Bet you thought you were rid of me for a while yet. You probably didn't expect another newsletter until the new year. Well, I'm back with a vengeance, determined to whip this newsletter back into a monthly achievement. And I want to keep better contact with all of you. Speaking of contact, Michael and I went to watch the movie recently. You know, the one called Contact, based on the book by the late Carl Sagan, not that I am going to pretend to have read it. As you must already know, the main actor in the film is Jodie Foster, pictured below.

This two and a half hour film about What's-out-there, God, Science 'n' Technology, Dreams, Faith, Determination and Logic, is splendid, magnificent and awesome.

It's not preachy and it's not superficial or unrealistic. I mean, I guess if you just don't believe that there is something out there or that there could be, then perhaps you wouldn't enjoy it, but then I doubt you would bother going to watch it anyway. I, however, particularly delighted in it and it is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. I can't say I am one of those people who have a "favourite movie" although the other day, when pushed to write down my favourite, I chose Four Weddings and a Funeral because it is one movie I have made a point of watching more than once and now that I have seen Contact, it is another of few movies that I would love to see a second or third time.

The above was the theme for another movie we saw while we were on leave together: Event Horizon.

It wasn't as great as Contact, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was gruesome and freaky; futuristic space horror. The visual effects were tremendous. You know, always better on the big screen too. (Actually it wasn't Ster Kinekor we watched it at, but you know what I mean).

I suppose something that added to my enjoyment of these films is that I hadn't watched movies at the cinema in a while. But that doesn't mean they weren't as good as I experienced them to be. They were wonderful. Not your average alien flicks.

Below: Sketch from Contact

Moving away from the audio-visuals now... The biggest and best thing I have read of late is Stephen King's Desperation. (The cover looked nothing like the one pictured below, but you shouldn't have much difficulty finding it.) The epic novel is over 700 amazing pages long. You may know something of the way I am about God, but despite my scepticism, I found the book (which one character in the novel would call "God-obsessed") incredible, because Stephen King is just too brilliant a novelist. I just cannot help but be awed by how well he writes. You ought to give him a chance and not think to yourself that it's all just about evil, blood and gore. He writes about truth, beauty, courage and real people.

Desperation is the twin of Richard Bachman's The Regulators, which I also bought and read a few months ago. That too, was special reading. So all I'm saying is, read him and read him again. Because he is truly a super-talented creator.

And to whoever stole my Dolores Claiborne novel, I'm out to get you. So watch your back. ;)

I have read nothing else of note recently. Pathetic, I know.

Some November/December birthdays that I still remember (you know how bad I am at such things these days - it's called Getting Ridiculously Old):

Ones that have already passed as I write this: Julie (Mike's little sister, who is not so little any more) turned 12 on 1 November. We still haven't sent her card and gift to her. We thought we'd be able to give it to her dad at the end of last month, but he didn't come down to Cape Town in October in the end.

Then my littlest hobo.. I mean sister, who is even less little than Julie, turned 14 on the 7th. Can't believe how old Lauren is these days. Frankly, I am suspicious.

Who else is there? Gerard turns 26 (I think) on the 30th of this month. You're not old, Gerard: just say that over and over and your wish for it to be true will come true. :) Ho hum.

Philip who has now returned to his homeland (Oz), turns 27 or something (I've lost track again) on the 26th (I think) of November. Oh wait, a little angel just told me that it's on the 4th of December! Happy Wonderful Birthday to you, kid.

7 December! That's Gary's birthday (23 yrs old?) and it's also Carlos' birthday. I know how old you'll be because we're virtually the same age. Yes, 24! I hope you both have incredible birthdays.

The 8th is Milo's birthday. And he'll be 26... that's my guess anyway, which is probably as good as his ;) May it be closer to perfect than any other you've had.

Then the 13th of December is Caroline's birthday - hey Caro, is it the big three-oh? Please don't kill me if it's not that old (oh hell I think I'm gonna get it whatever the case is!)

Right, that's it. I am sure you are amazed that I even mentioned birthdays this month. I just couldn't help myself. I had to do it.

Let me tell you about two things I have achieved recently:

I have, after many months, become up to date with the papermail-replying.

I have, after being on leave, overcome a month-plus backlog on my email.

These things, do not, however, remain up to date unless one consistently replies to all mail almost immediately. So they're not such great achievements really, are they? They don't fall into the category of things like saving up enough money to buy a good car in cash. Because they keep recurring and need constantly to be maintained. Then again, if you want to keep fit, you have to exercise regularly and constantly eat the right food. That would be a great achievement. But maybe that is my point. In order for these kinds of things to be great achievements they have to be done constantly. To be a good correspondent, I have to answer my mail regularly and quickly. To be fit, I would have to exercise and eat well all the time. And I'm not very good at that sort of thing. I suppose I am just lazy and not very good with routine. I'm also not keen on discomfort, so that is why I'm terrible at the Keeping Fit theme, or at this stage Becoming Fit. Anyway at least I still intend buying a car and I still intend becoming fit and staying fit. Mike and I are really keen on having a car, but we hate the thought of going

through the procedure of choosing a car, arranging some kind of finance and then buying a car. We have R10 000 we can put down as a deposit, but we haven't gone much further than looking at advertisements in the Argus, CapeAds and Auto Trader. The car I like the look of most is the

We are also seriously considering getting a Toyota (a nineties model), either a Conquest or a Corolla.

Get a preview of the 98 model (which we won't be getting) above!

I'm pretty enthusiastic about Honda Ballades too (the newer shape - 1992 and later, I think). So nice:-

Anyway, I find this whole episode very scary and frustrating. So I don't know

if we'll buy a car by the end of this month, but we must at least strive to get one by the end of the year, you know like a Christmas present to ourselves. And when we have a car then we will become (hold thumbs) regular Health and Racquet Club goers. Michael has a Supergold membership, so I just have to get my own card now (and pay for it, naturally). So the car thing and the fitness thing are two of my current aims. I want us to be able to go shopping and do our laundry by means of our own car. This public transport thing sucks. And I want to weigh fifty-five kilograms again. Oh what dreams the young have...

Oh yeah, something that is going to be a great help for us in paying off our future car is Michael's study loan being paid off this month. When he gets paid, that will be the end of the damn onus.

This month is bonus month for me. What a bonus! Of course, it will be taxed quite a bit more than my normal salary, but at least I am aware of that.

Speaking of thirteenth cheques, it is time to start thinking of Christmas presents. Well, I have already started thinking of them, but not of what they will be, or how much I will spend, or who I will buy for. Mike and I will have to talk about it and decide who has been bad and who hasn't.

Tomorrow I am relocating to a temporary office on the seventh floor of the Jagger Library buiding. I think I explained the arrangement to a certain extent in my last newsletter. Now, I don't know yet what exactly I will be doing, and it is in fact still negotiable, but one thing I do know is that I will no longer just be doing HRM work, I will do a bit of Libraries Admin Asst work as well. I do hope all goes well, but this is going to be quite a change. I got the impression this afternoon, though, that at least I will get a slight increase.

This arose from my concern that my travelling costs would amount to more with the move. But we shall see if it actually makes any difference after tax.

Anyway so I am taking along with me my entire computer, my stationery, all the relevant files and so on. I guess it could turn out to be exciting and a great learning experience, but right now I feel unsettled and rather sad. I will miss, very, very much, my colleagues because the ones I am talking about are more than just acquaintances, they are

actually my friends. But when it comes to work, you don't let that stop you from moving on.

You know, that business and pleasure thing... Heh. Well, anyway, so they don't want to let me go, but they have to. And that is just how it is.

Luckily I have a friend who is going to make me feel welcome on Upper Campus. Thanks, Helen, buddy. :) Well, I guess that's the good turn I get for always paying you ;) (even if you are taxed too much, but luckily that is not my indaba).

Oh, I think I should say something here about the shortage of text in this newsletter. It's not that I am trying to fill all the space with pictures, it's more that I have some pictures/cartoons I would love to share and anyway I finished the last newsletter very recently, so I don't have much news. But by doing this one now rather than later, I am keeping at it, and getting back into the monthly mood. Also, it is likely that the December newsletter will be a bumper edition (ie longer than four pages) so I am not going to push myself now or wait until November is halfway over before I complete this issue.

Did I mention that we have been without our microwave for a while now? When it broke down at the beginning of October we didn't have a car to take it back to Dion. Actually, we initially thought that the guarantee was only for a year so we were angry that the thing had waited until a couple of days longer than a year to go on the blink. But luckily Dion assured us that the guarantee was for two years. However, they said it would take fourteen working days to fix. So this Friday we will call them up and ask for it back. I mean, now that I think about it, it'll be like one and a half months without the use of the thing.

We will have to ask someone to lend us a car or to take us to fetch it, hopefully on Saturday. So we're not paying for this thing to be fixed, but it's almost not worth it when one has to wait so long for it to come back. And who says it won't break down again just after we've had it two years? Ridiculous.

So now it's a little frustrating trying to figure out what to have for supper. The other night we had free-range scrambled eggs. Yeah, you know, why don't you also support a chicken sometime? Cheers.