i told you to run round to the front door and come in there and not to talk to bruno. then he carved a strange carving on the tree, and left. that was my wonder-dream. cool eh?"
morgy and i sat there, looking at him with blank stares. the scene was disrupted by my mom coming in and saying "LOOK AT THE TIME!!!" so we got up to brush our teeth. i was glad my brother took me seriously enough to tell me his wonder dream... but then, i dont know. is he ok i wonder?i hope so.

this post was mainly fictionalized by me, the editor. all rights reserved. i obtained permission from the person this post was about to do so, so dont think me some cheat. the dream though, was totally real. he did dream all that i put up, i just made it more interesting.

RARA!!! IM BACK!

2006-01-28T04:28:00.000-08:00

ah, my beloved fans. sorry ive taken so long. allow me to enlighten you on life as i know it.
day 1: we got off the plane, brains dead, looking gross, feeling worse. we then travelled to our LITTLE rental place, where i took a shower and then went to sleep. that was after i was done crying my eyes out, wishing life was different. sniffle.
day 2: we started with school, and have been going every day since then. i saw the guys in my class and almost fainted with horror. no english guys, and many were, hairy. ew. yeah, and its an A.C.E school, which means i work on my own at my level, and i have to work really hard. boring. psh.
im gonna quit the day thing now. any how, school is getting better, i have to "friends". its wierd, i want new friends, but then i dont. life is really hard when youre a teen without friends, you know? so im trying. dont want to forget you guys though.
ok, so the cruddy little house we're renting. its falling down around us pracitcally. and it comes with this huge, slobbery, gross dog that we call simon (his name is simson, but thats afrikaans). as soon as i warm up to this beast, he slobbers all over me, which is really gross. its like "awwww.... arrrrhg!!!" ANY HOW... so like three days after we arrived, i was gonna take my morning shower before school, k? and i was just adjusting the shower head thing, when it came off the pipe it was on. i was like "oh crap, im breaking this lady's house!" ( but i put it back on, and then the shower worked fine.) so then that night, gordon takes a shower. and he came out of the bathroom wondering if we have any duct tape, coz the shower pipe was busted, and water was coming out of the sides, not the nozzle. needless to say, the bathroom was flooded. he never told me, however, the shower pipe thingy was broken. so guess what? i take a shower the next morning. and it was horrible. i had to manouver the shower nozzle thingy so that the water coming out of the sides would wet me, since none of the water was coming out of the (broken) nozzle. arg! i was like "what am i doing to this house???" then the owner of the house came over that sunday for lunch (sort of invited herself) and told us we werent supposed to use the shower. o thanks. after we're done breaking it and wondering what on earth we did wrong you finally tell us.
thats just the shower. the toilet has problems too. it like doesnt flush properly. (jess) im like yelling "FLUSH YOU STUPID TOILET!! DAAAAAAAARN IT ALL!" (never mind why i said jess, she should understand). i hate it.
ok, so then theres no dishwasher. so we three kids gather around the sink to wash dishes every night. its horrible. coz when i did it, there were no rubber gloves, to i had to sort through all the floaties in the water to find like, the last tiny teaspoon. and gordon would laugh at me.
then theres the stereo. the one piece of relatively new technology in the house. oh, oops, it doesnt funtction properly. WHAT IS WIIIIITH THIS? saith i. so when we do try to listen to music, its like a ten minute operation of pushing buttons, crying bitter tears and begging the stereo to work until it finally does. man.
of course, then theres the issue of me and morgy sharing a room. i wont go into the horrors of this, because morgy would never forgive me. needless to say, its horrible sometimes. other times, not so bad. like we got in a fight because i put my two chapsticks on "her table". then she went and put her bible on mine. (in case you havent noticed, morgy and i fight alot). then shemakes me feel like and ogre (and i am one) when i grump at her. but boy, when shes grumpy, i want to go sleep with simon, even if he does drool and stink. (btw, he slobbered on gordon the other day, right after he took a drink. gordon was peeved).
then, on monday, the gate opener of the gate to our house broke. so heres us, the entire miskin family, sitting by the gate for half an hour trying to get the gate open. then my dad went outside the gate (it opened enough for us to get through, not the car tho) to see what he could do, and it opened even less, so he was stuck OUTSIDE the gate (in his sweatpants and slippers). simon was drooling all over us. and we just sat there until we finally firgured out how to open it manually. chaotic, i tell you. i felt like a freak.
then yesterday, after my dad took us to school, he tried to unlock the door of the house, but the key broke in the lock. mom wasnt home, so he was locked out. the only other keys were inside the kitchen, right by the microwave (a long way from the window). so then my dad (MY DAD, OK!) had to go find a long pole so he could create with it and a piece of wire, a hook to get the keys. i dont want to know how long it took him to finally get them, but he did. and i think he was mad. really mad. if i was in that position, i would have started foaming at the mouth or something.
and the internet guys was supposed to come on thursday. but he didnt. so dad phones him and asked if he was going to come, but he was busy. so he told us he would come friday. yipee, i thought, internet finally! stupid me. friday rolls around, and he didnt show (again) "why didnt you come"said dad. "eeeh, i forgot" he replied, mystified at why dad would be mad. totally baffled.
then the cars we are borrowing. we have this old VW... nevermind what kind. its huge and its like 20 years old. and it sounds like a freakin semi going down the road. and the church where my dad does the english service... full of nice cars. and here we roar up in this HUGE piece. the entire family fits in the first two rows (there are three huge rows of seats). gordon morgy and i sit really comfortably in the front row alone, with a good amount of elbow room. its massive, gross and loud. then theres the tiny litte truck we're borrowing from my oupa. two seats in front, and it has one of those little cab things with a roof, so thats where morgy and i sit. in little lawn chairs. and they go flying across the width of the back when my mom turns sharply. i feel soooo dumb in that car. and we bought a second hand toyota condor, thats really nice. and it was supposed to arrive this week. but it didnt. i almost cried.

well, i made my life seem horrible i know. but its interesting. we put an offer in for a house, and i hope we get it. its a nice house. im having a pretty good time. but what means alot to me is that you guys remember me and think of me ( i hope). ive got this post lined up that i'll put up soon of stupid things ive said. so if you know any, email them to me, and i'll put them up. i hope this amused you, and reminded you to keep us in your prayers, and to think of me often.
miss you guys!

D'OH!!

2006-01-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

speaking of the wisdom of weirdos, heres a few things ive said that really made me laugh. and other people too. hope you like them... till i post on african life.. OOH!
1.) last summer, when we came to S.A over the summer, my uncle mike had this habit of making fun of me. i was trying to prove to him one night, that i am, in fact, intelligent. so he said to me "oh yah? whats the square root of 32?" to which i haughtily replied " i dont know, i havent taken GEOMETRY!" he called me the family blonde joke.
2.) my uncle mike (again) had a habit of punching us. for no reason, at random times. i was drowsily sitting with my cousins around the fire waiting for supper, thinking i was rather thirsty. so mike appears and asks me (in a nice tone of voice) "would you like a punch?" i replied (in a stoofusy tone of voice) "oh, yes please!!" thinking he meant a drink. so when his fist balled and he was ready to strike me, i begged for mercy with tears streaming down my innocent face. just kidding. i said "ohohoh NOO, i thought you meant a drink!" everyone, including my brother laughed at me.
3.) i was lamenting about the backwardness of the rental house we're staying in to my brother, as we were drying the dishes. (no dishwasher...). i was raving about washing dishes and about the stereo which is messed up. in my exuberance i cried " i mean, for goodness sake, everything either MALFUNCTIONS or is DOESNT WORK!!" gordon guffawed and informed me that they have the same meanings. and then he quipped " yah, i know, its either dumb or its stupid!" silly me.
4.) i was qouting from this political show from the nineties we saw on a sikma home video once, about bob dole. and i said " well, bob dole didnt grow up with a FIVE FOOT YACHT!" to which gordon replied "what was it a toy yacht?" haha, gordon.
5.) my dad had told my mom he would give her a hiding (aka spanking) if she kept up with her "bad attitude". so then, later in the meal, i said to dad when he was ungrateful, "dad, i will put you over my lap, and give you a backside!!" gordon laughed almost as loudly as morgy did. it was kind of embarassing.

any how, hope this keeps you fiends satisfied for a while. jk. erika, i'll email you asap..dont worry. im so busy emailing like 12 ppl every day... its hectic. any how, hope you laughed. if any of you know something dumb ive said that was funny, put it up on a comment, id love to see it.

2006-01-20T04:56:00.000-08:00

hey guys... long time no post. sorry, youre gonna have to wait a while till i really get posting (suspense buildeth) coz the cruddy little house we're renting has no internet. no computers. no washing machine... its not cool. so i'll post soon... on life, liberty and freedom for all... I AM OFFICIALLY STILL RETARDED!!!!
love you guys

Good bye post.

2006-01-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

well guys, this is a couple days before we leave, so im gonna write a small note to all of the people who come to my blog on this post, saying good bye and stuff. if i leave you out, dont worry, i still like you (if i know you) you just dont come to my blog, so i didnt write something here coz i figured you wouldnt see it any way. so here goes.
1. erika van dyke. im sorry i didnt become friends with you alot earlier than i did, but i loved getting to know you and hanging out with you as much as we did. thanks for commenting here as faithfully as you did, and being a fun person to know. i will miss you very very much.. but no fear! you will come visit us, and i will email alot.
2. john sikma. i cant really thank you for everything youve been to me on my blog... but i know i surely will miss you.you gave me my taste for music, made me laugh, and gave me really good advice on whatever i asked you advice on. thanks for listening to me, for caring about my problems and for helping me as much as you did with all the advice you gave me... it always helped me alot. i will miss you a TOOOON and you better come visit us... and i love you like a brother... :D
3. petey. thanks for sahring all fun times you shared with us over the summer of '04 and all the times you hung out with us... thanks alot for helping us at our house too... that was awfully helpful. i will miss you too. thanks for always being there to make me laugh.
4. nick kwekel. i read your comments nick. and i will miss you too. you were fun to get to know, and it was fun to hook you up. dont move too fast here, k? and i enjoyed talking to you alot, even tho you did get me in trouble in science. you are a cool friend, and i hope one day when i come back to visit you, that you will remember who i am, and that we can still be friends.
5. bryan denhollander. oh man, i will miss you alot. its too bad i hated you and nick for such a long time (harr) coz youre really very cool people to know. thanks for being my friend, commenting on my blog (when i told you to). and for listening to me, and taking me seriously enough to be able to tell me stuff. i will miss you alot, and i will email you FROM AFRICA, like you said in 8th grade, remember? i hope to see you again one day!
6. courtney kamp. youre my bestest friend. i dont know what else to say, or i'll start crying, and i cant do that coz im at your house. i will miss you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much... you mean alot to me. please, dont forget me, and dont forget our millions of lame jokes, and find someone else to get drinks with all the time. i loved being your friend, and i always will be. come visit me, K? coz im gonna visit you.
7. lindsay vandyke. you better find someone else to get your trapper out of your bag, and get you a milk every noon, coz im not gonna be here to do that. dont forget our little link thingy that we did for courtney, and tubba tubba toot toot! (dont ask) i will rememer you every time i wear your earrings, and will miss you alot. hope to visit you again one day.
8. echuckler. too bad we didnt get to know you very well, but thank you very much for taking the time to comment on my blog... i always liked your comments. i also had fun with you and the vandykes and the sikmas at our house, it was a night i wont ever forget. thanks for being a friend.
9. evie lanning. i had a lot of fun knowing you, especially when we went camping... thanks for being so much fun and for giving us our much beloved dog... hehe. i will miss you, and i hope to see you again one day.
10. chris blok. i dont know if you will ever see this, but i'll write it anyway. im sorry about how i was to you, coz i know that i was really mean. and if we weren't leaving, i would try to fix it all. but we are leaving. so you will have to just be happy knowing i will miss you, alot. i dont hate you. and i would burn your candy grams you sent me. never. i'll remember you by them.i hope you wont be like very sad when we leave, and if you are, it will get better in like a week. and if it helps, just forget me. it always works. but i do like you. and you are funny. and i will miss you alot. trust me. thanks for being the way you are, i like you as you are... different. so... ya.
11. jess. you dont come to my blog any more, but i didnt wanna leave you out. i will miss you and all our jokes. please dont forget me... and watch our movie to remember all the good times we had. im going to.

well, i think that covers everyone. and really, i love all of you. each of you helped shape who i am today. looking back, i wouldnt have had my life any other way. coz then i wouldnt have met all of you. and i know i will see you again one day... if you havent forgotten who i am. each of you has a place in my heart, and you will always be there. sorry if i sound stupid, but thats how i feel. so, any more and i will cry. good bye, all my friends.

love,
scarletta miskinivitch.

An Article..

2005-12-31T18:46:00.000-08:00

on a very serious note, i read an article in a christianity magazine that my mom had. im not sure how i can write this to make sense. but i'll try.
1.) in Uganda, there is a man who is trying to overthrow the government. im not sure what his name is. so he started this army called the LRA. Lord's royal army or something. he mixes islam, christianity and mostly witchcraft in his religion, and says its a christian army. read on, it gets worse.
2.) this army, at night, abducts kids, from the ages of 7-14 because at that age, their minds are influenced the easiest. then the generals or whatever make the kids march for days, and the kids dont have proper shoes or water. the generals drink the good water. so guess what they kids drink? gross dirty water, or, well, urine. OK, GROSS! AND THESE KIDS ARE MY AGE! AND YOUNGER.
3.) if the kids cant keep up with the pace at which they are forced to march, they are killed. but not by the generals. nope, another child has to kill them. or be killed. within a week, new "recruits" are expected to have killed another child.
4.) when the LRA comes to like a town and they raid it or something, the children are expected to kill the victims. one boy was forced to beat two women to death, i think it was beat. with a machete, i think. and he was so afraid that they would kill him. so he had to. he said he kept beating them, even thought they were screaming. he was scared of being killed.
5.) when killing someone, or beating them, the children are told that if the blood of the victim doesnt spatter on their clothes, they didnt do a proper job. gory.
6.) the goal of all this is to ultimately make these children when they are older ruthless killers who have no conscience. and it works. they are forced to kill at a young age. some boys are forced to rape women. or mutilate peoples faces by cutting off their noses, or their lips.
7.) the children who do escape need serious help. mentally, and often physically. many times, their faces are beyond recongition. they are afraid of going to jail because of what they were forced to do. their families often dont accept them back, especially if it was a girl who was raped or something. some families dont get help for the children right away. one family had to bring their son in who escaped, because he had broken his hands by beating on a wall repeatedly. and none of the kids talk to the people at this clinic that is there to help them. its hard to get them to talk about what happened to them. this is a christian clinic, BTW. also, the kids dont understand what christianity is all about. no wonder.

thinking about all this shamed me. i complain when the smallest thing goes wrong for me. all my "problems" are so petty and small. nothing that happens to me compares to this, not even close. and the first thing that entered into my head after i read this article was "why?" why does the Lord let all this happen? it seems like He doesnt care. like somehow God isnt looking. and i know He sees everything that happens to these kids. but i dont understand why. maybe to show us what people are really like.
i know that i cant rush off to Uganda to stop all this. i know not everyone can go work in a clinic there. but i know what i can and will do. im gonna pray. if i dont, im not doing anything about this problem ive learned about. and i wont sit around and do nothing. praying is everything i can do.
what are YOU gonna do? will you pray ? or not?
ta

SKIIING!

2005-12-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

ok, guys, i went skiing last night... and IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN! seriously, i didnt die, i got to hang out with people i really like and i got to embarass myself by trying to ski. i was also having fun hurling my meanest insult of the day at people ( people that i knew, of course) . namely: BUTTHEAD! that was fun too. but my hat didnt really work for me, so i wore jess's hat. and i hung out with jess, derek blok and andrew schipper for a while. i even went down the sweet express hill. and jess was mean and said i look like an old granny when i ski. i believe it too. o well. there were people that were insanely good... namely: chris blok, bryan denhollander, er, derek blok, and other people i didnt even know. and there were some people who were oblivious to the cold... wearing no hat and at times, even no jacket (it is prudent, i suppose, at this point, to mention no names). but if they like it like that, good for them, quothe i. so yeah. and i also saw mr. bloks other son... who looks so much like him, i almost fainted. seriously, it creeped me out. i was like "i didnt know mr. blok snowboards!" (i didnt really say that, just stressing my point here). my food was sabotaged by my philistine friends... jess! but i got her back by putting pieces of my mutilated brownie in her drink. i sound so childish. i am so childish. sick. i laughed alot, but thats me i spoze. ohoh, and the last thing i did that night was FOR THE FIRST TIME, i sat by the fire. with my good friend courtney kampus. and by other people i know. and i had fun doing that too. life is fun. and i dont have long left, so i gotta tell y'all this, since its chrismas and all:
i love you guys!! and will miss you like crazy!!
phew, got that over with.
i meant that, btw, for everyone i know who reads this blog.
ta!

Injustice.

2005-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

you know, one thing that drives me insane are the guys on my bus. they never ever do anything wrong, they claim, but they get in trouble any way, becaues mr. bazen supposedly hates them. also, there are some people (no names) in my history class who get in trouble, and there first response EVERY TIME, is "I DIDNT DO IT!" i want to say to them "isnt life unfair? poor baby. always in trouble for nothing." i cant stand it. its not like they dont do what they are accused of doing. and they always say they didnt do it. they make their lives at school miserable.
but the stinky part in all this injustice is, these guys are bullies. and they think its funny to pick on the little people, who are nerdy. or different. i hate it. and they pick on the small guys. who have no one to stick up for them. and who cant beat them up. i hate unfairness. i despise bullies. i dislike injustice. life is so unfair sometimes. makes me wonder what it would be like to be unpopular. and i think, those who are popular should stick up for the unpopular nerdier kids, especially if they're younger. and ive got four weeks left (or less) to make my stand. i think i will. sigh.
injustice... tis a sad thing.

2005-12-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

hi guys! quick note of hi-ness... im in canada right now.. and will be till tuesday. do you miss me? i miss you guys. i think i said goodbye to all my friends, if not, remind me to punch myself for you, or punch me yourself.
will update lata!

Revelation!

2005-12-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

i finally got it all figured out. if you know me, you know i laugh ALOT and im very cheerful. but i think i laugh to cover up a major deficiency in my character. and im cheerful, because deep down, im not really happy. ive only got four weeks left in America. theres alot i still want to do. theres alot i wish i could do again, or take back. theres so many things ive done wrong. i dont want to leave, but i know i have to, so i CAN start again and leave the hurt i have and have probably caused behind me.
" laugh. if you dont laugh, you will cry." ( my motto.) and THATS why i laugh so much.

Official Notice.

2005-11-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

well, i dont know about you, but i think this blog is going down the tubes. sooo, im gonna delete it pretty soon and get a new one when we go to south africa. tell me what you think of all this. yay, nay, or maybe so.
ta

Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

well, this november has been great. all that turkey and stuff. yeah, its a great thought. yesterday was thanksgiving, so i decided to tell you guys what im thankful for this year. ENJOY!
1.) i am thankful that we came to america. if we didnt, i would have had a boring life and would never have met all the people i met and am friends with.
2.) im thankful for humour and laughter. goodness, where would i be without it?
3.) im thankful that i can be a christian without persecution. that would be very hard.
4.) im thankful for my family. sometimes annoying and insane, i love 'em anyhoo, theyre always there when i need them.
5.) im thankful for school. education, and that kind of thing. tons of people dont have it half as good as i do.
6.) im thankful for all my friends. you dudes understand me, make me laugh and (lamest of lame things to do) comment on my blog. love y'all!
7.) im thankful for all my stuff. like, clothes, shoes, hair straightener and all that jazz. i have alot of stuff, seriously.
8.) and last but not least, i am grateful for every breath and heart beat that i have. life is so short. it really is. i could die any second, and thats scary.

Purposes...

2005-11-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

allow me to make clear a few things that my blog IS and what it ISNT.

1) my blog is not a place to make known any amount of gushy (etc) sentiment. THIS IS NOT A SOAP OPERA!
2.) its not a gossip session where we put people down. thats happened here, and i know its wrong. if we do discuss someone, it will have to be nice, or in jest.
3.) this is not a place to advertise the virtues of your site. if its cool, thats nice. i'll find out myself.

what my blog IS, or SHOULD BE:
1.) a site that is funny, entertaining, stupid, or all three. probably stupid though.
2.) family friendly. hoho. no, i wont start cussing and i wont write about objectional material. (not rated R stuff, any way, like, PG)
3.) a site that i will probably keep you updated from in south africa. im not sure yet.

i hope you will keep these few things in mind, since i dont want to have to face them again. tata!
have a nice life! and always follow your nose... its a good thing!

Dr. Evil and Her evil sidekick, The Cow

2005-11-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

once upon time there was this evil person who named herself Dr. Evil. she also had a faithful sidekick named The Cow. Together they planned to take over the world. Unfortunately, there was this moron named Mr. Peas-and-Carrots who was a goody two shoes who foiled all their evil plans. So, in the end, they didnt over take the world, and they were mad. But then, one day they planned a brilliant plot to get rid of Mr. Peas- and-Carrots so that they could over take the world. So one day, they disguised themselves as waiters at a restaurant where Mr. Peas- and-Carrots was eating. They walked up to his table and seized his plastic fork and impaled him upon it. It was a sad sight. They then escaped on their getaway tandem to their secret hide-out. There they laughed until they cried and planned their over take of the world. They then over took the world, only no one knew about it, because as soon as they did, they underwent a major change of character and became the greatest advocates of "How to stop people from overtaking the world".
Isnt that cool? Dr. Evil changed her name to Dr. Cool and The Cow remained The Cow. How Sweet!

Sorry

2005-10-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the vulgarity and imaturity of the last post. i hope none of you were offended. it seems some of you may have been (john) but i dont know. so, sorry, i'll post something good again soon.

Mortification!

2005-10-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

As of this moment, i am mortified. Utterly desolated. I am going to die.
bye

Only Rupert...

2005-10-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

this post shall be dedicated to our slightly insane but rather wonderful dog. so here we go... note: the name of the dog in this post is pronounced the south african way: ROO-pit.

Only Rupert would pee on my friend courtney every time she has come over lately.

Only Rupert would empty his bowels three times on the floor of MY room over the period of two days, after being severely chastised for doing so.

Only Rupert would welcome our guests (who didnt really like dogs anyway) by puking right at their feet, and taking care of his dierreah at their feet as well.

Only Rupert would pursue our grumpy cat out onto the roof of our garage only to pee in his terror of the cats vengeance.

Only Rupert would be able to jump to the heights he has attained for a dog of his size. He's like a circus show he jumps so high.

Only Rupert would decide to run after Morgy and me one morning as we were in a hurry to get onto the bus. Not only did he run around after us, but he almost crossed the road with us and forced my mom to run outside wearing her P.J's and gown (no shoes) to pursue him.

Only Rupert would scare all the little kids who come to our house by his happiness like he does.

Only Rupert could have ever become so special to me, despite all the grievances and misktakes listed above. Yes, thats our dog.

My Biffday!

2005-10-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

well, right now, i dont feel like posting on the chicago trip my class went on. so ill post on this instead. yes, saturday was my birthday (or as a miskin phrase, biffday). on friday night, i had cassie bazen and my faithful side kick courtney kamp over. we hung out in my room for a while, as i got over the pain of ear piercing. then, just as we were watching pirates of the carribean, i heard some dude yelling "hey, are you home? you invite us, and then youre gone!" that was john, of course, letting me know that they had arrived. so, my friends and i trooped downstairs to meet the sikmas and play football. we had alot of fun, apart from that fact that gordon almost broke cassies (middle) finger. then, ghrad had to leave, so we (gordon, john, pete, cassie, courtney and i) just hung out laughing about life and talking as well. it was fun. we also discussed the possibilities of why rupert always pees on courtney, we still dont really know. after a jovial supper, the youngsters (us) trooped upstairs to watch the phantom of the opera... LUCKY! since it is johns favourite musical, and because im so nice, i invited the sikmas to watch it with us. and they really liked it i think. the movie was great, especially with the thoughtful commmentaries pete gave on the movie, and gordons theatrical snores in some tedious songs... but john was intenly silent the whole way through. boy...
then after the movie, came picture time! boy, was that fun! i have some great pictures i should post soon... maybe i will!
saturday: my birthday. all my buddies came over and we made the most insane movie ever... and had laughs doing it. courtney was running around in my moms old wedding dress,while kayla donned my dads old t shirt. cassie stuffed a pillow up her shirt for the "fat look", and lindsays wig, well, thats another story. i had a great day, and now i am officially fifteen!!!!! and it feels GOOOOOD!
bye!

Special Ed: and other things

2005-09-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

well, my readers, this post concerns a special ed like theme. i should start at the beginning though. just yesterday, my group of buddies and i were approached by dan schipper and chris blok who needed a player on their co-ed football team. after some deep thought, and violent arguments, jess convinced me to stay with her (only joshing jess). any way, i got some money for pizza and so did jess. then we were on. woopwoop.
after school proved that quite a few plymouth-ites had decided to stay as well. the teams organized themselves,and the games began. our first game, well, was pitiful. we were no match for neil blok and his cronies. however, we took the beating in good stride and said "i thought we would lose that one anyway!" i also made the catch of my lifetime during that game, it was purely luck though. the next game was more of a match i think. after a series of huddles and such, we defeated mr. tenelshof's team as well. jess and i were officially named the good luck charms of the team. that suited me just fine, by the way. the next match our team sat out, which was a relief to me, i needed my rest. jess and i rolled down a hill once or twice and looked up at the sky and commented on life. we also commented on our team being fun, but odd, as we saw the guys discussing stratagems,and throwing themselves to the ground in their exuberance. we were then called upon to play another game.
this one was against mark and his side kicks, aka, bryan jeff courtney nick and kerri rozeboom. i hated that team with a great hatred. courtney almost never got the ball, and that made me very angry. also, during that game, i proved myself a better kicker of the football than darren and chris. but jess was awesome too :D! we also won that game, on account of our marvellous strategies that i didnt even understand.
now is where the special ed comes in. we were then placed against a team of 7th grade girls... and kara vanderboon. who, if you didnt know, are very very small. that wasnt in the least fair, because on our team was dominic ash, the single most tall guy in the entire school. also, dan schipper can throw a ball well, and chris can (kind of) catch, and me and jess are lucky. so, we decided to play special ed style. in other words, we really messed around. alot too, coz we only ended up winning two to nothing. so, that was fun.
the next game we played was by far the funniest in a bad kind of way. we were up against a good team with joel and arnie blok, jess's sister and some other people. well, dan threw the ball for a far one, yelling "FORE!". chris was way out at the bottom of the field, being guarded by joel. when chris caught the ball, he ran and joel grabbed his flags off. unfortunately, joel decided to pull something else off chris as well: his shorts. yes, chris blok was pantsed. i only saw him pull his shorts up, but that was enough for me. i looked at jess and we both burst into merry gales of laughter (which probably made it worse for the poor guy). any way, that was funny, but sick if you know what i mean? ah, yes, football was fun.
then, we all trooped inside for pizza. boy, did my legs and feet hurt! i sank onto the floor holding my pizza and my drink, and was thankful we didnt have to do any more playing. that was the most fun i had all week really.

now, other news: on thursday it was my sisters birthday, she turned twelve. the sikmas also came over to observe it and check out my brothers new computer. thats the second piece of news. thirdly, jess got a blog!!! its pretty sweet, she shouldnt use IM speak though... LOL! kidding jess! her blogs name is jess 56.blogspot.com.
also, i liked the conversation starters you guys put up on my last post, we should do that again sometime.

i had a great time at football as you can probably tell, and will post on something again pretty soon!

Wegner's liquor and bowling.

2005-09-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

i am all alone in our house, do i decided to take advantage of it and do a post. this will be all about the happenings in my life of late. or, well the most significant.
let us start in the dim past of three days ago. Wednesday to be precise. we had history class... and it was fun (as usaual). only this time, we did a little play... via mrs. dykstra productions. it was about how cortes destroyed the aztec empire, and it was very funny. the actors, in their enthusiasm, had the whole class (including the director, mrs. dykstra) in fits of laughter. and if i remember correctly, trent was a body guard of cortes (matt bazen) no wonder he wasnt attacked.
then, last night, we (erika, lindsay, gordon, me, john, pete, heather bazen and kristin walma) went bowling at wegners on leonard. upstairs, mind you, we didnt know what the drunkies would have done to us if we had stayed downstairs. it was quite a lot of fun, even though i am hopeless at bowling. heather and kristin had to leave early, or left early, im not sure which. then we just sat there and discussed, well, nothing. ONLY KIDDING ERIKA!!! we talked about a lot of stuff... including where we should go now that our bowling game was over. i was sick of the smell of the alley, and there were some strange looking people where we were, so we decided to leave. we all trooped downstairs, paid and then went outside. there we stood in the dark, right next to wegner's liqour and bowling, saying we SHOULD leave soon, lest we be overtaken by mobs of drunk men, and women etc; we finally settled on the fact that we should go to red hot inn, all the way on the other side of town. so we did. when we got there, we ordered shakes from bob, who only does food. we walked on to find an amazing look alike of bob called jerry who did the counter. it was so uncanny a resemblance, i wonder if it was the same fellow... heehee. we all sat down, and laughed very hard for a while, and probably gave some of the old people in there heart attacks, i surely hope not. we then decided that we should leave, before they brought out some big fat guy to escort us out. in the parking lot, many good byes were said and we parted ways. alas, i thought, thus the night endeth.
so i did have fun... and well, youth must have its fling. so what can i say? im not sure either... thats me for you!
tootles!

The Fireworks and stuff

2005-09-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

i am sick of my last post so i decided to put another one up. and yes, it is about friday and the happenings thereon. i had alot of fun that day. first, i had school (woopwoop) and then we went over to jess's house and did all kinds of stuff. (woopwoop). we also caught frogs... i think courtney was looking for her prince there, since she isnt going to find him anywhere else... moohaha. then courtney, sonja and i had to go to youth group, where we played way too much football.
then the fun came~~ the fireworks. i love lots of people. when we got to our assigned bridge, i found half of plymouth there... to my surprise. i also found john and pete... surrounded by gordons buddies (lifestyles of the rich and famous...or so to speak). i then went over to my friends and met some kalamazoo guys who are like six feet tall, and my age... i feel really short for some odd reason. the fireworks were cool, and the company excellent.
well, that's all for now. sorry if i bored you!
tata

2005-09-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

ah, it is, i suppose, the cusotmary thing to write a post about the "first week of school". any way, to keep up the good old traditions, i will post one now.
i was aroused from my slumbers at about half past six, went to shower and fumbled my way down the stairs to eat my school-year breakfast: a piece of toast and a mug of coffee. after brekkers, my mom decided to have a lengthy prayer, during which the bus arrived. so, we were late for the bus on the very first day of school, great. when i got on the bus i sighed a great sigh. i was going to see the most retarded people i know once again. namely, my classmates.
when i walked into the school building, i was greeted by the sight of an ape like looking fellow who i realized was trent... sigh, he hasnt changed much, unfortunately. our class still has our retarded little "groups". i went over to the cool group, namely my group of friends and commented on what i thought the school year was going to be like-terrible.
during our assembly, erika came up and gave such a wonderful speech, i was moved to tears and almost gave her a standing ovation. it was the hightlight of my day.
the rest of the week was spent taking classes and dying in pe. we ran the mile, and that day i decided i am dropping pe, as soon as i can. gordon still parades around the building as if he owns the place, and gets many laughing at him... me included.
so, school isnt all that exciting, im probably going to hate my class and our groups... but the groups are a whole different post. one day i will post on that.
tata, i have to go, lest the wrath of gordon break upon me and consume me in my way.

"...and thus they qouth..."

2005-08-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

here are some great (random) quotes ive gathered from all my acquaintances, and a few other sources.

i quote:

" you're never old enough to learn." a guest at our house misquoted this one.

" Your diary?ive never read your diary." my sister.

" you have two brothers, did you know that?" gordon, in second grade to a classmate, when he discovered his classmate had two brothers.

" good thing im faster than most horses." petey

" theres ground beneath the dirt!!!" courtney's profoundness.

" O, i am excessively diverted!" Elizabeht Bennet in Pride and Prejudice

" winter's round the corner!" my mom's cheerful words of wisdom.

" your voice is an annoying noise!" mrs. lamain, in 7th grade to trent knibbe.

" knock and the door shall be opened unto you, except when im sleeping" the sign on my sister's door.

" its our own family blonde joke!" my uncle mike about me, when i said something particularly stupid.

" youve waited MONTHS even YEARS for this day!!" a birthday card from my sister to my brother on his fifteenth birthday.

" im going to call him Shmo." gordon, when we recieved our dog.

" Oh, shuttup, you are so annoying!" King Julian of the lemurs in madagascar

" G'mornin!" Mr. Devries when cassie poked her head in his tent on our muskegon trip.

" Oh, oops!" john, when he ran the wrong way in our football game.

" Together! you must work together to find my murderer!" pete, as kent oliver in "the deadly bananaman"

" would you like some coffee with you milk?" my dad when gordon puts too much milk in his coffee.

" its horrible!" my cousin hannah about my haircut.

" how many days walk was your military compound from the equator?" pete asked gordon with admiration in his voice and shining eyes when we first arrived.

" youre retarded" almost everyone i meet to me, which is true.

" you look like a lion." me when morgy asked me what her hair looked like when it was really poofy.

" yay, yay!" gordon, as he jumped on a trampoline in South Africa.

" bwoo-ha-ha!" morgy, during a particularly serious moment over breakfast.

" mushroom pile!" my mom about the pile of clothing on my chair.

" firework, firework, happy fourth of july!" jess, in a very clever moment.

" fnarr, fnarr!!" gordon's evil laugh

" there's people prowling about!" courtney, as she glanced over her shoulder into the dark. this was on our muskegon trip.

and the last one:

" he who laughs last thinks the slowest." an ancient zimbabwean proverb.

end quote.

The story of X and Y

2005-08-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

this is the sad narrative of two individuals. they will for good reasons, be left nameless and so we will call them X and Y. X and Y were not your average people. ah yes, my friends, they were mental retards. or to be politically correct, they were disturbed. and they were starting to scare the neighbourhood in which they resided.finally, after they had scared one old lady into hysterics so violent that she was admitted into the hospital and later died, they were arrested and taken to a home for the disturbed. then they were put into a little room where no one saw them. they were forgotten, but far from gone. oh yes, not yet gone.
it was a while later that our two disturbed friends decided that they didnt like their new home. so they hatched an ingenious plan (for mentals) to escape. so when the man with their rations came round the next day, they somehow knocked him out, bound and gagged him and hopped into their wheelchairs. then they frantically wheeled out, at 100 mph, and made their way to the fire escape door. on the way, they flattend an unfortunate nurse, and killed her. not daring to stop, they raced to the door, cheered on by the other inmates wishing they had the guts to escape as well.
they then wheeled downt the street and into a deserted alley. they rested there for a while and discussed (in the few ways they found possible) their predicament. where would they go now? it seemed that luck was with these two, because they discovered that the house next to them was empty. thus, they took up living in that house. from that house, in the still of the night, insane laughter was heard drifting out. the people of the town, believing the house to be haunted never dared to investigate what the cause of the noise was.
thus, their reign of terror began. they scared old ladies, and X even stole a pair of yellow rubber boots from a poor unsuspecting infant. to make matters worse, the police force was too afraid to try and catch them, and the home (prison) for mentals which previously held them, thought it wasnt their concern. so this poor little town, is still reigned by terror in the day, and laughter at night.
if you ever come across this town, BEWARE OF THESE TWO! they are dangerous, and they might just steal your rubber boots or scare your granny.

my news

2005-08-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

gasp, our computer annoys me to bits. i cant get to download pictures because it takes way way way to long, so you'll have to wait before there are any more pictures. on a more cheerful note however, we are going to have a dog... named rupert. does that ring a bell for any of you? i think so, he arrives tomorrow. also, you might have noticed that i changed my template (again) i think i will change it often-ish, as i like to be out of the ordinary. so, tell me when you like it and tell me when you dont.oh, will someone please tell me how to get links? i need links, as i am the only one without them, practically. john, explain how to do it again... please... i never got it the first time *sheepish grin*
i think thats all for now, i dont have anything profound to say but, when it comes, it will be memorable, yes it will be.
*and the meeting is dispersed*

2005-08-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

gordon trying to play playstation while sera covers his eyes to help her dad to win
me with my cousin finn
my uncle mike, in one of his sane moods

mike being attacked by the flowers... :D

isnt that sweet?
please comment at the end of my post called my update with pictures or something like that.. thanks
i hope you hopers for pictures are satisfied for now!

the long awaited post... with pictures!

2005-08-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

this is a picture of my cousin sera...
i am soooo annoyed right now... my pictures wont upload... so you will have to wait to see them, i just hope the one that worked turns out ok. john, you liar, you said it was simple... maybe for you, but not for me...
any way, i had a great trip in south africa, i got to see all my family, and maybe i'll get to show you pictures soon... but now for my update:
my last post was from cape town.. from cape town we proceeded to go back to my oupa's house and from there to visit my grandmother in brits. she was very happy to see us, but she cried when she saw us, we have grown that much. it was nice to be on the farm again, and nothing has changed. all that aside, we also helped fight a fire, it wasnt that serious, but please call me a hero for that one... :D. we also enjoyed seeing our cousin jonathan, who is still very funny. all that week was spent with my grandmother and cousin.. but i forgot the cd with my pictures of that week in south africa.. stupid me.
the next week we didnt really do that much. we went to see the mukhanyo college and all their organizations, and that was really the highlight of that week. it amazed me to see how poor some of the people their were... we really are blessed here in the states...
so, the last week comes around. the most fun week of the trip. we went on a "safari" in a place called mabalingwe with the whole side of my moms family, including the cousins from england. we had an awesome time, swam everyday about, and got really really dusty...but thats part of the fun... then we flew 19 hours back to the states.
in our own house we were met by john, terry and lynette who had made lunch for us... so nice of you guys... thanks!
oh, i got a haircut too, i have like no hair left.. :D
sorry about the rush, but my dad wants the computer..bye!

My Experiences In South Africa and the Way Here

2005-07-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

it was the unearthly hour of four in the morning when i was aroused from my slumbers by my mother saying "Are you ready?" yes my friends it was July the thirteenth, the day we were departing for south africa for the first time in three years. i rubbed the sleep from my eyes and fell out of bed, ready (almost) to go. we left the house (simeon drove us) and arrived at the airport, ready to leave. luckily, we had no real problems and the flight to Atlana began. it took us about one hour to get there. after that, we were in the rush of the airport of atlanta. after waiting for what seemed like forever at the gate to our plane, it was announced that our flight was now boarding. after another long stretch of time the flight took off. just another seventeen hours and we would be there. i was enjoying myself quite a bit, i had the seat by the aisle in our row, so i could get up quite easily to go wherever. but across from me were these rather wierd looking people. they were a man (who looked like he had never seen a razor in his life) and a woman (who had masses of messy and curly hair). i tried to look out of their window a few times, and when i did the guy winked at me! a couple times too, gross! anyway, i dismissed the winks and carried on with my movies etc. but when we landed on a tiny island for fuel, and i was arguing with my sister (nothing new) the wierdo asked me if she was my daughter... ??? i said NO! "shes my sister" a look of intense astonishment crossed his features as he asked me how old i really was. rather self-consciously i told him i was fourteen. he was amazed, saying he thought i was in my twenties, being in his twenties himself... so now i figured out why he winked at me... he thought i was his age, and i am glad im not!
anyhow, we got to our destination and went to my oupa's house... where nothing had changed from when i had last been there. it felt like i had walked out of a dream or something... wierd. but then, the next day we departed to cape town we are currently.
my uncle and aunt were at the airport to fetch us, it was so cool to see them again! i love it here in cape town, im having an awesome time... totally cool. my cousins that i havent met before have taken to us very well, and we are already talking like old friends... i love them. it shows that blood is thicker than water, eh?
well, today we went shopping and in this touristy little market place i got these braids of a different colour put in my hair. three to be exact. when they were done, i went out and paid the lady the price of twenty five rand (south african currency) each to her. the prices here seem so huge, i know, but theyre not. like the braids were about the same as three dollars each. not bad eh? but after i came out, this totally random guy who was hanging around his booth told me that they were very cute. i was rather embarassed, so i smiled ( i smile when embarassed) and thanked him... his buddy i think made this whistling noise, i must have been red. well, when we left that building he hollered after me "bye!" and i turned and waved. when i looked around a little later, he was watching me walk away... i feel so wierd. whats your opinion on this? i dunno what to think.
anyhow, im having the best time ever with my family, theyre very cool.. and fun. hope to see you all soon.... but im having too much fun to really think about missing GR.... ill see you lata!
and thats my update... from my uncles computer, cape town, south africa

Laughter, the best medicine!

2005-07-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

We've all had days when we needed a good laugh. or something to make us laugh because we were just feeling down right blue, right? well, Scarlett has the answer to this problem for you!!! (gasp of admiration and relief). All you have to do is pick up the phone and dial 1800- LAUGH-WITH-LISA and instantly your blues will flee away! you will hear jolly gales of (fake) laughter boom down your sad and depressed ear. then, you can listen for as long as you would like until your bad mood is disspelled and you are feeling as happy as a...well, happy person.
Isnt that the best news you've heard in a long time folks? i hope so. dont forget, that's 1800-LAUGH-WITH-LISA...thats 1800-LAUGH-WITH-LISA, and it'll brighten up YOUR cloudy day!

Cause for Trangression?

2005-06-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

There has always been one line in the Psalter which i have not liked. Its a line that comes up all the time about wicked people, and here it is: "who without a cause trangressing." now, you might not think much about this line, but it annoys me like crazy. Why? Because it implies that there can be a cause to transgress, do you get my point? If not, I'll illustrate with a short story:

There was this guy called Pedro. Pedro was a good guy (except on Fridays when he got drunk). Well, one day Pedro opened his wallet to get out his credit card to buy some more Bud Lites, when, to his horror, he discovered it was maxed out. In other words, Pedro was broke. Money-less and in the dumps. So Pedro went home to do some serious thinking. His job as a did not pay much, and he really needed some cash to keep himself going. So, Pedro worked out an ingenious scheme to go and steal some cash from his sister's rich neighbour who was away on vacation. He put on all his black gear, including leather gloves and a ski mask. Then off he went to go and do the deed. Well, when he got there, and inside the house, he discovered the random rich neighbour had an alarm system that he failed to find out about. When the police came by to pick him up, Pedro tried to run. But of course, he was caught by the long arm of the law. In the police station Pedro broke down into heart-rending sobs and claimed he had good reason to commit the crime he had commited. This is what he said. " Don't get me wrong, officer, I'm not the kind of guy who goes stealing on the weekends for fun. I had a really good reason to try and rob this guy. You see, im cold, stony broke. I have no money, and I need some for my cousin's party this weekend, coz i gotta buy the drinks. Please, you have to understand, I had a very good reason for this TRANSGRESSION." The police officers exchanged looks and then told Pedro, that no matter how his reason, it was unecessary for him to break the law. (one officer told him to get a higher paying job). And so, Pedro was locked away for his crime, all causes for his crime aside.

So, i hope you get my point now. I doubt there is such a thing for a person to sin or commit a crime for a good reason. There really is no cause for a person to sin, dont you agree?

(oh, by the way, this will be my last post for a while probably, because we're going away for a week next week and after that we're off to South Africa for a month... so, i hope you'll comment without me ( grin) and that I'll have some good stuff to write about when I come back.)

Its Hot!!!

2005-06-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

My Goodness Gracious! The weather we've been having is hot enough to melt and ice-cream! That was a profundity, ladies and gents... (gasp of admiration). All jokes aside though, its been very very hot, and muggy too for that matter. In my professional opinion, i think its great... but there are some who would not agree with me... but thats ok. Anyhow, we should appreciate this weather because (to quote my mom) "winter is around the corner.." whatever man... oh well...
but this glorious weather has its down sides... its too hot and sticky to do much except laze about and wish for a swimming pool, if you don't have one... wish we did. So, until i have more profound things to expound my wisdom about, this will have to do... dont worry, though, next time will be great! spectacular! magnificent! marvellous! spontaneous... wait, is that a good one? never mind... bye for now!

Notification

2005-06-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

The board of directors (thats me) has decided to inform the diligent attenders of this blog (thats you) of some changes that have taken place and hopefully will take place. Firstly, you might have arrived at my blog and wondered what has made this blog look so different. Well, i changed my template. Why? Because i was sick of all that pink... it was too pink for me and i wanted something more original. So i changed it. Secondly, i hope to soon have some links up on my blog, so if you would like a link on this ultimately cool blog (please dont laugh at that comment) notify me and i will see what i can do.
oh, how do you get links anyway?

Home Alone...

2005-06-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the house is empty except for me... the bliss of all this silence surrounding me is incredible. But wait! Was that a knock on the door? Or a face at the window? Oh, saints preseve me if its Richard... but, i must not let my imagination run away with me like that. EEEEKS! now i really think i saw something, i should call 911 just to be sure... i wish i had a gun... one never knows with these mental retards... i reeeeeallly wish i had a gun now... does anyone have a gun i can borrow? ok, i am not paranoid, just cautious, you can never be too careful, can you?
i think im losing it...

Pride and Prejudice?

2005-06-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well, this post is not about the book by Jane Austen (an awesome book, by the way), but about pride and prejudice in people. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to adapt to different people and especially if they do things differently to you do? Because i have. Its not easy just to adapt and to accept differences, why? Because of pride very often. All people have a certain amount of pride in themselves, their family, country or whatever. But it gets too much when we start pointing at other people from different backgrounds and judging them for being different. In other words, we become prejudiced. I myself am guilty of this, everyone is. But, if we overcome our differences, we will see that there are people of different races out there that are very very cool! What we need to do is we need to think outside the box, and get out there and see the world is an amazing place of all different people. Isnt that what makes life as exciting as it it... i mean, what if we were all the same? The world would be so boring and dull. We need to overcome our pride and our prejudices to realize how cool the world and all the people in it are.

A day in the life of nobody..

2005-06-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

if you had to take a look in the life of the average nobody of this world, you would probably be amazed at how boring it is. first, you would observe them awakening from their slumbers of the past night. they would probably slouch to the bathroom to take a shower, or maybe not you never know. then, they would probably slouch downstairs and eat breakfast. by this time it would be around 11:00. then they would make their way to the living room and turn on the ghastly thing we call a television and watch all kinds of junk for endless and pointless hours. by this time, it would be time for them to fill their stomachs with jnky food like potato chips and pizza. on their way back to the living room, they would stub their toe and subsequently cry for a while, or revert to foul language. after venting their spleen on that, they will then go back to the tv for a few more wasted hours of their precious time. they might after a while talk on the phone or go on the computer. then they will daydream about their dream person for a while. after dinner they will resume doing nothing and then go to bed late at night. the next day, this same pattern will be repeated.
now, in light of all this, arent you glad that you're not a nobody? so be glad, if you're ever thinking about being gloomy, at least you have a life to live, so get out there and live it!

The day i almost died

2005-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

thats right guys, i almost died. i was (am) at jess bazen's house and we decided to go four-wheeling. we had alot of fun going over jumps, feet flying in the air and going on swings. and while jess was swinging, i found a squishy paintball. then i decided to throw it at a tree, but i missed... totally. anyhow, things got exciting when we were on the way home. jess went up the driveway and asked me if i wanted to drive the four wheeler (stupid me- from jess). knowing from past experience what i almost did on a go kart, i was hesitant. but jess said "come on, you can do it." i sighed, and agreed (stupid me from scarlett). well, i went pretty fast, and was doing well, until a bend came about. jess had forgotten to tell me to slooooooooow doooooown at the bend which came about (stupid me-from jess). so here we are, at the bend in the road, when the four wheeler suddenly became a two wheeler... we went on two wheels, in other words. and me, being the sucky driver i am, lost control.we jumped the "hill" that marked the edge of the driveway and went on a (fast) scenic cruise of the woods. but, alas, a tree somehow got in our way. we were not hurt, but unfortunately the tree and the four wheeler are no longer the same. jess came out of the whole ordeal only slightly mentally retarded. but i, however, am still an emotional wreck. so, when i learn how to drive a car, CLEAR THE HIGHWAY FOR YOUR OWN SAKES, AND THE SAKES OF YOUR CHILDREN (if you have any)
-- note from jess: hi everyone:D how ru? yes this is true...sniff sniff.... but I am NOT mentally retarded!!!! Scarlett is:D JK:D but it was fun bangin into the tree.. u should all try it some time;) it's a good time!!!!!!!!!! BYE!!!!!

Ode to summer!

2005-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

could you hear it in the air? the joy of students as they walked out of the school buiding for the last time for three glorious, fun-filled, relaxed months! oh, even the very steps they took seemed to be a step to freedom! now there are no more snowy, bleak, cold days ahead of us... only days filled with doing nothing and soaking up the summer sun! yes, summer is definitely here folks, and its here to stay (for now). now, my charge to you, the readers, is to get outdoors and enjoy the weather and the sunlight around you! what are you doing in front of a computer when you could be at the beach, or just plain outside doing whatever? no, i say, enjoy the summer before it leaves us again... you will never regret it!
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Theyre everywhere you are....

2005-06-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

have you ever wondered as you walked innocently down the street if some mentally troubled person would run up to you and stab you in the back? because if you havent, you should... you never know when where or how the unstable in mind will launch an attack upon us, the normal population. now, i am not saying this to discriminate them, but i am saying this because of richard, our neighbourhood wierdo... aka moron... aka guy who rings our doorbell and asks if im home... i doubt he'll ever kill us, but you never know what goes on behind their masks, their faces... their shows. dont forget, that the mental, the phsycos are everywhere, watching your every move, listening to all you say, and waiting, just waiting for you to come out, so that they can get you... they are everywhere you are....
this post is not meant to trouble or disturb any of its readers... dont take me seriously