Lady Gaga rocks Jozi

I have so much to tell you I don’t even know where to start. Lady Gaga came to South Africa last week and played her first show in Johannesburg on Friday 30 November, 2012. Let me just start by saying I was absolutely blown away. I wasn’t the biggest or the most passionate fan, but I was keen to see the spectacular that I’ve heard so much about – The Born This Way Ball.

Let me just tell you that the standing section is not for the faint hearted. If you’re short, small, young, or have any issues with people in your personal space, breathing on you, or resting their armpits on your shoulder, bare this all in mind when you rush for your spot. And rush we did. After arriving at Soccer City and grabbing the quickest beer of my life, we went to go and stand in the queue. This was at about 3.30, with the gates only being opened at 5pm. Off we went, through the first check point, to stand behind several hundred people who were already waiting at the gates. We then did the worst thing, which would have irritated me, and I felt terrible doing it, but we found a friend much nearer to the front and made our way through the heaving throng of irritated fans making comments like “no really, we weren’t here first, don’t you worry”, which, to be fair, is probably what I would have been saying had I not been dragged through the mass hand in hand with the more uber of the fans in our little group :|

From that point, as soon as the gates opened it was utter chaos. Hand in hand, we ran like mad things, sprinting from one check point to the next where were stopped by the fact that we had to get through a narrowing space, or scan our tickets at the gate. Once inside the actual stadium, no one would let us down onto the field to the standing area, re-directing us from one entry point to another, and back again. And I was running, let me tell you. The fear of potentially losing the people I was with to that crazy crowd was enough to keep my legs pumping and my chest open in spite of being sick, having no voice and having coughed at least one of lungs up in the past week.

Anyway, having finally arrived in the standing section, we found ourselves about 4 or 5 rows of people back from a ramp-type looking thing separating us general standers to the super uber fans who had been in the queue since god-knows-what time that morning, or the day before. Apparently 250 people were let into the “Monster Pit”, and those were the first 250 people in the queue, as far as I understand it. The rest of us, as I mentioned, ran for our spots. I never thought I’d run like that for a pozzie at a concert, let alone a  Lady Gaga concert, but let me tell you it was worth it. In spite of the mouth breathing, drugged up retards who seemed to be incapable of not invading my personal space.

For a bunch of people who were at a concert of a woman who basically preaches tolerance of everyone, in all shapes and forms, whatever their life choices or preferences may be, there was a hell of a lot of nastiness going on around us. A couple of girls just behind us almost got into fisticuffs with some pushing and shoving, followed by a few choice words out of one of them. The guy in front of me had a go at me for keeping my arm in front of me to protect my boobs, because it was digging into his back – yes that’s how close he was, A guy to our right full on shoved one of our friends out of his way and proceeded to stand with his sweaty armpit resting on my shoulder. The amount of times my toes got trodden on, and the amount of people who’s sweaty bodies rubbed up against me at one point or another, doesn’t bear reminiscing about.

The unicorn she rode in on

The set

The set open

Back up dancers

Having a word

Taking a moment

More of the set and the dancers

Close enough for you?

With the SA flag

Orange set

With some monsters

And, in spite of all of that, this was by far the best concert I’ve been to. Sure it was expensive, but no more than Linkin Park golden Circle. And considering the show that we got out of it, the value for money was so much more with Gaga. The set alone was absolutely awesome, like a doll’s house that folded out in the form of a castle, let alone the 20 odd back up dancers, all the costume changes, additional props such as the ‘unicorn’ that she came out on, and the motorbike that she was practically a part of. The whole thing was a show, with a story behind it, narrated by a hologram on the right hand side of the stage. The choreography was pretty awesome – made me think how incredible it must be to be a back up dancer for someone of that stature, and all of the back up dancers also had several costume changes as well.

Anyway, enough of my waffling, check out the Edge of Glory – don’t worry about the picture, rather listen to the crowd taking over her voice.

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XtremeMac SportWrap Armband for iStuffs [GirlGuides Review]

QUICK LOOK

• Made of neoprene – durable and washable
• Adjustable strap – will fit some big guns as well as little ones
• Textured window covers phone face – non-stick and non-sweaty finger-printy
• Earphone cord management clip

If you’ve been to the gym lately, and with summer coming up I’m pretty sure many of you have, you may find, as I do, that the music they pump out of their speakers is not exactly to your taste. Perhaps it’s not fast enough for the speed you run to, not loud enough to psych you up on the bike, or just absolutely not your taste. Enter the iPod or any other MP3 player out there, and you have yourself a solution.

Unfortunately my last iPod – a first generation Nano that I was given for Christmas in 2005 (yes, I know – that’s ancient) has packed up on me, as did the armband I was using it in, and my iPhone is just a pain to carry around with me in the gym. The last thing you want when you’re battling it out with the treadmill is a bulky phone, attached to your ears by earphones with a cable that is inevitably not long enough, or too long.

And this is why I love writing these reviews. I may never have found this armband, or at least not for a very long time, if one hadn’t been sent my way. The XtremeMac SportWrap armband fits all iPhones and iPod Touches. The armband is beautifully put together and it looks and feels like it’s going to be one to last. I haven’t chucked mine in the wash as yet but sometimes you really can just see the quality. The material used seems sturdy but with adequate stretch to ensure comfort, and the edges have all been overlocked (a type of sewing) which keeps anything from fraying or coming apart.

  

The band itself is very lightweight so if you’re worried about carrying extra weight when you’re running, I’d be much more concerned about the phone itself. There are also 2 different holes to slip the strap through, which results in the band being more flexible when it comes to fitting the bigger guns of boys versus the generally smaller guns of the girls.

  

The material on the back of the armband is nice and soft and there isn’t anything that catches or scratches. It also comes with a cord clip for those extra long earphone cables that need to folded up and tucked away neatly. The only thing I have found with the cord clip is that sometimes it pinches my skin if I makes the armband too tight, but otherwise it’s pretty handy. It’s also removable if you find you have no need for it, and just slides off the band. I haven’t had any problems with it slipping down or needing to be readjusted – it seems to stay put really well.

The armband is designed that you have access to all your buttons, and there is a hole for your earphones to come out at the top if you are using an iPhone, and there is also a space for them at the bottom if you have an iPod Touch.All in all I was thoroughly impressed with the SportWrap. I would definitely buy one, and I think it alsomakes a really nice gift for that someone in your life who has just taken up running or ventured near the gym for the first time in a while.

Turn Ons

• Beautifully made
• Nice and comfortable
• Firm and stable
• Cord clip organiser
• Fits iPhone and iPod Touch
• I even like the orange accents that are the XtremeMac logo etc

Turn Offs

• I haven’t found anything I dislike about it

Price: R299.95

Available from KNR Flatrock

For more awesome reviews of gadegety things, visit GirlGuides

<3 HealthBoxSA

A couple of weeks ago I saw some buzz around the launch of the local initiative HealthBoxSA, spearheaded by Lisa Raleigh, and Emma King (creator of sahealthblog.com). The launch happened at Melrose Arch, and from there, give aways weren’t far behind.  I spotted one on http://www.le1ghlo.com and responded, and lo and behold, I’m a winna! The idea behind these boxes is that you pay a set amount per month and you receive a box stacked to the brim of samples and goodies to be tasted and tested, before you go out and spend money on the real thing.

The box is so jam-packed packed with awesomeness that you won’t know where to start. As per Le1ghlo.com, ‘Designed by International Contemporary Artist, Bron Stofberg, the Health Box is an environmentally-friendly product beautifully packaged with the slogan “Love to know and learn to grow“.’ The design is stunning (I’m thinking of framing it and putting it up in my kitchen) and the contents have already found their way into every area of my home – they include healthy food products, fitness equipment, vouchers of epicness and beauty products.

There’s a lot of stuff in there! I was amazed so I took a picture of everything in the box. Check out the list pic by pic, below.

Tried this out last night – very nice!

Nice and light, sinks in quickly, doesn’t leave my skin feeling greasy or heavy, but not dry either.

keen to try this out as I eat waaay too much salt!

Got one of these in a Rubybox a couple of months ago – it’s lovely. Has a minty smell and leaves skin feeling soft and clean.

I went digging in this little package of delight last night and discovered crunchies, ginger biscuits, and peanut butter biscuits. Done.

My mum’s already tried to nick this to use on her hands with which she battles with dryness.

Took me a while to figure it out, too. It’s a resistance band, all rolled up into a handy little tube. Just what I needed as I missed getting one at our work Discovery assessment!

All in all I think it was a pretty darn good haul!

Find out more about the launch and prices here.

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I especially like the CL-app :)

Thanks Ray

Professor Elemental takes to the ring

With a ‘diss song’ called Fighting Trousers. With disses about Tweed jackets spat out in a ‘hot potato’ accent, by a scrawny, pale, white guy dancing around a boxing ring, this can’t be anything but entertaining. IMO.

Professor Elemental = Paul Alborough, more often known as Professor Elemental, is a steampunk and chap hop musical artist.

Thanks Rich

Charlie Higson does Bond in 140 characters or less

Charlie Higson is the author of a series called Young Bond. This is not something I know much about so here’s the Wikipedia definition: Young Bond is a series of five young adult spy novels by Charlie Higson featuring Ian Fleming’s secret agent James Bond as a young teenage boy attending school at Eton College in the 1930s. 

50 years ago this month saw the debut of the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming. Today, Charlie Higson took to Twitter to tweet each of the Bond novels in 140 characters or less. If you’re a fan and know the story lines, you’re bound to enjoy this. If not, some of them are pretty funny anyway.

So there they all are. I think it’s such a cool initiative! You?

2 mins and 30 seconds of pure amazing

Vytautas Mineral Water! It’s Earth’s Juice!

I’ve just seen this for the first time (on FB of all places) but with over 2 million views I’m sure I’m a little la

te on it. It distinctly reminds me of a series of ads for a gym supplement that mentions the flavour “RAWberry”. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the ‘product’ though. It’ll come to me and I’ll update.

My favourite part of this, apart from the very end, is the line: “Is that a colossal space bear squeezing earth’s juice?”

There’s also a little snippet of dubstep at one point.

Just do it!

 

Update:

Thanks to JP for the reminder – PowerThirst is what I was trying to think of earlier. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

A #bpdaily roundup

I thought it’d be fun to put together all the #bpdaily pics I’ve taken this year. Not as many as there should be considering the hash tag, but anyway…

Which is your favourite?

Nothing good ever happens without a fight

Where’s the inspiration gone?

Alcohol and Calculus don’t mix – Don’t drink and derive

Boys will be boys. And so will a lot of middle aged men

School is like a lollipop – it sucks until it’s gone

Every morning is the dawn of a new error

Thanks to @RobsieM for helping me out the day I missed goodie

Statistics mean never having to say you’re certain

Leave the past, Engage the present, Create the future

Storms make trees take deeper root

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow

Acupuncture is a jab well done

Stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me

After the laws of physics, everything else is opinion

Budget, budget, budget

Let me preface this post by saying that if you arrived here thinking you might get some advice on how to budget, you have come to the wrong place.

So this is obviously relating to me. Although I do like to think that I’m not the only person who’s in this boat. Money, money, money. And now I have an Abba song in my head. You too? It’s a pleasure…

I’ve come to realize that there are a couple of different monetary stages in life. So far, anyway.

Stage 1: Reliant

Growing up, you may have been lucky enough to get pocket money from the fogies. At least until such time as you’re old enough to work. That’s not to say that my folks were stingy, and although I got ,yield a job, my pocket money didn’t stop – the job simply gave me additional income to survive my O’Level break. My first job was a fun time at the good old Keg & Maiden, at the Harare Country Club (sounds much posher than it was, trust me – think farmers who’ve come into town to buy supplies. Short shorts, long socks, only a two tone if you’re really lucky, and enough cash to get them drunk with their buddies and give the waitresses a hard time, and a small tip). Throughout my school career I somehow managed to squirrel money away to the point where even though I really wanted something, I wouldn’t buy it because I didn’t want to spend any money. Needless to say, this didn’t last.

Then you head on out to varsity, and again if you’re pretty lucky you get a pocket money/allowance to survive on. Naturally you’ve forgotten how you used to save money for space cases and Barbie dolls, or Legos and toy cars, when you were little, and find yourself tearing through your whole allowance in ten days, and spending the rest of the month just surviving (and doing so while helping yourself to a little first, or second, year spread). Borrowing money off wealthier res mates (those who get a bigger allowance from mum and dad) to make sure you have enough money to contribute to the cane and creme soda, or no-name box wine you’re sharing with one or two other people. Each time you go out.

Moving out of res and into digs means less of the spread as food takes a back seat when mum and dad aren’t paying for it directly into your res fees. But still, you manage to party 17 nights in a row, and do it well. Somehow. Even if it means buying washing powder, toiletries, make up, antibiotics, vitamins, rice cakes, peanut butter, rusks, tea, coffee, cleaning equipment and almost everything else you can think of (except booze) on your pharmacy account. Yes, you read that right. Butlers pharmacy. For everything a Rhodes student could possibly need (other than booze) that mum and dad will pay for, via account, at at least 120% of the regular price. Aaah those were the days…

Stage 2: Self sustaining/ Stage 1: Reliant

For me, this was followed by a year in the UK, the first half of which was spent outside of London, waitressing, and pretty flush. Followed by a trip to Thailand, which drained the savings, and directly after that, and stupidly so, a move to London, jobless and pretty much penniless. Stupid, stupid, stupid. A month with no work meant borrowing money from M&D again. So much for coming home with loads of £s and being able to do what I wanted for a while. No, no, home just before Christmas with no money meant finding a job, and doing it quickly.

Stage 2: Self sustaining (again)

Luckily, the job hunt coincided with a family holiday to Durban, and luckily enough, I managed to get me a job interview. In ballito. Uh huh. I know. Ballito!! The stuff dreams are made of. Although I didnt really know more than one or two people in Durbs, and had no idea where I was gonna stay. Besides the point. This little stint, first job, graphic designer, by the beach, with a pretty decent salary, saw me living in a beautiful digs in implantable. Not cheap, but worth it. Again, partying it up in Durban north, living in umhlanga, and driving to and from ballito everyday started to take its toll on the finances. Now I’m not gonna say I survived on popcorn and vodka alone, but well, yeah. (I lost 8kgs so if nothing else it was good for my waistline)

At that stage I got a little greedy and jumped ship from a pretty awesome job for more money. Living and working within 3kms of each other, I saved bazillions on petrol, but moving to Mount Edgecombe meant a heavier rent. Still, I was feeling flush again. For about 8 months. And then I got retrenched. And that is another long n nasty story for another time.

Stage 1: Reliant (again)

From there I did the only logical thing any sane 25 year old would do. I packed up and ran home to Joburg to mummy and daddy. Obviously. Thinking it would just be a little while, till I found another job and got myself back on my feet, I settled in. It took me about three months to get a job – that was awesome for the self esteem – and then I wasn’t earning any more than what I had been on. Sadly this meant I couldn’t move out, not in Joburg! So, you know, you let it go and just get on with it for a while. You get a raise or two and find yourself comfortable again.

Here I must raise a warning: living at home is not the same as not. You may think you contribute to rent and food. Have you thought about what that rent contribution would compare to if you were in your own place? Probably not even close to half. Then, there’s lights and water. Groceries, cleaning supplies, toilet paper for goodness sake! And if you’re silly enough to think you can afford to buy a place, think again, again. And then again. Coz then you have bonds and levies, and parking space fees, and maintenance, and when the toilet breaks or the washing machine floods YOU have to fix it my fiend. Not M&D, you!!

Stage 3: Scrimp and save so you don’t have to borrow any more from M&D than you already owe them…

So now I find myself regressed to varsity days where I weigh up wine and cigarettes versus food. Funnily enough, not much has changed in terms of my decision ;) however, now I have a credit card. Uh oh…

Asid from all that, I totally love my new home. What? I do!!

Tell me you feel my pain?