Gary Lewis hits 30...

Hectic! What on earth is going on in June, people??

Okay, I know the answer to that, so please, let's not elaborate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY LEWIS - you're 30, you're crusty, you're married, you're somewhere in Ireland... and nothing else has changed, right? Yeah, I know how you feel :) 30 is a little over-rated.

Enjoy managing your middle - the metabolism goes into hibernate mode at our age. These youngsters (our wives) wouldn't understand that, so they just keep feeding us the same old heart-attack-inducing oily and greasy foods.

Keep well, hope Sharon spoils you rotten with a cholesterol-free rice cake (at your age, you need that).

God bless,
BrYan and KateY

Revd. Erasmus turns 40!

In the spirit of you getting my birthday wrong (you said the 5th, I am the 4th), happy birthday for yesterday Rich! Hurray! 40. How does it feel?

Much love
The (new) Johnstons
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Legal beagle Briggs

Happy attorneyhoodshipthingimajig to Attorney-at-law Heather Briggs!

Hurray!

All rights reserved, and without prejudice, we salute and congratulate you, but maintain our legal requirement of reasonable distance!

Hi, my name is BrYan, and I save lives...

Yes, you heard that right.

On my way back to UKZN today from taking the maid to the flat, I came across an overturned truck on the offramp to Essex Terrace. Like the rest of the cars, I could have pulled off and gone on to the next offramp and doubled back, but instead I pulled over, and with the deft coolness of an early 1980's Don Johnson, I said to the guy on the phone "you're going to have to call me back, I've got to save lives..." - well, not really, but something to that effect.

Sorted the guys out - three of them - with various injuries. One seemed to have his pride hurt more than anything else, because he'd just wiped out a brand new NDM truck, and also almost killed one of his passengers. I made sure they were all comfortable, told the frantic ladies present to help (bless them, the un-medical people), and then announced I was a first-aider, and they promptly vanished (which wasn't what I wanted, but they seemed to have faith in my skills).

The skid marks told a tale. From the fast lane, about 45 degrees straight onto the offramp, and then obviously the dude tried to counter-steer to the right to compensate for this stupid last-minute careen into the offramp, and then plop, the truck fell over onto its left side. That guy is probably in a lot of trouble.

The one guy was heavily in shock, so I lay him down, stopped the intake of fluids, inspected his spine for injuries (he was the guy not strapped in), and then made him comfortable. The fat dude had minor bruising but nothing major, and the driver had an injured arm and a bleeding pride. After ten minutes the paramedics were on the scene, so I departed. As I walked away, I could hear the paramedics (all eight of them) whispering to each other in awe "who is that guy? is he from around here? how did he manage to lift the truck like that? why are all those bunny rabbits hopping after him? and can anyone else hear the EYE OF THE TIGER music?"...

It's all about the mystery. Oh yeah.

PS) I need new surgical gloves now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Afro Billy (AKA Willima Tinkytonk)

Hey Bill!

I would like to start by saying "you're getting old" but that would be stupid, because you're already there... you can't be getting something you've already got ... so instead, I'm just going to say THERE'S NO WAY TO STOP IT! IT WON'T STOP! YOU'RE FADING AWAY!

Happy Birthday dude :)
BrYan & Kat.

From the vantage point of 30-something...

It's been a special day!
At 00:00 I received a phone call from Oltman & Mary-Anne wishing me a happy birthday.
06:06 Ryan Martin: Hey bryan Happy happy birthday.hope u have a special day. Whoop whoop the martins
(What the heck time do you guys wake up??? -Bryan)
06:53 Justin Jones: Happy bday Johnston. Have gr8 day OLD MAN. So how does it feel being the big 30. Hee hee:-) cheers. Justin
07:02 We​sley Martin: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!
(His was on Sunday)
At 07:36 Joe Graham woke me up to wish me.
07:36 Emma Lansdell: Hey BrYan! Happy happy birthday :) when are you going to be on campus? I need to make a special delivery ;) hope you have an awesome day! The Lansdells.
(February 23 girl)
08:39 St​even Hoyer: Happy birthday Bryan!hope you have a wonderful day!I pest that god may bless you an your family this day!
08:56 Wendy Etchells: Happy birthday!hope you have an amazing day!
(It's hers next week!)
09:05 was Greg & Bronwyn Landwehr's turn.
09:27 Heather Briggs: Happy Birthday! Well the big 3 0 has finally arrived. Do u feel old-er? Hope u hav a great day & remember u are not over the hill, yet. From H
(Thanks. I don't feel "old"er physically, but there's a mental thing when you hit 30. I think it's called "sober maturity" or "responsibility". How odd! -B)

09:37 Lisa & Aubrey Thomas: Hi Bryan
 
Happy Birthday! I hope you are having a good day so far with lots of cake etc...
09:39 Megan Burnes phoned.
(It was hers on Monday)
10:20 Brian & Bronwyn Earl: Hey Bryan Happy Birthday Welcome to the 30's They not all bad God Bless Bri Bron Gracie and Micaela
10:40 Megan McKie gave me a gracefully late birthday call (enabling me to sleep in... Unfortunately Joe didn't reason the same logic THREE HOURS AGO)
10:44 UKZN phoned "to wish me a happy birthday" and ask me to fix some problems :-/
11:29 Graeme Norval: Happy birthday! Welcome to old age along with the rest of us. Hope you have a great day! G
12:59 Duncan Stuart: Happy birthday Bryan, wow 30! 30 30 haha hope you manage to Njoy it, what'd kate get you?
13:01 Justin Ortlepp: Hey dewd happy birthday!! Hope you have a awesome day! Justin
15:03 Gary Lewis: Hey B,
Happy Birthday.
 
Hope you are doing well and being spoilt rotten. :)
 
 
cheers
 
Gary
15:07 Mel Clarke phoned and wished me a good day.
15:57 a mystery man who can sing good high-notes left a private number missed call on my cellphone, singing happy birthday. I suspect this man goes by the name of T-K or Theran Knighton (hyphen) Fitt.
16:25 Bruce Hoyer: Hope you had a great day ! And happy birthday bruce and bree
17:13 Kimble Smith: Hey Bryan. Happy birthday! Hope u having an awesome day! Luv k:)
18:17 George Mwuara phoned and SANG me happy birthday. Wow. Kenyan serenade!!
18:55 WesFlash phoned and wished me a happy happy 3-0. His big 2-0 is on Monday (9th) so enjoy it while you can buddy :)
21:35 Hoky: A late, but happy third decade, mate!
23:11 my brother Allen phoned me on my cellphone from the UK and we chatted for 25 mins and it was great!
--
Start of the day:
Kat made me a lovely yoghurt+muesli+fruit salad+honey HANSA glass, and some rooibos tea (no milk and no sugar) and I got to open my first set of presents: a trendy deck chair for lazing on our new balcony (balcony courtesy of the Hoyers), and a Popular Mechanics magazine, and ... GREAT SPEECHES (a cool book which I'm going to dissect for future MC'ing and speeches).
Lunch with my mom:
We went to Sage for lunch, and I enjoyed a beef fillet stack, Kat had home-made fishcakes, and my mom indulged in a chicken meal. All good food but wasn't worth the 50 minute or the R175 price tag. Was still a nice change.

Unfortunately a property developer spoiled it by starting the building of a wall on our complex's parking lot and I had to grab my camera to snap a few shots, but once that was finished at 430pm'ish, I enjoyed a wonderfully delectable white chocolate coffee cake with Lindt balls and tea with my ladies.
I got a good sized cheque from my mom, XBOX360 (Force Unleashed, from Kat), some LEGO Star Wars from my brother / mom, a NAG magazine subscription (Kat), and a good time!
Evening; dinner @ La Strada with our home group. I ordered the Surf & Turf (calamari + steak) with tartar sauce and a side portion of chips (veg came with the meal). It was a really big meal, but for R118 it wasn't really worth it - the Chapman's Peak Hotel combo in CPT was WAY nicer and WAY cheaper!!
The Lansdells tried to top the day off with a lovely white Lindor Lindt chocolate slab and a Nestlé Crunch, but unfortunately my wife beat them to it by surprising me with FALLOUT 3 & LEGO INDIANA JONES (THE ORIGINAL ADVENTURES) FOR XBOX360 at 23:45. But it was a really great surprise to receive pressies from someone other than family :)
--
It's been an awesome day and I must say that being 30 will bring a host of new experiences - and challenges. For one, I'm married to a twenty-something hottie (married outside of my decade), and for another, I'm still hanging out with teenagers!!
It feels good to be loved guys. That's what agape and phileo is all about, and I've experienced that massively today - thanks to everyone!!
God bless
Bryan

Goodbye twenties

So that's it. They're over. I'm into my thirties now.

No-one remembers the thirties.

I've just walked over to Oltman & Mary-Anne's to do the washing, and walked back with a basket-load of washing. Now time to hang it up, and to wash the dishes. At least I'm getting a clean start to the new decade!

Bryan

The Final Countdown ... 4th decade here I come!

It's enticingly ALMOST official... I'm soon to be entering into my fourth decade on this planet.

At some time after midnight, March 4th, 1979, in St. Augustine's hospital, BrYan John Johnston hit the world by storm.

It's been a long and hard slog with many ups and many downs, and I couldn't have done it without my mom and dad's support.

It's a weird thing to be moving from my twenties to my thirties. I had a weird experience when I went from nineteen to twenty; was just as depressing then as it is now, but I count my blessings now and they're far more than back then!

I've still got an awesome mom (even though we have our hiccups, I love my mom dearly) and now I have an awesome wife (who at the time of nineteen to twenty, was my awesome girlfriend). Also, I have an awesome relationship with God, and have an awesome home too!

My life is going great, but is crazy hectic right now. The devil of busyness has wrapped its icy claws around my life and I've got a long struggle to overcome it; one step at a time though! And just imagine, God may bless us with kids soon, and THEN who's going to be busy??

I'm not sure about this 30 years thing; it's another day, but it's that mental milestone that just seems to set the tone for the future. Next milestone is FORTY which is just nuts, because then it's FIFTY, and then it's DEAD. Crazy man, crazy. Life just flies by WAY too fast! This year will be the twelfth year out of High School and the eighth year with a postgraduate degree; and back then life was so much simpler, and the world felt like it was wide open and all ours to conquer. Now? Well, now our ambitions to amass millions, or tour Europe, or live in a New York corner studio apartment, are one step further to the grave and our time is becoming more valuable and critical.

What's next? Complete a law degree? Settle down? Buy a house? Change jobs? Become middle management? It's just too much and seems too sensible. I'm not ready for sensible. I'm a kid at heart. I'm a fool. I'm a brat. I don't need to be older, and I don't need that stamp of THIRTY to remind me that I need to grow some responsibility. What's life going to be like on the other side of this dream? Will my brain just miraculously switch over to being a suit and tie G-man with a refined sense of humour and no time for rugby? Will I find my body struggling to hold back the fat and will I grow hair in places there just shouldn't be hair? What about my influence with young adults? Will I lose my credibility as a young adult leader because I'm too old for them? Hectic, too much to decipher, but only time will tell...

In a warping of Jason Coomer's famous words ten years ago, "who wants to be a twenty-nine year old clown, when you can be a thirty year old clown?" ... Thanks Jase, you're a star :)

God bless all,
See you on the flip-side.

Bryan

Thanks for the help!

Kat and I want to thank everyone for their encouragement and support in moving over to our new place.

It was a great start to the day - the Sharks won a nailbiter and then people arrived to help us "pack and move".

The weather wasn't very favourable, but your heart and hard work helped us get it all done.

Some awards were also determined for the crew helping us:

First on-scene:
Wendy Etchells & Nick Young-Thompson
(In the episode beginning at 11am)

Fastest down-the-stairs:
Warren Lansdell
(In his rendition of Jingle Bells, slipping all the way...)

First jinxer:
Brent Ramsay-Boyd
("Careful Warren... Take your shoes off, or you might slip")

"Brent pushed me down the stairs" award:
Warren Lansdell

Heaviest lifter:
Wesley Martin
(Two couch mattresses, a couch, a fridge, a double bed, a single bed)

Sleuth award:
Emma Lansdell & Wendy Etchells
("What are Mel Clarke's pants doing in your cupboard, Bryan?")

Fragile packing award:
Mel Clarke
(Kitchen plates etc.)

Staff Sergeant:
Megan McKie

First bakkie on-scene:
Brent-Ramsay Boyd.

Most unexpected bakkie:
Shannon Bouwer

Quick-fire round:
Joe Graham

Butterfly Effect:
Joe Graham
(Only enough time to do a few beats of his wings, but moved enough stuff to make people think he was a hurricane)

Xbox packer extraordinaire:
Hylton Warburton
(It felt like I was opening up a new Xbox... For the third time :))

Parental guidance:
Ken & Jean Stuart

Painting our bodger:
George Mwuara

Fish-relocation expert:
Emma Lansdell

Food generously supplied (at retail prices):
(note the irony of Emma-the-vegetarian holding the KFC...)

KFC

Woolworths

To everyone, thank you! Thank you!

Now our next request is helping us find some paying tenants :)

God bless
Bryan & Kat

Countdown to 30

I'm almost 30. My bones are creaking. My hair is falling out. My stress levels are up. My knee sounds like a ball full of sand pebbles. I look forward to coming in to work in the morning. I shout at students for being childish misbehaving miscreants. I'm renting out my flat, and targeting a bond reduction of R50,000.00 for the year. I must be getting old...

Janith's on the roads today! Good luck to Janith, God bless to everyone else!

You go get 'em Janith! Nail that test! You're the best! Now I'll pray for the rest...

Moving and stuff

Okay so we are finally moving out of our lovely home...I say finally because we have hummed and haaaed and we love our home but it's also just such a stress (those of you who know the saga we have been through will understand) that we decided moving was best. So we are moving to a beautiful place not far away and it seems everything is coming together. I think we have tenants on the way, Bryan and I are moving bits and pieces every evening to try and minimise the big move and hopefully it will all work out for the best.

There seems to be so much to do but I'm hoping we will manage it - the joke is that we are finally going to put the finishing touches to the bathroom for the tenants...and we lived without towel rails etc all the time we spent in our flat! Sigh...oh well, for today I managed to draft a lease agreement, lease information sheet and order a mirror for the bathroom.

I don't have the beautiful Jazz which has aircon cos of the nail in the tyre so I had the Palio (glad I got Bryan radio antennae for Christmas) and I trundled into South Coast road to hunt down this glass company who were recommended by Mica for getting a mirror. Anyway turned out to be the dodgiest looking place in South Coast Road and when I wandered into the shop they seemed quite shocked to see me. Anyway they were very helpful, possibly because they felt sorry for me being totally clueless, and I'm getting a bathroom mirror fitted to size. They didn't take credit card so I have to do a bank transfer and then pick it up tomorrow...Jay (at work) seemed quite shocked I went on my own but I felt pretty safe and I quite enjoy finding these industrial type places where you get a good deal. Sun started to come out though and I ended up having to take my boots off cos it was soooo hot...have bought new slops as I couldn't stand the idea of wearing the boots in the heat for a moment longer especially with no aircon in the car!

Kudos to Bryan for uncomplainingly taking the Palio to work every day!

Nailed!

On Saturday night we discovered a nail in one of our Honda's tyres. Oltman, Mary-Anne and Kat all diligently detected the bulge under the cover of darkness and today I've had to take it in to have the tyre repaired (it was that or install a Marie wheel AKA biscuit wheel).

Took it to Speedy Exhaust & Tyre and they attended to it in no time.

Time? Ten minutes'ish.

Cost? R50.00-

Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

Happy birthday Emma Lansdell!

19 years old today! Happy birthday!

Hope this year holds a lot of joys and achievements for you - enjoy it; I remember the days when I was 19. Good times - and make the most of your teenage years, you're running out of time!!

God bless :)

Bryan & Kat

Cinnabons & poker @ the Greylings

We've just come back from a marathon day, with another one anticipated for tomorrow.

We checked out the Hoyer's new apartment, for us to rent, and it's simply stunning. We are praying and hoping the price is right for us to afford it, and Mr. Hoyer (Bruce) has just been great about it.

We ended the evening off with cinnabons at Markus & Richelle's place in Westwood. First time I've indulged in such decadence, and that's all I can say - it was a decadent indulgence - really yummy stuff!!

We rounded the night off with a quick-fire round of poker... Kat died early on, and then it came down to the "final hand" where I managed to secure 2nd spot behind Markus with a Jack-high straight, but Richelle still manages to be my bogey opponent. I just can't read that chic!!

We left on a prayer and had a thoroughly awesome time! If we don't get to do that again before the Greylings leave, we'll miss you guys! And I think it's official that you guys were the first (and so far, only) couple to get us to be spontaneous at 8pm on a week-night for a last-minute invite for poker (last year but it was great fun, apart from Richelle annihilating me).

God bless guys - you ROCK!