All’s Well That Starts Well

i won’t lie – i’m pretty excited…

Sometime soon in the quite foreseeable future, this beard and i [and 3 other blokes actually who i didn’t have mutual pics with yet] are embarking on a new Comedy journey.

It is a show called ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ and if you didn’t get an invite to our secret preview Is-This-Really-As-Funny-As-We-Hope-And-Think-It-Is happening later sometime at some venue, then all i can say to you is: LOOK, A DISTRACTION!

In the manner of British Quiz shows such as QI, Would I Lie To you? and Mock the Week, where the show tends to be more about friendly banter than actual quiz knowledge, we are looking to pioneer something brand new which i really think is going to be really a decent amount load of fun.

All’s Well That Ends Well is a history-themed show with rounds involving Guess who Said This, Did that really happen? And What Happened Next? as we plum the depths of history in search of fun facts, scintillating stories and unexpected moments of sheer i-can’t-believe-that-to-be-trueness.

If this goes well toni… sometime, then we are hoping to hold some actual shows where people like you pay money for tickets to be thoroughly amused. There may even be some genuine heartfelt LOLs. In fact, we’re counting on it.

MJ, Andrew, JP, Graeme and Fish… let’s hope All’s Well Begins Well so that it can, well, continue…

Watch this space for more.

Xhosa and Effect

Ndiyavuya Ukukwazi. It means “no worries, for the rest of your life”. Oh no, wait, that’s something else.

‘Ndiyavuya ukukwazi’ is the Xhosa phrase i am trying to learn today, as tbV and myself and a roomful of others move into week two of our six week Xhosa class and attempt to get the basic conversationals under our belts.

It is nice to meet you.

i just thought that since this is such a significant thing we are trying to [finally] do that it was worth writing about. i don’t want this to be a typically long drawn out post, but just some musings on learning an African language.

10 Practical Ways to Change your Country for the better [part II]

A lot of people complain about South Africa or just feel completely overwhelmed by stories [and experiences] of crime or corruption and more. There is good reason for a lot of that, but if you aren’t planning on leaving the country, then it makes a lot more sense to be a part of the change.

In Part I, we looked at five practical ways at which we can genuinely get involved in seeing change in our country and here are five more:

So You Think You Can Veg too? [More inspiring meal plans and recipes]

With the Meat-Free challenge just a week away [Can you go ONE whole week without eating meat?] i posted a series of food plan ideas and recipes for those of you who were left shell-shocked by the mere suggestion… but on the off chance that that was not enough – and for those of us doing regular Meat-Free Mondays or like tbV and myself at the moment alternating weeks with meat on and meat off [Mr Miyagi style] – here are even more ideas to help keep you colourfully and cuisinely creative through that week and beyond.

So here are some more exciting meal plan and recipe ideas from a bunch of my friends:

a Prayer to Guide your Week

It is the start of a brand new week.

With it come opportunities to reflect on what has been, to consider what might be, to wipe slates clean and start again, to get freshly excited for old relationships and new causes, to lift up your head once more and believe in everything that is possible, to seek forgiveness where relationships might be frayed, to entertain the ‘What If?’ of the seemingly impossible and to consider how each one of us might be a part of changing our world for the better. Both on the smallest scale as well as in a family, provincial, national and perhaps even global way.

So i wanted to share a prayer with you that i was reminded of again this last week.

When tbV and i were in Philly, we got to spend a few days at a Benedictine monastery connected to a university and our short time hearing some of how they operate with such a much bigger life picture [600 year plans as opposed to 60 year plans, 60 years of seeing transition happen as opposed to viewing it in one year increments] affected and hopefully infected some of how we see and do life. This is a Benedictine prayer and may each line move you to your very core…

My prayer for you this week:

Prayer of Discomfort

“May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for
justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may
reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able,
with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.”

How about you print this out or make it a screensaver or something so that you can start each day this week by reading and praying and meaning those words, and let’s see just how incredible a week we can all have together.?

So You Think You Can Veg? [Meal plan optiontunities for one meat-free week]

The other day i stuck up a short video clip on the net inviting people to the challenge of ONE week with no meat.

And a lot of you put your hands up and said we can do this [one of you said he thought he could manage a week without veg!]

So the challenge is to join us in a week’s time [Week of Monday 24th August] when tbV and i enter our 4th week [one on, one off] of going meat-free. And seriously, if you can’t do one week without meat, you should seek some kind of help.

But i wanted to make it as easy as possible:

The one week Meat-Free Challenge? Can you?

Can you go without meat for one week?

Yesterday i posed the question on Facebook just to see what people’s response would be and it was interesting to see what people had to say [a number of people claiming they could but their spouse? No way. And one person who suggested he might be able to give up vegetables for a week].

But that’s really all this is. Check it out: