Meanwhile… #15: In A Story Far, Far Away

Hello there, friends and fans! It’s June 9, 2025– and here are some things that happened in the meantime!

This Is The Current State Of Things:

General News:You will probably get tired of hearing this, but I’ve been working on my research proposal for varsity over the last few months. Yes, I apologize, but this has to take priority for now. In case you missed it, I’m busy with my PhD in Religious Studies, having received a study bursary and RPL (recognition for prior learning) which is something of a life achievement in itself that I’m very proud of – and honored to have received. In that regard, I think I’ve finally finished it – but I could be wrong. It has to be sent to my supervising professor this week, after which I will be given a list of changes to make (I have no doubts about that at all!) and after another round of editing, it should be ready for formal submission. After that, I will have between then and the end of next year to work on my thesis/dissertation. In the meantime, I also have one more three day online workshop to attend in July, a week-long workshop in Cape Town, including two days to present to two undergrad classes at UWC, and I’ve also been invited to present one of my previous papers from 2023 to the CESNUR international conference in Cape Town in November! Exciting times!
New Videos: I managed to post two new videos last week. The first was just to catch you up with my latest state of being.
The second was my first attempt at a podcast:

Current Writing Projects: With my time now fully occupied with research assignments from varsity, I’ll have no time available for writing fiction for the immediate future! At least not until I’ve handed in my PhD thesis sometime next year! (It still doesn’t sound real to me, but yes, it really is happening!) I did have a bang at a story when I took a public holiday off from varsity work last month, but I’m so focused on academic writing and research right now, that everything I wrote came out a bit wooden (and to be honest, I kept looking for citations!) so I decided to give it a rest until I’m done with that whole project. In the meantime, if you like, you can catch up on books you may have missed (there are over 40 of them!) or keep up by bookmarking What’s Brewing?

There we are, all caught up!

Bibliography – All my books so far:

You can find them at .

Catch me on my channel! Support for my creativity welcome via PayPal or Ko-Fi !

Other Stuff:

An interesting couple of days

What an interesting couple of days. I had a day off yesterday, so I could put some work into my research proposal. During yesterday morning, what I thought was a flare-up of my dairy allergy turned into a terrible, sharp, pulsing pain in my jaw. One I’d had before, and the pain meds I keep at home didn’t work on it – so it set off some alarm bells.

On top of all that, during yesterday morning I took a break from the typing and pruned the tree in front of the house and cut down some large branches that grew over the garage roof, slamming down on it in high winds. I had to dispose of them by breaking them by hand into smaller pieces I could stuff into refuse bags – and this morning my right hand is so swollen I can’t actually close it properly.

I kid you not folks, this is what happens when you stray onto the wrong side of 50. One day you’re power-lifting Beetle engines off the garage floor, the next, you get a neck sprain just putting on socks. Tip: Stay on the right side of 50

The pain in my jaw wasn’t going away, so off to the doc I went. Waiting my turn was entertaining in itself. The patients and the receptionist were all very friendly and chatty, and there we sat, drinking coffee and trading witty comments about various things that came up. It’s funny how laughter can help numb pain, or distract you from it for a bit.

Turned out it was a bone infection in my lower jaw, and the pain was from the infection gradually eating away the bone! Ouch. And the doc gave me a script for strong pain pills and an antibiotic, and advised me to see my dentist about it soon.

She’s amazing, that doctor. What a diagnostician – ruled out all the other things I thought it could’ve been, got straight to the “root” of the problem, and ta-dah.

On the way to the pharmacy, I stopped at the dentist to ask about an appointment in the next week or so, explaining the situation.

“Are you in pain?” I was asked.
“Yes, I am.” I smiled.
“Have a seat, I’ll squeeze you in.” The lady behind the counter said.

A pan x-ray later and the doc checked me out, confirming exactly what my GP said.

“What caused this?” I asked.
“If your immune system is compromised, these things can happen.” He smiled. “Have you been sick lately?”
“Yes, the flu.” I said.
“Well, there you have it.” He smiled.

The solution is either an extraction or a root canal. (I’ll go for the root canal rather, thanks), but the meds, he agreed, will sort out the infection first.

Another amazing group of people – that dentist and his staff. Yes, they’re profitable, and yes they’re doing well – but that’s because they care about their patients, and the dentist guy – he’s so passionate about dentistry that his idea of a vacation is attending seminars on dentistry. No bullshit.

Anyway, so once home again, I loaded up on meds. It took a while for the pain meds to start working, since it’s nerve pain, but eventually the pain started to fade gradually.

In the midst of all this, I heard back from a friend of mine whose elderly mom was admitted to St George’s hospital during the week, that they’d diagnosed cancer. Suddenly, that pain I had didn’t seem so bad after all. My friend and her son are close to her mom, in fact they live together, and I know this news will hit them very hard. Knowing what it’s like to lose an elderly parent, and watch them slip away before your eyes, no matter what you do – I honestly didn’t know what to say. 🥺

Thanks to the pain meds, I was able to at least sleep last night, and this morning I woke up not from pain, but from needing the loo! 😛

Anyway, that’s going to be my weekend, sitting on the sofa in pajamas, trying not to move too much because the meds make me dizzy – working on my research proposal to meet my deadline in just over a week’s time – while high as a kite on nerve-pain meds that can cause hallucinations.

Edit: that’s not why I keep referring to Kobus Jonker in my text as “Kobus Honker”. It’s a typo. Honest.