Latin
I did Latin at school. To say I studied it is not entirely accurate. I thought translations were tedious and completely irrelevant, and spent my time learning about ancient Roman culture instead.
Avoiding ‘flu
I think it's time we reclaimed the word "influenza", because it sounds a whole lot scarier than "'flu". My thinking behind that philosophy is based on the fact that we're about to face another respiratory infection pandemic like SARS (the virus, not the tax department). And, quite frankly, influenza is scary. 5% of the human population died in the Spanish 'flu pandemic (around 50 – 100 million people), and 20% were infected, between 1918 – 1920.
Paris Hilton
45 days in prison for being stupid. I really like that. I think more people should go to jail for being thick. Sure, we'd have massive overcrowding in American prisons, but at least the clever ones could get things done instead of writing shit about non-celebrities like Paris Hilton … oh, wait …
Politicking
The Democratic Alliance, ruled for the past eight years by Tony Leon, is currently in a two-day congress to elect a new leader. I hope aunty Helen wins. She's the white man's answer to aunty Patty.
The National Lottery
The Lotto was suspended six weeks ago after Uthingo's licence ran out. To this date, despite noises assurances from government that a new operator would be licenced by now, nothing has happened.
Hello Loic
A friend of mine from Queen's College whom I met in Standard Six (1990) and then again at Parktown Boys' High in (I think?) 1993 has re-established contact after almost 13 years.
Eeek!
I've written over 16 000 words since November 2006. Why can't I write a book?
American Idol
During various series that I did actually watch, I picked Will Young, the little Norwegian hobbit who won World Idol, Heinz Winkler and Anke, and Taylor Hicks, long before they actually won their respective titles.
Spam Poetry
For a long while, I've been sporadically collecting titles of spam messages hitting my inbox. I've now found the line that will transform noise into poetry. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Petrol price
Today, the petrol price went up again, this time to R7.01 per litre in Gauteng (where half the country's population lives). Knock-on effects include increases in the cost of transporting, well, practically everything. This includes food and clothing – you know – the little things …