The food was amazing.  For the buffet we could mix our own salad, having a wide selection of fresh and tasty ingredients.  Knead is, of course, a bakery and I don’t know how often they do something like this, but the salad feature was definitely a winner, in my opinion.  For the mains, each table received a few smallish pizzas, so each one could try something of everything on offer.  The pizzas were rich in flavour without being completely smothered in ingredients, like some famous franchises like to do these days.  This allows one to savour it more and the pizzas really were enjoyable.  Knead also generously provided for vegetarians, which was good to see.  For dessert, everyone got a nice big and absolutely delicious danish.  By the end of the evening, no-one could complain about not having had enough food to eat!  Additionally, the food was well complemented by Delheim wines, who graciously sponsored us again this month.

One of the most pleasant surprises for me, however, was the German dark beer which I ordered on a whim.  While it turned out to be very pricey, it was possibly the best dunkel which I have ever tasted!  Unfortunately I do not know the name of the beer, but I can definitely recommend it if you are a beer aficionado!  (To that end, I suppose you will just have to go to Knead. )

The talks were interesting as well.  The first talk was on opensource hardware, something which, I’m sure, appealed to the engineer within all the geeks present (well, all of the guy geeks, at least).  The second talk was by Bryn Divey and introduced the exciting new venture which he is a part of.  Unfortunately I am sketchy on details and don’t have any hyperlinks for you at present, as the GeekDinner wiki seems to be down again.

There was one talk, however, which troubled me.

The slideshow karaoke was a complete farce.  While it is suppose to be lively and funny, the incoherent spectacle which we saw was, in my opinion, in poor taste and I was appalled by it.  I want to apologise to our hosts—who, as I hope I have already made clear, provided exemplary service to us throughout the evening—took offense.  I would like to apologise to the newcomers as well: that was not the standard of slideshow karaokes at Cape Town GeekDinners.

Apart from this one thing, the evening was enjoyable: we had some good discussion around the table and it was good to see the old faces again.  Thank you to the people who organised this event!

Three years later and I am in a similar situation, but much has also changed.  What is the same, is that I must make a decision about my future.  What has changed is my disillusion with academia: I have no desire now to do a PhD (at least, not at this point-in-time).  At the moment I really yearn to enter the workplace.  Basically all of my friends have moved on or are in the process of moving on.  Campus is no longer fun when all your age peers have left and all that remains are horrified gasps when people learn how long you have been at varsity.

A couple of friends have invited me to join their companies: they need the manpower and will vouch for me.  Apart from these, other companies are campaigning vigorously for graduate students.  So, at the very least, I am confident that I shall find a job, even in Cape Town¹.  I merely need to make a choice which companies I am going to apply for.  The truth is that, for the past two and a half years I have not been thinking about the future, because I did not want get distracted and lose focus from my work².

But a couple of weeks ago, a thought crept into my head.  What about going overseas?  I was game for it back then, what about now?  The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.  Other than my parents, I have no real attachments here at the moment.  And two years isn’t such a long time: one of the guys who went overseas after honours is back already, with the dollars (and stories of adventure, no doubt) in his pocket!  The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.  And the more scared I got.

It seems a bit strange, that this “dream” would cause me so much angst.  Something in my heart just did not want to go.  I would not be going just for fun, but I can be responsible as well.  Yes, I am still young, but what if I miss out on something here?  I wrestled with such questions and discussed them with some friends.  Eventually I reached a conclusion: I would not be going abroad at the end of the year.  I shall stay in the Western Cape and find a job here.  I am glad that, in the end, I could reach this decision (with guidance), from a practical viewpoint: if I go abroad, I would have to plow all my funds on just getting there.  That means I would start from zero.  And not even zero, but below zero, because I still have a student loan to repay.  And my honest first priority is to repay that loan.  The truth is that I can probably repay that loan quicker (and with less stess) working here than there.  Another consideration is finding a job: it will be much easier to do here than there.  It can be very difficult to find a job through the Internet and over email.  So I might end up having to go overseas and then only find work when I am there.  That can take some time and in the meantime I would have to feed myself.  Point is, I would not want to end up, like so many other South Africans, doing security work just to make ends meet.  Finally, I do not know anyone in the UK at the moment other than my brother and his wife, but we would not be in the same city.  Not that it would necessarily be a lonely adventure: I have many friends who have contacts over there and would be able to get me settled and introduce me to a community.  But my established friends, and most of my family, are here.

I always want to err on the side of caution.  It is my nature.  That is why I shall never be an Edmund Hillary or a Roald Amundsen.  That is why I won’t have to crazy stories to tell late at night around the dinner table.  However, I am not blind to the fact that I shall be without adventure; I do crave to travel.  I also am not blind to the fact that many people I know travel (some do so frequently) when they are middle-aged or even retired.  I find solace in my conviction that being in your 20′s is not the spice of life: there are better times to come.

To be honest, I always admired the people in my matric class who went abroad for a year or two before coming back to study or find work.  It is not so much that they came back with the stories of adventure, but their (then) newfound maturity and independence.  I admired that greatly.  I felt “left behind” in terms of “real world experience”.  But while I won’t be throwing myself into the wolves’ den like they did, I shall find my own maturity and independence.  I yearn for it, and that is all that matters.

I feel good about having reached this decision: at peace and at ease.  Now to just finish up this masters…

1. Other people aren’t so lucky, of course: some feel that they have to go to Johannesburg or even abroad, as Cape Town simply doesn’t offer them any opportunities.  But at the moment Cape Town has a booming IT industry, which works well for me.
2. Hahahahahahahaha!  Sometimes I crack myself up!

At first I thought I had left it at home and then at the office, but after retracing my steps, I came up empty-handed.  But it was only a few days later (after I had blacklisted the cellphone and done a SIM swap) that I knew for certain that my phone had indeed been stolen: my airtime (~R200) had been drained.

The whole debacle cost me nearly R700 as I had to have my old phone fixed (I shall gnaw through my wrists with my molars  if I have to go back to an old model Nokia).  The K550i hasn’t had a happy life: I was thrown into a pool while I had it in my pocket and after that repair I accidentally drove over it with my car (yes, yes, yes, I know, I’m a very special human being, but I do know someone else who has done the same thing, so I am not alone in my specialness).  But I am being forced to refuse to let it die on me: I have gotten accustomed to Sony Ericsson phones and they have generally been good to me.

I hate to sound materialistic: it has been more than a week, bit I am still bummed about the whole thing.  I only had that phone for 6 months on a 2 year contract and it was a good phone (C702): sturdy build, GPS, nice screen, Cybershot… sure, it wasn’t a smart phone, but I liked it all the same.  On the up side, at least the K550i is fast (I am convinced that it has the same processor as the C702, but the latter has more software and therefore performed a bit sluggish).  Also, my 4GB Micro SD card was in the phone.

But perhaps more than losing the physical phone is the feeling of being violated which I have: I had the details of family members and friends on there, my Facebook, Twitter and GMail accounts could be accessed from the phone, I had SMSs from the bank on there about transactions which I made, and I had some pictures a tiny bit of information.  I think this is how a woman must feel who has her handbag stolen.  Thankfully my wallet wasn’t stolen.  As a result of this violation, I am strongly considering a new policy for myself: no more personal data, other than names and numbers, on my phone: if you don’t have your birthday listed on Facebook, I am not going to know when it is.  The important data will be privately hosted on a cloud server in an encrypted file.  It would also be good to get in the habit of periodically deleting all my SMSs: there are better, more private, places to store them than on a phone.

Moral of the story: never let one single thing (a cellphone, a website or something else) become an “extension” of yourself in the sense that you put your entire private life on there.  One day you’ll wake up and suddenly it isn’t so private anymore.

(Based on a famous ditty…)

I saw a man with a face of leather
Oppression past and lies present he had to weather
In a park in Perth with the sun shining
He sits and remembers, dreaming
And he sings:

“I come from a land of Southern wonder!
Where the lion is a hunter
And the duiker nuzzles his lover.
There the earth is warm, the land is tender.”

There was a woman in Adelaide
Doing trade, today a million made.
I stopped her and said “Excuse me miss,
Can you tell me what time it is?”
But she said:

“Oh!  Do you come from a land of Southern wonder?
Where the tsotsi plunder,
And the men braai sombre?
Hear the child that cries, heart torn asunder!”

A man picked me out with a fast-beating heart
He asked, “Kan jy my taal praat?”
In Sydney, it was clear where he’d rather be,
So I smiled and gave him my last Rooibos tea
And I said:

“I come from a land of Southern wonder,
Where the wine flows like a river,
And in the evening people shiver.
There the earth is warm, the land is tender.”

Best of luck to the two of you, have a great time!  Mzansi fo sho!

A while ago a friend told me that they were planning a steampunk party for her husband’s birthday.  Being an über geek, I was very excited and immediately starting thinking of costume ideas.  The party was held yesterday and there were some amazing costumes!

What I want to do here is document how I made my costume.  It was nothing fancy, but will hopefully provide a glimpse of what you can do if you are on a budget and strapped for time.

The Idea

I’m sure that some will consider the hardest part of such an endeavour to be deciding on what to make.  At first, I thought of doing a steampunk scientist àa la Dr. Horrible.  It would comprise a few “simple” elements and a complicated device which I would make myself with moveable parts and gadgets such as a mirror, helping hands and a pulley.  This would have a fake leather base and be strapped to my arm.  This ambitious plan was binned very quickly, however, as there were practical limitations: where the hell do you find a doctor’s smock?  And those goggles?  Insemination gloves I would probably be able to find, but none of all of these will be cheap, right?

Ok, scratch that.  Next idea.

Uh, I dunno…  How would steampunk special ops look like?  It’s an intriguing idea, but it wasn’t going to float this time and my time was running out.

This was my first idea: gloves, goggles, doctor's smock (not scrubs) and an arm contraption thingy. Looks good, is expensive.

How would this guy look in a steampunk setting? Sadly, I wasn't going to find out this time around.

The good news is that you do not always need an idea of something to make.  Turns out that half the fun is making do with what you can find!

The Supplies

Enter the hardware store: a central character in our story.  For grown up men, the hardware store is a contemporary toy store: whether you are a builder, renovator or costume designer, the hardware store is for you!  This is where you go to release your imagination and feel like you are seven years old again.  So, stalk the aisles and see what treasures you can find!  Here are some of the loot I carried off:

A gun for extracting glue, foam, etc. from certain types of containers.

Welding Goggles

Some stuff I got from the hardware store and found at home.

I wonder what the lady at the checkout thought of this smorgasbord if items!

But the hardware store is not, and should not, be your only ally in your steampunk endeavour.  If you have a garage, or an old, overstocked store room, or parents, relatives or friends with many things from yesteryear, take a dive into that pile of antiquities.  This can be even more fun than looking for new stuff at the hardware store: you might even awaken an old memory or two and find yourself reminiscing a bit!  The last picture above already shows some of the stuff I found at home, here are some more:

A broken wrist watch

Random knick-knacks

An old, broken travel alarm

Leather gloves

The Assembly

A week before the party, I gathered the above items and I spray painted most of them.  But when the day of the party eventually came, I still had to assemble everything.  In the end I was a tad strapped for time!  So, here’s another top tip: make sure you have enough time and do it properly.  My costume came out alright, but I knew I could have done more.  And, looking at some of the costumes other people spent some time on, you know that theirs has a certain “Cool!” factor yours just doesn’t.  So, if you are going to make a steampunk costume, remember to leave yourself enough time to do it properly!  But luckily I had enough time to take some pictures.  Here is some of what I did:

Post spray paint

A bronze-painted carton

My idea was to attach the Pringles™ tubes as “canisters” to the carton, then to attach the metal elbows to them.  The gun then attaches to the canister through an old washing machine outlet pipe to form some sort of weapon.  The gun itself I would “flesh out” a little by adding a toilet paper tube to the middle bit and spraying that bronze as well.

“But what are you making?”  Nothing specifically: I’m just using the parts that I have to make something.  I am plenty geeky, but not enough to think up a backstory for my costume…

Trying to glue the tubes to the carton was a disaster: not only did the glue eat away at the spray paint, but the round tube provided much too little surface area for the glue to be affective.  So I resorted to using some double sided tape.  Attaching the metal elbows to the canisters was a bit of a problem.  I cut small holes in the lids of the Pringles™ tubes and pushed the elbows through.  To prevent them coming back out the same way, I reinforced the back of the lid with some of the off cut cardboard.  The weight of the metal elbows was also a problem, so I put some glue on the inside of the lids before I put them back on.

Attaching the metal elbows to the Pringles™ tubes.

On top of one of the canisters I put a flat round plastic container, which I fashioned to (more or less) look like some sort of guage.  I also stuck the old mechanical counter I had to the carton.

The Backpack nearing completion.

Now for the hard part: getting this thing on my back!  I had a few pieces of elastic band which I stitched together with safety pins (at this point I was running out of time, ok?).  I cut slits into the cardboard and wove in the elastic bands.  These I would then fasten over my chest using more safety pins.  I could also have chosen to use string, from which I could make loops to put my arms through and carry this around like a backpack, but apart from the fact that I didn’t think of this at the time (true story), I thought I could hide the elastic band underneath my vest.  I also attached a paraffin lantern, mostly just because I had one:

A cool little lantern I picked up for cheap.

At the very last minute I decided to fashion a pendant from some of the bits and pieces that was still left over.  Unfortunately I needed a base, and all that I could find was the lid of a tin of tuna:

My pendant.

I didn’t have a pocket watch: but I had the next best thing: a 50 year calendar.  I think my grandmother gave this to me about 15 years ago: “Maybe you can still use this one-day” (I was the youngest grandchild at that point who wasn’t in dipers).

A 50 Year Calendar.

Lastly I fixed a cane which use to belong to my grandfather (it just needed a new rubber foot piece).

Ok, the actual clothes: I wore long black pants and shirt with a beige-ish vest.  The shoes I wore was the closest I had to boots and hadn’t been worn in years, but they held together.  The plan was to get a top hat, but I wasn’t willing to spend R80 on a party hat that looked the part (I rather buy myself a real on later in life when I have the money ), so I bought another one for cheaper with the idea of altering it later, but it melted in the sun in the back of my car—true story.  In the pictures below, I borrowed a top hat from a friend who was more dedicated than I was.   Finally, I tried to conjure a beard out of the week-old stubble which I had—didn’t work that well…

The Reveal

Ta-dah…

Reveal #1

Reveal #2

Reveal #3

Conclusions

1. Steampunk is expensive, unless you live next to a scrapyard or something.
2. Is it worth it?  Definitely, but then you must have the money and, more importantly, the time.  Steampunk is as much an art as a genre.  If you put in the time, you will create something beautiful which you will be proud of.  If not, you’ll immediately realise it and mourn for the missed potential.

Resources

Here are some interesting steampunk websites:

• http://steampunkcostume.com/
• http://steampunkworkshop.com/
• http://brassgoggles.co.uk/blog/

What is keeping me so busy?  Well, my masters, for a change.  I have a lot to do in a small amount of time.  When I get home I’m pretty tired, but I think I’m getting the balance together.  Most of the time that I have left is going into church activities at the moment.  That isn’t to say that I haven’t had fun and good times this year!  And also some shocks and sadness.  But at the moment it is just work work work…

Our internet connection at the flat has been on life-support since the start of the year.  Luckily I’m not home so much these days, but when I am and I need the net and it isn’t there, it sucks big time (guess where I am now, 23:41 on a Sunday everning? yes, the lab!).

I hope to make up for my digital absence this weekend by putting up a fun blog post.  I probably shouldn’t be making any promises, but watch this space anyway!

A long December and there is reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last.

Outside, the very first, very early bird has started to sing. A car speeds jovially down a quiet suburban street. Life on the first day of the new year, begins.

Another year, indeed, another decade, ends.

And so, wired and awake, I find myself at that very familiar place in front of a screen, with a ear to a speaker, pondering the possibility of a year better than the last.

2009 was, for me personally, a roller-coaster year. In retrospect I can roughly divide it into to parts: the First Half and the Second Half. The First Half was about being care-free, motivated, ambitious, making new friends and learning new and exciting things. The Second Half was about feeling defeated, being caught in an impossible situation, being tired, being taxed and, in a certain sense, alone.

All the details of all of this I keep to myself, for now. A highlight, though, was definitely getting more involved in the church which I am currently attending and forming and strengthening relationships there. Through such inspiration I launched a new website called Café on the Rock. While it still needs a lot of fleshing out, I am still excited about it and hopeful of great things.

As the year progressed (and in particular as it drew to a close), I became acutely aware, however, of pain, need and distress around me. I experienced some of this myself, but primarily I stood looking in from the outside as hearts broke, and silent, invisible tears rolled from the eyes of those I care about. At the very end I also bore witness to a silent exodus of friends and colleagues as they moved on from Stellenbosch to fields far, far away. The remnant is very small; I just don’t want to be the last one.

One of the greatest lesson which I feel I have yet to master is patients. But my primary instruction this I, I believe, was in humility: learning not to go gun-ho and trying to resolve situations when all I can see is one piece of a very large and intricate puzzle.

The year was also characterised by a lot of inertia and early on I realised that I would need another year to finish my masters degree. That year has arrived now and the clock is ticking down on what I hope to be the last six months of the 3 year post-graduate adventure. This means that, hitting the ground running, 2010 is going to be a year of hard work and sacrifice. I’ve done it before and I can do it again. But while I last time only had the murky certainty of continuing my studies to look forward to, I now have the exciting prospect of not knowing what is behind the next door. Usually something like that would terrify me to pieces, but I am strangely positive about it. This optimism stems from the fact that, when I finish, I grow up. I leave Neverland, and then the adventure can finally begin! In the meantime, my sacrifice will, hopefully, forge me into the man who I want to be and, more importantly, the man who I need to be.

Thankfully I am blessed with one more week of holiday before I return to Stellenbosch, to work and to my studies. But I’m looking forward to all of it!

The past few weeks have been rough for me.  Mostly emotional.  I don’t feel that I can write about those things here at the moment, so in stead I just keep quiet.  But I am also recovering from an ear infection.  I’ve lost a few days’ of work because of it and I need to get back in gear.  Point is: the year is on the rocks and I wouldn’t mind it finally going down.  But just a little while longer: almost time for a holiday proper.

29-30 Oktober het ek ‘n studentesimposium in Bloemfontein bygewoon.  Dit was die eerste keer wat ek so iets bygewoon het, so ek gaan nou my tyd neem om dit oor te vertel.  My studieleier het my eintlik al maande voor die tyd aangesê dat ek moet inskryf, so dit was al iets waarvoor ek al lank gewag het.  Die simposium word deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) aangebied.  Dit word jaarliks gehou en bring nagraadse studente vanuit feitlik al die wetenskapsvelde¹ bymekaar om na mekaar se navorsing te luister.  Dit is die enigste van sy soort wat eksklusief in Afrikaans aangebied word.  Ek dink ‘n meesterstudent is altyd huiwerig wanneer hy of sy aangesê word om vir iets in te skryf, maar ek het gereken dat, indien niks anders nie, ek ‘n gratis “vakansietjie” na ‘n “nuwe stad” sou kry!

Die vorige keer wat ek in Bloemfontein was, was ek 6 jaar oud gewees.  Ek onthou dit glad nie².   Dus het ek hierdie besoek as my eerste³ aan die Stad van Rose beskou.

“Weet jy wat sê mense ook van Bloemfontein?”
“Nee?”
“Dat ‘n mens twee keer daaroor huil: een keer wanneer jy daarnatoe gaan en die ander keer wanneer jy daarvan af moet weg gaan.”

Ek is in die baie bevoorregde posisie om ‘n vriendin te hê wat tans in Bloemfontein bly; ‘n baie gawe vriendin wat my toegelaat het om by hul te bly vir my tydjie daarso.  Ons kom al van skooldae af saam, so dit was ‘n idiale geleentheid om mekaar weer te sien en op te vang.  Sy het my by die lughawe kom optel en ons was sommer dadelik soos twee ou vrinne, selfs al het ons mekaar lanklaas gesien.

Haar familie se huis was regtig iets besonder.  Die hele familie is kunstig en hul kunswerke pronk orals.  Die huisie is knus en sekerlik ‘n hele paar dekades oud.  My gunsteling deel van die huis was egter die tuin.  Ek het die geluk getref dat die re”ens kort voor my aankoms begin het.  Wat my dus ingewag het was ‘n sag, groen grasperk wat hoofsaaklik omring was deur volblom roosbosse.  Daar was ook ‘n lapa met stoele en hangmatte: alles element wat ‘n atmosfeer skep wat die hele buitewêreld uitsluit sodat daar net rus, vrede, die honde, die kat en familie is om op te fokus.

Daardie eerste aand was daar ‘n spesiale openingsfunksie vir die simposium: ‘n geleentheid aangebring ter herdenking van die 100ste bestaansjaar van die SAAWK.  Hiervoor het ons na die Boyden-sterrewag buite die stad gegaan.  Die simposium het amptelik afgeskop met ‘n lesing… een waaroor ek nogal baie verras was.  Dit was aangebied deur ‘n professor van fisika van die Universiteit van die Vrystaat en het ‘n apologetiese benadering tot kosmologie geneem.  Hy het geargumenteer vir ‘n middelgrond tussen extreme evolusionisme en extreme kreasionisme en dat ‘n mens nie net in een kant van ‘n argument moet vasstaar nie.  Hierdie aanbieding was die uitvloeisel van die professor se eie werk van die afgelope tyd om sy geloof en sy werk as wetenskaplike te vereenselwig.  Natuurlik was dit ‘n baie kontroversiële onderwerp en hy het gehoop dat die praatjie tot gesprekvoering onder die studente sou lei.  Ongelukkig was die praatjie nie (onmiddellik) vreeslik suksesvol in daardie opsig nie: van die studente het die bloot afgemaak as bog.  Ek (en ek is seker ‘n paar ander studente ook) het dit egter baie waardeer en heel interessant gevind.  Na die praatjie was daar ‘n baie lekker vingerete gewees⁴ en daarna het ons die sterrewag ‘n bietjie getoer.  Ek het eerste die rooi 13″ refraksie-teleskoop⁵ gesien.  Daardeur het ek vir die eerste Jupiter as meer as net ‘n spikkel in die lug gesien: mooi duidelik, grys en met drie van sy mane wat bo hom gepronk het.  Dit was pragtig!  Dit verg baie min vir ‘n persoon om sy of haar hart op astronomie te verloor.  Ons het ook die maan van ‘n bietjie nader besigtig.  Daarna het ons die 1.5m teleskoop gaan besigtig en uiteindelik die nuwe 16″ robotiese teleskoop.  Teen die einde van die aand was ons redelik moeg gewees en het ons na ons onderskeie blyplekke teruggekeer (sommige van die studente moes nog hul skyfies gaan voltooi het!).

Die volgende oggend vroeg het ek saam met my gasheer se pa ‘n geleentheid na die universiteit gekry.  Na registrasie het ons weer ‘n lesing gehad: hierdie keer oor patentereg.  Ek het egter nie veel daarby gebaat nie (ek het geleer dat Suid-Afrika het nie sagtewarepatente toelaat nie—iets waarteen ek in elk geval fundimenteel gekant is).  Daarna was ons in drie groepe verdeel en is verdaag na ons onderskeie lokale, waar daar vir die res van die dag aanbiedings gelewer is.  Ek was in die “fisika en IT”-groep wat in die senaatsaal—’n waardige en swaar kamer van leer, sigare en konjak—vergader het.  Die fisika-mense het afgeskop.  Die eerste praatjie was vir my goed gewees, maar ek het geskrik toe die aanbieder byna met die eerste vraag gekelder is.  Ek het besef dat die praatjiebeoordelaars hierdie geleentheid baie erenstig opneem en hul kennis hopeloos té divers is.  Ek het ook begin kriewelrig raak oor ‘n ander rede: ek het gedink my praatjie is hopeloos te kort.  Ek het nooit voor die tyd my praatjie behoorlik geoefen nie.  So het, tussen deur aandag gee probeer dink wat ek kan bysê om my praatjie uit te rek.  Op die ou end het ek aan genoeg goed gedink om my praatjie met twee skyfies uit te rek.  Gedurende die middagete het ek probeer om hierdie skyfies by te sit, maar ek het nie my LaTeX-kode saamgeneem nie en kon dus nie.  Ek sou dus die tyd wat ek op ander skyfies spandeer het uitrek om die addisionele goed te sê.

Dit was bestem dat ek laaste in ons groep sou praat.  Gelukkig is laaste ‘n plek waarmee ek baie goed vertroud is.  Ek weet nie of dit so beplan was nie, maar die praatjies in my sessie het rofweg van groot na klein geloop: eers die astro-fisika en golwe en goed en daarna materie strukture en molekules.  Die beste praatjie, wat my aanbetref, was van ‘n vrou wat ‘n spesifieke sterregroep bestudeer het.  Ek gaan nie in die besonderhede ingaan nie, maar ek was beïndruk met die wetenskaplike metode wat sy uitgelê het en met die resultate wat sy verkry het en haar gevolgtrekkings.  Die fisika-praatjies het die hele oggendsessie geduur.  Na middagete het die “IT” sessie begin.  Ek moet bieg dat die kwaliteit van hierdie praatjies vir my nie so goed soos die vorige sessie s’n was nie.  Dit was hoofsaaklik weens die merkbare swakker taalgebruik van die sprekers (die fisika-mense het hulself in hierdie opsig goed van hul taak gekwyt).  Van die woorde wat ek daar gehoor het was werklik walglik.  Uiteindelik het my beurt aangebreek.  Ek voel ek het goed gepraat, maar ten spyte van my vrese dink ek het ek op die ou end oor my tyd gegaan.  Dit was moeilik om die gehoor te lees: ‘n handjievol mense het ingekom om na my praatjie te luister, maar ek het omtrent die minste vrae van al die sprekers gehad.  Nadat ons verdaag het, het ek egter met ‘n paar mense gepraat wat gesê het dat hulle baie van my praatjie gehou het en baie geïnteresseerd was.  Na ‘n kort breuk het almal weer saam vergader, was die bedankings gedoen en die pryse was uitgedeel.  So het ‘n baie lang, maar interessante, dag tot ‘n einde gekom.  Terug by my gashere was ek te moeg om nog die aand iets verder te doen, so ons het maar ontspan en ek het vroeg bed toe gegaan.

Wat ek teen die einde van die dag besef het, was dat die vreemdste ervaring van die dag nie die feit dat al die dag se praatjies in Afrikaans was nie, maar juis dat daardie feit vir my nie vreemd was nie.  Die hele dag deur het ek tegniese praatjies in Afrikaans gehoor met tegniese terme in Afrikaans.  Tog het ek nie ongemaklik daarmee gevoel nie.  Dit gee vir my hoop vir my moedertaal.  Die simposium is die enigste van sy soort in die land vir wetenskap in Afrikaans, maar dit werk.  Die taal is jonk, maar nog nie verouderd deur vooruitgang nie.  Ek glo dat met harde werk hierdie taal nog lank met ons sal wees.  Dit ís vir my ‘n mooi taal en ek sal graag meer tyd daarin wil spandeer.

Die volgende dag het ek en my vriendin beplan om opsy te sit sodat sy vir my ‘n bietjie deur Bloemfontein kon wys.  Ongelukkig kon ons nie die hele dag hieraan afstaan nie, want sy het ‘n eksamen gehad wat sy oor twee dae moes gaan skryf en nog voor moes leer.  Bloemfontein is meer ‘n baie groot Karoo-dorp as wat dit ‘n stad is.  Die strate is breed en die ou deel laat ‘n mens nie twyfel dat dit as ‘n nedersetting begin is deur ‘n groep boere wat landin gevlug het agter oopte en vryheid aan nie.  ’n Mens kon ook ‘n aanvoeling hiervoor by die Boeremark kry: ons eerste stop vir die dag.  Die Boeremark is ‘n fantastiese markie waar ‘n mens baie interessanthede en nuttighede teen goeie pryse kan vind.  Daarna het ons na die waterfront toe gegaan.  Ek is baie skepties oor enige iets wat ‘n waterfront genoem word en nie langs die see is nie; of ten minste langs ‘n baie groot meer.  Maar vir ‘n paar jaar lank nou al kan ek nie meer vinger wys nie, want die Tygerwaterfront is gebou rondom ‘n groot artifisiële gat.  Die water daarvan is omtrent (soos ek gesien het) vergelykbaar met dié in Bloemfontein.  Die waterfront bestaan hoofsaaklik uit ‘n groot, generiese inkopiesentrum.  Dit is ‘n hartseer herinnering dat selfs hierdie stad, hierdie dorp waar daar nog so baie Afrikaans gepraat word en waardes vanuit ‘n langvergete verlede nog bestaan. nie kan ontsnap van Geld nie.  Dit sal altyd inhaal en verniel en afbreek net sodat dit weer kan opbou en eenders maak: altyd nog ‘n inkopiesentrum met wit teëls en nagemaakte marmer, altyd nog ‘n chic uiteetplek en nog ‘n kettingwinkel.  Altyd eenders: bring die beskawing na dié wat hierdie nie het nie.

Ek was egter wel bly om laatmiddag uit te dorp te kon gewees het.  Dit was daardie dag een of ander rugbytoenooifinaal en vir ‘n kort tydjie daarna was ek vanaf my gunsteling kleur, oranje, afgesit.  Mense is bloot nie só fanaties oor rugby in die Kaap nie.  Dit is iets waaraan ek glad nie gewoond is nie.  Ja, ‘n mens weet van die Bloubulondersteuners en hoe mal hulle tekere kan gaan, maar ek het nie die see van oranje jagluiperds verwag nie.  Ek hou in elk geval nie van rugby nie en het die middag rustig by my gashere deurgebring.  Die bure het my egter min-of-meer op hoogte gehou en teen die aand was alles rustig, want die Cheetas het die onderspit gedelf.  Op daardie stadium was dit al skemer en het dit liggies begin donderweer.  In die Kaap is donderweer baie skaars en ek het dit gewaardeer om dit so ‘n bietjie daar anderkant te ervaar.  Somerreën is egter iets wat vir my heeltemal volksvreemd is: ek ken dit nie regtig nie en glo nie dis reg nie.  Reën moet in die winter val wanneer die KOUD en NAT is en in die somer moet die SON skyn wanneer die WARM en DROOG is.  Tog… tog was daardie middag vir my vreeslik lekker.  Ek het buite onder die lapa gaan sit en gekyk hoe die groot reëndruppels op die nuwe tuintafeltjie val.  Bo my was daar ‘n fantastiese reënboog.  Vir ‘n tydjie was ek verlore in alleenheid: ‘n suspensie van tyd in rustigheid en stil vrede.  Aantreklik?  Ja, Bloemfontein kan aantreklik wees, net soos ‘n boernooitjie van die ou dae met die ou dae se waardes.  Wie sal nie na haar toe gaan nie?  Haar nie wil leer ken nie?

Die volgende oggend het ek saam met my vriendin na haar kerk toe gegaan.  Dit is deel van die NCMI-groep, wie ek glad nie ken nie, maar dit het vir my na ‘n goeie en heilsame kerk voorgekom.  Na jare wat hulle in ‘n skoolsaal kerkgehou het, was hulle uiteindelik besig om ‘n kerkgebou te bou terwyl ek daar was.  Die fondament was alreeds gelê, maar die mure was nog nie op nie.  Ons het dus onder ‘n tent op die kaal sement kerk gehou: werklik ‘n interessante ervaring.  Na kerk (ons moes dit egter ongelukkig effens kortknip) het ons direk na die lughawe gegaan.

Wie wil die boerenooi nie leer ken nie?  Maar ek moet terug na die see toe gaan.  Ek moet daardie oopte hê en die vryheid van die berge en die heuwels.  Ek moet van die wingered af pluk en eet en ek moet regte stede en regte dorpe vereenselwig.  Dit was baie lekker in Bloemfontein en ek sal weer gaan; om die waarheid te sê, sien ek nou nóg meer uit na die res van die land verken.  Maar ek glo dat, aan die einde van die dag, is hierdie my huis en hier waarheen ek sal terugkeer.  Dit is nie kortsigtigheid of hardkoppigheid nie: dit is hoe dit is.

1. Die “kuns”-deel van die Akademie het glo hul eie ding wat hulle doen…
2. Dalk met goeie rede: dalk het ek gedog dis nog ‘n dorp waardeur ons gery het.   Meer as enige iets anders lyk Bloemfontein meer soos ‘n groot Karoo-dorp as enige iets anders.  Ek kon dalk ook geslaap het.  Dis egter vreemd, wat ek kan die gaan van daardie besondere vakansie onthou, maar absoluut niks van die terugkom nie…
3. Alhoewel, blykbaar, was my eerste toe my ma gegaan het vir ‘n sonar daar…
4. Die kos by die simposium was deurgans baie goed gewees!
5. Ek praat onder korreksie, maar ek dink dit het eens op ‘n tyd diens by die bekende Mount Wilson sterrewag gedoen.

1. The saving grace of Messiah Yeshua and the certainty, love and power of God Almighty.
2. Loving parents who have – a continue to – sacrificed so much for me.
3. Cape Town, the Cape of Good Hope, and its surroundings.
4. Borrie, die mooiste en liefste borriekat in die hele wye wêreld!
5. Trees in suburbia growing taller than the houses and the birds that play and live in them.
6. Sunday lunch, a guilty pleasure! Zzz…
7. The great weekend and fantastic friends!
8. Waking up refreshed and energised on a Monday morning.
9. Having access to health care services.
10. 10GB of free internet!
11. My health and that I can exercise.
12. Beautiful colours – which I can’t even dream of – at sunset!
13. Being weak, foolish and helpless, so that my strength and assurances only comes from God Almighty.
14. The view from my bedroom window (incl. the cats who like to play right outside my window).
15. Forgiveness through repentance made possible by the blood of Messiah Yeshua.
16. Being able to learn from the Word of God.
17. Free and Open Source Software.
18. Finding things that were lost.
19. Yet more beautiful Stellenbosch sunsets!
20. (Again) Great friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ.
21. That I am able to freely meet with fellow believers to study the Word of God without fear of persecution.
22. Food: even a poor student can feast like a king!
23. Having a good, competent veteran study leader to help me get through this thing.
24. Shabbat! Shabbat Shalom!
25. That, one-day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess: “Baruch haba, B’shem Adonai!”
26. Weekends & being able to sleep in when necessary.
27. Summa time!
28. My trip through Europe, even though it’s drawing to a close.

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite make seven days: I skipped a day completely (my bad) and developed a cold on the day which then should have been the seventh; having a cold tends to damped one’s outlook on things.  But, I suppose, number 29 can be having a cold, as it could have been something worse.  In fact, I can’t remember when last I’ve had a cold, because it’s always the flu or some infection or something else.  But generally I’ve been rather healthy this year: I had a good run while it lasted.

One thing which struck me, was how difficult it was to “keep the chin up”—to not complain—for a whole week.  Other people struggled with this, I’m sure.  And I’ll be the first one to say that I think people who are 100% happy 100% have some serious problems (looming).  We are all just human and experience the world as it is: sometimes good things come our way, sometimes bad things.  But then you have to make a decision: are you going to complain?  Not complaining (or, “offering a negative comment”) was difficult for me, I’ll admit.  Once again, complaining does have its place and time.  But I think that many—if not most—of us are prone to complaining too quickly.  To that end, the Internet is a great enabler.  It is your Twitter feed, after all, and you don’t control who reads it and who don’t, so if people don’t want to read about a complaint, tough luck then, right?  Unfortunately that isn’t the right way to think about it.  People don’t know what the demeanor of something you have written is going to be before they read it (unless, perhaps, the thing they are reading has a title or short introduction).  Also, some of the people who are following what you write, do so because they know you on some level and perhaps even care about them.  If your mood is negative, theirs will be affected as well.  Once again I would like to stress, however, that complaining isn’t inherently wrong: it can, in fact, have positive, healthy uses (as opposed to just keeping everything negative bottled up inside).  But frequency of complaining (or, at least, the temptation of it) struck me through this exercise of gratitude.  It is something that I am aware of in myself (sometimes) and which I know I need to work on.  (But I may be making progress: today I got a text message from a friend in which she said that I’m seeing the glass half-full, and that was without trying from my side.)

Some of the items in my list may seem a bit generic.  I am aware of that, and there are two reasons for this.  First off (and this is only my fault): I spent the vast majority of the week cooped up inside my flat trying to burn through free Internet cap on a slow line.  As a consequence, I had little real contact with the world and other people.  Secondly, I found genuine value in the small things.  Anyone can be happy with winning the lottery.  But where would I have been without my parent?  What if I didn’t have the securities which provides me regular food and entertainment?  What if I loose my sight one-day and not have memories of standing in silent awe in front of a beautiful sunset?  Yes, I am greatly blessed, and no amount of complaining and perceived wants can diminish that fact.  And this is something I constantly need to remind myself of: I become just a complacent as the next person.  I then need to stop and look at everything again.  It may seem like “looking for things to be thankful for”, but I really would have been miserable—if alive at all—if it weren’t for the hunderds and thousands of little things.

Perhaps one-day I’ll redo this exercise.  I found it refreshing, actually, as I looked at the world slightly differently for that week.  Go on, try it!