snowgoose

So you all know that I’m the Snowgoose, this is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that I’m not the Snowgoose at all; I’ve been carrying a dark secret and living a lie my whole life… but we’ll get to that.

First a bit of background: My surname is Schneigansz (shnaai-guns), hard to pronounce but majestic in meaning – Snowgoose.
I have always been very proud to be a Snowgoose, both the animal and the book evokes thoughts of purity, commitment, nobility and friendship.

My dad was the original Snowgoose. He was a big cheese in corporate South Africa in the 80’s and was known only as “Snowgoose” or “Goose” (Retief stole it from him, I tell you!) He even went so far as to have a one metre brass Snowgoose plaque made that is on his wall outside his house to this day.

My dad wanted a son and heir; he went through 3 wives and 5 daughters before he gave up. This means that our family name will not continue past my generation and this always saddened me. So when I was in design school and learning about branding, it struck me: I don’t have to be a Schneigansz to be a Snowgoose! And so I set out creating my personal brand – I even designed a Snowgoose logo and got it tattooed onto my back. He’s never said anything but I’d like to think my dad is really proud that I’m carrying the Snowgoose legacy into the future.

Aw, sweet – how inspiring… Pity its all crap!

A few years ago I was speaking to a real German (in English, I don’t speak a word of German) and I was telling him my Snowgoose story. Just as I got to the stirring father-daughter bit he stopped me and said the words that caused the biggest identity crisis I had ever had:

“You do realise that your surname doesn’t mean Snowgoose, don’t you?”
“No” I replied, “it does mean Snowgoose”. I proceeded to explain to this German native like he was an imbecile; “Schnei= snow, Gansz= goose… see?”
“Sorry meine liebschen” (OK, he didn’t say meine liebschen, I made that bit up. Anyway…) “Schnei = Cut, Gans=goose. So your surname actually means Cut goose”, he smiled.
“What!?!? What do you mean Cut goose? No, NO – My surname means Snowgoose, see? I even got it tattooed on my… O MY SACK! Do you mean that the goose etched into my sensitive skin for eternity is a CUT goose!?!?”

At that point I nearly fainted and felt murderous thoughts replacing the fondness for my father that I was waxing lyrical only moments before.  He never told me! He must have known and he let me believe this for 22 years! Can you imagine if I had gone to Germany and told everyone my Snowgoose story – I would have been the laughing stock of the Motherland!

After some more research (I love research), I discovered that my ancestry in Germany has the surname “Schneegans”. It’s quite a common surname over there but any online searches for Schneigansz just returned the same handful of people each time, all South African. 

I know very little about my dad’s family and have never met them but I do know they came to South Africa around the time of World War 2 and they changed the spelling of the surname (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to why). So my dignity is saved! I really am a Snowgoose! Just because my weird grandparents couldn’t spell doesn’t mean I have to erase my whole identity. Deep down I knew all along, I even said it in this blog post… I don’t have to be a Schneigansz (or even a Schneegans) to be a Snowgoose.  Heck, I’m a Snowgoose already and always have been.

Long live the goose!

Here’s the deal:
1. Sit down
2. TAKE A PICTURE OF YOURSELF RIGHT NOW. Don’t primp, just snap one!
3. Upload it
4. Tag 5 people to do the same
5. Hashtag it #merightnow on Twitter

Tagged in this post:

1. Tanya de Ville (@snappingturtle)

2. Steven McD (@StevenMcD)

3. Jenty (@jenty)

4. Zahira Kharsany (@zk)

5. Sheena Gates (@Shebeegee)

Go!

I love to act like a 5 year old with ADD sometimes. When my boss sends around emails asking if anyone wants to attend a conference, instead of the standard: “I would love to be included, many thanks” I always reply “oohh OOOH… PICK MEEEE!” and copy the whole department in. I’m famous for bucking the corporate trend and calling everyone “dude” and telling suppliers they “rock the party that rocks the party” in official emails. It’s just me, and people always comment on how refreshing it is. But as with every 5 year old with ADD, I’m not always cute. I also have my spoiled brat moments and though they are infrequent and mostly in private, they happen.

Like now for instance: My amazing and very hardworking boyfriend and partner in crime, Shaun Custers, is down in Cape Town as we speak, blogging the Standard Bank Pro20 final. Through his passion for cricket & social media and his awesome new venture – SA Cricket Blog – he was chosen by Standard Bank as the only Gauteng blogger to travel to the final and live blog it. And very deservedly so – he has been really committed to blogging the Pro20 games this season.

“Woah, hold on a minute!” you may be saying “but don’t you work for Standard Bank?”.
Yes. I do, and the Achiever Box at the final is a part of my biggest, and most favourite campaign to date (www.standardbank.co.za/achiever), one I have been working on non-stop since July last year. But in these “tough economic times” (gawd, I hate that term!) budgets are tight and the Bank can’t just be sending people off on Weekends in Cape Town, that would be irresponsible and unfair to our customers. I understand that and as a customer myself, fully support it.

Well, the 25 year old me does. The ADD stricken 5 year old inside is whining; “but it’s MY campaign… why can’t I be there…whyyyyyy mommmmeeeee!?!?!”. As I sit here alone in my study with the sound of my annoying neighbours in the background instead of seagulls and a smog-laden Johannesburg my view instead of “the Mountain”, the 5 year old is winning the battle.

I know I’m being a spoiled brat – I have had more awesome opportunities in the last year than Shaun has had in his whole life. I am very very happy for him and even more proud of him.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not pouting. And boy, am I pouting!

My drinking buddy Zahira (a.k.a @zk) is the Momma of this week’s victim. (I say drinking buddy cos she doesn’t drink, so she gives her free drinks at 27Dinner to me!). I haven’t met Kay “in real life” yet, but after reading about her, I sure want to.

So without further ado, I present you Kay – a Hatchling that’s out of this world!

Real name (or “Earth name” if you come from the planet Zigort):
erm… my passport says Khadija Patel but I think the goons manning the immigration desk up on the Earth-Moon border, meddled with that.

Where do you live? (Besides the 5th solar system, down the lane from the Xreton star):
Joburg/Jozi/Johannesburg, nestled behind electric fence, a boom gate and sluggish security guards, somewhere between the mine dumps (there was a time I thought they were mountains) and the FNB stadium.

Twitter URL:
http://twitter.com/kayenchante

Blog/website URL:
http://kayenchantey.blogspot.com

Tell us a bit about yourself. Include something that we dont know, like when did you land on earth or are you related to Kevin Bacon?
I speak copious amounts of Pig Latin and am quite fluent in Garbeledygoo. I offer lessons if anyone’s interested…. Oh and I intend earning my Nobel peace prize by giving sign writers the world over free lessons in the use of the apostrophe.

When & how did you get interested in the Social Media community in South Africa (Facebook doesnt count)?
I started blogging on a lonely December night a couple of years ago, quite convinced that if I set up a blog and wrote a few lines the internet Gods would send adulatory readers my way. Hélas, my faith in the net Gods waned and so too my blogging activity. Then a friend started blogging and wondered aloud why I didn’t start one as well, I explained my love’s labour’s lost affair with the deities of the web and decided I would contribute to her blog instead. And then quite miraculously within that hour I received an email from a Ugandan sub-editor saying he quite liked my blog and politely asked why I hadn’t continued blogging. It was sign from above enough.

That I’m a Twitter addict I blame @zk. I first met her at a blog meet and then at a talk shop held by some previously grand empire nation and well Twitter should have her on their payroll, she extols the virtues of social media so enthusiastically, it’s rather infectious after a couple of sessions. Although, she’s quite adamant I’m now worse of an addict than her, I’ll give her the credit for that dubious honour.

What do you do when you are not tweeting/blogging (or abducting earthlings to probe)?
I used to quite enjoy doing nothing but blog and pretend to do an MA in a thing called sociolinguistics (not social linguistics like the nosy bank manager’s got in my file) and proudly brandish the cause of the gainfully unemployed, but then this thing happened, I started meeting these fantastic people and somewhere in the periphery of the hive started selling my words, I still think it’s a kind of prostitution, but the words are easier now. Currently, I’ve got an entire magazine to fill with prostituted bits of language, so while the MA is still a work in progress, it’s on the backburner while I peddle the words on a street corner near you.

What is the one thing in your life you simply cannot live without?
I don’t think there’s any one thing I could point out, there’s so much that contributes to a complete life (even an alien one).

In 20 words or less, why should people follow you on Twitter/read your blog?
I am, because of everyone. And I live (and twitter) so that I can contribute, in turn, to everyone. (as per my spindoctor @mirfaan)

Well Kay, welcome to Earth. And thanks for making me paranoid about my incorrect use of the apostrophe.

P.S. If you have recently introduced anyone to the twitterverse or blogosphere and want them to be a Hatchling, email me.

The second hatchling, I cannot lay claim to. That honour belongs to Nic Malan. He managed the near impossible feat of turning his mom into a geek! I kid you not. I struggle to explain where the “start” menu in Windows is to my mom and he’s got his tweeting! Kudos to you dude… and she’s interesting too!

See for yourself…

The second Snowgoose Hatchling.

Real name (or “new” name if you are in the Witness Protection Programme):
Virginia Malan

Where do you live? (so we can tell the Mafia bosses who are looking for you where to find you):
Tongaat, north coast

Twitter URL:
http://twitter.com/geekmommie

Blog/website URL:
oops not that geekie yet   (Nic, get your mom a blog! )

Tell us a bit about yourself. Include something that we dont know, like are you The Stig or a secret ANC Youth League supporter?
I am an absolute housewife, I was retrenched about 6 years ago after about 20 years doing various jobs in retail. Then an rs (repetitive stress) neck injury slowed me down and I had to stay at home for a while- that’s when  I discovered I enjoy not working. I am happily married to Adrian, a pharmacist. We love holidays in the bush and he loves bird watching- I take magazines.

When & how did you get interested in the Social Media community in South Africa (Facebook doesnt count)?
I have been watching Nic’s blog (Nic Malan- son extraordinaire, geekissues.co.za) for about a year and learning how to follow links etc. Then I decided to try facebook but felt it was a little bit voyeurish, and I wasn’t to keen to share with everyone. Then when Nic came home for Xmas I got to learn about twitter and really enjoy it. I still feel I look far more than I write, and I think its because I have a very low key life, but that is who I am. I enjoy following social and political issues and funny stuff and general news.

What do you do when you are not tweeting/blogging (cos we are all so nosy and need to fulfill our voyeuristic needs)?
Meet girlfriends for coffee or lunch, Pilates- the best way to stay fit and mobile, play with my dogs and computer, a little bit of gardening. Watching sport, that’s what you get for bringing up 2 boys- TV on sports channels all the time.

What is the one thing in your life you simply cannot live without?
chocolate

In 20 words or less, why should people follow you on Twitter/read your blog?
Because I live an ordinary life and that’s ok- took a long time to accept it.

I hope you found value in learning more about the coolest geek-mom in SA. If you didn’t, well then “pfffffffft for you!”

P.S. If you have recently introduced anyone to the twitterverse or blogosphere and want them to be a Hatchling, email me.