JovialJMan - Geocaching (Glorified Treasure Hunting)

"Greg isn't here to leave a comment on this picture" - Not OddballGreg

Going around looking for plastic containers in the bush so you can leave your name and when you found it, doesn't that sound like so much fun?

Geocaching, when put as simple as you can, does not sound like something that almost 2 and a half million people are actively doing. Yes, it is that amazing, that so many people are doing it, (you should try). To give it a slightly better description it is a treasure hunt using a GPS which takes you to many places, that you may have never been to before, to try and find these little treasures hidden away with, occasionally, small trinkets inside.

I still remember the very first time I went geocaching with my dad when he started 5 or 6 years ago. It was behind an airport but sadly the place was a bit dirty with litter, but that did not diture the 13ish me, nooo, I really wanted to find this as I would be the first in the family to do so. Who would have thunk that I actually did find it.

MY brother, father and myself at one of many caches.

Geocaching has led us to places with such beauty that I cannot find the right words to convey it, I have seen waterfalls, streams in gorges, to name just 2. The people you meet along the way are just as amazing. I have met so many wonderful people that are always upbeat and cheery and some have become family (one team of which we see weekly, Teehee).

The Geocaching community is having a MEGA event soon well, to be specific, it is from the 4th to the 6th of October 2014, which I am attending. It will be the second one in South Africa, (I also attended the first because I am just that awesome). I am eagerly awaiting it as I have not been to Natal in a really long time and the family there just as long. It is going to be a really good 3 days, some of which I will be spending with my family. If you would like to know more information about it please follow @Mega_KZN .

This is the logo of the First MEGA in South africa.

I must apologize to all the Geocachers out there that might find the opening statement sarcastic but we all know it is AWESOME fun. If you enjoyed this post, or are a Geocacher yourself, please let us know down in the comments or on Twitter/Facebook, as we here at TCSA really love to hear from you. If you know of anyone with a GPS or likes meeting new people, or seeing beautiful places (that is pretty much everyone), please Share this with them as I am sure they would appreciate it. If you would like to see more posts as they are published, like us on Facebook and follow us on twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. I shall write to you again overmorrow.

Happy hunting fellers.

JovialJMan - Origami And Other Pastimes

"Photographers that take pictures in portrait are painful... Unless we did it to make you think it looks funny." - OddballGreg

If you've ever been bored, then you'll understand that boredom can lead to one doing all sorts of strange things to try and pass the time. In my case, making cool things out of paper and playing random weird games were the way to go. Lets talk about that.

Since I started this year with nothing to do, as jobs are hard to find, I started to try different things to keep me from dying of boredom during those slow months. One of the things I started doing was Origami. I had previously made many transforming ninja stars, which I learnt to make in primary school. These have been extras on various birthday gifts and have made a fair share of afternoons busy in the past. Just the other day, I made some with OddballGreg and his brother and then we proceeded to throw it them at each other and see how good our aim was.

So I got started on making the Origami Icosahedron which is in the header image. This bad boy uses 15 squares of paper which you cut in half to make 30 separate pieces in total. So yeah, that is a story for another day. I also made, (cut from a template), a 3D staircase which I cannot seem to find now. After all of that, I also began this one project. I cannot remember the name so please forgive me for not mentioning it, but the end result is supposed to look like a rotated cube inside another cube . It took me over 5 days to complete and I had people try and help me along the way.

Now for the slightly more digital pastimes, I play various computer/PlayStation games and occasionally when I go to a friends house, Xbox games aswell. Some of the games I really enjoyed from my years of playing are Diablo 2 LoD, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, Fable, Minecraft, Duke Nukem 3D, and various others.

Recently I have also played Aura Kingdom, Path of Exile, and the one that is still stealing my time a lot recently: Rimworld (thank you Mr. Oddball for making me not concentrate of my life). Dungeon Siege 1 is the only full game that I have finished to the end of the story without any help such as tutorials, cheats or hints. Then we also all know of our good friend YouTube, who keeps showing you all these awesome videos one after another and next thing you know, the sun is coming up.

The older generation, however, didn't have these electronic forms of entertainment. From the stories that I hear all the time, they played in the streets with the other kids that lived nearby, cycled around on their bikes and stayed outside until it is dark. Many of our parents, as children, either built or played in a tree house. (I have only ever played in 2 of those, and they are awesome.) Some of the mischievous things they got up to was also quite entertaining, like one of them tied long grass together over a pathway and hid in this grass and waited to see people trip. Why do you think people were more fit back then? Probably because they had to run really quickly.

My parents lived in the same street when they were younger, and all of those kids that lived on their street that they played with, keep in contact to this very day, granted they don't see each other very often, but they still see each other. That is something that I think my generation is going to miss out on.

For instance, from my whole group at school that I used to hang out with, I have only seen 2 in the past 4 months, and then there is Greg. We didn't hang out that much at school but we are the best of friends and still talk to each other, (kinda hard not to, since we both write here. Teehee) Anyways, I do wish that there were ways in which those times from our parents past had could be the same once again, even just to a limited degree.

In any case, If you have enjoyed today's post or have any hobbies or pastimes that you enjoy spending time on, please let us know about them down in the comments below, over Twitter or on Facebook. If you have friends that like origami or just want to see what other people do in their spare time, I am sure they would like to give this a view, so please share this with them aswell. If you would like to see more posts as they come out, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter with the associated buttons on the bar to the left. Thank you for reading and I hope that you have/had a good day. I shall write again zeg.

Have fun my friends