First time in my life I’ve owned pink shoes and had straight
hair. The pink shoes I still have, the hair was temporary. Apparently I’m
blonde when my hair is straight. How weird is that? I let the girls at work
play with my hair, and it was a great amount of fun all around. I’ve always
wanted to have straight hair, of course, and I think it actually looks the best
at the gym in a ponytail. Of course, that makes sense. I am a tomboy after all.
This week I had my blood tested to make sure everything was
normal. Apparently it was not only normal but ‘legend.’ Blood pressure was
perfect, cholesterol also: good cholesterol almost equal to bad cholesterol (and
I haven’t even been THAT strict lately). Psoas is healing: the issue has moved
more to my back which gets very tight – so tight I literally cannot squat all
the way unless I stretch my hamstrings first. Some days are better than others.
A lot depends on how I sleep, I think.
Been getting back to training (3 times this week). I am
feeling very out of cardio shape, but that will come back. I’m also getting
just ridiculously sore. Adaptation. I’m not feeling entirely at home in my body
at the moment, and my performance has been very inconsistent (I killed
Wednesday’s workout but suffered terribly in Friday’s, for no apparently good reason).
I’ve also been craving sweets which is unusual. I’m having some malva pudding
on Sunday evening to celebrate the completion of what is sure to be a hectic
workshop but going strict after that. Well, it beats craving alcohol, right? At
least driving after eating chocolate slabs isn’t dangerous.
I am nearly finished one of my big tasks for the week. The other
I started on yesterday but just wasn’t in the right mental space for it, so I
stopped. I am so glad that marketing isn’t my sole activity because you really
have to be in the right head space for it to get it right.
Speaking of head space, mine needs a spring cleaning. My
friend Adin introduced me to the concept of ‘incompletions’ about a year ago. These
are things that you know you should have done but that you haven’t done yet,
and they take up processing space in your head. For me the best analogy is that
they are like computer programs running in the background sucking up RAM and
slowing everything down. It’s like if you don’t do your dishes but every time
you walk through the kitchen it annoys you that you haven’t done so. That. I’m
not going to bore the assembled masses with mine: if you’re involved in one,
you know.
Friday was the middle day of Cape Town Entrepreneurship
Week, and there was a whole day dedicated to social entrepreneurship. But …
here’s the thing. It’s still all just talk. So we can sit here and be shocked
by the stats: something like 30% of learners fail their matric exam (i.e. don’t
get a high school diploma) and are therefore unemployable in the formal work
force. The official unemployment rate is 25%, and 51% for the youth (not sure
how the youth is defined). Unofficial unemployment rate is 34%. South Africa
has the lowest understanding of math of any country on the continent of Africa,
lower even than Congo which has been in civil war for the last 8 years. Think
about THAT for a minute. I have a lot more to say about this, but not today and
not in this format.
Quite a varied week: on Tuesday evening Reebok did their
spring product launch at our gym, and I was one of the demo athletes. That was
quite fun, and good/bad for the ego: from when I walked up the steps the Reebok
crew knew me by name, and everyone was very interested to talk to the CrossFit
athletes (big fish in a small pond), but it was also quite weird to see our
home transformed like that, complete with a [n adult beverages] bar!
I was most definitely not expecting this but I also had the
pleasure of spending much of the evening with the head of Sony Music SA, who
was there because Reebok was also launching this new musical talent Toya Delazy
as its brand ambassador. She is quite a cool girl, and it was so very cool to
talk about music all night, and the conversation wasn’t just about music: it
was about social enterprise, Cape Town vs Johannesburg, and the social and educational
challenges of SA as a unique place (the music exec happened to be British but
has lived in Joburg for 15 years). But really, a good contact to have when you
like music the way I do.
So: surreal. But a very nice job by some great folks at
Reebok. I think associating with CrossFit is a bit of marketing genius by
Reebok, and actually especially so in emerging markets. Here, Reebok is going
to spend a lot of marketing money to promote CrossFit, but when people learn of
CrossFit they are going to associate it in their minds with Reebok. Even this
guy I met yesterday (the sickly fit son of my acupuncturist) heard I was a
CrossFit athlete and when I asked had he heard of it, Reebok was one of the
first words out of his mouth. At the same time, I’m certainly not going to
complain about anything they do to grow awareness of the sport: a rising tide
lifts all boats.
From that to Wednesday night when I had dinner with Robyn
who I met at Walking the Daisies. She reminds me a tremendous amount of myself
at her age, except that she’s more socially conscious than I was at 22. Of
course, I had also been living in Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom, and we
all really are a product of where we are living are we not? But I digress. She
has the sad job right now of wrapping up operations of Bobs for Good, which is
a social enterprise turned charity turned, well, now, being shut down because
the donors constantly wanted more for less money. Such a shame.
I don’t know the stats off the top of my head but in rural
South Africa children have to walk several kilometres to school each day, and
most of them don’t have shoes. You can imagine what happens: their feet get cut
up, especially in the winter when it’s cold, they get illness and diseases, if
and when they can even make it to school. I’m such a crybaby I can’t even
concentrate fully when I have a sore back or a hangover, but imagine open cuts
on your feet trying to concentrate. See what I was saying above about how
everything is connected? Anyway the original Bobs for Good model (Bob is a
radio personality, I know it’s a weird name) was that when you bought a pair of
shoes a pair would be donated. Then they moved to more of the “sponsor a pair
of shoes” model, but when you factor in not just the cost of the pair of shoes
but the overhead of your support staff, and you wind up with that classic
charity problem where if your fundraisers can’t raise funds you first cut staff
(as happened a few months ago) and then even shut down as is happening now.
Thursday evening was acupuncture, followed by a movie &
chocolate. Well hey after 29 needles I think I deserved some chocolate.
Friday after gym I went by an ANDE networking event but it
was still in panel discussion when I had to leave to get to a lecture intro in
the Northern Suburbs. After THAT one I headed to work where there was a bit of
an informal party going on, but I didn’t stay long because I needed to get home
to bed.
Now my new challenge to myself and to anyone else who cares
to join me is to start to live that mantra of either being part of the solution
or part of the problem. If I don’t like something I will either specifically
make something happen to change it, accept it, or leave the situation. Sitting around
whining and bitching about things actually only hurts you, after all. The driver
who just cut you off in traffic isn’t sitting there with his blood pressure
going through the roof now is he?
- “It’s not perfect. It’s completely ridiculous.” – Jon
- “WHOA, it’s electric!” – Anton
- “I mean, you’re feminine, and you’re beautiful, but you could probably kick his ass.” – Paul (could probably kick HIS ass, too!)
- “Legend, actually.” – Darren
- “Sorry, I brought a Mac. I know they’re troublesome.” – Simon
- “Know what you want. Be brutally, brutally honest.” – Sisa
- “What did you tell him about me?” “Everything!!” – Ellie & Nicole
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