Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 147

Six Fang Marks & a Tetanus Shot

Question: If a man writes a book with a pink cover does that make it Dick-Lit? Not entirely sure what you call Richard de Nooy's novel. It has a similar sick sense of humour as found in Vernon God Little, which Wiki describes as "black comedy." Thus, if you are the sort of sicko that enjoys twisted dark humour that is at times deeply tragic (I do!) then Six Fang Marks & a Tetanus Shot is your bottle of beer. Definitely my bottle of beer, and I don't even fancy beer that much. Huge relief, how...

Home Affairs Phoned

They have finally looked into why my application for permanent residency has been delayed, a question I have been asking since April. Are you ready for this? Due to the delays my original visa expired in June. The reason I am still here is that I applied for an extension two months prior and received it. (Following this?) In the meantime, was told they would investigate the matter. Fast forward to August, where I finally speak to Moses, he says he'll phone back. He doesn't. Then last Monday I...

Sunday Links

There are two fascinating threads on BookSA on the proposed RSA Media restrictions. They contain links and debate that really make a person think. Have a look here and here. ReadSA is having a very interesting chat on cost of books, which turned into a discussion about community run libraries. How to start them and beyond. I must confess to be incredibly dismayed at how many highly intelligent people in South Africa keep telling me they don't like to read. This lack of love for books goes far...

God isn't a woman

After two weeks of having my health go weeeeeeeee life stabilised and I was fine. Mostly. It has left me with this ability to get head rushes far easier, but mostly - the whole painful, scary, crazy arse nonsense had drifted firmly into the past. So much so, that other than hoping it would never happen again, I was no longer worried. But today was the day where the rest of the tests would be done. Because what I had experienced was a classic textbook case of...and it wasn't. While the classic...

Duvet Day & Contest Winner

Thing 1, Thing 2 and ME are having a Duvet Day. This happens every so often, but perhaps not often enough - if you can't take a guilt free duvet day when you are small, when can you? Life is serious business all too quickly. And while there are many worthy reasons for my son to go to school, academia isn't one of them at this point. He is learning other skills, of course, but the actual academic stuff...um, he already knows that bit. Besides, today the stars were aligned and demanding it: 1: ...

Like a Jolly Green Giant

Soooooo I have been watching my son's karate classes. "I could do that," I thought. The gym's kick-boxing / aerobic class was out, you see - husband is still at work and somebody needs to be the parent. But their adult karate class...yeah, I could make that once a week. Son and Husband LOVED the idea (for different reasons). But...ya know...the class is twice, I could only make it once, and some of these people...would they really be okay with a MOM like me sort-of-kind-of-doing it? "Not a pr...

New Contrast Give Away

I took a copy. I did. I took it, but I thought he knew, and maybe he did, but there we are - three copies of New Contrast Issue 150 came in the post when I was only supposed to get two, because I already took a copy in Cape Town. Got it? No worries. Hardly the point. Point is, I have an extra copy of New Contrast to give away. (Yes, I did ask them about this before I started writing this post.) So here is the deal: You can live anywhere in the world to enter. All you...

The Bed Book

I attended the Cape Town Book Fair's talk on Short Stories. Two of the authors present at the talk were people who've I got on my bookshelf, one was (and still is) on my "to buy" list and one just joined the list. The bugger was, I didn't have any of my books for even one author to sign. Then there it was: The Bed Book of Short Stories. (Try BookSA Bookfinder to find where to buy.) Two of the four authors on the panel were in it, I could get it for a fab price and...the money I had...

Um, oh, er

Not my best morning. First I was hit by a blast of wind in the early hours while raising a cup of coffee to my lips, which was rather odd given all the windows were closed and I locked up all the doors downstairs. I follow the wind and it leads me to the garage, where other people were yesterday. Garage door still open. Nice. All night long. Then discover that Mr Fuzzy had no water. Try to rectify situation as best I can with what equipment others have not lost or broken, only to have his one...

Re-rewriting

Came back from Cape Town with so much swimming around in my head. Been living in my office, even working at night (I'm more of an early bird) and letting the children watch DVD's far more than the norm (they're not complaining about this). Then I hit two weird places: 1. I've fiddled and faddled with one draft so much that until I hear more, I'm not sure if more fidddle and faddle will help, or hurt. So off for a second opinion it goes because I've reached the "can't see forest for the trees"...