Water Cooler Story # 1 - The Great Escape

So while casually filling up a glass of water at the cooler...

Turbotrev a colleague at work walks up to me and we begin to discuss the holidays - as you do - and how much we really wished our offices overlooked infinity pools, above palm fronded white sanded beaches (sigh) and that tanned blonde waitresses were our PA's, or that we even had PA's...

So idle banter becomes chit chat - chit chat becomes meaningful insight - meaningful insight becomes banter...

WHAM!

"...You wouldn't believe it but we almost lost our Kreepy...".

WHAT!

How do you lose a Kreepy!?

So the story goes that with all the rain their pool overflowed onto their sunken veranda to a knee height level, flirting with the next level which would have resulted in a small rapid through their carpeted living room. The obvious conclusion was that as the water level rose, so too did the courage of the aforementioned Kreepy Krauly... or was this chance...?

Silly you say. I see the fun side.

All I can imagine was this poor Kreepy Krauly dreaming of the day it could escape the bounds of its blue - sometimes green (often yo-yoing between the two) existence. I can see it sitting (cramped) on the shelf at a Game store - in the beginning - chatting to other Kreepy Kraulys awaiting a similar fate, to be sentenced to the blue confines of subdued whispers and summer shrieks of people swimming, as a watermelon arrogantly bobbed above it - almost as if to say "yup its lekker up here, loser."

It gets worse for Mr Krauly as it's stuck with only the constant shudder of its erratic backward movement (imagine having to drive in reverse all day) spurred on as the timer kicks in and the slave driver pump house bursts into life to force it on its inefficient loops of the now green pool. With its unhealthy obsession with the stairs and occasional flirt with the surface of the pool as it gasps for air while pushing the boundaries of its manufactured limits - Kreepy Krauly really is in an unhappy place for most of its existence (especially in Winter).

But NOT today!! (well the other day) you could probably have heard the Kreepy say over the torrential rain... The opportunity it had been waiting its entire 5 year guarantee for - water overflowing it took the chance with its twisted tubes and it was so close... it had almost made it - out the pool on the edge of the veranda - the great escape.

Then the water dried up in the summer heat - Turbotrev found the Kreepy - picked it up on the veranda and threw it back into the pool after an extended holiday. Years of patient waiting and he had almost done the impossible.

Funny definitely.

So next time you're having a bad day or think something is impossible - think of Convict Krauly in his pool of imprisonment and his nearly Great Escape...

New Years Resolution - Grow Down!

It was after a lengthy discussion with a younger friend still at varsity (pickled with Jager) that I came across this simple but life altering Mantra. He is by no means the most intelligent person - he will definitely contest this - but his foresight on the topic left me wondering, maybe it is in fact the youth that hold the answers to the Fun Side of Life.

So after the influence of family, friends and our numerous outings - nights out and morning ins - that I submit to the all powerful online universe and attempt to capture and share the essence of optimising fun! My theory unfounded and unresearched like many online sources of debates and discussions centres around "growing down".

Growing down you say... Do the following phrases sound familiar...

"A double bender on a weekend - you should really grow up..."

"Benoni bombs - really? You should really grow up!"

"You went to Manhattan? Its really time you grew up!" "

Yes - some of this good advice and mind you most of it general concern for another's well being - however (and this is the kicker) this still doesn't change the fact that we often have the most fun doing the things we normally wouldn't/shouldn't be doing i.e. all of the above.

In my quest for fun and result of my undeniable FOMO (fear of missing out) I give you the coup de gras of thought processes which you can unashamedly reply in your head or out loud to make you feel better in a situation like this...

"Why don't you grow down!"

It will cleanse you of your guilt in an instant I assure you, however I can't promise it will help the next morning or when your outlandish behaviour becomes the object of discussion at your workplace after your Christmas Party and the news of the punch downing competition and late night skinny dipping with Debbie from Accounts leaks at the water cooler... but that's neither here nor there...

So its this Mantra I will hold onto in 2011 (within reason - remember we are now tried as adults in the court of law not minors) and the substance that I hope to share, discuss point-out, urge, photograph, advise, complain, laugh about, recount embarrassing situations and document some nuances in the crazy life we lead... particularly in my home city - the not quaint - the not quiet - City of Johannesburg.

Welcome to the Fun Side of Life - dont feel bad about coming back...