New Dimensions

50 years on a good reason to celebrate. Five decades have passed since Okinawan Goju Ryu was introduced to South Africa by a remarkable man, sensei James Rousseau.  His journey through this period has created a wake of profound energy, immense interest in what he nurtured and a legacy that has crossed boundries, spilling over into branches that today continue to practice some form of what he brought to this country. Today we look back at all that has gone before and stand proudly beneath the great tree that has grown from the tiny seed planted in 1966 when sensei James established himself in South Africa as the founder of Okinawan Goju Ryu with the grade of Sandan. Sensei James began his karate training in the Shotokan system in 1961 and received Shodan ranking in 1964. During one of his trips to Japan he became acquainted with Goju Ryu and decided to concentrate his training in this system.  He relates many interesting experiences, crediting his wife Wendy for her su...

I bought a green Bicycle - my Silverback replacement. Cycling is part of my DNA, just look at my Facebook avatar. Read my previous article and you'll understand. My dog, Java, is a cross between a chow and a sharpei. I reckon she is magical and possesses some kind of super powers. She sees through walls and has super hearing. If Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, then Java is a close second. With energy like that, I would be a sensation on my mountain bike - but alas. Maybe Java is also psychic because she shadows my every move in the house even if she is outside. She even knows when I'm about to bring her a treat and sits wagging her tail in delightful anticipation outside the door. Sometimes I wonder who is smarter, me or Java. When the Glam Guru recently visited us to film Maggie I decided to put her in the carport - just in case. The filming crew took a long time to bring their gear in the house and I went to investigate. Java was up to her magical ...

This year I was expecting Father's Day to be just like any other day. But I was in for a surprise. My wife, Maggie, had planned a special lunch for Youth Day and invited my eldest son and his family over. Some other special guests couldn't make it. Just before 1 pm my son, Mark, and his wife, Natasja, together with my grandchildren, Crystal and Dillon arrived. Mark was carrying a gift which, when he handed it to me, almost caused me to drop it. I guessed that it must have been a book and before I opened the gift I said, "This surely is a Bible." Mark smiled and said, "Yes!" It was a special keepsake edition. Immediately I started paging through the Bible and admired the quality. It is something that you record your family generations in and pass on to your descendants. We enjoyed an amazing meal of chicken and vegetables that Maggie had prepared with a lot of love. Afterwards, Maggie asked me to set up my camera on a tripod to take an action sho...

Devastating fires descended on Knysna and surrounding areas recently devouring much of what used to be a place of quintessential beauty with winding roads and lush woodland. Pictures of the havoc caused by the raging fires are enough to drive you to tears. "This was later explained by firefighters: the flames carried by the wind came down like fireballs and could blast a house and leave others around it intact. In other scenarios, the fire would go into the ground, into the roots of trees accumulating with natural gases and blast out the ground like landmines. This has left the town and its people just as mentally and emotionally traumatized as a war zone would have." Quoted from Lowvelder where you can see some pictures of the aftermath. As the news spread all over the Internet and media people all over the country started to respond in many different ways. Up here in Gauteng, the owner of Firearm Trust Services decided to jump into action and rally people in the ar...

Today we finally received some photos of Maggie when she underwent her makeover. Everybody that read my blog articles probably wondered when they were going to see the final results. Well, after a very long wait we have something. She was bound by a contract to wait until the series was aired on national television before she could publish any photos. The dramatic transformation follows here: As you can see she underwent a whole transformation under the hands of Hannon, the Glam Guru. It was an experience of a lifetime. She was also featured in TV ads and appeared in a popular Afrikaans magazine. I am proud of her achievements. Natural or makeover Maggie has a beautiful personality that enhances her appearance and warms her up to people. That is something that lasts forever. I photographed Maggie being examined by the skin doctor before her makeover. This is an update on Tuesday 20 June 2017. Hannon, the Glam Guru, was very punctual this morni...

In 2016 my wife, Maggie, contacted our famous Glam Guru, Hannon Bothma, via Facebook for a makeover. Not a word of reply came back and it seemed as though her dream had melted away like a morning mist. But, lo and behold, on 21 April this year Maggie received the shocking news that her father had passed away. On the very same day, she also received an email inviting her for an interview with the Glam Guru himself. Obviously, she was grieving over the loss of her father - we had spoken to him a few days earlier in hospital - then the surprise came that she was to be interviewed by Hannon. We arrived at his smart building quite early and found the reception area filled with women candidates. Maggie was given number 21 and told to sit down. She chose a comfortable, white couch at the other end where we had an excellent view of the others. Almost everyone was tense with anticipation and spoke in hushed tones to bide the time. An assistant appeared and announced that everyone wit...

Monday morning  I woke up at 5:30 am and wondered what this day would be like. It was dark and cold with the temperature frozen at about 7 degrees. I switched the kettle on as well as the radio. At 6:30 am we drove to our church to for our monthly business breakfast. That was quite enjoyable. When we arrived home I found a bunch of urgent messages on WhatsApp. The next half an hour I spent sorting a client's email account out. No sooner had I handled that crisis when I received an email from a new client who couldn't access the website I had created for him. So I had to explain how he could enter the domain name in Google and his website would come up. The next call was from another client asking when I would deliver his calendar. So that was my next assignment. On the way there I popped in at Builders Warehouse to price a post box for my wife. I found one and took a picture of it with my iPhone. As I was about to leave I found a lady struggling to lift her basket o...