The times they are a changing...
I retired 'Sally' in March 2007 and it has been what feels like forever since I visited here or took the time to write...anything...it is time to start new....new time, new stories. Check them out here:
http://skyrocketpops.blogspot.comIn the meantime, enjoy the archives.
So long...
S.
Memories are Made of This
In 2005 around the time of the St Patrick's Day Parade, I visited San Francisco for the first time. I had some of the weekend to myself and had rented a bike which I rode along Chrissie Field, to the Golden Gate Bridge and then on to Tiburon. I remembered that specific day this weekend as I found myself two years later in the same place, running along the sea by Chrissie Field. So much has changed since then!
I am constantly amazed at how life can take you in different directions at the blink of an eye. It seems even though we try our best to plan our futures and control our destinies I am learning more and more that actually we have no control at all.
This weekend I learned that a friend I had made in the neighborhood had passed away. His heart failed him on Wednesday morning. He was 57.
Erno, say hi to Garth and Jeremy for me, I'm sure you'll hook up with them in the after life, they were really good people too.
In San Francisco as in many other cities in the world many people took to the streets to
protest about the ongoing war in Iraq. It is the four year anniversary of this war that has no end in sight. We need to begin believing in Peace...if we can see it, imagine, feel it, and taste it. It will be.
"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealously, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces." Og Mandino
Saving My Own Life
It has been three months now that I have been working out with BootCamp SF and I am really starting to become conscious of the how beneficial this is to my health. For too long I have been resting on my laurels assuming that I have good genes and that I don't need to worry about my health. I am realizing that this is not the case and that we owe it to ourselves to be the best we can be. This is not only in the work we do but also in how we look after ourselves.
I am also laughing at myself about this - I've been living in California for just over one and half years and I am turning into a health nut! Who would have thought? Before anyone gets the illusion that this is really the case, I can assure you that I have not changed anything really; I am simply working our four times a week and celebrating the benefits.
Kitty love for Shaka grows every day - I just wish I had more time to spend at home with him but as I tell him every morning, someone has to buy the cat food! So it is off to work I go.
Life in San Francisco right now is good!
"No man is born hating another person ... People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite" - Nelson Mandela
Are we at war with ourselves?
This statement came from a prominent South African businessman
commenting on the current escalating crime in South Africa. I spent some time thinking about this statement and I honestly wonder if this statement doesn't actually hold true as an observation for the world today.
In January there were two shootings in my neighborhood. The most recent one was last week. I was standing at the bus stop at 9:15 in the morning and suddenly heard bang...bang...bang...thankfully the
shooting was just around the corner from where I was standing and did not really see the actual act but some poor woman was shot seven times. Word on the street was she had witnessed the previous
shooting and that is why she was a target.
Now this is just what occurred within one block of where I live and when you start looking around at all the things that are going on in the world, it gets even crazier. Last week there were over 1000 casualties in
Iraq. That's ONE THOUSAND!!! I think we've become numb to the numbers and the news reports in general. In no way is the fact thousands of people dying every day a reflection of a civil and humane people that live on this planet.
So what if there is global warming? If we keep killing each other like this there will be no people left to observe the sea waters rise. I really wish that we can get back to a more humane society where we smile at our neighbors and we help each other exist on this earth in this world instead of kill each other for what ... because we don't like the religion of the other person or we think, we don't like that people have more possessions (I've heard of people getting killed over a microwave!)
In order to make a difference we should live by example. As I wrote that I immediately feel like a hypocrite, I have spent all that time buying lovely things for myself...if I really believed passionately enough that it was that simple and I could live my life for others then I would have to give everything away...maybe one day I will be that enlightened but while I live in the city I can offer my time and a smile...maybe that in some way will make a difference to others and I can still get pleasure from the few lovely things I have.
What matters most is what is in our hearts and what we believe...After all, we know all need love and that is one way of showing that we care...we need to spread more love!
Blue Monday
The media is telling us that today is Blue Monday, it's the day when most people are depressed after the holidays.
Fox News put a nice spin on this story saying that things can only get better from here on out.
Last week was a very weird week for me, most of the week I felt as though I had my own long version of Blue Monday. I felt as though I had the world on my shoulders and there was little I could do to shake it. On Friday at my work-out session one of my co-bootcampers told me that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and that really shook me out of my doldrums. It is so easy for us to complain about our sliver plated problems but if we can remember that we actually live in a wonderful time, never before have we had so many conveniences. If we remember to embrace each day with all the joy that life has to offer us and live with the attitude of recognizing how abundant our lives are, then we can't be in too bad a place to begin with.
There is always someone else that has a worse situation than your own. Once again, a list of things I am thankful for.
I am thankful for my health
I am thankful for this wonderful journey of life
I am thankful for having wonderful friends all over the world
I am thankful that I can create my own future
Blue Monday - eat my shorts!
The Big Chill
The holidays are over and the pace at work has begun to pick up again. I don't think there is anything worse than idle time. I am also back at boot camp for another six weeks and am getting more fit all the time.
It feels like finally the winter has arrived in San Francisco. This makes for some trouble getting up in the mornings to go work out, but thankfully it is still not quite below
more troops to Iraq and he is bombing in Africa in the continued search for the ever illusive
Al-Qaeda.
South Africa will be an interesting place to watch this year as the ANC finds a new
leader to replace Mr Mbeki. South Africa had to begin to seriously tackle crime ahead of 2010. Crime is seen as the biggest
hurdle to overcome or else it will not be successful but the potential is so big, I really hope they fix this issue sooner than later.
Some things we can try to control, others we cannot. We have ice caps
melting on both poles and crazy weather all over. This makes one wonder what the future holds for the next generation but as
Jim Morrison penned in 'come on baby light my fire' "I'm gonna get my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames."
Bring it on!!!!
Happy New Year
So it's a new year and once again a good time to think of things I want for this year. I am feeling more strongly than ever before that I want to settle than ever before and there have been a few things that transpired this past year that have made this even more apparent to me.
My big goal for this year is to continue to get fit and look after myself. I will continue to put myself first and learn to trust in my abilities.
In 2008 I plan to be back in Cape Town...this continual moving on thing is getting a bit old. I need to move back to South Africa, boots and all and then see what my future holds.
Thoughts on Blogging
People often ask me if I keep a personal journal besides this blog and I have to confess I have become lazy - I do not write anything down in private any more. This has led me to think about what purpose this blog serves. I always say it's a lazy way of keeping my friends updated on what I am up to. The flip side to that is if my friends want to know what I am doing, then they simply view my blog and don't always say hi.
It has been useful to me for a long while to keep in touch with my friends and writing as Sally Lemon but I was thinking about how to use this space for something else that will help shape my future for years to come.
I feel that it is time I spoke out from the perspective of my career. It is clear that I am not heading to Muizenberg anytime soon, so from January I will try something new. My aim is to provide some fresh thinking about things that are related to my industry or world affairs. (lemonade = refreshing = fresh thinking) on the main domain and I can continue with Sally's Stories here.
It has come to my attention that many blogs are misused these days. If I look back at the days of personal journals and blogs about road trips, I think the purpose of blogging in general has changed, but then so has the web. User generated content is king today but there is appropriate and inappropriate of this in the work environment.
We've heard stories of employees getting
fired for posting thoughts about a company on a private blog so surely the same could be true in reverse. A blog on a company's web site should be used only in a way to that reflects the business of the company where the blog is hosted on. It must in some way help to position the company as a thought leader in a particular subject related to the business.
Too often I have come across company blogs being used to share a personal thought or feeling. Although I don't think it is an altogether bad thing to share feelings at work, there are other outlets for this.
Who ever thought that it made sense to post personal things onto a company blog? I don't care if you haven't gone Christmas shopping or not. If I am interested in that, I will look at your personal pages.
Watch this space!
Merry Yule
This
holiday time is always a little weird for me. People ask me if I will miss my family at this time. In some ways I am inclined to think of them more but it has been such a long time since I was actually around family so its not too bad.
I sent out Christmas cards this year and it occurred to me that I have more friends here in the US and in England nowadays. This is partly because so many people have left South Africa but also because time and distance changes relationships...even with email.
My new kitten moved into my home. Rodney brought him around a couple of weeks ago. His name is Shaka (as in Shaka the great Zulu Warrior) and he is such a joy. He is a little crazy as all kittens are but he is forgiven for that.
I intend to end this year on a positive note and as I've stated before, I also plan to continue to make some positive changes in my life. I fear I may slowly be growing up, despite my best intentions not to.
May y'all have Happy Holidays!
Welcome to December
This year, feels like the shortest yet, I feel like it was only June yesterday and now its almost Christmas. I put a small Christmas tree up in my apartment last night. It is quite fun to embrace the holidays here, you can't escape it so you might as well celebrate it yourself.
Much like in Cape Town, this time of the year, the sun shines in San Francisco and today I went for a long bike ride through
Golden Gate Park. I found my way through the park to
Ocean Beach and then went for a walk. While I was walking, I had that wonderful feeling I used to feel walking along Camps Bay beach. Breathing fresh air, there was a slight breeze and the sun was shining. I am really surprised that I had not done this before. It is quite accessible by bike and makes a good workout. (Listen to me! Three weeks into Boot Camp and I am talking about workouts...what next?)
While I was out riding today I was contemplating things that I want in my life. I don't think there are no finite answers to that, neither is there a list I can make, but I do know that I am softening up in my thinking toward children and 'settling down'. In a way, I am starting to think it is a normal part of life. Somewhere in the journey it makes sense to put down roots. I am open to the idea of of doing this on my own and I think this will happen within the next three years. Its not possible to think more about it until I've decided on my next move, the next time I move will be with the intention of settling for a long while. Maybe its an age thing, I saw some of my friends go through this in the year before their 40th birthday. For me, personally, this is an exciting time. The coming year is going to be all about shaping the next five.
I have been researching what goes into adopting a kitten. I am keen to get a pet again it has been over 6 years since I had Lupo. A dog is out of the question because I am at work all day but cats are okay on their own for a longer period of time. I have also found out that I can easily move countries with a cat these days so the obstacle of 'I don't know how long I will be here' is out of the picture.
I really want a pet again, I feel so at home here in San Francisco and I think an animal will complete the picture for me right now. If I keep waiting until I'm settled, I think I'll wait forever and deny myself the pleasure of enjoying the interaction right now.
I am getting to know what I desire and need and what I will not tolerate. I think I am learning to love myself.
