The End

365 days ago I started on a journey. I had just left behind a business that I had help start up and felt shattered. I had committed everything to it, moved cities, left my life behind; only to have it fall apart due to differences in opinions. I felt betrayed by it. I felt lost.

At that trying point in my life, I had a crazy idea that I wanted to write. The only problem was that I didn't know what to write about, so I began to devise an idea, it would become a commitment, a personal challenge; to write every day for an entire year. I wouldn't write about anything specific, just my thoughts and daily occurrences.

If anything it was for my own benefit, for the first time I was able to expresses my feelings in a tangible format, and it helped me to move forward. It made me realize that sometimes things don't work out, but there are always other opportunities- hope.

Soon I realized that with each subsequent entry, a story unfolded and if I stuck to it, I might even have a book. Not only that, I had a subtle marketing tool on my hands. You see; I liked finding new spots, eating out and frequenting cool hangouts; and often, I would find myself including these in my daily rants. As things progressed another idea unfolded, I wanted to append a directory listing of all the places I had visited, to the end of my journal; so that those who wanted to, could not only read about my experiences but follow in my footsteps too.

What I liked about it was that it was not fabricated material made up by marketing spin doctors. What was written had integrity, it was my actual every day experiences.

To every beginning there is an end and for this particular project, challenge, literary journey I've reached my destination. It's been a roller coaster ride, there have been many ups, but not without some devastating downs; I've recorded them all. It certainly will not be the last time I write - I still have too much to say, but for now I am done.

If you are reading this as a book, then I have been successful with the next challenge that I have tasked myself with; and if you are reading this in digital format then you have only just discovered the first phase of my plans...

The PE Connection

It seems that coming from Port Elizabeth is actually paying off. I'm no longer surprised to bump into some one who is part of, what I like to call "the PE massive". We are everywhere...everywhere except in PE of course. If you ever visit PE, you'll notice there is a substatial lack of 20 to 30 year olds.

Port Elizabethans seem to have infiltrated every facet of society whether it's in business or in a social context. Yesterday, while in the Llandudno car park, we bumped into a professional surfer, who happened to go to my Junior school and later while trying to find something to eat in Hout Bay, I bumped into another. I couldn't even get away when I used to walk around randomly in Sandton City in Johannesburg, someone was bound to shout my name to try get my attention and again; low and behold it would be some one else from PE.

The freakiest incident came earlier at work today, I needed to investigate a bulk SMS solution for our project so I stumbled upon SMS Portal, one of the biggest bulk SMS providers in the country.

I signed up for a test account to see if my project could use their product and within minutes I received a phone call from them - someone I knew was on the other line. It turns out that two of the guys who started the company went to University with me, they recognized my name on sign up and decided to call me.

PE has made this world smaller for me, and for the first time, I've started to appreciate my origins.

The End is Nye

What a great day, I spent most of it playing guitar on Llandudno beach, whilst watching some surfers catch waves. It was a great way to unwind and forget about all of life's problems including the possible Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic that seems to be gripping the world in fear.

Tomorrow is back to the office *sigh* it's the first full week of work that we as South Africans have had to face in a while, so it will probably feel quite drawn out.

I'm quite impressed with myself, three more days and I would have have achieved my goal of writing every day for the whole year! Let me be the first to say that it has not been an easy task and oddly enough it will be my proudest achievement. With the end being so close, I need to start thinking about my last post. I hope that I can come up with something significant to say!

Sweet Tooth From Hell

Like a carnivorous animal that has gotten a taste of blood, I've become addicted to sweets. I'm ridiculous. In the last couple of days I've eatan so many chocolates, candies, cakes ice cream and other deserts its absolutely frightening.

Not too long ago I was very good at passing up on the sweet stuff, in fact I was so good that I even refused an after dinner mint. But inherently, I have an incredible sweet tooth and once I have a taste for it; the craving becomes insatiable...To illustrate my point, in the last two days alone I've eaten two big bags of jelly beans, a slab of chocolate, a chocolate brownie, a foot long nougat bar, a tub of ice cream and a big helping of Bread and Butter pudding; and that's only what I can remember.

Besides the obvious aesthetic challenges that arise from consuming so much crap, there are other side effects that one should take into consideration, like diabetes. This uncontrollable lust for sweets stops tomorrow, I'm cutting it out, no more sweet stuff for a long time.

Dueling Guitars

I spent most of the day jamming and dueling guitars with my friend. There's something very special about sitting around and being able to create music with someone else. Music is like a language; one has to understand what the other person is playing; their tempo, their rhythm and what exactly it is that they are doing. Once you've figured that out; you need to try fit in, compliment it and help make it sound good.

After a couple of hours of tinkling, and feeling each other out; we finally decided to collaborate and practice to get an entire song down pat. We decided to cover a song by Jack Johnson, G-Love and Donovan Frankenreiter called Girl I Wanna Lay You Down - after an hour or so I think we got it about 90% right, both the singing and the guitars; including a cool little guitar solo.

I had a lot of fun getting back into it, it's been a while; my fingers have taken a beating, the skin off the tip is coming off and my left hand is cramping from all the fretting and sliding, up and down the guitar...

Kink

Ah what a delightful evening of caberet-esque singing, dance, entertainment and food. Kink Bar pulled off a wonderfully enchanting evening in a very sophisticated and sexy setting, it was very different from your usual Cape Town scene; as Kink decided to hold something refreshingly special for their friends and supporters.

Word on the street is that Kink will be extending and providing food lovers with a new fabulous, fine-dining spot. Knowing the people initiating this new exciting venture and being an avid foodie, I'll be sure to be one of their biggest supporters.

I was very close to spending my long weekend in Durban; staying on the beach in Umhlanga, surfing in warm water and hanging out with the Fox and Frank (two friends whose real identities shall remain anonymous). But unfortunately I could not make it due to my being late in booking affordable tickets. The tardiness however, was probably subject to the fact that I was only convinced to go on the trip near midnight of the night before the trip... while in a mildly inebreiated state.

Don't Be Alarmed

I find that every once in a while you need to change the tone of your morning alarm, becuase you get so used to it that you begin to sleep right through it. I've become more and more accustomed to mine and find it exceedingly difficult to wake up.

I decided I would change my alarm tone, the trick is that you can't have something too loud or too abrupt otherwise you'll wake up with a heart attack, but it needs to be vibey enough so that it has enough of an impact to get you out of bed. I now have a cool Brazilian song, with a delightful songstress, singing Com Você (that means "with you" so I'm told) to help me up.

Owing to the new tone, I was able to make an early gym session. It's been a while since I've been able to haul myself up, early enough, to get one of those in. I had an epiphany while I was at gym; and thought that it would be great for tonight's blog I also remembered that it would have been cool to have a Moleskine notebook to write down my idea so I wouldn't forget what it was. No prizes for guessing that I didn't have a Moleskine with me at the time and that I've also subsequently forgotten the epiphany... oh well, will scribe it if I remember.