“… There are no snakes, no dogs and no dinosaurs.”

Hands up everyone who was surprised to see Cleo in the Top 3? Be honest now. Even SHE was caught off guard. And what a Finale hey. Yoh!!

From the get-go George entertained the socks off me. He brought a whole new level to his beatboxing – 5 different sounds at the same time!! He was my favourite to win, and got a well-deserved second place.

But Darren blew us all away with his moves. I don’t know what you call it, but he did it. He even checked his infinity self out behind him and made a little joke about it. And did I detect some suppressed emotion in his translator’s voice? Congratulations Darren! You deserve that R250,000 prize.

Ai Louwtjie. I SO wanted you to be in the top 3. You got some great exposure and I’m sure the scouts spotted you. Did you have something like a rubber thimble on your finger, or… never mind.

Willem and Louis gave me goose bumps! Tried to sing along, but I would have ruined it for Henk next to me.

Wonder boy Kaylon should definitely audition for So You Think You Can Dance when he’s old enough. I loved the Mango Groove music, ‘cause everyone is a special star.

Last act on was Cleo Filander. I can honestly say that I didn’t recognise last night’s song. Judging by the tears in Ian’s eyes she did it justice.

Do you think the contestants get Lunchbar hampers?

In the end, the best act won. All the best for your plan Darren!

I’m so behind in my I play Sims blog! But here is another entry – Redfern Legacy gen 2.1 here

Some of the acts were so nervous. And it’s didn’t help much that the judges were voicing the not-quite-exciting atmosphere. But I still think it was good entertainment.

Julian Hepburn strutted the stage with a jazz number. Strong voice, and I kept on hoping Martine was watching.

I felt so sorry for Louis Cason! I cringed every time he dropped his balls – sheim man. Loved the Pulp Fiction soundtrack And who do you know who can juggle behind their backs!?

Did Cadence take their name from decadence? Cause they WERE decadent! This all girl hip-hop dance group entertained the crowd in their matching outfits and white shades.

And then they had to bring animals onto the show. The lights, the people, the stage and the sparkling outfits of their trainers had the dogs in a bit of a tizz. But you can see the training and effort the trainers put in with the dogs. They still performed and danced wit the dogs.

I started getting worried about the lack of –WOW- so far from the performers. Willem and Louis raised the bar with their harmony. Their voices complement each other so well.

I enjoyed Gregory Mabusela and his ‘khe-khe horn’. Kudos to him for making the horn from a recycled plastic coke bottle and what looks like a tap/valve thingy. And I would much rather prefer hearing THAT than the vuvuzela next year at the world cup.

I had been waiting all week for the last act. After George (?Jeorge) and Louwtjie, my next favourite to win is Kalon Badenhorst – I just call him mini MJ. Surprise surprise. He didn’t moonwalk all over the stage this time (which he probably should have done), but I have to agree with Ian – I didn’t like some of his moves. He added some local flavour and knows how to entertain the crowd.

And with that I get to say SUPER congrats to Kalon for making the viewers vote! And good luck too Willem and Louis too for tomorrow’s final. Keep up your dream Gregory, the ‘khe-khe’ is bound to hit the streets.

The kids are taking over!

LOVED little Daniel Petersen on those drums! I voted for him 5 times.(i swear only in SA would they limit you to 50 votes per cell# lol)

Congrats Cleo Filander – fabulous voice on that girly! And the phenomenal Darren Rajbal danced his way into SA’s hearts; they are through to the finals on Thursday.

How can you not jump up and join the dance with the energy from Show Stopaz? The colour-coordinated clothes and hair gave it the professional edge.

I missed a bit of Soccer mania and their magic act. These guys must continue outside SAGT; the combination of their two favourites makes for great entertainment. I completely missed Umbumbano cause Amelia was restless, but what I saw on the recap was top notch.

Adino’s and Astro ventroloquism act was super – he wrote a great script, and manipulated the puppet well. But I can’t help cringing that the audience didn’t respond to his jokes. However, I feel his audition was better than last night. Still, all the best to him for future endeavours.

The standard is so high though, it feels like we’re being spoiled with quality acts! What will be in store tonight?

I changed the blog’s name to Tracy’s Toppics. Since the scope of the blog has changed (see About page) I decided to do some proper spring cleaning: New name, new Header, new Button.

Tara from TSG designs designed a new header and button from me, YAY! Also updated the theme. I’ll be playing around with it a bit, so don’t be surprised to see some changes.

And best of all, she did it for free. Thank you again Tara! Go check out her site today to see what else she has made.

If you want to link to me, you can save this button to your own image host – please don’t steal bandwidth, it’s bad karma

Yoh! How was SAGT tonight!

Unfair for my 2 favs to be in the same semi, but at least both are through to the Final on Thursday.
Congrats George Avakian with your awesome beatboxing, and Louwtjie Rothman, the guitar virtuoso. Louwtjie is also writing exam tomorrow, eish.

All the best to Roses – these guys surprised me with great moves. F.A.I.T.H has a beautiful sultry voice. The kids should go far with their dancing; poor Natasha – I almost cried with you girly.

Can’t wait for the next show.

Soos Belowe, hier is ‘n paar foto’s van my Rittelfees 2009 experience. Verskoon tog asseblief die swak kwaliteit – my Cybershot het finaal die gees gegee, en my LG chatterbox is nie bekend vir sy kie-kie neem vermoë nie.

Die Saterdag oggend pretdraf. Ek hoor die musiek buite en dink  ’Hectic, Rittelfees begin vroeg vandag”. Meanwhile was dit ‘n paar die-hards wat om die blok draf. Eindstreep was by WesGemeente Kerk.

Oppad gronde toe. Relatief naby parkering gekry by die begrafplaas se ingang.

Deel van die gees wat in die dorpe heers. Orals staan tente, opblaas swembadjies, vuurtjie brand. Lekker man.

Die laaaang tou by die ingang. Kind in ‘n pram het toe sy voordeel. Net so 5 minute gewag toe kry ons ‘n pass na héél voor – bypass sommer ook security checks.

Dié ou het sy geld dubbel en dwars gemaak. Moes glo net die stêrre ingevlieg het, toe kry hy die brein-wave om rittel gangers ‘n trip te gee. Bygesê, dis wat die rumours sê.  R250 per persoon, 4 op ‘n slag, elke 7 minute. Sy som is gemaak.

Die Slingshot! Bungee toue en jy tol soos ‘n woer-woer in die middel in ‘n bucket-seat met ‘n roll-cage – Nie eens al betaal jy my nie.

Skaduwee was maar skaars – en die tente was bedompig en warm. Hier sit ‘n man met sy seuntjie in die skadu van ‘n paal.

Behalwe die treffer hemde wat elke jaar rond pronk, was die Rittel bling hierdie jaar verspotte pruike. Sulke reënboog mohawks en vlegsels en krulle lokke.

Daai tannie se woeste kapsel raak nat in die water-mis van Klip-ini-bos. Beste idee ooit ouens!

Toe raak my poppie lekker moeg en haar ogies is rooi en sy moet aan die paal klou om regop te bly.

Te veel mense, sonskerm en musiek en ons sny ‘n lyn huis toe.

Reguit swemban toe.  Tap hom vol pappie.

Amelia het haar nuwe cozzie aan. Gêk in die water.

Ek gooi terug Rittelfes toe en neem nie naastens so baie foto’s as wat ek gedink het nie. Die ene was nogal volop en het saam getou vir Spur burgers.

Chip dog! Slegte pic, en die vrou in die rolstoel voor my het gesê ek moet sê hierdie man met die bakkie afval kêrrie is ongeskik

Daar was selfss piek feetjies!

Dink dis Lianie May op die stage.

Hand blok bietjie die son. Hi-Tech mense.

Dit was Arno Jordaan, ek belowe.

En toe loop Ellen my raak! Lekker om jou op die platteland te sien vriendin!

VIP tent het bogroll in the toilette!

Hoofverhoog view vanaf VIP area

Juanita is daai groen-gelerige blur. En al wou sy nie, het sy toe vir Ska-rumba gesing! Ararioh

Ek kon die sweetdruppels op Kurt Darren se vvorkop sien – dis hoe naby ons was. Hy het nie eens Meisie-meisie gesing nie. Sorry ouerns, as daar ‘n song is wat jou op die map gesit het, sing dit vir die dronk spul – dis al woorde wat hulle ken

En so paar sparkles om jou te laat nies van die swawel.

Toe ek deur die maan betower is. Daar was ‘n kring om hom – al het die Amerikaners dit nou die dag probeer opblaas.

en as jy rertig wil weet how ek ingesmokkel is.

Up for It is the brainchild of Opi. Every week she posts “challenges’” to readers. They in turn are encouraged to post about their experiences. Read more on her About page.

So for celebrating this new blog, she is hosting a giveaway!

Anyone can enter. And by being more active and participating in other challenges, you increase your number of entries into the giveway.

I’ve added the site’s button to the column on the right. Go check out the site today!

Everyone wants a good blog, or even a better one. This week’s challenge from Up for It is to make a Bletter Blog.

A link takes you to a 31 step program to help you with this goal. Not all the steps are applicable to this one of mine, but even so, I will implement some.

First up is that I will update my About page to a proper one. When I started it explained what it was about, but my scope has changed a bit as my life has changed, and in stead of just adding a little blurb, I will actually rewrite it completely.

Dyshidrosis and variastions on spelling – but this is how Wiki spells i, but I have found published works that also spell it dishydrosis.

Warning. TMI (too much information) to follow
Like the Nac Mac Feegle, I believe in the power of words, and thus also the power of names.

I’ve had this problem off and on since 2002, more on than off really. It’s a ‘rash’ on my right hand; making dry patches, but also deep set watery blisters that erupt and leave the skins scaly (TMI, I know…. But frankly, I don’t care … edit -à I put a TMI warning up top) I’ve tried almost everything. The closest to the correct diagnosis was a GP at Blueroute Mall. He told me that I’m allergic to nickel. Solution: avoid nickel. It didn’t help.

I’ve tried Crystal violet, since it has anti gram-positive properties. And people kept on telling me in shops that there’s purple ink on my hand. Idiots. I tried medaspor, tinaderm, and cortisone based creams. Nothing helps. Sometimes it took the itch away, but was never really cured.

Then I fell pregnant. At my first check-up with my doc she prescribes half a tube of Fatty Ointment. So far, that is the only stuff that works with continuous use. Unfortunately I can only get it with a prescription L Good news it that the rash seemed to have disappeared while I was on maternity leave.

But the moment I came back to work it flared up and become worse than ever. So I decided to google it. Checked out some eczema sites and compared my symptoms and there it was. Dishydrosis. I searched some more, wanting to know everything.

SLS. The next big culprit is in liquid soap, shampoos and detergents. My first reaction was to nickel, but soap containing SLS aggravates it. Cure is to avoid soap. In my line of work that is not an option. I wash my hands at least 20 times a day. And I hate using barrier cream. It blocks my pores and I can’t handle any tubes ‘cause my hands are slippery. I do work with gloves (non latex of course for my latex allergy, but I still wash my hands often). So I switch to a soap bar. I’ve never seen my hand look so bad. It’s as if the bar focused the reaction more.

I re-googled, this time looking for specific cures. Reading up what other people have tried. And a Jingle stuck in my head’ “ Dove is not a soap.” I literally googled:”Will DOVE cure my dishydrosis?” And I found so many testimonies relating to DOVE being the only soap that doesn’t cause blistering.

Some sites also say that stress can trigger a blistering attack. I am under a lot of stress at this time of year. We have a lot of deadlines with small periods in which to complete certain tasks – sounds like a reality TV show, but nope, it’s real life hey. So I try and delegate as much as possible, but that’s about all I can do about the stress factor. However I can change my soap right?

Now at home I wash Amelia with a bar of baby soap – no more liquid soaps. And I only use Dove bar soap. I got me a bar for work as well. It’s been 2 days, and the improvement is significant!!! I still have some blistering (that’s another theory) but the dry patches are gone. It doesn’t itch. The old broken skin is healing nicely. I will try this for a month and see if  Dove is my long-term solution.

Now I have a great excuse to get a dishwasher