Entries Tagged 'Personal' ↓

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah,” said the son.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered:

“I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!

Pass this on to friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Last night I came home from watching the movie Next. I was freezing by but off walking to mall from my car and back again after the movie. And only when I got home did I realise there were actual snow flakes falling and it was NOT rain.

Anyway here’s some photos I took around my town house complex this morning. I’d be keen to hear from anyone else who’s experienced the unusual snow falling around Johannesburg.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I’ve been dreaming about an SLK for many years now and the day I’ll be able to purchase my own is coming closer and closer. Especially after watching a film, The Secret. I started using some visualisation techniques like pasting a photo on my wall, and also making it my Desktop background photo. I missed out on a test drive two weeks when I was stupid enough to forget my drivers license at home Well I’m going to do that test drive within the next few weeks. What’s amazing is how frequently I’ve been seeing one on the road. So its a fitting tribute that its the 10 year anniversary of the SLK.

I like the analogy that Tom Leykis uses: A man drives the most expensive i.e. best car he can afford. A man does not grow up dreaming of a Toyota! Same applies to women Read the full article here.

Popularity: 14% [?]

I received an email out of the blue from a life coach, Jeannette Maw, I contacted last year when I was going through an introspective period. Her core teaching is the Law of Attraction, a universal law that is the way the universe operates whether we believe it or not. And only now am I starting to tap into this myself. So many of my projects I’ve wanted to start-up is now happening because I have the financial resources and people to assist me achieve my goals. I try to find ways of adding value to their lives as a first step before I expect any opportunities to come my way.

Well one of the things I do when I meet a woman for the first time is give her a hug. I politely decline to shake hands in most cases. And I’ve never been “rejected” when I suggested a hug instead of a handshake (too business like for my liking). Well you will love this Free Hug Campaign video clip on Youtube. Let me know how often you give or receive hugs in a typical week.

Popularity: 11% [?]

As you may or may not know I was featured in the Sunday Times Metro section (Gauteng only) on 10 September edition here. This interview was done on the Thursday before hand and there was a quick photoshoot in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Seems like the photo has been removed from the article! Well I just came back from a week in Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown where I attended a blogging conference. During one of the speed speaking session there was a woman who had read the same article on the plane and asked me how I could the kind of advice I did. This was the advice: If you are a guy and you’ve not had sex with a woman by the 3rd date, move on! This is from Leykis 101. Yes, South Africa has a high infection rate of HIV/AIDS and I recommend every guy use a condom. If you are having risky sexual encounters or anonymous sex with lots of women without any condom you are setting yourself up for a problem. So be prepared because next to a possible sexually transmitted disease you can also get the woman pregnant and have to deal with that consequence. Anyway you can read the two letters published in the Sunday Times on 17 September here.

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Number of Ramon - 7 Bearers of this baby name are odd persons of saturnine temper. They are often philosophers and mystics at heart. They tire easily of a bustling and hasty life, love to think all alone and hate light-mindedness. Quite often they are devoid of commercialism and a thirst for comfort. Having keen intelligence, they can easily synthesize facts and draw unexpected conclusions from them. Somewhat mysterious, sometimes very pessimistic, they tend to be disillusioned and are inclined to believe that they are better than others.

Go here for this website to find the meaning of your name. This website is filled with Google Adsense but none the less its useful. I like to find out more about myself. I think the ancient Greeks had an epitaph, “Know Thyself”.

Popularity: 21% [?]

So I’ve been on a short break and I went to the windy city Port Elizabeth on Easter Saturday. I was hoping to cash in on the influx of people during the Easter Weekend and when I arrived the weather was kak. No anyone who’s ever been to Port Elizabeth know its a small city by comparison to Johanneburg or Cape Town and not to much happens. The people are easy going and in most cases you can get around pretty quickly as things are closer in distance. The social life and the nightlife has become an unknown for me.

The only redeeming experience was spending a few hours on the campus of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. As far as I could understand this is the old University of Port Elizabeth campus. And boy oh boy did I realise once again that university campuses must the best place to meet young energetic women. I had a grand tour from my friend Greig Timkoe from Peacemakers Conflict Management who’s also a Ph.D student at the university. Greig is sitting on a gold mine of oppertunities and I can’t wait to start my Masters later this year at the University of Johannesburg so I can have regular access to the campus. So yes I had a dry spell because I didn’t meet any new women that I’m doing to date or have sex with but there is a sign there that I can and should find more time to spend at university campuses in Gauteng. The women at these institutions tend to be intelligent, full of energy and goal oriented and flexible because they are always up for a challange. Women and men in general who do not continue their studies after high school lack a certain will power or rather determinination. And then you have Bill Gates who dropped out from university. The whole idea for me is that it helps to get rid of people who would be disqualified on many other criteria when seeking a potential partner who has wants to get more life and is willing to do something about it and not expect handouts.

Popularity: 10% [?]

My friend Mandi, 31 from Pretoria wrote back with this lengthy response to my Girlfriend Marketing Plan.

My comments in Red

My remarks are not intended to start a battle of the sexes, but it might be good for you to just ponder on it a bit:

I fall into the category of “older” women so this is really from our point of view and not a bitter Women’s Lib ranting. In my experience when an older guy looks for a younger woman, it might be that he cannot handle the independence and maturity of a woman his own age or older and wants someone he can mould into the shape/person he feels comfortable with. I am not saying that it is necessarily the case with you, but bear in mind that many women are going to view your plan and I am giving you the low and lower of what may emanate.

I’ve dated several older women. And maybe I couldn’t handle them at the time but I don’t put up with bullshit, hang-ups about sex and insecurities.

This is the perception of all women I know my age and even younger. And from experience I know perception can kill many good intentions and make people lose out on many golden opportunities. Most people I know carries emotional baggage, having been burned from past relationships, regardless of age. I have quite a number of younger friends (male and female), ages ranging from 21-27 and are currently forming a good friendship (with a healthy dose of chemistry) with a guy 9 years my junior. Without being patronizing, I can tell you very honestly ALL of them have got a few hang-ups in the relationship department, things that I have come to identify as the small things that won’t matter later on in life but something that only experience and time will teach them. This just makes so much sense to me because I believe if a relationship is going to be exiting, there must be a spark so there’s bound to be fire eventually. But since it’s human nature, sometimes you get too close and you will get burned. Why should this be viewed as a negative?

Most people have baggage but very few deal with them and even less are honest about them.

Why do people fear it so much? This is what we are all about! Experiencing life - the good and the bad, the best and the worst, the pretty and the ugly, the highs and the lows - embrace it and take lessons from that. In this way older women are therefore more experienced which undeniably will make them more guarded, but I don’t believe that prevents them from enjoying life. On the contrary. I believe this equips us better to handle life situations more realistically, because we are at a stage where we really know ourselves, what we want, where and how and when we let our hair down, we do it with confidence but also caution, something which might be viewed as reservations. We are more in sync with our needs, emotionally, sexually, physically. And if you have emerged as strong as you know you can be, we are not intimidated by relationships, we are not inhibited by society’s rules and prescripts that a woman should carry herself as a “lady” - a word I personally don’t take kind to ’cause that just puts you in a box or category of acceptable behaviour.

I want a lady…a woman who can be soft, gently and wild when necessary. And one who makes me feel like a man because I will make her feel like a woman. Like my princess…she will have found her prince as well.

Now this may sound harsh, but this is my honest opinion. Your criteria creates the impression that you are also still carrying hang-ups from being burned by past relationships and have not quite dealt with it. Don’t let that cloud your judgement Ramon. I read in an article in the Cosmopolitan once that we should give every person that expresses interest in us a fair chance by just talking to them at least, regardless of our own set criteria. At first I reacted negatively, thinking that since I love myself and I want the best, why should I compromise? But I thought about it for a long time and realized just how unrealistic my criteria really were. How would you know if there aren’t something just so purely perfect and right, made just for you, if one can’t see past things like looks or age. I found the most beautiful people under less attractive exteriors, or a few wrinkles or even under a bit of emotional baggage. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still got that criteria, but I’ve moved it to the back now, I prefer to get to know someone first these days before I just dismiss them as too short, or too serious or too old/young or too full of it, etc.

I have dealt with all past issues. Thank you for asking. The door is closed on the past for me. When you quote Cosmopolitan I roll on the floor laughing (ROFL) because if the advice from magazine’s worked why are women still so unhappy? I have spoken to hundreds of women, older and younger and finding a real man, a man who has his life together, who is stable, secure, intelligent, has a sense of humour, and creative is very rare find indeed. Quoting Cosmo is like quoting the the outcome of a relationship of a soap opera - it’s just not real.

I have said a lot now, definitely more than what you may have bargained for. I hope you view it in the light it was intended, an honest and as objective as possible opinion. I don’t expect of you to give me any specifics of why you believe so strongly that your criteria is unfaultable, I will rest my case and respect them as your choices.

Younger people might be more open to experiment with new things, trends, etc, but that is usually due to their understanding of what is expected from them being in a certain age group or grouped in a specific generation. Older people have been there, done that and found other priorities or emphasis in their lives.

Younger women, especially in South Africa is growing up with more freedom, freedom from discrimination, freedom from racial prejuidice and freedom from society rules to a large extent. Technology like the Internet and cellphones break down more barriers to allow for direct communication then ever before. Younger people who make good choices in dating can be happier when they get older. When a women has reached 30+ and has never married it proves my point how many misguided mistakes women make in their choices of guys they date when younger. The best age for a women to get married is between 25-30.

Truthfully: from my experience people’s openness to experiment or try new things are not limited to age at all. It is in most cases a state of mind and depends entirely on the type of person/personality, regardless of age.

Popularity: 13% [?]

It’s one of those Saturday nights where I’m feeling in between the shadows and the soul as Neruda once said. My final research report is due next week so I can complete my Post Graduate Diploma in Information Management from the University of Johannesburg (old RAU). So I have to dig in an resist the tempation of going out or watching movies or hooking up with a friend. The week ahead is hectic with the biggest event on the South Africna ICT calender, Futurex taking place as usual in the Sandton Convention Centre. This year LinuxWorld and Novell Brainshare runs alongside it. Make sure you don’t miss these great events in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I took a walk tonight just to clear my head. Trying to write 10,000 words for an assignment is no mean task. Well it was around 8pm and the sky in Johannesburg was clear. I tried to identify Orion’s Belt as I have been doing in recent months whenever there is a clear sky. I thought to myself it’s so vast, the sky that is, but yet so simple. It has a calming effect on me. I wish I could become a star gazer and look it more often with a better understanding. Maybe I’ll do that Astronomy for Beginners course from Wits anyway.

Popularity: 8% [?]