So two months ago, most of my friends went home. Or away. Alyssa and Lisa went back to Hawaii. Rachel went back to Maryland. Sarah went back to California. Dan went to France (subsequently California). I have some friends left, but not many. But them being gone isn't actually important, what is important is what we got up to while they were here.
And despite not actually being enrolled at University, it was probably the most fun semester I had there. I saw people every day, I had pain from smiling all the time. And while the sun was out, we had a couple of picnics on Southlands lawn. It was six months of happy memories.
I started dating Alyssa in early April, and that was pretty cool, as we tend to think the same about stuff and junk. I won't go into details about the relationship, but even though she's far away right now, we're still together and speak pretty much every day. It's the most special relationship I've ever had, and she makes me feel very lucky on a daily basis.
Man, so long has passed since the last update, I don't know where to begin. I'll talk about cars. My car is declared SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice) for the time being, meaning that if I drove it and a policeman saw me, it'd be seized, probably crushed, and I'd never see it again. And that's not a positive outcome for anyone. Not even the government. They have to pay to crush it. So I'm not driving so much. So until a little cash comes in and I can replace the front shock absorbers (they're a wearing part), there will be no BMW for me.
My father is considering getting a Toyota MR2. We both call it the Mister Two, but I hardly think we're alone in that respect. I think it's too similar to my mother's car, it doesn't vary enough. It's the same size, same layout, similar four-cylinder engine, similar suspension... he even wants it in the same colour. It'll be slightly squarer and more reliable. I'm convincing him to either got for an older MR2 (which had, I think, the turbo-charged 2.0 litre engine), or a Lotus Elise, which is the best example of the small, mid-engined roadster.
In the coming months, a lot will happen, hopefully. My former lecturer has offered me opportunities abroad, and I hope that they come to something, but if not, I hope to work at University for a short time. I may be coming into a little money quite soon, and that might help get me out of this hole I feel like I'm in.
The credit crunch has meant that people aren't hiring as much. Despite frantic searching, and a very, very close almost, I'm still jobless for the time being. Hence, no car. Or anything. I still hold out hope for a position that I almost got, but it isn't likely anytime soon.
Just as my friends were about to leave to go home, my grandfather died. This was at the beginning of June. While this was very sad, we has 98 years old, very tired, and ready. I accompanied my father and joined him in South Africa. This was an opportunity to go to the funeral, to visit my ill aunt Anne, and spend some quality time with my father. We had a wonderful holiday, and the funeral went very smoothly. I gave a reading from the Bible, and my father had written a wonderful eulogy. We stayed in Anne's house, and we enjoyed many Durban Curries together, and managed to spend a night at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, where I used my new telephoto lens to the best of my ability.
Just after I returned to England, I learnt that my uncle Arthur, Anne's husband, who had passed away back in 2004 or so, had a collection of classic Minoltas that were lying around including a set of lenses, and filters and a folding tripod. This was very suitable to entertain my love of photography and love of old equipment. It's encouraged me to get into film photography more, and I'm in the process of teaching myself how to develop my own photographs. Adobe Lightroom is wonderful software, but there's something about choking on chemicals and tripping over things in the dark that it just doesn't capture. I just need to order a battery so that the light meter works, and I'll have a beautiful working camera.
Just after getting those cameras, last week, my aunt herself passed away. It had been a long battle with cancer, but she was very comfortable throughout. My father is in South Africa now for the funeral, taking care of her final business. She died less than three months after her father, but I'm very thankful that he did not have to bury her. I'm very thankful that I got to spend time with her, and that she got to see the photos I took of her cat. As an academic and a widow of a priest, she had a beautiful, large funeral, and I'm sorry I could not go, but I my father represented the family there.
You might notice that on the left there is a Twitter update area. Twitter, if you didn't already know, is like micro-blogging. You update with 140 characters or fewer, and do it frequently. It updates your Facebook status as well. I used to do it more frequently, but there isn't a stable Vista client at the moment. I'll keep looking. Anyway, I have it auto-update to this site as well, so you can keep tabs on me even if you don't have my Twitter page.
Firefox just unexpectedly crashed, but Blogger has the good sense to automatically back up everything I write, so I didn't lose a character. I have a feeling that it may have been something to do with installing Adobe AIR, but I'll have to wait and see if it happens again.
I'm getting eager to update my blog interface, but I'm realising that there's a lot of effort to be put into GUIs if you want to keep up and be original. It's easy to copy a design, but I don't want to (come on, I'm not in University anymore). I'll have to consider what looks good and what is readable. I have had a plan for a couple of years, but it's very high contrast, and I'll have to make a mock-up before I go about designing it.
As I've missed so much, I'll probably go back and discuss things that happened in future blog posts, but this is enough for now. I have added a Photos link at the top, if anyone is interested.