Loving life like a fat kid loves cake ;-)

Significant ink

10 August 2010

Life and it's twist and turns... ink to remind us by.

The meaning and significance of ink on my body has with age and life experience, taken on a deeper and more spiritual meaning, since I had my first tattoo at age 18 just for the fun of it (tribal scorpio) my star-sign on my upper right arm...

The birth of my baby daughter in 2003 heralded a new era in my life and I celebrated it with her name on my inner left forearm in Old English - Trinity Chi. I followed this with John 3:16, after I sought religion as the solution to my addiction in 2005, by marking my right inner forearm with this bible verse in Arabic and the Chinese symbol for "New" on my heart.

Smaller less significant ones like gratitude on my neck in Chinese, "courage" on my lower back (Chinese Zodiac, Tiger characteristic) and a big tribal design surrounding my previous scorpio sign has since sprung up across my body with more ideas in the pipeline ;-) The most significant of them all though to date is - The Serenity Prayer (Full Version) in Latin - that I had done all down my left ribcage. I did this in gratitude towards the program of Alcoholics Anonymous that gave me a soltution against me and my addiction.

My journey is far from over and i'm sure there is more experience - thus ink - to follow. I love life and live it to the full. May you live yours in same way....

The soothing waters of the Indian Ocean

Regurarly as a recovering addict/alcoholic I find myself in a state of discomfort, as my sponsor told me that's - "When my connection with my Higher Power is lost and I am not alligned with the Source" These restless feelings and state of irrate, discontent only has one remedy - prayer and meditation. In today's crazy world where there is always distraction and noise pollution, the beach and the sound of waves crashing is what reconnects me with God in all His Magnificence! The absolute quiet I experience within, and the awe that the Power of His creation instills inside of me, brings me back to the the realization of my insignificance in the bigger scheme of things. My troubles become minute compared to the Glory of His creation, and I rejoice in he knowledge that there is a "Power Greater Than Myself" that takes care, loves and only wants what is best for me!

Third Eye Blind - God of Wine

Service delivery my ass! *EXCUSE THE PUN*

You know ever since I started my sentence of 3 years house arest and 576 hours of community service, I wondered what apart from "paying back" my true purpose was in this journey of penalization???

I spent the last 2 Sundays cleaning up the site at this local school in the rural area behind Craigieburn and was shocked to find this as the ablution available to the educators at this school!!!! The fucken toiletpaper is in fact an exampad that children study from in preperation of finals!!!!!

It has been almost 16 years since the ANC took the reigns of our beautifully diverse country - with their key slogans being - "SERVICE DELIVERY", "ACCOUNTABILITY", "TRANSPARANCY" and blah, blah, blah, blah! Mindless rethoric and bullshit whilst raping the system and enriching themselves and their cadres. I hope this image reaches enough that care to pass it on, to show that we are at this stage of the game - rather than the Rainbow Nation - a nation cuaght in he middle of a torrential rainstorm of greed, corruption and empty promises!

Images of Knysna splendour!

Congruency...

This photograph I took fom my W995 yesterday at 5pm. I played 9 holes of golf at Scottburgh CC - after a long, draining and testing week. This picture encapsulated the moment for me. Sunset over a beautiful course, gentle slope down to the Indian Ocean with the last rays of sun illuminating the tools of the trade in the foreground. 18 months ago my life centered in my addiction, the getting and using of drugs and alcohol. A moment like this and countless others is lost, never to be reclaimed. Recovery has afforded me the ability to be congruent and savour moments like these for the rest of my life..

God's painting

This is the place I have called home for the last 18 months, Scottburgh, Kwa Zulu Natal. This is a picture of the main beach.. Having spent the last 8 years on the Western Cape coastline, it took me a while to stop comparing this place to the unspoilt splendour and rugged beauty of the afore mentioned areas. This picture after uploading it recently to my PC from mobile, took my breath away, and made me realise how me pre-conceived judgment and diseased sense of always wanting to compare stuff to the past, almost made me miss out on what's right in front of me - GOD'S PERFECT CREATION!

My special hideaway...

The inhabitants of this cave was a gay religious fanatic that followed the Voice of God from Vereeniging, in that he'd be led to the promised land - finding this abandoned cave - with living quarters and running water!!! Two meth junkies that ran away from a treatment centre not far away and a vagrant whom I sat with smoking huge marijuana joints rolled in newspaper, who told me his whole lifestory spanning 60 odd years.. from birth through school, the apartheid era, the Angolan war and the circumstances that led to him giving up on society....

The light at the end of the tunnel...

This, as with the previous picture, was taken on the magical Garden Route of Southern Africa. The picture over the Knysna Lagoon was taken in an opiate induced haze as with this one... This one is very symbolic though as the tunnel leads (train not running anymore) through the mountain to a mystical mountain grotto converted into a tea garden which is inhabitated by vagrants and kept in pristine condition! Nevertheless the light I was searching for so long in my life has always been within my reach, the stepping through towards it, was up to me... This cave is in the Kaaimans Pass in Wilderness...

Mobile Phone Photography

Image taken with Nokia 6680 at sunset over the lagoon...

Symbol of my life to date... Many rebirths!

The Phoenix bird and the legend thereof - that after a period of time (500 years mythically) it burns itself and it's nest. I believe it symbolizes my journey to date... I have risen from the ashes of my decisions many times to take flight again...

Just for today, through the program of AA and the Grace of God I never have to crash and burn again....

A new way of life through the rooms of the Bill W fellowship of AA.

Storm Models Portfolio - 2003.......
This picture signifies to me health and vitality. In less than a year from the date this photo was taken, I would find myself weighing less than 70kg's in hospital, recovering from a massive overdose - waking up from a 5-day, semi-comatic state... It took several more series of hospitilisations, treatment centres etc for me to lay down my tools of self-destruction and choose not only life, but life in abundance!

Amazing thunderstorm over the Mothercity!!

This is where my heart lies...

I moved up the coast to Scottburgh, KZN over 16 months ago, but the call of the Cape is what drives me to succesfully see out what I came here to accomplish. A new life in sobriety. The Bill Wilson fellowship has afforded me a solution to life, accepting it on it's own terms. Living in the moment - JUST FOR TODAY. Images like these are like beacons of the future that keeps me focussed on the job at hand... ;-)