Jonathan Field - Maker of Random Stuff

Turned 38 yesterday. Didn’t have a birthday celebration, but no special additions are needed when bouncing around France with my Dad. We had just spent the previous several days looking around Nice, The French Alps, Monaco, and even grabbed some gelato in San Remo, Italy.

Birthday morning, after a lovely breakfast at our B&B overlooking Nice, we borded the TGV back to Paris. Later that evening we met up with a some of my Dad’s friends for dinner – a married couple, one American, one Tunisian French, that published a journal of their adventures in Paris several years ago. I read and enjoyed their book and so the evening was a super treat: a wonderful home-cooked four-course meal, good wine, and great conversation with some charming locals.

My Dad gave me a perfect gift: a patchwork teddy bear decorated with prehistoric rock engravings.

The trip is almost over!

I’m as surprised as anyone, but after some fifteen years in exile, he pops up in South Africa for 30 seconds on the SMASH HITZ tune ALL ABOUT MY MONEY at around 0:50.

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Spent last weekend in the rural town of Tugela Ferry. Woke up one morning to the sound of my album playing in the car stereo outside – my friend had put it on and some eight kids were listening to it while they played in the yard.

Most of them don’t speak English, but as I left two days later I still heard them singing one song:

So Hard

I’m corrupting the youth!

As I was working at a school today a couple kids came in with their broken laptop and asked if I could take a look. It had a virus that prevented logging in, so I offered to fix it at home and bring it back in on Thursday.

After fixing it I came across some files indicating the laptop was stolen from a government office. It’s got a database of disability beneficiaries, including private information. Upon closer inspection I also found a government asset tag on the bottom.

I’m still contemplating the best way to handle it.

I can already tell it’s going to be harder in some ways to write weekly than daily. It’ll take far less time but a lot will get lost. It’s not easy to combine so many moods and experiences into something coherent and readable. Actually, maybe writing it won’t be harder, but reading it will be. In which case I wish you luck.

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