adrian is rad

This.

I enjoyed watching this try by a Zimbabwean-born American against South Africa, blowing past one of the fastest players in international rugby. It’s from the last rugby World Cup.

And I’ve seen lots of strange signs but this may be my favorite. So simply good!

The Pirates have started 2-0 for the first time since 2007 and the first time at home since 1993. This early in the season, it’s possible to be unreasonably optimistic. Maybe the worst losing streak for a franchise in American sports history will come to an end. Maybe they’ll even be in contention for the playoffs! I mean, two games into the season, they already have a player who has hit three home runs.

It seems fitting that the season starts during spring, which is the optimistic season. Flowers are blooming and the world starts anew out of winter’s frigid clutches. Summer is coming (; we should all stand clear).

It seems odd that we have complimentary seasons here, that the major league season starts in the autumn. Autumn is less optimistic than realistic or preparatory. Winter is coming and we must prepare. It’s not that there isn’t anything to be optimistic about—I love winter clothing and fruits—but it’s not a season built on optimism.

But I suppose I’ll have to put on my hats and hoodies and eat my guavas while I cheer on the Pirates.

I set my alarm (on my phone) for 9am on Sunday morning. After it went off, I lazied around bed for a few minutes, checking email and blogs. I looked at the clock on my computer to see it was 10:16am.

Android decided that I had a time change—back an hour, so it was an autumn time change—overnight despite the fact that South Africa doesn’t have time changes.

It was autumn so it knows I’m in the southern hemisphere, but my time zone is set to “South African Standard Time” so it knows I’m in SA. I’m not sure what’s going on.

Things I forgot to put in Thursday’s post.

—

I’ve been making milkshakes. The most successful so far have been fresh mint + chocolate chunk, banana + nutella and banana + peanut butter. They have been well received by my flatmates. Mmmmmilkshaaaaakes.

—

I’m going to Zimbabwe in a couple weeks for a couple days. It should be fun. It’s mostly for a family wedding near Harare but I’ll also spend a couple days in Victoria Falls.

—

A good friend and his wife* will be here at the end of April for 10 days. I’m pretty excited about that. It’ll be great to see them and I like showing off Cape Town.

—

*who I’m friends with as well.

Here are little snippets of what’s going on:

—

I’ve been biking around some in the last few weeks. I mostly go to the pool or shopping or to other things that aren’t far but are far enough that I wouldn’t walk. My knee and rest of my body is mostly okay with it so far.

—

I make it a habit of not talking about work here, but lecturing/ coaching is going just fine. There are some interesting possibilities for other work as well.

—

I’ve had weird sleeping habits lately, going to bed later than I intend and waking up at my relatively early alarm and turning it off.

—

I’ve played ultimate frisbee at UCT a few times; there’s a pick up game on Fridays. It’s good times. I’m still alright at it. Given that I haven’t really played regularly since 2002 or thereabouts (though I did play a few times in 2006), I’m surprised how confident I am. I realized it’s one of the few things when I perform better under pressure than otherwise.

—

I took a tour of Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday. It was pretty cool. It’s a well-designed stadium. I think going to games in it will be a pleasure.

I’ll see next weekend as I’m going to see an Under 20 soccer tournament with Brazil vs Ghana and South Africa vs Nigeria with a few people. I’m looking forward to it.

—

This is the first year in a number that I didn’t either give up something for Lent or avoid eating meat on Fridays during the forty days (or both). I guess with so much instability currently, I didn’t really feel it. I’ll get ’em next year.

—

It’s a four day weekend here. It doesn’t mean the same thing when I wasn’t going to work (in the traditional sense) on Friday or Monday anyway.

—

I’ve started working on a memoir of my time at Boston Tech[1]. Progress has been slow. Very slow on some days, but others I’m inspired and write a fair amount. I’ve also thought of a book of stories from my travels, which would be fun.

—

My new flat isn’t without its hiccups, but it’s generally working out well. We had a house warming a few weeks ago that went well; a good time was had by all.

—

My favorite poster designer has a book out. I think I’ll get it. Jason’s stuff is great.

—

I’m tempted to get this old school US jersey for when I go see the US in the World Cup in just over three months time.

—

And finally. I went to a Stormers match last weekend. They’re a Super 14 team representing the Western Cape. They were playing against another SA club, the Cheetahs—the team my aunt roots for, as it turns out. Stormers won, so that was good and it was a fun experience overall.

—

[1] I really want to make a shirt that says Boston Tech in the MIT font. Who’s with me?

Sometimes I think 10 year old Adrian was sort of brilliant. At that age my brother and I came up with the Peanut Butter Ball (TM).

Take a bowl, put in some peanuts, other nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, or whatever you like. Put a blob of peanut butter and roll it around picking up stuff, Katamari-style, until you have a peanut butter ball covered in delicious stuff.

Take a bite out of it. Push the freshly revealed peanut butter into the bowl again, picking up more stuff. Continue until all the peanut butter and treats are gone.

I tried this again the other day: still good.