The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

THE GOOD:

• Chippy Shaik is packing for Perth. Poor guy. Half of Europe is investigating dodgy aspects of our arms deal, which he helped negotiate, and it has emerged that his doctoral thesis was, shall we say, not all his own work. Now he feels so hard done by, that his contribution to the struggle is not being given the proper recognition, so he's abandoning ship, as it were. There are several good things about this: Struggle contribution or no struggle contribution, if he can't understand the difference between basic honesty and decency and the absence thereof, we're better off without him. And, if I'm not mistaken, we do have an extradition treaty with Australia.
• The Springboks, in a less-than-perfect display of rugby, demolished England 58-10 in Bloemfontein at the weekend.
• Patricia de Lille is no longer getting the attention she craves over her moronic suggestion that the state regulate the blogging activities of South Africa's citizens. No doubt she fails to appreciate the irony of the fact that "male prostitute" is now one of the most searched phrases in the South African blogosphere.
  

THE BAD:

• It's a tad warmer than it was a week ago, but winter in Joburg continues to get on my tits. It feels as if an icy claw has stretched up from Antarctica and has grabbed me by the testicles. I am filled with dread at the thought of another four months of this.
  
• I continue to be plagued by terminal insomnia. A year without a decent night's sleep can't be healthy.

THE UGLY:

• My band's recording session at the weekend degenerated into a battle of egos. What should have been a pleasant, fun, rewarding and productive experience ended up more a demonstration of what happens when one of a closely knit group of individuals turns out to be an inconsiderate, negative know-it-all. We thought we could do this without falling prey to the politics and infighting that bedevils nearly all bands. We can't.