Wot I Did This Week

Actually it's been a fairly busy week. Firstly there's work - we're busy doing system testing on the project we've worked on all year, so on the one hand it's fairly boring, but on the other hand it gets quite interesting at times. But to be honest, I enjoy going to work. I enjoy the work that I do (it changes enough that you don't get bored with it, but stays stable enough that you can become the expert on your section of it - for example, I do Crypto, and I've done various crypto-related components and apps through the year; now I'm doing system testing for the entire project); and I like the people I work with and the general vibe at the office. In fact, it works out this year that if I take two and half days leave, I get to be on holiday from midday on 22 December all the way through to 2 January, except that I almost don't want to because I'll miss being at work! Note that the operative word there is almost ... Of course, I'll also miss the adsl connection at work - I've only got dial-up at home, which is so slow (and expensive, since we pay a fortune for local calls) that it's not really worth it for doing anything beyond checking mail once a day.

So what else happened this week? Well, I sold my scooter, finally. I put it in the Cape Ads on Thursday, and the first people who phoned to ask about it actually bought it. So Friday morning I had to go get the change of ownership forms, and it was officially sold on Friday night. It's a bit sad, really ... it was a good bike, but I haven't even ridden it since I started the using the Kymco regularly, so it would be pointless to hang on to it. But then I do tend to become emotionally attached to stuff - apparently, when I was little, my parents sold the pram which I'd outgrown, and I cried terribly when they took it away. Of course, I have no proof of this, so I maintain that it's simply viscious slander ;-)

Also I went to the Dionysos festival at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens yesterday. It's really cool - they have an open air theatre, in the gardens (which is on the side of Table Mountain), and each year they perform an Ancient Greek play. So the setting is similar to how the Greeks would have seen it, and to make it more authentic it's performed just after sunrise. It's really a great experience (despite having to wake up ridiculously early). This is the 3rd year they've done it, and I've been to all of them so far. Last year they did Oedipus Rex, by Euripides, and the year before they did ... oh, now I've fogotten the name. But it's the one where Pentheus spies on the women - the Bacchae, that's it! Actually, that was the one b y Euripides, so who wrote Oedipus Rex, then? - and then gets torn apart by them while they're under the influence of Dionysos. Those were both great, but this year they did The Birds by Aristophanes. That would have been okay, but they tried to modernise it and make it relevant to the audience, which spoiled it. For example, one of the birds was a turkey - leading to one the characters to comment that it's an anachronism because America hasn't been discovered yet. And all the South African cultural references - the "long walk to freedom", how someone had a dop too many, the references to braaing snoek. Not to mention that instead of the traditional chorus (which is chanted, more than sung) they had background music and the lyrics were set to contemporary music, such as Singing in the Rain and some Gilbert and Sullivan songs. I understand what they were trying to do - the jokes and references would have been relevant to the Greek audience, so they were trying to provide us with that kind of authentic experience where the jokes and references were relevant to us. But if I wanted to see a contemporary South African comedy, I wouldn't have gone to see an Ancient Greek play. The actors were pretty good, though, especially the guy who played the pelican (Ryan Coetsee, according to the program) - he had all the little bird noises and motions down pat - and the guy who played Tereus (Johan Baird), but the guy who played Euelpides had such a heavy accent that you really had to concentrate to hear what he was saying. Anyway, it was okay, but next year I hope that they go back to a more traditional interpretation of whatever play they end up doing.

On the subject of Greek plays, I'd recommend Tom Holt's "The Walled Orchard" and "Alexander" to anyone who's interested in Ancient Greek life and theatre in particular - it's funny, and as far as I know it's a fairly accurate depiction of life in Ancient Greece.

So what else happened? I put up my tree and finished my Christmas shopping (now I just need to wrap the presents, but that's fun); I watched Team America (which was absolutely hilarious, although I still can't quite decide it was satire or propaganda); and that's probably it. So not a bad week, all round.