Louis van der Merwe

Ever wondered what it feels like to be on TV? Well, it feels something like this: I was watching the first episode of the new season of SA’s Got Talent last night, and there I was, thinking “Yep, that’s me. Can’t believe…” when the person next to me interrupts my thought and says “Louis, you’re on TV again!” “Um, yeah.” “Look, mother, the idiot’s” (affectionately spoken)” on TV again!” I Reach over, make grabbing motions “Ye wench! Need I remind you that you are now dating said idiot? Come here, let me…” Look up to see her mother smiling at me…. Yeah, maybe not. Phone then conveniently makes a noise, I pick it up, and read. It’s a friend going “Bahahaha, saw your ass on TV just now!” Message made me smile. That’s the moment where I grunt wryly and think, yep, that’s me on the screen. So that’s kinda what it feels like to be on TV.

On a related note, much respect to the people that came back this year to try again. Moving on…

…ah, the joys of a foot that walks where not many men have walked before.. With my cankle mostly healed, I have walked on a few stages, sang for some amazing people and took part in little concert in my home town of Stellenbosch. That was, surprisingly, more intense that singing for strangers, even thousands of them, and now, once more, I can spend my time the way I like it. Apart from singing, that means…

…reading books, some by Stephen King (his Dark Tower series, which is a post-apocalyptic western by any other name, and brilliant), some by Stephen Erikson (very good fantasy), some by Neal Asher (he made me rediscover my love of proper science fiction) and some by Susan Ash (which made me realise how brilliant other fantasy is, as in not hers). That last one made me remember an old issue I have with fantasy authors… some authors really struggle writing characters of the opposite sex. Oh, well, perhaps one day when I write fantasy books the characters will all be men and lesbian women, that way I will at least be able to understand them. I think.

On the music side… I got to learn an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley and an ABBA medley (I refuse to sing Dancing Queen, hear that gleefully-vindictive-people-that-think-this-is-funny? Hah!” and I have Nessun Dorma waiting for me down-stairs in my flat. Quite looking forward to that tonight. My neighbour made me fill in a questionnaire about beer earlier, so I get to sing loud music for a bit tonight. Fair is fair. If you were wondering, today I like this song. Listening to that makes me want to… Oh, I should be writing, not listening to cool music. Procrastination! Such an easy trap for me!

When I was on another one of my always brilliant procrastination journeys, I installed Ubuntu Linux instead of doing my tax. This proved to be an excellent idea, and I can now wax on for quite some time about they beauty of Linux (Ubuntu in particular) and other nerdy-geeky ideas. I also started sharing stuff on Google Reader that I find interesting, hung around on reddit.com and read up about stuff like android vs iphone. Yes, I really should have been doing my tax instead. Damn. Pretend, for a moment, that I used more colourful language just now. Just a bit.

View from near Boomslang cave on Table-Mountain

You know, I am always amazed by the power of language. How singing a song in someone’s own language can make them look up as a stranger, and afterwards applaud as a friend. This happened a few times in the last while, and I always love this happening. It’s our Xhosa song that makes this happen, and for that reason I love the song. Other things about the power of language also tickle my fancy, for example how the seemingly similar statements “fornicate you” and “fornicate me”, when heard, can evoke such utter different responses from the listener… which brings us to one of my guilty-pleasure habits. I like making people think dirty words, it makes me and the little devil on my shoulder grin, and the angel on my shoulder frown. Oh, but I can see that angel’s lips twitch with suppressed mirth, don’t you know it! So glad I can think about these things with a clear head…

Botmaskop 360 Panorama

…and hiking is the reason for that. With my cankle mostly healed I have taken to the mountains again, and I still love every moment of this. I have been to the Boomslang (Tree Snake) cave on Table Mountain (ominous name, but gorgeous little cave) where I learned that even though I am not claustrophobic, I still do not enjoy small spaces much, as such. I have been up Botmaskop in Stellenbosch again, where I learned that certain people would rather be told the hike is five hours long instead of “We’ll be back in three. Ish.”  if it ends up being four. And lastly I went to the Cederberg area where I enjoyed fires outside with wine and food and company, the brightest stars I have seen in months, vast open vistas of desert mountains, and some rock paintings by bushmen that made me feel insignificant with their age. Which is as is should be. Looking at this weather, I think the time is ripe to start sleeping on beaches again. The singing hiking man is back! And loving every moment of it…

Cederberge