Finally done...

Well guys, I've done it! I have written up the last section of my report, my discussion section! I'm almost free of this horrible project! Well actually, it's not been all that horrible. Writing up is just horrible, not the rest of the project. Driving around for hours in Suikerbosrand is horrible when you don't see any baboons and your academic career depends on it. But the rest of the project isn't too bad.

Now, just to wait for Helen to let me know whether she is proof reading it for me or not and then I can send it off to my supervisor and be free of it! Until tomorrow morning that is...

I'm so excited about the end of this year! I can't wait to go catch mole-rats again! It'll be in the desert! Hooray!

Brain is fried...will write again when I can actually come up with more interesting sentences than 'It'll be in the desert!'...

Happy Halloween all...

(I tried to put in a scary photo of me, from when I had long hair, for Halloween...but alas blogger won't let me, so you'll have to ask me individually to send it to you if you really want to see it...)

My 62nd post!

Hello world...this is me...life could be...fun for everyone!

Sorry, those are some lyrics from a song that I heard a VERY long time ago and suddenly popped into my head as I was typing. It was by some random chick called 'Vitamen C' or something...who knows...

I have been reading like a mad thing for the last...3 days and came in to Wits today to fix up all my results so that I can rewrite that section of my report. It's been great fun (Sarcasm...)! This is one of my pretty graphs. Now, if only I could figure out what the hell is going on in it...

So, I arrived at Wits and went to say hi to Helen who has also been furiously working away at her results. EEbEE arrived too and we chatted for a while. We all then went our (I momentarily couldn't spell separate) separate ways and worked for a bit.

After some angst over trying to get the stupid computer to print, I decided that it was lunch time. So I went to tell Helen to stop working and get ready for lunch. I also went to call EEbEE but had to go to the loo first. On my way back from the loo, I went and knocked on the door to EEbEE's room. Just then, I realised that I could hear him talking to Helen in her lab so I walked of to chat to them. Half way there I heard someone walking through EEbEE's room to answer the door. So, being my irrational and silly self, I thought that I couldn't let the person see that it was me who had knocked on their door, and so, scampered down the passage to Helen's lab.

In hindsight, I realise that that was really silly of me and that I probably should have just owned up to my heinous crime of...knocking on the door...

As I spun around the corner into Helen's lab I found out from EEbEE that the person in the other room was Lindo, who had only just gotten to sleep after staying awake all night! I feel terrible...

So we went off to lunch and got Falafels from the 'Anat falafel' in Campus Square. They were AMAZING! I've not had one for so long that I had forgotten just how good they could be...mmmmm...

Three hours later, we returned to Wits to continue our work (it took so long because we ended up on a mission to find me a 'Vanilla Coke' and ended up discussing various foodstuffs available for purchase at the 'Pick-n-Pay' as well as buying various different types of tea). I then did all my graphs and am now on my way home to work on writing up all this nonsense!

Have a smashing weekend world!

How do you do something good for someone you dislike...?

My current predicament is not as serious as the title of this post sounds. I have to produce two essays for my current theory topic and I am TOTALLY disinterested! The one lecturer is an asshole and his contribution to the course just left me feeling really lost and my brain was fried! I'm supposed to write this essay for him but I can't even think of what my topic should be...I mean, I've got a rough topic already but I can't think of what angle I should use...

Well, this week has been horrible. I've had so much work to do. I'm really worried that I'm not going to be able to finish in time for the end of the year! My supervisor came to see me yesterday and did the whole, "Should I be expecting some work from you?" thing.

On the flipside, I'm currently house-sitting for my aunt and uncle which is always fun! They have a heated pool! I have yet to try it out because yesterday, when I got to the house, it was raining and I was so tired that I simply went to bed. I awoke this morning to discover that their gardener had somehow let himself in and was rumageing through the flowerbeds. It was a little awkward because I don't know him from a bar of soap and had to go out to feed the dog. So I introduced myself to him and ended up having quite a conversation about the merits of not drinking and smoking. It was arb...

Anyhoo, I have to go home to get some lunch and start working on THE essay. Have a great weekend internutters!

PS: The photo has nothing to do with anything. I just think Zebra are cute!

Josh!!!!He's SO cute!!!

I have had the honour to see the baby chimp named Josh. He is the illegitimate progeny of a chimp owned by the Joburg Zoo and another on loan from the Jane Goodall institute. And he is SO cute! Here is a photo of a baby chimp:

Isn't it ADORABLE!!! Sorry, its my paternal instincts coming out here...

Anyhoo, today was rather dull...I went off to church with my family minus mom. She stayed at home to do...something...I don't know what. Church was rather odd. I have really been questioning my belief lately and I'm still not 100% which side of the fence I'm on. I mean, what if this is all that there is? This whole thing is really getting to me mostly because my parents are such religious zealots...okay, maybe not zealots, but they are pretty close! It's just irritating.

The other thing that is bugging me about the situation at the moment is that (Helen, you don't have to read this - we've discussed this before) I have many ideas and beliefs that conflict with those of my family. This would be fine if it weren't for the fact that my family are as openminded as a rock, so any opinion that I voiced would be torn to shreds and I would be left to bleed out.

I believe in evolution, to begin with. I don't see how evolution and God can't coexist. They are completely separate things! To begin with, God is an entity, evolution is a process, just like digestion is a process. You don't have christians running around declairing that digestion is evil just because there is no direct link between what happens in our stomach and God...Second, there is tons of proof for evolution and in contrast, there isn't all that much proof to say that the world was created in literally 7 days.

Another thing that I don't agree with is the whole homosexuality thing. I don't beleive that god could reject people based on a psychological issue they have! There is so much research that has gone into this and has shown that homosexuality is caused by genetic predisposition (to a minor degree) and the results of experiences of the people as they develop. So is God really going to say to someone at the end, 'Sorry but because your father didn't show you the right amount of attention when you were between one and four months old, you can't come in to heaven...'!? It's not even their fault!

Sorry, but this is all because of something that the pastor said today in church. He said that the church should rise up against gay rights and same sex marriges. Not that they are gay-haters, but they just don't think that there is any place for homosexuality in the world.

Idiot.

As we speak (not that we are), my father is on the phone to a friend of ours in England, talking about attrocities in the church...

Sorry Travis and Jeff but this is just how I feel right now. I'm not attacking you, I just feel that christians should be a little more openminded and use that beautiful organ God put into our skulls.

-

I finished my essay for Ecophysiology that is due for a months time, or something! Hooray! Now I only have to work on the one that's due for next week friday and the other two, my final project writeup and my exams and I'm scotfree!

Well now that my theroputic rant is over, I'm off! Have a smashing rest-of-weekend! Cheerio!

PS: I saw the movie 'Domino' last night...it's VERY violent and weird...

Don't do it!

Don't EVER take two theory topic in the last block of your honours year! Even if someone pays you to or promises you a small island off the coast of Costa Rica...DON'T DO IT!!!

A soothing photo of a South African sunset to calm the nerves...

Well all as some of you may have noticed, I have not updated in something like a million years. This is due to the fact that the more sadistic side in me thought it would be funny to slowly kill me by drowning me in work.

On the upside, I heard from a friend of mine the most hysterical story about how I got my middle name, Mangaliso (All the APES people can cease reading from here down).

Apparently, it all began when my parents came to South Africa on holiday. My mother was alledgedly pregnant with me at the time. For their supposed trip here, they had a tour guide by the name of...wait for it...MANGALISO! Now, he supposedly did such an amazing job of showing them around, that before leaving to return to their home in Italy,my parents swore to name their first son after the brilliant tour guide that made their holiday so special. Upon my parents apparent arrival back in Italy, I popped out and was named accordingly.

The truth of it all is that:

1. My parents lived their entire lives here in sunny South Africa. They only went to live in Italy in 1999.
2. I was born here at the Johannesburg General Hospital (dodgy, I know!) and never set foot in Italy until I was 13.
3. My name comes from the fact that my dad was one of the liberals that had a huge bone to pick with the Apartheid government and so as an act of deffiance, gave his son a (*Gasp*) 'black name'.

My parents never go on holiday anyway so this never could have happened. And, for those who are wondering, Mangaliso means blessing or miracle.

The end

Another weekend at the workplace

Hi all!

Yes, I am spending another weekend here at Wits instead of at home because I have too much work to get through. At the moment, I have two essays to do and a portion of my final writeup. The road seems very long...

At the moment here at Wits we are having an exhibit of all things natural and alive. It's called 'Yebo Gogga, Yebo amaBlomo' and happens every year. It's usually really cool and quite fun but unfortunately I can't really go check it out this time due to the above. I usually go help out and spend most of my time there showing school kids around and explaining stuff. I dumped my family there today and they seem to be enjoying it so far...

Anyway, I am off to go and see if Helen and interpret my statistics because I sure as hell have no clue what they mean!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Adios

The end is nigh!

Holy crap people! Hierdie jaar het vinnig weg gegaan! I really should be heading off to bed but I thought I should just do a quick post...

For you who are not in the AP&ES dept. or don't see me practically every day...or ever for that matter, tomorrow is the day that we have to give our end-of-year presentations on our honours projects. We are, or at least ought to be, shitting bricks at the moment.

I really know that I shouldn't be worried about it as I rather enjoy presentations but somehow always get into that whole oh-crap-I'm-going-to-have-to-stand-up-infront-of-all-those-people groove...It is really silly, I know.

Speaking of which, I love 'Scrubs'! It is brilliant! I watched season one today when I should have been working!

Well enough of that, I'm really off to bed now.

Wish me luck!