Author: KokkieH

On getting the facts right

This is not what I had planned for today. But I needed to vent. In fact, I needed to vent last night but didn’t feel like powering up the computer at 11pm for a rant.

I finally finished Inferno last night. That in itself is reason to rant, but the full review is on its way. However, on the tedious slog to the finish line I came across a sentence that quite literally made me cringe.

On page 434 of the hardcover edition Mr Brown uses this sentence: “And the HIV virus attacked the immune system, causing the disease AIDS.”

In South Africa HIV and AIDS is a pretty big issue, with about a third of the population infected and more than two thirds affected. In the people-oriented professions like social work, counselling, teaching, community development and the medical professions it is something we have to deal with every day. Consequently, during my studies the facts about this condition was thoroughly drilled into my mind (and I’m reading a book about it again for my Master’s) and I get quite riled up if people spout a bunch of nonsense about it. Continue reading “On getting the facts right” →

Song Title Challenge #13: Purple Rain – Prince (I think)

It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song. You can pick your own genre or use the one suggested to me. Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page. You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

I got several suggestions this week and it was quite hard to pick one. At least I can assure you there are some interesting titles coming up.

This week’s song is Purple Rain by Prince (at least, I think his name was Prince at the time the song came out). It was suggested by one of my Facebook friends.

I cheated a bit with this one. Let’s see if you can figure out what I did 😉 (Hint: it has something to do with style)

Purple Rain

Continue reading “Song Title Challenge #13: Purple Rain – Prince (I think)” →

On tasty treats

For as long as I can remember my favourite dessert (except ice cream, of course) has been lemon meringue. It was always one of those treats that only came along with one of the folks’ birthdays or if some relatives came to visit. When I finally became old enough to forgo the birthday party with obligatory clown cake it became a standard request for the celebratory rituals on the annual remembrance of my egress from the womb. So naturally, when my mom moved to a different town I needed to learn how to make it myself, lest I be starved of my favourite sweet indulgence.

The wife and I just finished the final pieces of the lemon meringue I made on Friday for her birthday and in a surge of sugar-induced altruism I’ve decided to share the recipe for this divine food with you.

Continue reading “On tasty treats” →

On enjoying one’s youth

Today is a big day in The Flat Overlooking The Vals River. It is the wife’s birthday today, ushering the twenty-nine days of the year where she gets to say that she is older than me. For the next month I have to lay down my mantle of patriarchal authority and defer to her in all things because, you know, we have to respect our elders and all that. (For reasons of health and safety (mine) I can’t tell you how old she is (she actually reads this rag), but I can tell you that I am thirty-one.)

As I watch my dearly beloved advance in years I sit back and once more appreciate the fact of my youth. Some embittered old person once said that youth is wasted on the young. I have decided to stop wasting mine. I am going to follow the wisdom of the book of Ecclesiastes which says, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes…” (Eccl 11v9, KJV). Continue reading “On enjoying one’s youth” →

Bookish Q&A

I came across this survey on Cheap Thrills and Charleen got it from Katie’s blog, Words for Worms. Both of them decided not to tag anyone, but leave it out there for anyone who’s interested to grab it, which is exactly what I’m now doing.

The rules are:

Post these rules
Post a photo of your favorite book cover
Answer the questions below
Tag a few people to answer them too
Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you’ve tagged them
Make sure you tell the person who tagged you that you’ve taken part!

Favorite Book Cover

I can’t really say that I have a favourite book cover. I’m more interested in what’s in a book. However, I am a bit obsessive compulsive, so if I buy books from a series I like them all to come from the same imprint and edition (you know, so they look all pretty and organised on the shelf). And I love the covers of old, especially antique books. I have a bunch of old books that I bought simply for how they look.

But I’m avoiding the question, aren’t I? I guess if I had to pick a favourite it would be the original Discworld covers by Josh Kirby. Since his death in 2001 the covers have been done by Paul Kidby. Kidby’s are also very good, but I like Kirby’s more, probably because I got to know the Discworld through his drawings when I first started reading them in high school. Here is one I randomly selected: