Month: June 2011

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Mental Circus – An interview with Gilan Gork

I adore magic.  At almost 32 years old I still believe that clapping my hands helps fairies to live and I prefer not to know how a ‘trick’ is done, I rather believe!

Ever since I watched the first episode of The Mentalist, I have been fascinated with the art of Mentalism and with what can be accomplished with the mind and it is my privilege to have been asked to interview world renowned, South African mentalist Gilan Gork.

What is a mentalist? Are you a magician?

There is a great difference between a mentalist and a magician.  A magician is someone who specialises in the art of sleight-of-hand and perhaps larger illusions.  A mentalist is someone who deals only with the mind such as reading thoughts, predicting what people will say or do before it even happens or telekinesis: the ability to move objects or bend substances like metal using only the mind.

Is magic real?

Magic is always a trick and relies on various principles of illusion.  Mentalist uses a wide spectrum of techniques from psychology to intuition and showmanship to be able to accomplish the mental feats seen in a mentalist’s show.

When did you first realise you wanted to be a mentalist?

I was always interested in entertainment and when I became older – in my teenage years – I started to meet various hypnotists and mentalists from other countries.  When I realised that I could do what they do, and that I had a natural knack for it, I decided that this is a path of learning that I would pursue for the rest of my life. 

Have you ever gotten a prediction wrong?

Yes.  Sometime I envy magicians – once they have mastered a sleight of hand, they know that they will be able to create the same illusion at the click of a finger.  However as a mentalist, dealing with the mind and working with random people on stage, there is always a risk of being wrong.  Fortunately I get enough right for people to forget if I do get anything wrong!

What is your personal favourite moment in your career?

When I was first able to bend a stainless steel fork with my mind with other eyes watching: this was in front of my parents who were speechless.  I knew that I was on a unique path.

Has using mentalism ever gotten you into trouble?

I typically would never use mentalism to harm anyone or to gain an unfair advantage, however there was one time at school when I had not studied for an exam… Suffice to say I should have picked another student’s answer!

What advice do you have for people wanting to learn more about mentalism?

Start reading books on people skills, leadership, and how to influence others.  Classic self-help books are a great start to being able to understand behaviour. 

If you could have one super power (besides being able to read peoples minds) what would it be?

I have always fantasised about flying.  To simply stare up into the sky, push against the air, and fly freely upwards .  I used to walk home from school and would often find myself having an almost out-of-body experience as my mind would imagine the view, flying above, while my body continued walking on my path.

Gilan has a brand new show happening at the Joburg Civic Theatre on Thursday 7th July at 8pm and there are still tickets available!

To book tickets please visit the Civics brand new booking portal here: www.joburgtheatre.com

To read more about Gilan and his amazing gift visit his site here: www.gilangork.com

You can also follow Gilan on twitter here: @ImTheMentalist

BONUS: I have just heard that I have 1 double ticket to give away to one of you lucky readers for the show on Thursday!!

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me what super power you would love to have.  Easy!

T’s & C’s

This competition is governed by these rules as read with my Promotional Competition Rules

  1. The prize is a set of two tickets to a performance by Gilan Gork at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre on 7 July 2011 at 8pm.
  2. This competition is open to you if you 18 years of age or older and can arrange your own transport and accommodation to/in Johannesburg (where necessary and at your own cost) where you can receive your prize.
  3. Entries are open until 12pm (GMT +02:00) on Tuesday 5th July 2011.
  4. Winner will be announced at 1pm on Tuesday 5th July 2011.
  5. Winner will be chosen by numbering comments posted to this blog post and selecting a winner based on the corresponding number determined by Random.org.
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What I Wore Today or WIWT

I found this great meme at Cats blog and she got it from MelB’s blog and so here is my WIWT (please excuse the awful BB pics)…

 

 

Black leggings – Truworths 2 years ago

‘Grape’ dress with octopus detail – Thailand

Black waterfall cardi – Truworths

Black lace up Kelso boots – from my mommy’s cupboard

Long sleeve black t-shirt – Two Clothing

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Sick sick sick…

… and more sick!

It all started last weekend with Paul feeling a bit off, he went to the Dr on Monday and was diagnosed with Swine Flu.  He was so sick that for the first time in 6 years he took a sick day and stayed in bed, in fact he stayed in bed for TWO days, he was that sick!

On Wednesday I woke up feeling awful and took myself off to the Dr, Swine Flu too!

In the mean time Aaron had an on again off again temperature but never really got sick and Faith became snotty, coughy and congested.

On Thursday night we barely slept because Faith couldnt sleep so I decided to take her to the Dr on Friday morning, I also tool our housekeeper, Aletta with as she was also feeling like the dogs breakfast.

Aletta was booked off and given half a pharmacy for flu and Faith was diagnosed with croup.

Again, Aaron had a temperature the whole weekend on and off but never actually got sick.

The good news is that we all seem to be on the mend and hopefully there will be no more sick in our house for a long long time!

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Mr Popper’s Penguins – a review

Last night Wendi and I took ourselves off to Hyde Park to see Mr Popper’s Penguins.

What a fantastically fun film!

Based on a book of the same name by Richard & Florence Atwater, the film takes the basic principals and makes the story its own.

A tough businessman inherits 6 cheeky penguins from his father.  The penguins turn his life upside down and Mr Popper learns a few life lessons along the way.

Jim Carrey is, well, typically Jim Carrey and he pulls off being Mr Popper brilliantly.

Using a mix of live penguins and fantastic CGI effects, the penguins will steal your heart pretty much the way they steal the show!

The acting is great, with a fantastic supporting cast including Angela Lansbury.  The sets are beautiful and the dialog quick and witty.

The film is full of comedy, romance, life lessons and a fart joke or two and will keep the whole family entertained for a very enjoyable hour and a half.

I would definitely recommend taking the family to see Mr Popper’s Penguins this weekend.

As an aside I have to take my hat off to the staff at Nu Metro Hyde Park!

Running a little late, Wendi and I flew in to buy our tickets and get some popcorn to nosh on, and somewhere along the line I left my cell phone and keys on a counter somewhere.  When I realised and rushed out to see if they were still there I discovered that the concession stand guy had taken them to be locked up in the rather large safe in the office.  They did have a good chuckle at me but I could have kissed them for keeping my things safe.

Thank you!!!

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Sugar and spice and all things nice…

Somehow I never thought I would have a girl child.  Especially when my first born was a boy, I figured that was that, I would be  a boy mommy.  Then along came  Faith and with her a whole whack of questions girl related.

One of those questions is ear piercing.

My ears are pierced.  I was about 6 years old when my mom took me to the local jewelry store to have it done.  I remember the day clearly for two reasons.

One:  The jeweler  (arsehole!) made me sit on the stool and then stood at the other side of the store, asked me to turn my head and to hold still, he then lifted the piercing gun like a real gun and ‘took aim’, freaked me out good and proper.  He thought it was hilarious…

Two:  After calming me down, bribing me with wine gums and actually doing the piercing, it freaking hurt man!  I still get a twinge in my lobes when I think about it.

So here is my question…

When is the ideal time to get a little girls ears pierced?  Should I wait until she is older, should I take her now at 6 months?

It goes without saying that I have no issue with pierced ears on little girls, for the record though if she wants second/third holes or holes anywhere else on her body she needs to be 18 before I will let her!

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Cornish-ish Pies

The other day I decided to do something a little different to our usual Spag Bol and this was the result.

A pie somewhat similar to a Cornish pasty.

Ingredients

  • 500g Mince ( I made my usual Bolognese style mince)
  • Large carrot, diced
  • Large potato, boiled and diced
  • 1 tin Koo baby peas (or 1 cup frozen peas)
  • Ready to roll frozen puff pastry
  • Egg (to seal pastry and brush on top of pies)
  • Flour (to roll pastry on)

Method

  • Cook your mince as if you are making Bolognese, I use a tin of onion and tomato mix, a dash of mixed herbs and a teaspoon of beef stock powder.
  • Add your diced carrots, diced potato and peas to the mince once it is cooked.  Let the veg heat through while you roll out your pastry.
  • Sprinkle a little flour on your surface and roll your pastry into a roundish circle shape( you can use a bowl or similar to cut out a shape), lay it out on a Spray&Cooked baking sheet.
  • (I found cutting the ready to roll pastry into squares made it easier to get a uniform shape, I made a little mistake and rolled out my ‘circles’ a little too small, next time I will roll bigger pieces of pastry.)
  • Once your pastry is ready, scoop out a tablespoon or two of mince and veg and place slightly off centre of the middle of your pastry.

  • Beat your egg in a glass and brush a little along the edge of the pastry.
  • Fold the bigger side of the pastry over the meat and press the edges together with a fork along the egg so they stick.

  • Prick a few small holes in the pastry with the fork to allow steam to escape and brush egg over the top.
  • Repeat until your tray is full.
  • Bake them at 180ºC for about 15-20 min or until the pastry is brown and crispy.
  • Serve with a green salad or chips.

*500g mince made about 9 smallish pies.

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Cinnamon toast for tea…

On Fridays at Aarons play school the kids bake or cook treats to eat at snack time.  This Friday they made cinnamon toast and I thought I would give it a bash today to eat with our afternoon tea.

Ingredients

  • Slices of bread, I found almost stale bread works best
  • Margarine or butter
  • Sugar
  • Cinnamon

What to do

  • Turn your oven on to 180°C
  • Spray&Cook a baking sheet.
  • Butter each slice of bread quite thickly.

  • Place slices of bread on the baking sheet.
  • Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle all over the bread and butter.

  • Place baking sheet into the oven and leave fr about 10 minutes.
  • Remove from oven once sugar has melted.

  • Enjoy with a cup of tea.
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I am. Are you?

A little while ago I went with Timor to support Max in donating blood for his 16th birthday.

Unfortunately I am not able to donate blood, I dont weigh 50kg, I recently had surgery (c-section) and I am breastfeeding.  All no no’s for donating.

While we were waiting I noticed that Timor had an organ donor sticker on her drivers license and it motivated me to find out more.

I went to the Organ Donor Foundation website and registered online to become a donor.  Yesterday my donor card and stickers arrived in the mail.

Please take a moment to visit the site and read up on the life saving and life changing donation you can make.

If organ donation is not for you then please consider making a monetary donation instead.

You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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Logic. They don’t have it…

Truworths that is.

My account is in arrears.  Bad Gina, bad!

I haven’t received my statement in the mail, or more likely its there but I haven’t collected the post, or even more likely I did get it and I didn’t open it or did open it and then threw it away.  The bottom line here is I have no statement and therefor have no idea how much I owe them.

So, I opened up my browser and made my way to the Truworths website.  I must admit it has been quite some time since I have logged onto the site, mainly because I usually pay my account from the above mentioned statement and haven’t needed to check my account balance in a while.

To my surprise and delight the website has been upgraded.  I make my way to the account login page and this is where I encounter the first issue.

The old site required your email address and a password to access your account details.  The new site requires your account number (I had to go onto my internet banking to retrieve that due to the missing statement above), your ID number and your password.  Ok.  I fill in my account number, my ID number and my previous password (I assume this is still valid as no where on the site does it as you to convert your old login to the new login).

Im told that my password is incorrect.  OK.  I click on the ‘forgotten password’ link.  It tells me that my email address is invalid and that I must call Truworths or email them.  OK.  There is only a Cape Town number to call, no toll free or share call number.  I am in Jozi.

I call the number.  The first person I speak to asks for my ID number and my email address, she updates my email address and when I ask if my password is the same she tells me to use the account number or my ID number as the password, that ‘should’ work.  OK.  Ummm, you cant tell me that it WILL work, you are guessing???

This obviously doesn’t work.  I call again.  I get a new lady that tells me that the reason I cannot log onto the site is that my account is in arrears.  OK.  ‘Yes’, I tell her, ‘thats is why I want to access my account, I want to see how much money I need to pay you.’  She then tells me that I owe R170.00.  At which point I say thank you but surely I should be able to log onto the site and get that information myself?  She tells me that it was a decision taken by IT and management.  I ask her if I can make an official complaint and she transfers me to the relevant person.

Enter Natasha, who is patient and knowledgeable and listens to what I have to say.  Hopefully she sends my suggestion to the relevant people.

What is my suggestion I hear you ask?

Add a line of code to your website that allows me to see my balance even if I am in arrears.  I get it, I really do.  I’m in arrears so you don’t want me to have access to the online shopping part of your site.  Its a way of encouraging me to make my payment, I get it, I don’t agree with it but I get it.  But for heavens sake don’t take away my ability to see what I owe you so that I CAN pay you.

LOGIC people, logic!