On random thoughts

I had managed to fix my sleeping patterns down the Sounds. Getting up at 5 in the morning to go fishing. Rowing and fishing and swiming all day, save for a siesta, then more fishing and bed by 11. Repeat. But no. Back to the old whacked sleeping patterns. Still haven't gotten used to the heat up here. 5 degrees warmer than Chch, I reckon.

Nothing much is really happening here. My eye is all better (which is nice). I did get to go to hospital, briefly. Haven't been there for a while. Actually, I went earlier this year when I hit a cricket ball into my head. This time I went because I cut my eye when I took a contact lens off. And then it got infected, which apparently made things 'complicated' because they couldn't give me the steriods I simulatenously crave and deserve. But the did give me a local and then poured orange dye into my eye which made everything much more comfortable and interesting. I've heard of rose tinted glasses before, but the idea of rose tinted dye might catch on.

And I thought of a joke. sadly this has been a highlight. There are Maoist rebels in Nepal. Mike is in Nepal. If Mike gets confronted by Maoist Rebels, all he needs to do to escape is take One Giant Leap Forward.

I never said it was a good joke.

It's been interesting following the progress of Saddam in the papers. There was one very interesting article in the Sunday Star Times arguing that everything would have simplified by shooting Saddam on sight. Now there will have to be a_fair_trial, where he will be able to portray himself as a martyr. And it highlights a couple of interesting points in the Coalition's policy. They're not prepared to execute Saddam on sight because it would go against international law, yet they're more than happy to bomb villages that might be housing rebels. Secondly, why is the United States handing Saddam to the Iraqi's for trial, yet the Serbs could not trial Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbs had (and have) a judicial system, The Iraqi's do not. The whole thing reeks of Bush electionairing.

The argument that he should have been shot on sight is interesting, but the precedent it would start could be dangerous. Not that the current lot have really given a damn about ignoring international law and setting dangerous precedents.

Showind Saddam getting his medical was a breach of the Geneva conventions. Prisoners of War (which he should be ) should not be used for propoganda. *sigh*. I'm ranting again.

Anyway, I've put up a web counter to see how many people actually look at this. Probably will take it down quickly once it is clear that I read it.

I'm out of here.

The Sounds

Have just returned from the Sounds nursing a rather sore and cut eye. Nothing too serious and should clear up quickly, but enough to put me off writing too much more, especially given I was daft enough to write a Christmas email just before. I think the injury was ordained by the large Spotty in the sky who was angry at my for hooking so many little spotties up through the mouth and into the eye.

We all feel much better for some r+r. Especially Mum who needed it after being denied a promotion because she was female. We'd take them to court if it was worth it. Hell might know no fury like a woman scorned, but Hell hasn't counted on one women, one husband and two very angry sons before.

And while I was gone, a fire in Chch, Saddam was captured, and the Black Caps actually look reasonable. See what happens when I tuen my back on you lot for a few days?

Will write later on Sounds adventures.

Hope the birthday party went well and there wasn't too much broken.

On charging at windmills

The flatwarming. Oh dear. It always sounds like a good idea, like that road trip to Gore or inviting Charlie over for a bit of halo 'action'.

We had painted the flat institutionalised green for the occasion, and added a splash of colour to the event by using some pink trim in the kitchen and flesh/peach in the bathroom. The fundamentalist Christian even cam out and offered people my food for a while. Cheers. It had been ordered from Blenheim and the courier/my parents were quite willing to deliver it - and they then proceeded to drink Nic under the table. Of course Nic had decided not to drink - an action which can only be taken as either a deliberate and calculated snub on his part, or confirmation that the world will indeed end on New Years Eve. Peer pressure did not work and for my efforts I received a sharp slap from Emily who should have been spending more time trying to seduce Robert (the flatmate who was handing out food) and earn the $10 I'd promised her. Does that make me a bad person? Can always get the Mormons to save me after death.

I took up the challenge of drinking and managed to get considerably more trolleyed than what I had expected. I was hit a number of times, mostly by Richard during the course of our boxing match where I (apparently) kicked his freakin ass. Booya. And once by Pete who was frustrated that he couldn't punch Sarah (in a boxing fight) and thus punched me.

Those of you who know Ben well will be aware of his propensity to treat all inanimate objects as though they were his mortal enemy - a Quixotic trait which has left a number of bemused expressions on Sara's face and a number of inanimate objects trembling in fear. Well, that night was the night of the flying fox in the park next door. For this particular fight he had enlisted the support of Dave (Miller). Ben sat in the saddle of the fox, with Dave on his shoulders. Flying (as flying fox's are wont to do) down the wire at an incredible rate of knots, and slammed into the tires at the end. Unable to hold on after the fox was at 90degrees, Ben fell to the ground. Unable to sit on Ben's shoulders, Dave also fell to the ground. Luckily for Dave, Ben cushioned his fall. Flying Fox 1, Ben 0.

Not to be outdone, however, Ben took to the flat (obvious conspirator with the flying fox) and removed part of the railing, and dug a hole in the ground.

Well done, Ben.

And Charlie and Hayley had a showdown. Effects can be seen here.

Not much else has happened lately. Mysterious Girl has gone to ground and has not been sighted for a while. My thesis, on the other hand, has been sighted lately and is going well. Claire wants to kill our flatmate. Super.

And happy birthday to Ben. Who is now old.

Am off to Blenheim (not Queenstown). Will be down the sounds for a week or so. Will be back in early January.

Have fun and keep drinking over the Christmas period, and don't be sucked in by all that bourgeois commercial crap.

On Angst and Politics

This is hopefully going to be a very short post. I have a thesis to write, after all.

Two things this week have made me rather annoyed and frustrated. The first is Winston Peter's pamphlet which has all the scaremongering of the old White New Zealand policy and the Yellow Peril fears of early-mid 20th century New Zealand. When you look at the racism in New Zealand in the 1970s and '80s with the Dawn Raids, you have to acknowledge a disturbingly racist strand of the New Zealand identity. Granted, perceptions have changed. Garth George in a recent article (well critiqued in HARD news) stated that Polynesians were a welcome addition to New Zealand society. That view wasn't necessarily prevalent twenty years ago. Perhaps Asian and so called third world immigrants will be welcome in twenty years time, but we will, of course, need someone else to discriminate against then.

My second whinge is on Ahmed Zaoui. The contradictions in the case are illustrated in Gordon Campbell's Listener article. My main gripe is that the government seems to be happy to deny the basic human rights of Zaoui while trying to maintain the moral high ground in foreign affairs. There is yet to be any major protest movement against his treatment, which makes most New Zealanders complicit through inactivity. How can we as a nation take any pride in some of the more feel-good issues (nuclear free, anti-GE, anti-illegitimate wars) when we refuse to allow someone basic access to the prosecutor's evidence because of 'security fears' and instead lock him up in solitary for TEN months. I'm not trying to downgrade the importance of the no-nukes or anti-GE campaigns (being a supporter and all). I'm just trying to make the point that this hypocrisy will downgrade our standing within the world community in regards to human rights.

And that, surely, will be a blow to Helen's ambitions for the UN. Maybe therein lies our hope.

Right. Drink time.