South Africa
Part 97
Based on emails from January, 2004.
G'day Steve,
Now that I'm having a few days off, I've had time to solve a few puzzles. On the index page of MrB there's a pic of Ivan and Egor that's been there for years. I'm not sure it's the right pic for the job... one that illustrates what MrB is all about. But I don't wanna upset Egor or Ivan by replacing it. So! Steve to the rescue with a montage! Can you take the existing pic, and give it a bit of Steve pizzazz with a bit of Cody stuff and whatever in a montage. That's probably the most important page on the site in terms of whether or not visitors will take the next step... speaking of which, I'm using my time off to simplify the whole visitor's area.
Meantime, good luck with Dave and getting Cody's site back on track. MrB will always be a backup host in case you need it.
BTW, how did Christmas go at the T's? :-P
Your friend and the Codeman's,
Gary
Re: {Spam!} Re: One more. :)
Hi Gary. Not a prob with working on the graphic but it might not be for a week or two. I am up to my eyeballs in organising a few things here at home and getting ready for year 2 at varsity.
Ive had a couple of emails from Francois about hassles with the [Cody] page but Dave has been in contact with me and has been pretty busy with helping me trying to resolve the Codys World issue. I think he is also quite baffled about it cos he's done everything that needs to be done. Ive also had to let it slide a bit now because the timing is just getting worse as the year starts.
Christmas at Codys was really awesome. The Ts seem to have their lives back in order again or kinda. Codys room has been made into a kinda reading room with the Codemans sound system in it and a couple of huge comfortable chairs and good lighting and it has a great feel about it. The walls are still full of Cody stuff and his board is standing in the corner waiting for someone to fetch it. The bed is gone, I think to make more space for the big chairs.
The Endless Summer poster is still there and I quizzed Chris about it. He reckons he will probably never take it off of Codys wall. Thats where it belongs and he still spends a load of time there and he says with the sound system still there he does a lot of taping and listening to music. Hey we all get a bit choked up whenever our minds drift to the room's history but that will always be the case.
And no Mark wasnt there. I know how your mind works and that is what you were hoping. But he phoned them on Christmas morning and he is hoping to be in South Africa during Easter and has promised to connect with everyone. He phoned me once as well so its cool that he is staying in contact. He and Tracy are still an item so he obviously has plans to be back here and maybe they are going to sail into the sunset together or something. :)
Okey dokey and I didnt say fuck once.
Peace, Love, Respect
Steve
G'day Steve,
I wonder why my mail server decided to suggest that your mail might be spam? *Shrug*
I'm trying to identify with how busy you are over there preparing for the new varsity year. I think I've been too long in the country. Tareeitis has set in. The only time there's a rush around here is when I'm cooking dinner and timing all the elements to be ready simultaneously. I don't even wake to an alarm... I get up before it. I wake somewhere between 4 and 6, and have the alarm set for 7. How Irish is that?
Dave must be Irish as well if he says he's done everything to allow you to update Cody's World and yet it doesn't work. That's like Sue who says she's looked everywhere when she can't find something. But she's Welsh.
The compromise with Cody's room sounds great. Not much point in having it as a museum. I'm sure he'd be pleased that it was being put to good use, but that it still contains enough of his memorabilia to be Code's room. I can't imagine it ever being without the Captain's stick, for example. I also appreciate Wingnut leaving the Endless Summer poster on the wall. I'll bet he has little chats with Code whenever he's in 'our' room.
I wonder where the bed went? The garage? Anyway, that's one bed that can tell a helluva lotta stories. In fact, it already has, and they're all on MrB. The spare mattress didn't get much of a look in hehe. I'm not surprised you guys still get a bit choked up when you reminisce about that room's history. Me, too. Cody did a incredible job of making sure no one would ever forget him. Not a day goes by without my thinking about him. His pics will remain on my shelf forever [and travel around Oz with me one day]. Ditto the bead necklace around my neck and the bracelet you made for my wrist. :)
Good news about the Ts getting their lives back in order. Nothing will ever be the same, of course, but they have each other and they have Cody's friends. BTW, you never mention Paul. Do the Ts ever hear from him? I often think of one line Cody wrote me: "I dunno what my folks would do if anything ever happened to me." Well, that eventuality came to pass, but I'm proud of the Ts for handling it as well as they have, and for embracing the friendship of his buds [and lovers]. Cody once told me that I had a "big piece of real estate" in his heart, and I'm sure his folks feel the same about you and the rest of Code's close friends. Always and forever, as Jace says.
It would have been cool if Mark had been there for Christmas, but he's on a lifelong journey, literally. I think it was wicked that he phoned the Ts and kept them up to date with his goings on, and that he's promised to connect with everyone again at Easter. Back in SA? He must be at sea somewhere at the mo. Jeez, imagine the convos between you two old fogies in 50 years from now. Mark with a parrot on his shoulder and you behind a big desk.
But your respective adventures really began the day you met Code. You're not the same guys you would've been if you hadn't. Ditto moi. And to give us credit, Cody wouldn't have been the same person either if he hadn't met us. I also like to think about the friendship that got a foothold between Mark and Mr T during the family vacation up the Garden Route when he and Mark went fishing early in the mornings. They must've had cool convos sitting in the dinghy, floating around in the early morning mist, especially given that Mr T was the first father-figure that Mark had ever experienced. And that reminds me, Cody is the only dude who has ever wished me for Father's Day. :) And guess who cooked the fish that Mr T and Mark caught? Yep, Popeye the Sailor Man.
Interesting that Mark phoned you as well. Your trip to Joburg to settle things with him certainly turned things around. I remember the day you wrote me to say that you'd made up your mind to apologize to all the people you'd hurt. That took a lotta guts, and Cody would have been soooo proud of you, as indeed we all are.
Anyway, thanks for the update, and I hope you get Cody's World sorted soon. Thanks also for the upcoming graphic for MrB, as well as for the last set. They're brilliant. Love the little bar code. :) And good luck with year two! Head down, bum up. A couple more years down the track and Steve will be a blonde bombshell with a degree! No more blonde jokes hehe.
Your friend and the Codeman's,
Gary
Hi Gary, SPAM or SPERM ? Buggered around and tried something like these. Just a start for an idea. The island palms one... well fuck just check those two out. Horny toads. :)
PLR
YFATC
Steve
Island Palms. The other three are 'gif' images so you can put them on to any background. This one youre gonna have to use in the member area if you use it. Bit of a cockup.
hahahaha
G'day Steve,
There ya go. I plant a seed in your imagination, your creative juices begin to flow, and you throw something together before you planned to. That's why poets sit bolt upright in the middle of the night and write something.
I like what you've done with mrb book. I dunno what else you plan to add or whatever, but there's always a risk of overcomplicating a design if you do something extra just for the sake of it. Anyway, I've just added #1 to the MrB index page and it looks pretty cool. The previous pic of Ivan and Egor didn't really relate to MrB.
As for the Island Palms graphic, what were you on when you thought of that? It's colorful. :-P I'll have to find an appropriate spot for it in the story. You're in it, so maybe it can be a gift from you to Harold and Oswald. I'll look forward to their reaction hehe.
I thought your signoff was something about Yasser Arafat until I realized it was an acronym for the usual signoff. There's an Aussie political commentator who mimicks voices, and refers to Arafat as 'Crack-a-fat'. :)
Your friend and the Codeman's,
GaryCopyright © 2004 All rights reserved. mrbstories
