Bad Omen?

For the most of the year, because we don't have a TV or play the radio at the flat, I have been ignorant of most of the local politics. This, in my opinion, was a good thing, because the international news, which I do follow to a degree, alone depresses me too much. But, today I returned home to study before my exam and the first news item already upset me. Tonight on the news they announced that the name of the Johannesburg International Airport has official been changed to the O.R. Tambo International Airport. Oliver Tambo was the ANC leader for a long time and a martyr. Or so I'm told. I don't know much about him and I never met him. But, from what I hear, he was not just a good politician but also a great guy and everyone who supported the ANC loved him.

But, there's a problem.

Johannesburg International Airport's (JNB) former name was the Jan Smuts International Airport. Jan Smuts was a great (white Afrikaner) South African politician at the start of the 20th century: he was, among other things, a Field Marshal in the British army (South Africa, then, was still a British dominium), he served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill and helped found both the League of Nations and the United Nations. As leader of the young, recently unified South Africa, he stood opposed to the more right-wing political opposition. So, in short, he was a great guy and people loved him not just because of his politics.
But there was a problem. He was a leader of “white” South Africa.

Before the 1994 democratic elections, the country's major political parties (most notably the ruling NP government and the newly unbanned ANC), held a series of meetings to discuss and ease the upcoming transformations: the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA). Many things, of course, were ultimately decided at these meetings, but one is of importance now: the names of South Africa's international airports were to be changed so that they were “apolitical”.
And now?

Great way this country's democracy is heading in, especially with the ANC trying to oust the local government in the city of Cape Town because they are sore losers.

I'm back at home for the exams and I'm probably going to be pretty quiet until after the exams. Nothing new then, so, until next time, good luck with your endeavours and enjoy!

Honourable Mentions

The past week was, I'm glad to say, quiet and pleasant. The final specifications for the spreadsheet project was suppose to be up on last Monday, but the lecturer only got around to do it on Friday (and, as per our agreement, he shaved his head on Monday). The peacefulness of the week was also accentuated by the absence of any tut tests. So there wasn't too much to do in the week and I capitalized on it. On Tuesdays I went on an excursion with the third year Physics class to go attend a public lecture on the Big Bang given by the famous professor Harald Fritzsch at UCT. Because it was a public lecture, however, it was very pop sciency and I already knew a lot of what he talked about. Afterwards, the bunch of us went for a drink.

The departments of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (which are technically all part of the same department, but never mind that) chose last week as the one where they would present their offerings in honours courses to the third year students. Originally, the Computer Science honours courses didn't seem all that appealing and I strongly considered taken two modules at Applied Mathematics (you are allowed to take up to two courses offered by a relevant/affiliated department). But I was surprised at how appeal most of the Computer Science modules look now! They have, for instance, introduced a new module, which is generically named “Software Construction”, which is effectively the “game-engine-design course”. There are also modules in, amongst others, Automata, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Concurrency, Theoretical Computer Science and Networking. Its going to be difficult to choose...

I would really have liked to take a module or two from Applied Mathematics, but that seems unlikely now. I have come a long way with Applied Mathematics and there are also interesting and appealing courses offered by the department, but in the long run, it won't help further my “Computer Science” career that much (unless I decide to go in the theoretical direction, which seems unlikely).

And, as it always is, I'm discovering a lot of interesting topics and things now on the eve of the exam. Friday I briefly learned about a topic called “Social Network Analysis” which concerns the study of social groups (schools, churches, governments, terrorist cells, book clubs, hospitals etc.) and how things like information, gossip, diseases etc. are dissipated through them. There are also other applications also. It's a union of psychology and mathematics and seems very interesting and tempting. And, to boot, it took only a couple of clicks on the web to get to pages on artificial intelligence from the social networks pages. I would really like to explore this topic more in detail. *sigh* Things like this and the desire to start working on the website again are tempting me away from my studying efforts (which still have to start). The cruel irony is that, when I'm on holiday, I want to break away from academic topics and then these things are placed on a dark, dusty shelve again.

20 I-My-Me's

I'm not really one to follow “blogging trends”, but the practise to listing 20 things about yourself is one that I am willing to indulge in. The reason is that I've decided that I should be more “open” on this website. It's foolhardy to peruse anonymity on a personal website. The reason has always been that I want to keep this website separate from my real life friends and family. To a degree, I still do, but I don't want to hide so much anymore. Anyway, that rant aside, here are 20 Facts About Me:

(1) I have, to date, never had tequila (at least not straight). I'm quite happy with vodka. I've also never smoked anything in my life (not cigarettes, marijuana or even a celebratory cigar) and I also don't have any desire to.
(2) My favourite Christian bands/artists are Jason Upton, Delirious? and dc Talk. I sometimes wonder whether it is “right” to have favourites among Christian bands: most of them are, after all, all praising Ha Shem and spreading the Christian message. On the other hand, I am disillusioned by how “big business” some of these bands are. I also dislike the Dove awards which itself is pretty commercial and ultimately judge certain artists and bands as “better” than others.
(3) In day-to-day life, I am reasonably spartan.
(4) I don't really know my dad's side of the family very well. I most associate with my mom's side of the family. Of them, everyone lives in the Western Cape except for my uncle and aunt who live in Phalaborwa. My dad's sister and brother lives in Gauteng.
(5) I have mild obsessive compulsive traits. I am not ruled by them, but I have wondered whether, coupled with my introvertedness, a bad doctor would've diagnosed my with some form of autism when I was younger.
(6) “Like riding a bicycle” my foot. When I was young, I forgot how to ride a bicycle after many years of not riding one. I learnt to ride a bicycle when I was very young (even though it took a long while to get rid of the training wheels) and had to re-learn later in primary school.
(7) I enjoy going on long walks, like hiking up a mountain, but I never go do something like that out of my own. Subsequently I hardly ever get the opportunity anymore.
(8) Occasionally, I forget to put my car's lights on at night. Or, I put only the parking lights on. I then drive for a while until I start to wonder why everything is so dark...
(9) I don't remember which way left and which way right is by thinking of which is my writing hand. I remember the time my grandfather effectively taught me which way round the directions are why I told him to turn the wrong way to get to the local petrol station when I was very young.
(10) The first time I effectively played “computer technical support” and solved someone's computer problem was when I was four. The panic-stricken family friend had forgotten to turn the computer on.
(11) Most of my dinners are frozen. I do not yet have the time “after hours” to learn how to cook properly.
(12) I am against the death penalty.
(13) Even though I find myself being cautious sometimes, I do not consider myself as superstitious.
(14) People like my hair. Well, I've had a few people comment on how much they like it. Not the style or colour, but just... I don't know, as is. I don't spend a lot of time on it or use special products on it. I guess I was just blessed with nice, healthy, thick hair.
(15) In general, I don't like parodies. There are exceptions, but especially parodical websites and books get on my nerves.
(16) At one stage, when I was younger, I drew a few pictures of a naked woman who appeared in a Sunday newspaper comic strip. This was also probably my last attempt at learning to draw, sketch or paint well – it's just not my talent.
(17) I would rather vacuum and do dishes than mow the lawn and take out the garbage.
(18) When I was young, I wanted to become a palaeontologist.
(19) I can't really throw. I don't have the power in my arms to throw a ball far and my direction isn't exactly always spot on. This made playing cricket difficult and, to a degree, unpleasant.
(20) I like cheese.

And there you go!

Unwinding Rant

The past four weeks has been pretty hectic: especially those before the last one. I had deadlines, demos and tests, but thankfully I made it through on the other side. I also got the last test I wrote back today, so now I know pretty well where I stand as I head towards the exams.

Like I said, things were pretty rough. I thought that I would be able to relax a little in the past week, but I found myself unable to switch off from all of the work. We are still busy with the spreadsheet project and it is nearing completion, so that is pretty interesting and exciting to see. But still, I did slack off a little bit.

I started jogging again a few weeks ago. I'm taking it slow, but I am amazed at how fast I'm getting back into the game after an absence of nearly a year. I don't think I shall reach any goals next year, but at least I'm gaining momentum again. I also got myself a pair of real running shoes and I think it does make a difference. The biggest problem now is motivation and I am still not in a regular routine yet.

There is so much I've wanted to say, but now I am at a loss of words and thoughts... maybe I'm just too tired at the moment. It has happened twice now in as many weeks that an inspiration suddenly comes to me out of the blue: something that needs to be written down and nurtured into special, but then I do not have the time to do it. Finding inspiration these days is pretty hard, let alone having them be lost as you shuffle on to do your daily routine. I was forced to jot down only the core ideas that came to me, but separated from a body they are merely dead limbs. It is very strange how the creative process (at least as I experience it) works: when I get an idea, I either have to construct something around it immediately or else I loose the “essence” of it. Many ideas only seem good in the moment though and it happens that I return to something that I have written only to completely discard it. I also don't really like to go back and re-read my work (as readers of this blog may have noticed). However, sometimes there are gems that are just too precious to loose sight of...

It has been three years since I left school, but there are still elements I miss from that time: my stronger spirituality, my writing ambitions and my convictions all seem boxed up in some glass cage at an antiquities display. I pass it every now and again and gaze upon and think about the good old days. I believe I can turn everything I don't like about my life at the moment 180 degrees around, but something is just... amiss.

We are now hurtling towards the exams at a blistering pace here at Stellenbosch. I've always been very reserved about speaking of or thinking about graduation, but lately I'm thinking about it more and I'm really excited about the prospect. It's just... it's what I've been working so hard for. I've poured a lot into academics these past three years and it has taken a high toll on my. Graduation – that will be tangible reward. There's only a small stretch left in which I mustn't muck things up.

I heard from my uncle at the start of the week that I'll be able to continue staying at the flat next year! I'm pretty psyched about that. The idea was, originally, I believe, that he would have sold the flat when my cousin moves out. At the moment I'm not sure whether he'll be moving out or not: I doubt it, because he isn't finished with his doctorate yet, but on the other hand I also don't think that he'll stay for the whole of next year. I've grown to like and appreciate the old place.