confidently the wrong way

The other day I re-watched "Never Been Kissed". I like Drew Barrymore to some extent, but you have to admit that the movie falls flat of even the teen-movie standard. I was re-watching the movie because I wanted to make sure I didn't like it before I put it in the VCR to record baseball games on. I didn't like it - despite my high school past - which some of you are aware of. (The rest of you get no answers at this late date.) However an interesting quote popped into my head this morning. I was driving to an ad agency to show off some of our photographers' portfolios and I was thinking about how great my job is and I am really loving even the networking part because if I'm not gonna be working in the field of migration, well hanging around a whole bunch of creative people is a really wonderful second best. It was then that I remembered the line from the bad movie. Something about how there is always the one kid who just exudes so much confidence, that he is always going to be successful. I'd quote it directly, but there is a baseball game where the movie used to be.

I got so into thinking about when and how I developed confidence. I'd say it was 1998. When I really was in high school - I didn't have confidence, but I did have a lot of guts. So anything that looked like confidence in myself, was really just juvenile stupidity. Not that I don't still have some of that in the mix. But I am straying, which is exactly what I did this morning. I went the wrong way. In Johannesburg, going the wrong way can get you killed. This morning though, I was in the northern suburbs - where hijackings don't normally entail a loss of life - just a lengthy insurance process. But it was okay see, I was busy sporting my confidence and I am pretty sure that I would have driven over anyone who dared come close to my car.

So while I was busy trying to find my way I thought about the last time I made a wrong turn, or rather, forgot to turn which landed me straight down into Hillbrow. For those unfamiliar with Johannesburg, Hillbrow is not somewhere you want to find yourself lost. If you want to find drugs, prostitutes and violent death you go to Hillbrow; other than that, you go around Hillbrow even if it is the most direct route. So when I was supposed to take a left from Louis Botha onto a road that doesn't come of Louis Botha and I couldn't find it, I ended up taking Louis Botha into Hillbrow and I didn't want to be there. But I didn't panic - I figured, rather blindly that Joburg central was ahead of me and if I could just get there, then I could make a right towards Parktown and try to get to Troyeville from a diferent angle. I managed that - all by myself. I didn't take out my phone, because I really did not want to call attention to the fact that I had possessions in my car. So I kept going into town and turned right into Parktown, just as expected and I thought I was going to make it because I have been to Troyeville before coming from Parktown. So I made all the turns I thought I needed to but at one point the road kind of forks and I faltered, so I took the right, which - you guessed it - took me straight back to Louis Botha and into Hillbrow.

At some point on Louis Botha in Hillbrow there is a BP garage. I've heard stories about this BP, but it was daylight, there were cars filling up and I was pretty confident that if I pulled next to it, I could identify a street name so I could figure out what I was doing wrong. Well, it was a mistake, 3 men came rushing towards my car. They promised they had what I was looking for. I was looking for directions to Troyeville and I probably wouldn't have even taken it from them, supposing they were on the a la carte menu of things you can buy in Hillbrow. At some point, before I could get my window rolled up, a guy threw a cardboard scrap into my car, at which point, I floored it out of there, drove into town, made a right into Parktown, made the appropriate turns and veered left at the fork in the road. From there I knew exactly what I was doing. Now Troyeville has its fair share of the crime pie in Joburg, but after Hillbrow, driving next to Ponte was a walk in the park. When I finally made it to Johannes' house, I got out of my car (sweating so bad I felt dehydrated) and Johannes said, "Well, you've got perserverence". I reached back into the car and pulled out my cardboard scrap and said, "Well, Kevin has everything else you need." After a glass of water, I was fine.

Now look, nothing like that happened in Sunninghill this morning, I backtracked, made a left into Witkoppen and arrived at the reception of Herdbouys McCann-Erikson without even breaking a sweat. I walked in, cool and confident - however, very much aware that confident decisions after a wrong turn are really silly indeed. And I was grateful that I only developed my self confidence after high school, because if you think my driving is bad now, you can only imagine...