Life is busy. I keep harping on this as I am unsure if I should change it or learn to accept it.
A friend of mine thinks that we suffer from time management issues. In other words we do not know how to manage our time very well. I think it is in fact just the opposite. We have learnt to manage our time far too well. Every moment is crammed full of things to do and places and people to see. It sure is fun, but I am left feeling very tired at the end of the day and sure that I still have not done the really important stuff that I needed to do.
I had a moment last night in front of my PC, whilst my wife’s book club met downstairs with big glasses of wine in hand. There were heaps of things for me to do but instead I did nothing for a couple of minutes. Minutes of careless abandon where I sat and felt the world go past me for a change. It was wonderful and refreshing as I thought about all of the things I should have been doing and decided that doing the nothing I was doing was far better than delivering any of those other things.
Then I got busy doing things again and I missed my moments of nothingness. I think I need to unlearn time management techniques and instead relearn how to dawdle and daydream!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
More Tooth Stories
I gave my tooth a fond farewell this week. A backwards glance at it’s disgusting self was all that it received. It certainly deserved nothing more after having tormenting me for 17 years. Who would have thought that a hockey stick to the face could be so serious?
I had thought that any dentist could pull a tooth out of your mouth. I still have a picture in my head of how I could do it at home, by tying a string to my tooth and the other end to a door handle; and then slamming the door. Instead of a dentist, though, I was referred to a maxillae facial surgeon. I suspected that a dentist with a name like that, would have a whole different level of skill. No doubt he would charge for it too!
My fancy pants dentist picked up a pair of pliers, grabbed my tooth, stopped short of resting his foot on my shoulder, and yanked the thing out. For that amount of skill I knew that the bill would be astronomical and I was not wrong! Looking at the tooth though, I had to give it the man; it really had outlived its time in my mouth. It was not pretty!
The whole tooth thing got me thinking about them times long ago. What on earth did a cowboy in leather pants and spurs, crossing the great western plains on horseback, do when tooth pain struck? Or one of King Shaka’s warriors happily stomping on thorns in his loin cloth but brought to the ground by a throbbing ache in his skull? Did you bribe your best mate to knock it out with a big rock? Or did you just take the pain and hope that this too would pass.
And for some unlucky ones, the bad tooth would become an abscess which would then infect the brain, causing an agonising death. Yes, death from a tooth ache!
Seems so silly yet I would imagine that it still happens today. Not to us privileged few, not in our world of advanced health care and maxillae facial surgeons.
The last couple of weeks have clearly pointed at the incredible importance of one’s health. Without it we may get an understanding of the meaning of life a lot sooner than we wanted!
I had thought that any dentist could pull a tooth out of your mouth. I still have a picture in my head of how I could do it at home, by tying a string to my tooth and the other end to a door handle; and then slamming the door. Instead of a dentist, though, I was referred to a maxillae facial surgeon. I suspected that a dentist with a name like that, would have a whole different level of skill. No doubt he would charge for it too!
My fancy pants dentist picked up a pair of pliers, grabbed my tooth, stopped short of resting his foot on my shoulder, and yanked the thing out. For that amount of skill I knew that the bill would be astronomical and I was not wrong! Looking at the tooth though, I had to give it the man; it really had outlived its time in my mouth. It was not pretty!
The whole tooth thing got me thinking about them times long ago. What on earth did a cowboy in leather pants and spurs, crossing the great western plains on horseback, do when tooth pain struck? Or one of King Shaka’s warriors happily stomping on thorns in his loin cloth but brought to the ground by a throbbing ache in his skull? Did you bribe your best mate to knock it out with a big rock? Or did you just take the pain and hope that this too would pass.
And for some unlucky ones, the bad tooth would become an abscess which would then infect the brain, causing an agonising death. Yes, death from a tooth ache!
Seems so silly yet I would imagine that it still happens today. Not to us privileged few, not in our world of advanced health care and maxillae facial surgeons.
The last couple of weeks have clearly pointed at the incredible importance of one’s health. Without it we may get an understanding of the meaning of life a lot sooner than we wanted!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Paddling for FUN
I love living in the Cape. Having had a wonderful but painful week with the family in Knysna, it was a joy to return home to my next adventure.
A friend of mine had come up with an idea to generate some funds to sponsor a trip to the international Son Surf conference, of which he is a proud member. Now Son Surf is a Christian surfing organisation, and as a good Baptist Minister, this is a great place for him to be.
His idea involved a simple eight kilometre paddle from Strand Pipe to the Gordon’s Bay harbour. It does not sound too difficult but eight kilometres on a surfboard in an eleven degree Celsius sea and you have a challenge on your hands.
I donned enough neoprene to resemble a well dressed penguin, grabbed the longest long board at the surf school, and got myself into crazy dude mind set. Just five other surfers were up for the paddle and I sure hoped I would not be the one to slow everyone down.
The paddle was incredibly tough for the first 500 meters as my arms and lower back protested at the unnecessary work load. Then my body settled into a rhythm and the water flew by. We stopped a couple of times for bananas, peanut butter chocolate bars, cheese rolls, and litres of Coke. The kilometres passed quickly in a haze of conversation and attempt to surf all sorts of waves on the outer reefs.
We paddled in through the Gordon’s Bay harbour mouth just three hours later, probably the first surfers to ever do so! I was disappointed that the paddle had ended so soon as for some reason I had loads of energy. Rather a different scenario to the one I had had just days previously.
Well done to Andy, Shane, Rene, Lawrie, and Bernie. Many thanks must also go to our support crew of Ernie (Magson Marine) and Henrique (our photographer who has allowed me to use his pictures).
I now have a new challenge on my mind; a mere 28 kilometre paddle from Cape Point to Rooi Els, in other words across the mouth of False Bay. Now I just have to find some mad souls to join me and a great cause to risk my life as floating bait in the biggest great white breeding ground in the world!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Still on about my tooth
I thought that I should share this picture to highlight the dangers of problem teeth! This was before everything really swelled up; when woman and children ran from me screaming in horror...
At 08h00 on Monday morning, I be in the enviable position of being horizontal with my eyes closed. The dentist however, will probably have one foot on my shoulder, with his hands tightly clamped over a pair of vice grips, while he attempts to remove this evil force from my mouth.
And for some or other reason, after 17 years of hassles with this tooth that was knocked out by a wild woman weilding a hockey stick, I am rather excited!
At 08h00 on Monday morning, I be in the enviable position of being horizontal with my eyes closed. The dentist however, will probably have one foot on my shoulder, with his hands tightly clamped over a pair of vice grips, while he attempts to remove this evil force from my mouth.
And for some or other reason, after 17 years of hassles with this tooth that was knocked out by a wild woman weilding a hockey stick, I am rather excited!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Running and running and running
So I ran the 21km in Knysna. My wife thought it was a bad idea. The tooth doctor saw no harm. I was there...
The only reason I considered running is that the most amazing thing happened to me on Thursday morning. I spent about 10 minutes psyching myself up to blow my nose, an activity that had grown to be intensely painful. Throwing caution to the wind, I gave it an incredibly hard blow. The result was that my gum burst, releasing all of my pent up pain in a stream of pus. A monster size abscess, that I did not know I had, was now no more.
Yeah, I know; it does not sound good, but boy did it feel wonderful.
Saturday morning saw me at the start of the Knysna half. I was excited and feeling good. I got off to a great start and ran 14 good kilometres at a great pace. I was still on track to beat my target when all of the wheels fell off. I just hit ran out of energy; the tank was completely empty. I guess my special tooth week had sapped all of my resources.
The next 7 kilometers, became a mental game of putting one foot in front of the other. It was incredibly tough and took me forever. I got to the end in a time that was well over my target but still a good bit under two hours. It was not a great run by any means, but in retrospect was brilliant considering the context.
There are two takeouts to this story; I need to treat the mental debarcle as a fantastic training opportunity for my Kilimanjaro climb at the end of the year and I must listen to my wife more often!
The only reason I considered running is that the most amazing thing happened to me on Thursday morning. I spent about 10 minutes psyching myself up to blow my nose, an activity that had grown to be intensely painful. Throwing caution to the wind, I gave it an incredibly hard blow. The result was that my gum burst, releasing all of my pent up pain in a stream of pus. A monster size abscess, that I did not know I had, was now no more.
Yeah, I know; it does not sound good, but boy did it feel wonderful.
Saturday morning saw me at the start of the Knysna half. I was excited and feeling good. I got off to a great start and ran 14 good kilometres at a great pace. I was still on track to beat my target when all of the wheels fell off. I just hit ran out of energy; the tank was completely empty. I guess my special tooth week had sapped all of my resources.
The next 7 kilometers, became a mental game of putting one foot in front of the other. It was incredibly tough and took me forever. I got to the end in a time that was well over my target but still a good bit under two hours. It was not a great run by any means, but in retrospect was brilliant considering the context.
There are two takeouts to this story; I need to treat the mental debarcle as a fantastic training opportunity for my Kilimanjaro climb at the end of the year and I must listen to my wife more often!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
On Vacation
I can feel it!
My life over the last 5 days has been a haze of pain and drugs. A problem tooth in my mouth has reacted rather strongly to the concept of me being on holiday. To the extent that my gums, my top jaw, my lip, my nose, and cheeks have swollen! My top lip got so big at one point that its inside had rolled outside. It even got sunburnt, which is not surprising considering that it has never seen the sun except for the reflections off my teeth!
Right now I feel as if I have the worst head cold ever, have gotten terribly sunburnt on my face, and have been hit in the face with a baseball bat. That’s probably an under exaggeration! I feel much worse than that!
I am very lucky that I do not feel pain...
But this I can feel...
It has however given me time to pause and I am a little surprised at some of the gems of insight that have come to the fore. So instead of writing about my holiday woes, I will beguile you will some of my new hallucinated pearls of wisdom!
1. I have not been able to smile in days. As a result, I have this feeling that I am unhappy. Truth be told, I am rather unhappy. The thing is that smiling often makes a bad situation better somehow, whether it be the hormones released by one’s body or the purely psychological reaction of one’s mind to smiling. I miss smiling; it certainly helps make bad things bearable!
2. Intense pain saps ones inner resources. It must take a super human effort for any cancer, or any other painful disease sufferer to get up every day and work through debilitating pain. This has to be especially difficult when there is no end in sight. For the first time in my life, I have considered how difficult it is to wake every morning, if one slept at all, and face another day of painful life. I have never understood how anyone could chose to die rather than live out the gift of their life. Now I have an inkling of how terrible this kind of life can be. Whilst I still cannot condone ending one’s life, I certainly have a huge respect for those who chose to continue living out each day of pain, and then doing it with a smile! Respect!!
3. Time has become incredibly important for me. Weird considering that I do not wear a watch. I cannot believe how I have hungered for the end of each four hour interval of my day so that I can get my next pain relief fix. At first, the pain medication lasted about an hour, and then the next three hours were spent chewing on ice and dunking my head in the ice machine. At long last, pain medication is now lasting longer than four hours at a time. However, I now have an inkling of how a drug user must feel; how life revolves around that next high. My next high is really just a semblance of normality. For a druggie; I guess the high become their semblance of normality too. How difficult it must be for an addicted person to give up their fix. I won’t have to work too hard to rid myself of these drugs once my tooth issue is resolved. I can think of nothing worse than getting rid of the drugs that give me the grasp on reality that I crave.
4. Life goes on whether you want to be in it or not.
5. I have realised how blessed we are to have life within us. Our very health, the thing we most take for granted, is so fragile, and yet an incredible gift. We should never ever forget this!
6. Two years ago, I set myself a number of tough life goals. One of them was to run 2 half marathons in less than 100 minutes each. I have snagged an invite to the Knysna half marathon on Saturday, my big chance to tick off half a goal and prove myself. This episode has left me with a clear understanding that life has more to offer than the goals I set it. That perhaps the real value of life is in living out each moment, and not meeting the arbitrary measurements that I have set to it. If I run on Saturday or not, I will need to take it as it comes. If I do run, I need to enjoy the race as opposed to my challenge. If I meet my challenge at the same time, well then it was a bonus that was meant to be!
My life over the last 5 days has been a haze of pain and drugs. A problem tooth in my mouth has reacted rather strongly to the concept of me being on holiday. To the extent that my gums, my top jaw, my lip, my nose, and cheeks have swollen! My top lip got so big at one point that its inside had rolled outside. It even got sunburnt, which is not surprising considering that it has never seen the sun except for the reflections off my teeth!
Right now I feel as if I have the worst head cold ever, have gotten terribly sunburnt on my face, and have been hit in the face with a baseball bat. That’s probably an under exaggeration! I feel much worse than that!
I am very lucky that I do not feel pain...
But this I can feel...
It has however given me time to pause and I am a little surprised at some of the gems of insight that have come to the fore. So instead of writing about my holiday woes, I will beguile you will some of my new hallucinated pearls of wisdom!
1. I have not been able to smile in days. As a result, I have this feeling that I am unhappy. Truth be told, I am rather unhappy. The thing is that smiling often makes a bad situation better somehow, whether it be the hormones released by one’s body or the purely psychological reaction of one’s mind to smiling. I miss smiling; it certainly helps make bad things bearable!
2. Intense pain saps ones inner resources. It must take a super human effort for any cancer, or any other painful disease sufferer to get up every day and work through debilitating pain. This has to be especially difficult when there is no end in sight. For the first time in my life, I have considered how difficult it is to wake every morning, if one slept at all, and face another day of painful life. I have never understood how anyone could chose to die rather than live out the gift of their life. Now I have an inkling of how terrible this kind of life can be. Whilst I still cannot condone ending one’s life, I certainly have a huge respect for those who chose to continue living out each day of pain, and then doing it with a smile! Respect!!
3. Time has become incredibly important for me. Weird considering that I do not wear a watch. I cannot believe how I have hungered for the end of each four hour interval of my day so that I can get my next pain relief fix. At first, the pain medication lasted about an hour, and then the next three hours were spent chewing on ice and dunking my head in the ice machine. At long last, pain medication is now lasting longer than four hours at a time. However, I now have an inkling of how a drug user must feel; how life revolves around that next high. My next high is really just a semblance of normality. For a druggie; I guess the high become their semblance of normality too. How difficult it must be for an addicted person to give up their fix. I won’t have to work too hard to rid myself of these drugs once my tooth issue is resolved. I can think of nothing worse than getting rid of the drugs that give me the grasp on reality that I crave.
4. Life goes on whether you want to be in it or not.
5. I have realised how blessed we are to have life within us. Our very health, the thing we most take for granted, is so fragile, and yet an incredible gift. We should never ever forget this!
6. Two years ago, I set myself a number of tough life goals. One of them was to run 2 half marathons in less than 100 minutes each. I have snagged an invite to the Knysna half marathon on Saturday, my big chance to tick off half a goal and prove myself. This episode has left me with a clear understanding that life has more to offer than the goals I set it. That perhaps the real value of life is in living out each moment, and not meeting the arbitrary measurements that I have set to it. If I run on Saturday or not, I will need to take it as it comes. If I do run, I need to enjoy the race as opposed to my challenge. If I meet my challenge at the same time, well then it was a bonus that was meant to be!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A little more time
I had a lunch the other day with one of my clients. We ended up getting rather philosophical over her soup and my tortilla.
She told me about a project that her two sisters and her had given their parents. They provided their parents with a scrapbook and a long list of deep and probing questions about events in their lives. Surprisingly enough, the parents expended an enormous amount of energy and produced an incredible piece of work. Actually, it’s probably not that surprising, as this project gave them the opportunity to leave a legacy.
One of the questions was ‘What would you have done differently?’ They got two distinctly different answers. Mom was clear that she would have changed nothing about the way she had lived her life. Dad’s answer was more telling. He would have preferred to spend more time with his family and taken more risks in his business. The latter, I suppose, may have created the time for the former.
This answer does not surprise me at all. Men are conditioned to go to work, spend their lives working, and then retire to do some travelling. As a general rule, it is nonsense. Life is not about retirement, it is about the here and now. Nothing important is worth putting off until later because everything will be completely different then!
His answer was good for me, in an unexpected way. My own business is doing well at the moment. Unfortunately, it has eaten into my family time, taken away my surfing, and usurped all of my freedom. The very reasons I left work and started something small! I have some interesting strategic choices to make. If I am conservative, I will keep on doing things in the same way, and perhaps little by little give up my dream. If I take some risks, just maybe, I can have both.
It is time for some risk!!!
She told me about a project that her two sisters and her had given their parents. They provided their parents with a scrapbook and a long list of deep and probing questions about events in their lives. Surprisingly enough, the parents expended an enormous amount of energy and produced an incredible piece of work. Actually, it’s probably not that surprising, as this project gave them the opportunity to leave a legacy.
One of the questions was ‘What would you have done differently?’ They got two distinctly different answers. Mom was clear that she would have changed nothing about the way she had lived her life. Dad’s answer was more telling. He would have preferred to spend more time with his family and taken more risks in his business. The latter, I suppose, may have created the time for the former.
This answer does not surprise me at all. Men are conditioned to go to work, spend their lives working, and then retire to do some travelling. As a general rule, it is nonsense. Life is not about retirement, it is about the here and now. Nothing important is worth putting off until later because everything will be completely different then!
His answer was good for me, in an unexpected way. My own business is doing well at the moment. Unfortunately, it has eaten into my family time, taken away my surfing, and usurped all of my freedom. The very reasons I left work and started something small! I have some interesting strategic choices to make. If I am conservative, I will keep on doing things in the same way, and perhaps little by little give up my dream. If I take some risks, just maybe, I can have both.
It is time for some risk!!!
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