Sometimes life can be tough. It can throw you a curve ball or two.
Sometimes you can see people that are possibly stressed. They show the odd symptom or two. Perhaps a twitch, shaking hands, a nervous disposition. You can see it in the signs. Sometimes you will never found out who or what stressed them out or who pissed them off cos they hide it well.
Other times they will let you know:
(Click for more - NSFW)
I am cheating and have posted this ahead of time for the following reasons:
At time of posting:
Have a great Monday!
Today has been a good chill. For some of the day.
I was busy in the morning trying to catch up with a mailbox full of emails and I eventually did. Then I did the stupid thing of checking my bank balances.
OH MY GOD!
Just on my Diners Club card I owe £18,777.92
I am not going to go into all the others.
I am happy to announce though, that none of that is my personal spending. That is ALL company travel and hotels etc etc etc. Thank God for that. Only problem now is that I have to figure out a way of clearing it before getting penalty charges incurred while I wait for my expenses to be authorized and paid. I feel this calls for some pretty fancy footwork. Where’s Houdini when you need him?
After that shock I went and chilled and watched a VERY funny movie. Mr Deeds. Well worth it!
Then on the way back downstairs I walked onto the most amazing sunset.
Click image for larger format
(Click for more photos)
Despite being an IT geek, I don’t usually put techno mumbo jumbo up here but this one is so GOOD that I figured what the hell. Feel free to share it around.
I bought an iPhone in Houston and paid $150 to get it unlocked. Then I was shown the following which costs NOTHING. Completely free and so far 100% safe (although I will not be held responsible for any changes made to any device using this information) and I have personally used it myself and it works.
Here is the site with the tutorial of how to unlock your iPhone for free: http://iphone.unlock.no/
However you will see a link on the top of their page to ZiPhone that runs an application that does it all for you in one simple click: http://www.ziphone.org/
I would recommend this process:
- Buy the phone from Apple Store or any other provider where possible.
- Download and install iTunes on your PC
- Plug in iPhone and let iTunes detect it.
- It will advise of an update possibly (up to version 1.1.4 if it not that already), accept it
- Install update
- Device will reboot
- Download and install the ZiPhone application.
- With the iPhone still connected to your PC and recognized by iTunes, run the application and click the first option to Jailbreak, Hack and Unlock it.
- Sit back and let it do its thing. Devise will reboot.
- That’s it
I had to run it myself since I upgraded my firmware to 1.1.4 and it locked up. I will swear by it. It worked the charm and its 100% free. It also loads an application called “Installer” that allows you to load up to 100s of other applications on your phone. Worth a look if you have the time and / or inclination just make sure you are connected to a decent wireless internet connection before running it each time as it can hang the application and your phone if you are not already online and it tries to update it’s sources.
Hope this helps and works out well for you!
After this morning’s fiasco of missing my final connecting flight, I was waiting for my driver to come and collect me in the burning heat and humidity of Luanda.
I was standing sweating next to a fridge of ice cold drinks and scratching away in my pocket looking for something that resembled a currency that these guys would accept. Out of the blue some guy I have never seen or met asks me what I wanted to drink. I thought he was working for or owned the store. Still digging around I gestured to the fridge and said, “A Sprite please, can you tell me how much is it please?” to which he replied, “Go ahead, grab one, it’s on my account” and spoke to the guy behind the counter in Portuguese telling him that he will be paying for my drink.
After a few short minutes of me thanking him profusely and chatting briefly he stood up, bid his farewells and went to catch his flight.
God only knows that was the best tasting and quite honestly the most refreshing Sprite ever. Not only am I grateful for the Sprite and it’s icy coolness rushing down my throat, but also I am so grateful to know that there are still people out there willing to commit selfless acts of generosity for no other reason than just being nice. That is by far the most refreshing part!
Thank you Mr Unknown Man sitting at Luanda Domestic Departures!
I will pass it on.
At about 11am yesterday I realized that I still had a load of shit to do and no time left to do it in. I have become a master of leaving things to the last minute, another thing I need to work on. Only then did I look up to see what time my flight was. 6:15pm from Heathrow. Good stuff, not too bad. Need to be checking in at 4:15pm so I need a cab at 3:00pm. Great, I have four hours. Shit I don’t have my passport back from the embassy!
Jumped in the shower and got ready. Called the office travel agent who didn’t know where my passport was. “I’m on my way, find it and call me back please”. Do I have to think of everything? Hahaha. It is my passport so I guess the answer to that question is YES.
The rest of the day kind of panned out as expected. I got to Hammersmith and collected my passport which they found, I got to see my good friend Steph from the office for a quick coffee, head out to Green Park to clear my mailbox and get my way back to Earlsfield where I had a cab arriving at 3:00pm. Unfortunately due to one or two delays along the way I was not able to catch up with my blast from the past, NikkiNoo. I called her on my way back apologizing and then disappeared underground. Not into some secret society but onto the tube.
Home at 2:00 and all packed and ready to go when the cab arrived. I got to the airport early and checked in. Life is good. The flight to Lisbon was uneventful which I guess I could be thankful for. THANK YOU! We landed in enough time to get my connection so that was also good. Sitting on the plane is where things went a little screwy. I fell asleep as I always do but usually when I wake up we are at 35000ft. When I woke up 2 hours later we were still on the round. “Oh well” I muttered and went back to sleep. This I knew was going to have a knock-on effect. I was right.
I am now sitting in the back of a 4×4 bouncing through the streets of Luanda on my way to the office instead of getting on my connecting flight up to the camp of Soyo. “Oh well” I say again. Not my problem. Nothing I can do. So now the plan is that I fly to Soyo on Monday. This gives me the weekend in a nice hotel before heading back to the sticks. Result! 
I am officially putting the passport thrashing on hold for a little while. I have 3 passports (2 South African and 1 British) and they have all just sighed with relief I think. Certainly the British passport has taken a severe beating recently but now they all get to have a bit of a rest. Soon…
So the deed is done and the news is out there. I have officially tendered my resignation with my company and offered them some time in order to fill my position. I think it has all been handled really amicably and we will part company on good terms. It has been one hell of a run. I have no regrets doing what I have done and living the life I have lived and in fact I have gained so much working experience and more so personal experiences that I would never have been able to anywhere else. For this company I have worked in the UK, Tunisia, Iraq, Kuwait, Albania, Angola and some short stints in the USA. Due to the nature of this work and the terms of conditions of employment, I have been able to travel extensively and see the world. I have a couple of beaten up passports to prove it.
This has suddenly all come to an end. For now anyway. I have one last trip into Angola and then we call it a day. I fly tomorrow and in 45 days I will be home. Home in South Africa. It feels so good saying that. So really things haven’t come to an end, they have come to a fresh new start!
Older and Wiser, if you are still around and reading this, I would like to thank you, amongst others, for your great words of wisdom some time ago. Your words struck a chord and you have been quoted offline many times over the past few months. I am so grateful for you sharing your experiences with everyone. I hope that everything has worked out for you as per your wishes and dreams. It would be nice to share a beer and a laugh someday somewhere. I am taking the plunge. I am heading home. Thank you so very much.
This is quite a drastic move on my behalf but a move that has been building for some time. Events that occurred in the recent past never created this decision but simply accelerated it from a couple of years to a couple of days. If you read back I was always talking about it but now it’s come to reality sooner than later. I guess I figured “Why the hell wait?” To refresh your memory, check this out: Hoox… You’re such a Pilot.
So that’s the plan now. I am in London now and I will go back to Angola for one last tour for the company, settle everything up and head back to South Africa. At this time I will probably take a month or two off and just do crazy little things I have always wanted to. Photography courses, guitar lessons, a kewl road trip and maybe even work on a bit of fitness for my new life. I’ll even get married. Hey if I am going to settle I might as well go the whole hog, no? Hehe. But seriously, in this time I will look around for a suitable Commercial Pilot License (CPL) ground school training facility and enroll. This could be in Johannesburg, Durban, Port Alfred or Port Elizabeth. Once complete with my ground school training and examinations I will do all the practical flying required to build 200 hours which is required for the final CPL flight examination. It’s hard work but it’s going to be so much fun. Please don’t be nervous when in the future you hear, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, my name is Captain Hoox and I will be flying you today to your destination. Thank you for flying Off The Hoox Airways”.
Well so that’s it for now. Life begins at 33. Too young for a midlife crisis. This is not the end of thrashing passports, it’s just intermission.
The time is right. The time is now. It’s time to take charge. It’s time to jump. It’s time for that leap of faith. My life is about to change and this is no little thing for me. But it feels good. It feels right. It needs to be done. It needs to be done now.
God this feels good. I feel free. I am back in charge of my life. Actually I don’t think I ever lost control but I certainly lost sight of what was important. So I think it’s probably better to say that I have regained direction. I have lived a good life and with very few regrets. This life up until now has carved a way for me to make this change.
I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t just a little nervous. For those people that really know me will know what a big deal this is. I must just have a little faith. I know I’m doing the right thing.
(Click for more - NSFW)
Since my last post there have been some notable notes worth noting. The first starts with my departure from South Africa. The rest will be written about in further posts.
Another flight, another airline, another terminal, another departure lounge. This time it was good. I felt alive. I had made some pretty heavy decisions and now it was time to act on them. I was floating. For the first time in a long time I felt free. No more fighting. God it was amazing.
After a little wait in a little line we eventually boarded the aircraft. I was sat half way down in seat 36A. Next to me was this lovely woman who was traveling to Russia with her husband. We chatted a bit. After closing the doors we started our taxi to the runway. Just before taking off the plane started moving and then quickly swung around and we started a taxi back to the terminal. The captain came across the PA system and announced that he had just received urgent information from the company advising him that the aircraft had been loaded incorrectly and we were completely out of balance. We had to return to reload the cargo and baggage. I laughed. I laughed so hard. These poor people had no idea that I was the jinx. People started complaining so I felt it was my duty to set things straight. In a strong voice I commented to the complainers that we should all be VERY grateful that they realised this when they did and not once we had gone over 300mph past the point of no return on takeoff. That did shut people up.
I just sat there thinking, “If we get asked to get off then that’s it, I’m not getting back on. My new life starts now”. We never did get asked to leave so I guess that means that I have to settle things the right way.
They opened the bar so we knew we were going to be there a while. I drank wine, we laughed and joked about all sorts of things and eventually about 2 hours later we took off. We were en route to London.
This flight was amazing. Even though I was crammed up in economy I felt good. I was so happy. I fell asleep with a big smile on my face.
Arriving over London in the early hours was incredible. I opened my eyes to an incredible view of a blanket of snow that had recently rested over the entire country. The sun was just coming up and through three thin layers of cloud it radiated over the countryside and it felt warm. I was awake with a smile. I confirmed then that I was making the right decision and it was time for massive change.
We landed and made our way through the notorious Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport and boy it didn’t let us down. A mountain of baggage awaited us as we arrived. I chuckled. It took a further 2 hours for our belongings to make it from the aircraft to the carrousel and when it finally arrived people cheered. I simply smiled, grabbed my bag and made my way outside into the crisp icy air. Blowing mist breathe while walking to the taxi that I had ordered I felt like a tourist. This was no longer my place. I was here now to make a change. I am heading home.
This last week has been manic. Some huge fights but mostly huge fun. I have managed to catch up with so many people and also make some pretty important life changing decisions.
During my travels over the last week I was dozing off on a flight when suddenly I woke up with a start. It was my own little epiphany. I registered something deep down inside. Something that has been manifesting for some time and something that I have even spoken about more and more recently but not truly understanding it. What I came to see clear as day was the realization that for the past 6 or so years, the only real peace I have found is when I am asleep on an airplane. My phone is switched off, there is no-one to fight with, no real stress (unless there is a screaming child but you cant have it all now can you?) and my life is in someone else’s hands to get me somewhere safely.
I am alienating everything on the ground. This must change. This will change. Soon. Watch this space.
This has been a wonderful trip. I managed to get so much accomplished. I got to walk my Magic Bean down the isle, I got to catch up with good friends, I got to renew my pilot’s license, I got to see my folks in Durban and most importantly somewhere along the way I managed to see a new route for my life and I am very excited about it.
For the mean time, I am back to my life of travel again tonight. I fly to London for the sole purpose of submitting my passport for a visa in the Angolan Embassy. I will stay in London for 5 days and then fly back to Luanda next week Friday via Lisbon. Then things will start to change. I need to plan carefully. God I am so excited about this.
Opportunity Opportunity!
Recent Comments