The Demented Diva

Unless you have been living under a rock, you would have heard of the Saturday shooting at a Democratic rally in Tucson, Arizona. In case you DID miss it; during a Saturday rally in a shopping center, a gunman named Jared Loughner, opened fire on the crowd, injuring many & killing 6. Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and is currently in a serious condition in hospital.  While American politics is not something I will pretend to know anything about, I do know that since Barack Obama has been voted into power, the Republican opposition have been going out of their way to make life difficult for him.

 I honestly feel sorry for Obama as he tries to shovel America out of the deep shit that former president Bush has buried them under (along with badly made business decisions from the private sector). While trying to bring progressive health care within reach of the average American, republicans have accused him of trying to ‘steal’ their healthcare and have whipped up the nation against, what is imho, a very necessary change in a country where Health insurance companies have the average man by the short and curlies (watch ‘Sicko’ to get an idea). As the Republican rhetoric have become more and more vitriolic, upstanding pions of society, like Sarah Palin, have made no bones about what Americans SHOULD do:

Tweet by Palin that has since been removed

This tweet was removed shortly after the incident on Saturday.

Interesting to note that Gifford’s offices was vandalised after she voted for the healthcare bill last year. Her republican challenger, former marine sergeant Jesse Kelly, held a fundraiser in which they offered donors a chance to shoot an M-16 to ‘help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office’.

The Much-talked about Hit-list

Now, while I am not blaming Ms Palin and her ilk for the events in Tucson, I hope that this shocking event will make her think about her actions and words in future. Posting images like this (a veritable hit list) was beyond stupid. Her office now claims that the crosshairs over certain districts are nothing more than surveyor marks, but suffice to say that they were poorly chosen. Add to this invitations by Republicans to shoot M-16 assault rifles at their get-togethers, and you have to shake your head in awe at the stupidity of it all.

In Africa (and South Africa) we know, for the most part, the power of ill-thought out speeches by powerful politicians. Calling people cockroaches (Rwanda) and phrases like ‘kill the boer’ have lead to situations that no rational thinking human being could wish for. When you encourage people to arm themselves, who is to blame when they do..?

On a day when some areas in Cape Town were experiencing temperatures in excess of 40 Degrees Celsius (visit my friend 6000 website for proof), I took a half day at work & took my son to the beach. The initial plan was to go to the Newlands pool, but this was quickly abandoned when we heard that there was a queue at the pool at 9 in the morning. Then we considered going to gym, but as you start paying for parking after 90 minutes The Kid poo-pooed that idea. He then had the brilliant idea of going to Camp’s Bay… and when I say Brilliant, I am not be sarcy at all!

This is what the beach looked like from the road yesterday. Finding a spot to plant my beach mat was an issue, and I quietly berated myself for not taking my hat or a beach umbrella. But know this: if mere mortals are desperate enough to escape the heat to immerse themselves in the icy cold water off Cape Town’s most popular beach, then it is FLIPPEN HOT!

Went to Rhodes Memorial for lunch. Here’s the pic I took of my BIG plate of roasted veggies & cous-cous. The red sauce was YUMMY by the way (a mix of chilli & sundried tomato). 

Roasted veg and cous-cous

I did quite enjoy it, but as it is currently 35 or something outside my appetite is down and I had about half of it.  While chatting to my colleagues the waiter came, took my plate. I didn’t notice. But then I asked him and he said that he had chucked my food! He didn’t bother to ask me if I wanted a doggie-bag, he just THREW IT AWAY!

Half a plate of food for which I paid R65.

FML!

I considered complaining & demanding a fresh serving, but I was too hot & bothered to bother.

So today was The Kid’s last day in primary school and promptly on queue I received my first ‘Oh please Mother’-look.

He came out of his room, dressed in his full Summer uniform and while I was diligently stirring the porridge, I asked him ‘Why are you wearing your uniform? You know you can wear civvies today, right? We received an sms about it.’

Queue the raised eyebrow and ‘Oh please Mother’-look. ‘Mom, HOW are my friends supposed to say goodbye to me?’

I, of course, had no idea what he was talking about, so queue my raised eyebrow.

Him: *sigh* ‘My friends are supposed to sign my shirt, remember?’.

True, I was told this once the day before. In my un-cool parental manner I assumed the shirt would simply go with him to school.

And there you have it. Last week my sweet, innocent, well-mannered young boy told me I was the best. This week I am ‘Oh please Mother’.

Things change quickly. They grow up faster than you can blink and in the space of a few days you can go from having a tween to a teenager who thinks parents are un-cool.

I suppose it’s only fair though – I have lost count of the number of times I have given my mother the ‘Oh please Mother’-look this week alone.

Parents are so un-cool.

When I first heard about the murder of a foreigner during her Honeymoon in Cape Town I was, to say the least, very disappointed in SA. After the Success of the World Cup, this was a harsh reminder that all is not really well in the Rainbow Nation. But this has changed over the past week and I now firmly believe that all is not as it seems with this story…

 Since the story first broke about the murder of Anni Dewani, there has been a dark cloud growing, in my mind, over her husband, Shrien, who escaped this heinous crime without so much as a scratch. Not a scratch, despite being thrown out of a moving vehicle (or a window of a stopped vehicle, depending on which of his accounts you have read). And this is the problem I have with this case: This man recounted step-by-step to the Daily Mail Everything that happened, going into details such as how he was thrown from the vehicle and how he landed, yet at some point he contradicted himself; Mr Dewani had initially said he was “dumped through the back of the passenger window as the car was moving”, but later told the Sun: “They couldn’t get me out because the child locks were activated, so they ended up dragging me struggling and screaming out of the window.”

I know that I am not the only one hearing alarm bells going off, right? He was allowed to leave the country 4 days after her murder (too early, in my humble opinion) and as the press delved, as they tend to do, allegations that Dewani’s business was millions in debt has come to light.

 Now Mr Dewani’s friends are stepping into the fray (this from the Daily Mail):

“We are increasingly conscious that there are some people who are definitely trying to set him up.

“It suits them because an English guy who has done this would be much less damaging to South Africa than if one of their own had done it.

“They’re all corrupt. They are all taking bribes. There is mass murder everywhere, and every time one of these guys gets caught, they try to say anything to reduce their sentence.”

Then today, Mr Dewani’s brother, Preyen, told the press that Shrien has no intention of returning to SA. His wife was murdered and he was supposed to come to SA to identify the men who, quite possibly, murdered his wife and he ‘doesn’t intend on returning to South Africa’. Any other person would be hot-footing it to SA, but not him. More doubts in my mind.

And then the Mail & Guardian reported this morning that Mr Dewani is now a suspect and that he could face extradition.

It does not take a large leap of imagination to put together a story in which a financially troubled businessman decides that the only way to keep his business from going under is to do something illegal. He knows about SA’s troubles with crime. How long does it take to find someone in SA who is willing to kill for a few thousand rand? How much life insurance was taken out on his wife..?

I honestly hope that this man is found out, if he is as guilty as many of us think he is. If not, then may we be forgiven for thinking the worse.

Sources:

http://news.iafrica.com/sa/689935.html

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/dewani-cops-are-framing-me-1.877261

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-11-26-dewani-may-face-extradition

Nicknamed ‘The One Take Wonder’, Jeff Probst, who celebrated his birthday on the 4^th of November, is Today’s Friday Hottie!

 As the host of survivor, he won the inaugural Emmy for Best Reality Show Host in 2008 and again 2009. Probst also received an Emmy as Host/Producer of Survivor back in 2001. He was also voted one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People in 2001.
On the Survivor: All Stars Reunion show, he offered to marry both Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, claiming he was an ordained minister. Probst got himself ordained in 1999 so that he could preside at his parents 40th anniversary remarriage. He has since served as the officiant at the weddings of several friends.
As a filmmaker, Probst wrote and directed the LionsGate released indie film, “Finder’s Fee” starring Ryan Reynolds and Academy Award nominees James Earl Jones and Robert Forster.

In 2007 Probst founded The Serpentine Project a non-profit that empowers youth transitioning out of foster care to reach for their dreams by opening the door to possibilities.

Born in Vienna, Austria in 1973, to a German psychologist & a Ghanaian physician, Boris Kodjoe was named after Russian Poet & Writer, Boris Pasternak… and he is today’s hottie!

Boris’ full name is a tongue-twisting Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe,and at 1.89m tall he matches his name in stature. In 2002 he was named one of People magazine’s 50 most beautiful people. He is best known as one of the regular cast members of the Showtime Drama, Soul Food, which is where he met his wife, co-star Nicole Ari Parker. Recently he was cast as Luther in Resident Evil: Afterlife.

You send a company wide email regarding 101 things. You had checked the email about 20 times before sending it, but by the 5^th reading you are no longer seeing what is ON your screen, but what your mind wants to see… so you miss the extra ‘to’ in sentence 56, line 103. The rest of the email is 100% though. 1 Person will reply and go ‘Ooooh I found an error!’ You can almost see them in your mind’s eye, doing a gleeful little jig on your grave because mistakes like this are just UNFORGIVABLE!

 I was mortified. (Not really)

 How could I ever live with myself?! (Quite easily actually)

 THE HORROR! (No, really not!)

 Then there is the person who comes up to you and says ‘Oh your hair is SO long! I never realised!’… and then instantly feel the need to check for, and mention, that you have split ends. NO! Really?! I didn’t notice! I only look at my own hair every f-en day!

 Now these people probably mean these things in the nicest way possible. They possibly think that they are helping me in a way… but the truth of the matter is that this is not what it ‘feels’ like to me. To me it just feels like them saying ‘You are not perfect’, a fact I am well aware of.

 Maybe I am too un-accepting of criticism. Too easily offended. Too sensitive.

 Oversensitive me..?

The subject of cheating spouses & extra marital affairs has been coming up quite a lot recently – what with sports stars caught with their pants down, mistresses creeping out of the woodwork & blogs on the subject it is becoming rather hard to ignore… even more so when a colleague confesses her current misery to you.
It happened rather unexpectedly too – I didn’t expect her to open up the way she did, but a lot can happen over a bottle of wine.
Her husband and she work at the same company, though in different departments. In his department there is a young woman whom I, and my constant need to see the good in people, thought was ‘nice enough’. Said young woman is always perfectly turned out, holds a degree and wears ‘more make up than a porn star’… we also suspect regular sessions in the spray-tan booth.
Anyway – when said young woman started at our company many guys went ga-ga over her and she appeared to become quite close with one of them – things like lunches together & sitting outside chatting, despite the fact that he has a girlfriend & she a boyfriend… she OBVIOUSLY liked him. This friendship eventually came to an end, which is good. I always feel uncomfortable with friendships between individuals of the opposite sex who are both in long term relationships with other people.
Then came Friday night, during which my colleague broke down over a glass of red wine & told us that her husband has been seen, several times, having lunch with said young lady. He apparently also told said young lady about his ‘marital problems’ over long IM chats & is often seen sitting & chatting with her.
People have been warning my colleague about this friendship & she reacted accordingly – asking him what is going on, confronting the Other Woman & suffering the humiliation dealt to her by what this woman said to her. My colleague & their 2 young children are now staying with her sister while they try to work this out. It really is quite heart breaking – I always thought they were so happy together.
Which brings me to the point of my post: what sort of selfish person do you have to be to go after someone else’s spouse? What drives a woman to willingly go after a man whom she knows is not available?
Is it lack of respect for this man’s wife, or possibly, lack of respect for herself? How do you justify hurting a family in this way? How do you live with yourself after causing a rift of this kind in what was, apparently, a stable relationship?
And just to clarify – the husband in this case is not blameless. He should know better.

In honour of this guy, I should just rename this feature Friday HOT! Here be one of the few Ozzie’s I would admit to finding hot – Hugh Jackman… who celebrated his birthday this week (12 October).

Born in Sydney and the youngest of 5 children, Jackman holds a communications degree. After graduating he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He was immediately offered a starring role in the prison Drama Correlli, which is where he met his wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Jackman is also an accomplished singer, but he came to all our attention when he was cast as Wolverine in the X-men movies.