Sharks disappoint in Super Rugby semi-final

The Sharks have got to be the biggest disappointment of South Africa this year. They had such a promising start to their Super Rugby campaign this year and we all thought they would be able to pull this off.

Us die hard Sharks supporters/fans, really had our hopes up for them winning the Super Rugby title this year. Especially after their amazing defeat of the Crusaders in Christchurch. They made history that night and raised the hopes of everyone with that win. I mean, not just anyone can go to Christchurch and defeat the Crusaders on their home turf. To do so is like winning the iron throne of Westeros. It's EPIC. 

And yet the Sharks managed to pull of this feat, return home, and lose their home game. I STILL want to kick Charl McCleod for kicking that ball in those last few minutes of their match against the Stormers in Durban. 

The Sharks just could not keep up their performances, but still we hoped. We believed they could make a come back and win this. 

Their first match after the break against the Cheetahs was pathetic. (Also, why is it that these South African teams that were on such bad form for the entire Super Rugby tournament, decided to play their best games against the Sharks? Really now?! Yeah, the Sharks were at their worst, but the other teams were at their best... )I cried after that match. But, I picked myself up and prayed for a win against the Stormers in Cape Town the following week. And the Sharks delivered. They managed to beat the Highlanders in the play offs and secure a semi-final.

We knew playing the Crusaders in the semis would not be easy. It would most definitely be one of the hardest matches any team would have to play. The Crusaders are like rugby gods, especially with Richie McCaw and Daniel Carter present.

The Sharks had the players. They knew what needed to be done and what they had to do. But they just did not show up for today's match. You couldn't even see our players! Where was Bismarck?! What happened to Marcell Coetzee? Lambie was the only player we really saw, and really Lambie, what happened? They had more than enough opportunities, you cannot say they didn't, yet they just did not/could not follow through and convert those into points. They made far too many errors. Kicked willy-nilly when they really should have tried harder to keep possession of the ball and aim for tries instead of just hope to get penalties. 

Jake White is a world cup winning coach, yes. The Springboks did win the Rugby World Cup under his coaching in 2007. But, if anyone remembers, they did not win it with flourishing rugby. They won it by playing it safe and with the boot. And today has proven that you can NOT win every game that way. You HAVE to play full out rugby with all your heart and soul! 

The truth is that the Sharks HAD what they needed to beat the Crusaders today, but they just did not play well. Far from it. The Crusaders played wonderful rugby and they were well deserved winners of the match.
I am in a depression about this loss, but congratulations to the Crusaders none the less. 

So now I will just wallow in my depression, and then hope the Sharks make us proud in the Currie Cup.

A regular visit to the dentist

Ah the regular visit to the dentist. I'm a firm believer that unless you get into a  major fight and get your teeth knocked about, or experience serious problems with your teeth, you really shouldn't have to go to the dentist. But, apparently it's just good health care sense to visit the dentist twice a year for a check up and a good clean and polish. Though I don't really notice a difference than when I just brush my teeth at home to be honest. But, if you're on a medical aid scheme in South Africa you're likely approved for those two visits a year, and seen as medical aid is RIDICULOUS, you're going to make the most of what you can (well I do anyway).

The thing is, much like with doctors (and pretty much most things) I would rather not go at all. If I collapse and die then we know something was wrong and I'm fine with finding out that way... But, I guess going to the dentist isn't quite as traumatic as going to a general practitioner. And, if it's free... :p

However, going to the dentist is still really quite awkward. For obvious reasons. But, yeah, I'll list the reasons as to why it is so awkward in the chance that no one else thinks so. Though, I am the queen of awkward. You could put me in the most un-awkward situation ever and I'd MAKE it awkward. So, who knows, maybe I'm the only one who finds going to the dentist to be an awkward situation, but anyhoo here are my reasons...

1. No matter what, before a visit to the dentist you always feel the need to brush your teeth beforehand. And you'll even go the extra length and floss and even use a mouthwash, despite the fact that you could care less about flossing generally. There's just this pressure of having to pretty up your teeth and breath for the dentist even though they are going to do exactly that for you. But, yeah, you don't really want the dentist to be picking food bits from your teeth and having to try not to pass out from your rancid breath. The problem with this is that you don't always have the opportunity to do this before going to the dentist, so you end up just trying to quickly suck on a sweet or chew some gum and pray you don't knock the dentist out.

2. Following the line of not wanting the dentist to have to pick out chunks of food from your mouth, because you don't want to end up in that uncomfortable situation you avoid all foods that can get trapped in or between your teeth all day and you avoid eating ANYTHING near to the time of your appointment. And if you just happened to be heading to the dentist straight after a long day at work and you missed lunch 'cause you were just too busy, well then you're going to just have to suffer in silence. Or suffer in a relatively quiet room with a strange rumble sound every now and then. You try to suppress the rumbles, but that doesn't work out so well. So you just lie there with your extremely vocal tummy while the dentist has their way with the insides of your mouth.

3. You get into the room and you lie down on that chair thingy. And what the hell are you supposed to do with your hands! You're just lying flat there and your hands just seem to be so huge and useless! Do you lay them at your sides? But then that seems too weird and rigid. Do you cross them at your chest? But that seems stern and even more rigid. Do you fold them in front of you? But that seems so formal. If you ball them into fists it looks like you're angry or in a huge deal of pain and terror. There's just no right way to deal with your huge hands when at the dentist! Or is there? Please do tell me. Please!

4. Also, what on earth do you do with your eyes! This is even worse than the hand situation. 'Cause the dentist is basically working right in your face! They're all up in your business, I mean they're in your mouth! You can't get much more personal than that (okay, you can, but you know what I mean). They're looking about in your mouth and you've both got on those ridiculous goggles and you're like, "right, this is fuuuuuuun, so where the hell do I look?!" Do I try and watch what's going on in my mouth? But I can't really see much, I'm seeing a very small part of this. And then you might just make eye contact with the dentist! And that would just be the mother of awkward situations! Do you look around... But there's not really much to look at, and if they notice you're looking it around it might seem weird that you're looking at nothing... Do you close your eyes? But then they'll be like you're too scared or they might think you're too relaxed and they might just end up giving you a black tooth!

5. As I've mentioned throughout 'cause, well, it's the thing you're most conscious of, the dentist will be right in your face. So if you have bad breath, they're very likely going to get a good whiff of it. And so you're entirely self conscious and praying that your breath doesn't smell as bad as you think it does even though you brushed and flossed and gargled and chewed an orbit before you could go in.

NOW tell me that going to the dentist is not awkward! People make a fuss about being scared to go to the dentist 'cause of the pain, puhleese, you should be more scared of the amount of awkwardness you'll be forced to deal with. Someone should really make a set of rules to help us better deal with these situations in the future. Just some guidelines to help make a simple visit to the dentist a little less awkward.

What is up with all the spam?!

I haven't been on my blogger account in AGES! Yeah, I've been quite bad I know, but I've been super busy, so, forgive me...

So, I finally check my blog today, after ages... And, well, everything is pretty much the same. But, I checked the spam comments and it is flooded! Thank goodness "Blogger" has some sort of filter, or whatever it is, that sorts through all the comments and screens them and either publishes or marks as spam. I had no idea this was a feature, until I just happened to click on "spam" one day and found a bunch of comments.

Anyhoo, today I go and check out the spam comments, and it's over three pages! I haven't even gotten through all of them yet. It's quite annoying that there are so many people out there who will just flood other people's lives with their utter nonsense. Yeah, I get that some people want to create awareness of their blogs and websites and what not, but gosh, there's a limit people.

There are basically five types of blog spammers:

1. The people who at least try and make relevant comments on certain posts and then ask if you could check out their VALID blog or website. I don't really mind these so much. It's honest and at least they had the decency to actually read my blog and make a relevant comment. And it is kind of flattering. (If only there weren't so many of these!)

2. The people who make comments that just make NO sense whatsoever! For example, I had this one comment:
"Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read?" 

Okay, so I do post a lot of videos on my blog, agreed, but this comment was made on a written post, all writing, not a single video or picture was attached. And it was quite a lengthy post at that too. So, the least this person could have done was to at least comment on a video post. Maybe I'm being super fussy, but I think it just makes more sense to make a comment relevant to the specific topic at hand... Secondly, if this person actually took a thorough look at my blog, they would have seen quite a lot of written pieces as well as videos. I only post videos that I love or find fun and cool and entertaining and those I just think are pretty awesome. Okay, maybe I'm taking the comment a bit too harshly, but yeah, come on!

3. Then you get those who just post utter random shizz! Like this: 
"I got this website frokm my buddy who informeed me concerning this web page and aat the moment this time I amm visiting this web page and reaɗіng very informative posts here. Feel free too surf to my web blpog :: brewery beer glasses"  - also on an irrelevant post. 

And others who just say the most random things that don't make any sense. If the comments were actually made on posts that made sense, I might actually be falsely flattered, if all the grotesque spelling and grammar errors could be overlooked, but many are on posts to which the comments just do NOT relate on any level! Like the above one was made on a post of Emily Dickonson's poem "They Shut Me Up In Prose". Really now?!

4. Fourthly, you've got those who won't even bother trying to butter you up and being polite first. No. They just "WAM BAM! There you go" you. They will just post a link directly to their site or write some jargon and then give you a link to their site :
"Texas Hold Em Poker Recommendations on Tips on how to Be successful Carry Em Factor #a couple of. That's it in its most basic form, but there really is a lot more to it. The Kiwanis Club of Torrance hosts the annual Texas Hold 'Em Charity Poker Tournament on Sunday, May 19 at Palos Verdes Bowl. Feel free to surf to my web page :: university of texas poker table felt ".

5. Lastly, you have the people who will post a link, but yeah... You know what that is... They're generally links to porn sites or online dating sites or links that end up at pages telling you you've won something or if you sign up for this you can earn loads of money from the comfort of your very own home! And basically all those types of sites... You get the idea... I'm pretty sure everyone has ended up on one of those sites at least once...

Seriously guys, spam is ANNOYING! It takes a lot of time to have to filter through all that junk, thank goodness blogger does that for me, but it's still annoying having it in that spam folder. Please think twice (and then three more times thereafter) before sending nonsense such as this (all the above mentioned).

Just remember, nothing good ever comes from sending spam.

Pitch Perfect - "Right Round" (Trebles)

Again, just check out Utkarsh Ambudkar. *SIGH*

Pitch Perfect - Trebles Finale

Absolutely LOVE this performance! And just watch Utkarsh Ambudkar (the Indian dude) - he is absolutely amazing! (You guys will be hearing the same from me when it comes to the Trebles performance of "You Spin Me Right Round") Benji is also super amazing awesome, but Utkarsh Ambudkar just steals the entire show for me. Super love for this dude.

Karkloof Canopy Tours

All geared up and ready for our adventure

Last weekend was my birthday (woohoo to getting old - bleh). But anyhoo, I'd wanted to do this forever, but just never got around to it. So I finally decided that I would do it for my birthday. Well more of a pre-birthday celebration. And it was the best birthday I could have asked for.

It truly was an amazing experience and I now want to do the Drakensberg one. For more info check out: Karkloof Canopy Tours. 

Gym Class Heroes: Stereo Hearts ft. Adam Levine

This one is just for you Lerissa... :p