Thunderchild and the Masked Crusader

“Dad,” she says as I enter the room, “I need to talk to you”.  Immediately I’m on my guard.  WTF?  What happened?  When?  What’s the problem? You know, all those strange thoughts that go through a parent’s mind when their child wants to “talk”.

“OK, tell me.  What’s up?” I say, expecting something bad.

She looks me straight in the face and says sternly,

.

.

.

“I’m Batman!”

Where do these children get these ideas from lately?  It seems as if the older she becomes, the wittier she gets.  She is so quick lately.  She pulls, and catches, her mother with the same trick.  However, “mommy dearest” decides to get her back.

So, a day or so ago they’re on their way to school again.  “TC, I need to talk to you”.  Now, I need to explain something about Thunderchild.  If you say these words to her she immediately becomes worried and withdraws a little.  “But I need you to relax first”, her mother continues.

A few minutes later, “Are you relaxed yet?  Can I talk to you?”.

“Yeesssss???” TC says, a little fearful.

Straight faced mom turns to her and says those immortal words … “I’m Batman!”

Gotcha!

Charity the Stripper

So, Thunderchild has this Halloween bowl into which coins are deposited each time she lets rip with a few choice phrases that might be seen to be inappropriate in polite company.  But, as mentioned, this is a bowl, so it’s easy to take coins out again.

The other day as she’s getting into the car for her mother to take her to school I say to her, “Stop taking money out of the bowl and then putting it back again.  You should give the money to charity.”

“Charity?”, the 14-year old asks, “Is that the stripper you keep emailing be about?”.  And with that her mom totally packs up laughing and they’re off to school, leaving me standing there wondering what just happened.  I think I got nailed, big time!

Thunderchild and the Aura

OK, so there we were, Thunderchild and I on the way to school.  Her mother is off for a few days and it’s my privilege to take her to school.  First we need to decide which radio station to listen to.  I enjoy a talk radio and she a more popular music kind of station – we “settle” on the latter (which actually means I lost the argument).

We’re halfway to school and some competition comes over the waves about “good advice”.  They ask questions about movies that provided some of these.  The contestant this particular morning happens to be some blonde that seems to have just woken up – she giggles.

First question is about something said by Yoda from Star Wars (the sentence construction was all turned around).  Blondie fluffs it totally, and giggles.  A bit of prodding and elimination of the other answers by the DJ and she manages to guess the correct answer, sheer luck.  More giggles.  Daddy is starting to lose it, heart rate goes up.

Next question.  “Which lycra-clad superhero that does not suffer from arachnophobia said….”.  Who cares about the rest of the question.  You should have guessed it by now.  SPIDERMAN!!!

Giggle.  Blah, blah.  “Wrong answer”, says the DJ and thankfully cuts her off before she can giggle again.  I let loose and have a go at that blonde.  TC tries to stay with me, but perhaps I took it too far and she gets a little irritated with me.

A minute or so later we’re at the school (did I say which school she goes to?  Yes, the best one in the country), she turns around to look at me and says:  “Your aura is all messed up.”.  And before I can say anything, she disappears into the school grounds, her words still lingering …

Thunderchild's 14th Birthday

My darling, Thunderchild you’re 14 today.  A very happy birthday from a daddy that loves you very much.

Actually, your birthday started last night when your sister and her boyfriend brought you some presents.  It was such a joy watching you open the presents, especially the one that had the portable hard drive in it – the smile went around the face.  I know how long you’ve wanted one of those to store your movies on.  Now you do.  Of course, Emo needed to annex one of the pieces of paper for herself to lie on – weird kitty that one.  You gave your presents the most unique name I have ever heard:  “Cool Random Junk”, later referred to as “Awesome Random Junk”.

This morning I was the fortunate one to wake you up and sing “Happy Birthday” to you, along with all the other songs – couldn’t start the day off better than that.  I took you to the party shop this morning because, as always, you were thinking of other people.  You went and bought a whole lot of key chains for your friends for their birthdays and what not.  Proud of you TC.  Then, some totally random lady just walked up to you and gave you a hug and asked how old you were.  When she heard it was your birthday she mentioned that it was her 22-year old son’s birthday today as well.  I still don’t know what to make of that incident, but I’m sure we’ll find out some time in the future (connecting the dots…)

Lunch today was so cool with the family:  it was great having everyone there.  You also received some more presents from the rest of us (more CRJ).  I took the most amazing shots this afternoon of you, your mother, sister and the rest.  Just realized now that there were none of me, but that’s OK because my love is in the shots of you.

There was one that so totally captured you:  the way you look, hold your pose etc.  It seems odd now, but the last year or so I’ve been able to capture the essence of TC.  These shots go deeper than the skin:  they reach down to the very atoms of your soul.  Maybe you need to love someone very much to be able to get these.

Anyway, you’re back now from your sojourn with your sister and her boyfriend to Randburg, nogal.  Went to play putt-putt.  Glad you’re back safely, lying there on the couch with one of my Springbok T-shirts on.

Sleep tight, child of the storm.  Daddy loves you very much.

Colourless Daddy

Thunderchild walks into the bedroom, hanging her shoulders and head so that the hair covers her face.

“What’s wrong?” asks her mother.

“My daddy is colourless”, she replies.

…wavy lines…screen blurs…scroll back a few hours.

15h51.  TC calls me at work.

“Daddy, is your email still x@y.z?”  “Yes, or you could use me work email…Why?”  

“I need you to print something for me, please.  But I need 5 copies.”  “OK, sure.  Send it” I reply.

“OK, just wait.  Wait. Wait.  It’s on its way”, she informs me.

“Where did you send it to?”

“You work email”

“OK, got it.  I’ll print it and bring it home.  See you just now. Bye”

I open the document and click “Print”.  It prints one copy and I make 4 photostats of it (she said she wanted 5!).  Put on the desk so that I don’t forget it when I leave the office (I have a tendency to forget documents at work when I go home…).

Get home a short while later and TC comes running down the stairs to greet me.  I know what’s coming.  She goes to the other side of the lounge and waits for me to get ready.  I strike the pose – it’s very similar to the inside center waiting for the fly-half to pass the ball in rugby – I’ve been catching her like ever since she was a “certain” height.  She comes running at me, jumps and I have to catch her.  I’ve learnt by now not to try and catch her straight on as she’ll flatten me.  Just catch her from the side and swing – that works.

“Did you bring my documents?”

“Yes”

“All five copies?”

“Yes”

She eagerly takes a look at the documents to see how they came out.

“They’re colourless.”

You see, the default printer setting at work is to print in greyscale, not colour.  Somehow the colour thing did not get through to me. 

… wavy lines … forward a few a few hours

And that is why I was referred to as “Colourless Dad” for most of Thursday evening.  Later on she revised the document, put it down on my PC and told me to print it in colour for her.  I’ll do that just after this post.

She didn’t say I must print 5 copies, did she?

The hungry thunderbolt

It’s 6h31.  Time to go to school.

“I’m hungry”, Thunderchild says.  This just after she entered the kitchen and proclaimed “My school shoes are missing”.  I had just found them in her cupboard and brought them to her, which she promptly put on by squeezing her feet into them without first loosening the straps.

Back to the food.  “There are pampoenkoekies (pumpkin fritters)”, the wife says.  “No, it’s too late.  There’s no time”.  “Yes there is,” I say and get going.  TC and her mom head for the car so long.

I get the food from the fridge, take out the gravy that comes with it, punch a few holes and into the microwave for 2 minutes.  While that’s going (and I can hear the gate opening so that the car get out), I get serviettes, a fork to eat with and a bag in which to put everything.  Open the gravy.  Ping!  Food is done.

I put the food into a lunch box, add the gravy (the gate is starting to close by now!!!), grab everything else and run to the car.  TC had already opened the window and was in “receiving mode”.  “Thank you.  Love you Daddy.  Bye”.  I make it back before the gate finally closes on me.  All this in 4 minutes.  The wife and TC are gone, off to school.

And tonight she has a sleepover, so it’s going to be noisy.  Will have to read a book or something.

Good luck, TC.  Have a nice day.

Thunderbolt – I don’t want cheese!

I've been planning her school lunch since yesterday.  Who actually plans their children's school lunch? 

Anyways, I get up this morning and rush through my normal chores (wake up TC, get her bath ready, give Emo, the cat, new food and water).  I then check the fridge for the ingredients – all there.  Get a pot, add a little oil and put it on the stove to warm up.

The lunch consists of pancakes rolled around grated cheese and fried cold meat (ham and beef from Woolies).  While the oil is warming up I add some crushed chillies (TC likes them) to absorb just a little of the oil.  Start chopping up the meat – I’m starting to look like a contestant from Masterchef Australia by now.  Pan is warm by now so I add the meat.

Next is to move onto grating the cheese.  By now the wife has come down and starts to set the table for breakfast.  Doubt if TC will be joining us because she’s been a little tired lately. The cold meat is starting to brown and cook nicely by now:  the smell of the chillies is quite enticing.  Remove from the pot and into a waiting bowl.

Now onto the pancakes (bought frozen from Wollies – where else?).   About 40 seconds in the microwave and they’re nice and warm.  Take out, add the meat (with seasoning), cheese and roll the pancake.  Then add a little of the grated cheese on top and back into the microwave for 15 seconds.  Just right.  Into the lunch box and make another one.

About 25 minutes pass and it’s time to go to school.  I’m kinda hoping TC will appreciate and enjoy what I made for her. 

“I DON’T LIKE CHEESE ON MY PANCAKES ANYMORE!”, she shouts.

A few things happen at once.  My world collapses.  How can someone you love so much hurt you like this?  Two, the house explodes as I lose my temper.

“How the hell must I know you don’t like cheese anymore?  Must I smell?”.  I storm out the house.  It’s time for the wife to take her to school.  I decide I’ll still try and say goodbye to her.  “No, don’t come near me.”.  She’s off to school without lunch.

I really don’t know what to do:  I’ve got tears in my eye and a lump in my throat as I’m writing this.  Maybe just wait and sit out the storm (and eat her lunch myself).  Hopefully it’ll blow over in a day or two.  

Sorry Mommy!

Thunderbolt - Sorry Mommy!

So I get up this Sunday morning and notice a letter on the dresser – it says “So Sorry Card”.  What did she do wrong this time again?

As it turned out, she had just placed an online order for a DVD (box set!) called “Anne of Green Gables” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088727/). 

What on earth?  But apparently they’re studying the story in English class at school and she really seems taken by it.  I suppose it’s important to support and encourage your children when it comes to their education, so I'll definitely make sure she gets it.

Spoke to her earlier today and she had already downloaded some of it from YouTube.  I was never this interested in the books we did when I was at school – they were just plain boring.

She’s also going to be directing a short play sometime later this year at school.  How cool is this?  The drama teacher was apparently quite impressed with her work and decided to give her the opportunity.  Just another reason she's in the school she is, and not somewhere else.

So, nicely done TC, Daddy’s proud of you.

Cover Page

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The Axles

It's time for another Thunderbolt - the chronicles of Thunderchild.

So there we were a year or 3 ago, just finished watching our normal early evening soapie, about to start with schoolwork when TC comes up to me and says: "Dad, I need to build a car for Technology".  Let me just explain.  Technology is a subject taught in schools over here and exposes the kids to all things, well, technological, from computers to shapes, structures (e.g. Dome Structures) and everything in between.

"Cool," I reckon.  "Do you have a design yet?".  Yes, she says and shows it to me on paper.  Simple enough, I think.  "Dad, it needs to have axles.  One must be moveable, and the other not.".  It's just here, where silence descends upon the study.  This axle moving thing is unfamiliar territory for me.

"Daddy, it needs to be finished by Thursday".  The silence becomes a humming in my ears as the blood takes on an extra supply of steroids and goes berserk.  IT'S TUESDAY, BLOODY EVENING!  Deep breath, or 2.  I try to get TC to explain this axle theory to me, but she cannot (I expected as much as she sometimes struggles to explain things), so I read her text book.  A few minutes later I have a fair idea of what's required.

So, we need the following:  a design, a shell of a car, axles (we'll use dowel sticks), bottom parts of cans for the wheels (at least 8), some tape, some wire and a drill bit small enough to go through the wood.  Problem is, I don't have the dowel sticks, drill bits or enough cans.  But never mind, I'll get the wood and stuff the next day at the hardware store.  Now, at about this time, I was very into electronics, and I thought it would be cool to have some lights on the car - so in goes 2 LEDs, some soldering, a battery holder and a few penlights into the design.  However, we cannot do it all that evening so we get stuck into cutting the cardboard to form the car.

Round about 22h00 TC says she's going to lie down for "just a few minutes".  I carry on working, knowing better.  At midnight, I'm tired and decide to go to bed.  But first I need to get TC to bed:  she just couldn't make it and passed out on the couch.

OK, so the next day I'm off to the hardware store to buy "supplies" and on the way home I stop off to get a battery holder and some penlights.  That evening she and I get going again on our design.  The axles are cut (using a Leatherman), holes drilled for the nonmoveable axle (the wheels move, not the axle), grooves created for the moveable axles (wheels are fixed to the axle) to allow the wire from the car to hold them, the cans get cut and holes made into the bottom and eventually fitted onto the axles.  Now, just a note regarding the bottom of cans (remember, they are rounded):  Don't try and drill the hole.  The best way is just to use a pocket knife (or steak knife!), punch a hole and then widen it.  Works much better this way.

Once done, I need to solder the wire onto the LEDs, connect up the battery holder and switch and add the batteries.  Test:  works like a dream!  Connect the LEDs to the car, fasten the holder to the inside and test again.

"Daddy, I need number plates."  No problem.  Luckily we have not yet run out of ink for the printer.  A few clicks later and the printer kicks into life and we have our plates.  Cut, glue and stick.  But 22h00 we're finished.  So what if the wheels are a little skew!  They're round, aren't they?  And the car moves forward...sort of.

The next morning I take TC to school telling her not to let anyone touch "our" car.  And save the batteries so that the LEDs work when you show the car.  I leave for work.

The afternoon I pick her up and ask how it went.  "Dad, someone sat on it and squashed it.".  Silence descends upon the car (Silence has this way of descending).  "Just joking!", she laughs.  "So how much did we get?".  "Ten out of ten", she replies with a big smile on her face.  Apparently the teacher was very impressed with the design and construction.

I got full marks!  The stuff these kids make you do for school.

Now, a few years later, and she's still at it.  Tomorrow evening it's off to school for a braai (barbecue to the foreigners reading this) - it's one of their major fund raising events for the year.  Should be interesting.  And cold (it's winter).

Now for the last line (some of you should know what's coming):
"Van die Affie vrouekrag."

Goodnight TC, Daddy loves you very much.

Clothing and the iPad

"Daddy, there's a competition and if I win I will get an iPad", says Thunderchild to me as I get home from work last Friday.  "OK, what must you do?" I ask, wondering what she's going to hit me with.  "Collect clothing for the poor people", she says excitedly.

She then goes on to explain what the drive is about, who started it and which schools are involved (looks like some of the top schools in SA have joined in).  To view the charity, go to http://clothing4children.org/. When I hear the number of schools I start to realize that her chances of winning are kind of slim.  I know I'll have to rather concentrate on the giving aspect instead of on the winning part.  Luckily for me, TC is just that sort of person:  she likes to help people.  Always has.

So this past weekend we start sorting out our clothes into two heaps:

• those that fit NOW (we keep these)
• those that fitted in the past or those that we know will never fit again (we give these)

So between TC, myself and the wife we manage to get nearly 2 large bags full of clothing.  Could've given more, but we had cleaned out our cupboards about 2 months ago.  Yet she's still not finished.  I have to please send everyone at work an email asking for clothes, which I promptly do.  So too my wife.  

Now, how to get her friends involved that are not in her school (she goes to a school that's not in our feeder area).  This is just where my genius eldest comes up with a brilliant idea (she has a tendency to do this):  create a Facebook invite!  How the hell?  I would never have thought of this.  So off TC goes and does the FB invite.  By the end of the evening she already has a few replies, so it looks like she could just pull it off.

Slowly, the iPad idea is disappearing.  She just wants to get as many clothes as possible for her school and the charity.  Well done TC, Daddy's proud of you.

"Na die gelag..."

History Lesson

Thunderchild's in bed, not feeling very well.  I think the hockey last week really got to her as she's been sick since then.  And to top it all off, they've had school tests this whole week so far.  In fact, I have to wake her up tomorrow morning at 3 so that she can learn.  Hopefully the Vicks Medinite will do its work.

Anyway, the reason for this episode is to put keyboard to bytes about the creation of TC, in case something happens to me and the story is never told.

It was in May 1996 that the wife and I went to the computer show at Nasrec, just south of Johannesburg.  We would go almost every year.  The Wednesday of the show she and I were sitting at the window seat discussing having a child:  I was already quite sure I wanted one.  I can't remember what she was eating, but it definitely was not the lasagna (they always put garlic in and she doesn't like it).  So she tells me she'll give me until the Friday to make sure I wanted a child.  Needless to say, Friday came and we started the "process".

Well, who would've thought that having a child is so difficult?  I mean, a few seconds and that should be it.  So, after a few months (8!) of procedures, pills and having a proctologist stick his finger up my backside and the gynae telling us to get "busy" every 2 days, I'm driving home from work one late afternoon on the highway just before the turnoff to Centurion and get a call on my cell:  "Hello Daddy!"  Those words blew me totally away - must be the most amazing words a wife can say to her husband.

So, the nine month (or thereabouts) process begins.  The wife decides to do the healthy thing and only drink apple juice and Rooibos tea (I heard somewhere that in Europe it's referred to as "Cape Red").  The wife was determined that this baby was going to be healthy and have a minimum of 9 fingers.

I never knew the sex of TC until she was born (even though the wife went for an amnio I decided not to ask), so we referred to her as TLO - The Little One (which later in life became TLS - The Little Sh!t).  There were many times I'd lay next her and talk to her while she was in the womb.  The conversation would always start along the lines of:  "Hello TLO, this is your daddy speaking, AGAIN!...".  Other times we could feel her move.  She'd get this rhythmic movement that would last for about 30 minutes that the doctor later said was hiccuping (hiccing up??).  But it was so cool to feel her move inside.  Towards the end of the pregnancy you can actually SEE her move.

When we went for the amnio they brought up her image on the monitor.  Her hand was by her head and it looked like she was waving at me.  Of course, I waved back.  "Idiot," said the wife, "she can't see you".  I kinda felt really stupid, but it was so cool to see my little baby.

And so you carry on getting the room, blankets, toys, clothes (for 0-3 and 3-6 months) and cot ready for the big day.  The wife checked in the day before.  I was up very early the next morning and made my way to the hospital - it was raining (how fitting for what we called her:  no, not "Rain", "Skye" or "Cloud"!).  Got there and the wife had to go for the epidural.  Good God!  I'd never seen a needle that long before.  They stuck it right up her spine.  Apparently you cannot have a cesarean without it...

OK, so she get's wheeled into the operating theater and a sheet is put up, I suppose so that we cannot see what was happening.  The wife mentioned that she could feel the doctor tugging, but before we could do much more, he said in Afrikaans (and I quote):  "Ah, 'n pragtige baba dogtertjie"  Translation:  Ah, a beautiful baby girl.  I cried my eyes out.  Having your child being born must be the most intense spiritual feeling and emotion imaginable.  It's all so real now.

She started crying on the count of 9 (out of 10, whatever the hell that means).  And she didn't stop for 2 hours.  They had her in an incubator.  I sat next to her the whole time, not knowing what to do.  Do I touch her, hold her hand?  Will the nurses moan?  Chase me away?  Eventually she managed to get a finger in her mouth which shut her up immediately and she was able to calm down.  We could then wrap her in a blanket and take her to her mommy.  It was a beautiful sight seeing the two of them together.

And that dear reader, was how the thunder rolled into our lives.

"En luister in die donker nag"

It's Jacobs Time!

Time for another episode in the life of Thunderchild and her Daddy.  I have my trusty cup of Jacobs (Kronung, not that other vile decaf stuff) next to me keeping me going.

It's been a hectic and exiting day.  Actually it started yesterday evening when I got home with the words:  "Dad, I'm playing for the Wannabees tomorrow evening."  Excellent! (Have I mentioned how proud I am of her?).  "Where are you playing and what time must you be there?", I ask, trying to sound nonchalant and not too eager or excited.  "Six, at TUT", she replies (Way cool, I think...silently), "But first I have to watch the 1st team play at school".  She's got this thing about supporting her school's 1st hockey team.  It's important for her.

So, onto Friday and it's damn cold outside (still is as I'm writing this).  I realize that I'm going to freeze my butt off next to the astro and decide to take an extra jersey with me for the evening.  I get to school around 16h00 just in time to see the 1st team win 2-0.  TC is excited:  I can feel it in her.  There's this bounce that she gets.  She starts chatting away and smiling the whole time.  We're off to KFC to get some sustenance and she's into the ladies to get changed - she just cannot wait.  On the way to TUT we hit peak hour traffic (enough said!) and arrive 10 minutes late.  Luckily they decided to wait for us.  However, the team had to start playing without a goalie.  Note to other teams:  don't play hockey without a goalie.

Now this team is just a little stronger than last week's one.  Last week we played the TUT 4th team; this week the 1st team.  The level of play was very high and our girls struggled quite a bit, but TC, as usual, gave every little thing she had on the pitch and made the opponents work for every ball.  She made some good saves and tackles.  But not having a goalie cost them dearly, eventually going down 12-1 (I think, because I lost count).  But still TC showed tenacity on the pitch today, never giving up no matter how tough the situation.  I took some pictures during the first half, but then my fingers got so cold I decided they would be better off in my pockets - sorry TC.

What I like about this level of play, is that there is no coach next to the side of the pitch shouting out instructions.  Here you have to think for yourself and develop your own match intuition, something that TC is doing quite well now.

There was this one move that she likes to do when hitting from touch (the ball went out).  She dribbles the ball just a little in and then turns and goes straight for her opponent - I know what's coming because I can read her like a book.  The opponent goes in for the tackle and pop (!), TC lifts the ball over the opponent's stick and passed her.  Brilliant move!  Actually, I think this is TC's signature the move - the TC pop!

After the match, even having lost the way they did, she came to me and said that she's really enjoying playing at this level and hopes she can continue.  So do I, so do I.  I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity she has to play at this level.

Shame, TC's lying next to her mother at the moment, fast asleep.  She has nothing left.

Tomorrow it's off to a friend of her's to prepare for some science project for school.  Knowing those two characters, it should be quite interesting to see the presentation.  We'll see how it goes next week.

To TC, sleep tight my girl.  Daddy loves you very much.

"En die hele wêreld word stil..."

Maths and Stuff

So, Thunderchild has a maths test today.  She woke up at 4am this morning to go through the work again (after doing some exercises the previous evening).  She and I were both confident that she would do OK.  I was at a conference out of town today so only got to see her again at 19h00 this evening.

So, how did the maths go.  "Not good", she says, "Maybe only 50%".  So what went wrong?  "I don't know, Daddy.  I just struggled and couldn't get the equations to work.  But I need to talk to you later.", she mentions.  She had a few more Maths exercises to do and was struggling a bit.  I tried to explain this thing about opposite angles with parallel lines being equal, but what she ACTUALLY wanted was an equation (I did not realize this at the time).  Luckily, my eldest daughter (the real maths wiz in the family) walks in and asks "Can I perhaps help?".  Yes, please!  So she sits down with TC and works through the exercise with her and shows her how to work out an equation for this - I would never have gotten this right.  TC does the next one and starts to calm down a little (she gets kinda upset if she struggles;  I understand this as I sometimes have the same emotions).  She comes to me afterwards, just as CSI Miami is starting, "Daddy, I sorry I was mean.".  Now what can you say to that, so I just put my arms around her and hold her tight.

Of course, being Tuesday, it's hockey practice.  "How did it go?", I ask.  "We did fitness, but not in a way that you would realize it.".  In other words they ran around like crazy on the astro but enjoyed themselves.  Good, I think.  It'll keep the kids healthy and fit.

You remember she said she wanted to talk to me?  "Daddy, what did you arrange for tomorrow evening?".  It's my wedding anniversary on 27 July (16 years this year).  "Nothing", I reply, "I was planning on taking her out to dinner on Saturday".  "Dad, you're useless", she says (I get that a lot from her).  "I've arranged a dinner under your name for tomorrow evening at 8 at your favourite restaurant", I am informed.  It was arranged for 8 so that we could first watch the soapy together as a family before getting dressed and going.  Shame, she really went to the trouble of getting the place's telephone number and giving them call.  I just didn't organize anything because it is in the middle of the week.  So tomorrow I can give my wife the present I bought for her and tell her we're going out to eat.  I'm really looking forward to.

So, thanx TC, for everything.

Thunderchild

Well, we had the hockey on 23 July and it went amazingly well.

Before the match, two things happened.  One, the 2 under-14's were quite apprehensive, because they would be playing against a university team where the players were 18 and older (TC was actually the youngest on the field).  Two, the university team thought the game would be a pushover when they heard how young the two were.  Now, it's just at this point where they made their biggest mistake, because they did not know their opponents and their history.

TC has ALWAYS been in the A-side.  She can tackle like a demon and always stands her ground on the field.  The game started with TC still a little nervous, but that only lasted for about 10 minutes before she got her confidence back.  For the remainder of the game the other forwards tried their best to intimidate and get past her.  However, the 2 backs (TC and her friend) did their best to thwart all the attacks.  The end result was that their team won 7-0, teaching those university kids a lesson they'll not easily forget.

One thing about this game was the length.  TC is used to playing 25 minutes a side:  this game was 35 and in hockey that's a long time.  She was totally bushed at the end of it, but I could see she thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's now Sunday afternoon  and she's still sore, but she'll be fine.  Her confidence got a serious boost.  Daddy is so very proud of her.  I do hope she gets the chance to play for the team again on a more regular basis as it will do her a world of good.

It's going to be a long week again for her, because they have hockey practice three times this week, I think.  I know they start with fitness on Tuesday - she'll just have to do a little extra homework on Monday because she normally passes out on the days she has hockey (she just always gives everything she has).

We went to go buy 2 cement slabs at Plantland today because they have a sidewalk art competition coming up shortly.  They'll be given a 2 square meter block of sidewalk that they will have to draw on (chalk only).  So the 2 slabs I bought today are for the girls to practice on.  Not sure about the logistics, because I have to drop the slabs off at school tomorrow and TC and some friends will have to carry them to the classroom.  Concrete slabs (450mm x 45mm) are not exactly light, but I'm sure she and her rest will be able to make a plan.

You go girl!  Hit them with your thunder.

Until next time...

Late Friday Evening - The First One

It's late on a Friday evening.  I've been toying with the idea of creating this blog for a while now.

You see, this is primarily about my daughter who I shall refer to as "ThunderChild".  She's my muse, my very reason for existence.  When I drop her off at school and turn the corner I miss her.  When I wave goodbye on the mornings her mother takes her, I miss her.

I don't know if all daddies have this relationship with their little girls, but I do.

I was listening to the song "Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga (the one where she sang on her own in the Howard Stern studio - Youtube Link) and realized that this is where ThunderChild takes me.  I suppose it must be a little embarrassing for her sometimes, but she knows I love her very much, with all my heart.

But make no mistake, she can be quite moody when she wants to.  What's really interesting is that I often know how to handle her, because she is very much like me.  So when a specific situation arises that I recognize as something that might happen to me, I know what to do.  However, sometimes we just push each other's (wrong) buttons - it's then that I tell the wife "You handle this, because I'm going to throttle that child.".

I'm also so very proud of her.  She does OK at school (goes to one of the best schools in Pretoria), but for some strange reason really enjoys Maths!  Would you bloody believe it?  She came to me with a maths problem this week - but before I carry on let me just explain that in general she likes to do things herself.  Anyways, she was just struggling a little and couldn't figure out the elusive x.  We quickly went through things about right-angles, 180 degrees and opposite angles being equal (sort of).  About a minute into the problem "Dad, it's OK.  I figured it out myself.  You couldn't help me!!!".  Oh well, at least I was there.

Talking about "there".  You see, you mustn't be too close to TC, but also not too far - just within reach.  I've had to learn when to totally ignore her (at school with her friends) and when to hold her tight.  It's just so cool learning how to handle your daughter, especially when she's so much like yourself.

Got a call from her on Thursday:  "Daddy, there's a chance I might be playing hockey this Saturday.  But it's with older people".  OK, quickly, TC is just into her teens and has been playing hockey for about 8 years now and gets withdrawal symptoms when she can't play (holidays etc).  Looks like the team she and a friend will be playing for is one of the adult teams in the league.  This was arranged by one of the teachers at her school.  Good for her (TC, that is).  I'm so proud of her.  Just know she's going to love it.  She'll lay it all on the field and at the end of the game she'll be smiling from ear to ear, be grumpy because she's tired and thirsty and the pass out in the car.  Of course the batteries for the camera are charged, so I'll most probably be shooting about 150 to 200 shots tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Anyways, she did come home with the hockey socks and shirt to wear, so I guess they will be playing.  Word of caution to the other players on the field - don't underestimate TC and her partner (they play defence).  She'll flatten you in the tackle.

OK, the Jacobs coffee is working itself out now, so let's leave some story telling for the next time, shall we.