It's cool by the pool - right [COLUMN]

First, a couple of newsflashes:

- Ohmynews, the Koreans citizen journalism site has stopped paying its writers. South Africa's reporter.co.za stopped operating sometime last year, meanwhile CNN's iReport is doing well.
Meanwhile, What is Demotix?

- we are in a record sixth straight month of retail sale declines (US-based)
- I have been invited on a Press Tour of Dubai
- According to the Mail & Guardian: DA member, Len Joubert, asked the ANC to think again about nominating Oupa Monareng as the co-chairperson from the National Assembly as he has a conviction for bribery, which might make him an inappropriate choice to be leading the decision on the future of the director of public prosecutions.
- A "healthy" veggie sandwich has more fat and calories than two Big Macs.

Now, if you don't mind, if a few personal observations. Over the past 2 weeks I have loaded 9 videos on YOUTUBE in a series I've called THE MALACCA DIARIES. Although recorded in Singapore in 2003/2004 it seems and feels like a world away. As a result of fine tuning the editing of the videos (although not to the pedantic extent that I would like) I've worked quite often till past 3am in the morning. In some cases I have worked till 2am, then gone cycling for 3 hours at4:45am and then repeated this 2 days later. The result is that eventually I feel a bizarre and choking sense of claustrophobia.

The claustrophobia, which feels like drowning (except it is drowning in one's own mental malaise, fatigue, one's own thoughts) is really brought on by excessive fatigue - entirely my own fault. But it induces irritability. It is how a breakdown begins.

This evening at around 6:30am my girlfriend called to tell me Ryk Neethling would be appearing on 7de Laan. I had actually scheduled a critical 1 hour sleep before a scheduled 2 hour gym session. I decided to watch the show, and at about halfway saw Marius Weyers and wondered about the name of another South African actor...I couldn't remember his name and an inexplicable, almost choking panic started creeping up my throat. I made a few phone calls to ward off the poisonous thought-noise - to find out who the actor was that I was trying to remember. I even called my father and brother - none of whom answered. I finally found my way to remembering his name - Ian Roberts.