WTF is going on?

Wordpress keeps reverting back to about two weeks ago.

I suspect it’s a database problem. But it’s certainly a pain, since I’ve now lost at least two posts, and some comments as well!

Not happy. =/

(Hopefully things will revert back to their old state… but who knows?)

UPDATE: I found an archive of my lost posts, and restored them!!! :)

Today, my math’s methods tutor (Mr Haji) read to me Ithaca by Constantine P. Cavafy. He had included the poem in his speech at the Sacred Heart Year 12 valedictory dinner. Reproduced for your convienience:

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon — do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

– Constantine P. Cavafy

I found after a few moments of reflection, that I couldn’t hold back a few tears. I think the message of this poem rung in such harmony with my own feelings. That is, in unjust simpler words, that life is the “journey not the destination.”

I cannot help but wonder: How many truly fulfull this ideal?

This copy of Ithaca was translated from the original Greek.

… for I only have 6 weeks until Year 12 (proper) is over. This is both exciting and alarming, as I feel that I have got to do lots before I feel completely prepared for the exams (the first one, English, is in 3 and a half weeks).

After that, I’ve got to do the RMIT Architecture “drawing exercise”. That should be interesting, and If they like my stuff, I’ve got to look forward to an panel interview. Still, despite this intimidating prospect (and a 5 year degree, no less), I’ll be over the moon if I get in.

Because of said appointment (on the 19th of November), I may not undertake schoolies at this point in time. I don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing, because I’m still trying to be careful with my money! Maybe I’ll settle for a small thing with friends, instead.

And of course, there are speech-night rehearsals which I need to attend. The upside to this commitment, is that I don’t have to sing! :-D

The parents have declared that we’re going to Phillip Island for Christmas. Apologies to those who I misinformed (for some reason, I thought we were going to New Zealand). I hope to convince them to let a few friends and I come up a bit earlier for a “Thank God VCE is over” celebration. Mum and Dad, we’ll make sure it’s clean, I promise. :-P

What next? 2007

Apparently linux.conf.au will be in Sydney in January. I may attend. In 2008, when it’s held in Melbourne, I might be part of the Gentoo miniconf (if mark_alec has his way).

At this stage, it’s pretty much a given that I shall be doing my GAP year. That is, I will travel to China for about 5 months, and travel and teach english. I can only hope I get boarded with someone interesting (hehe, I bet they’re thinking the same). I’ll be gone from February to around July.

Once I get back, chances are that I’ll do lots of work with Coles and save some $$$. My eventual hope is that I’ll be in a sound financial situation by 30 (2018!?!). That is, to be able to live without worrying about a lack of money.

Also, a friend (Edward Couper — he’ll be famous one day, I’m sure) and I may be going into business together, as a partnership. I won’t mention much more, as things haven’t been sorted out as yet, but it’ll probably be in Web Design.

I may also start seriously training for my 2nd dan.

And of course the inevitable dalliances… ;-)

This morning, Dad and I drove to a secluded carpark in Darebin. I receieved my first driving lesson from him, in our Volvo 240 automatic (”Red Gert”, we call her). The other car is a Toyota Landcruiser GL [4WD] (”The Truck”, coined by my late grandfather) and I wasn’t confident to tackle said beast from the outset (it’s a manual). Old is a reoccurring theme in the cars and also my parents.

We started with the most difficult thing — parking. I tried all the different variations: parallel, angular, perpendicular and reversing in and out. The difficult thing is getting a feel for the car, and then achieving good control and thus being smooth in the execution of actions. In my opinion, I still have a long way to go!

I must say, while the Volvo had no power steering, and because of this it was a battle to turn the wheel all the way around, it had a fantastic turning circle (I could easily chuck a U-turn in a relatively narrow space). One can feel the road under the steering wheel, especially at lower speeds. (Dad said it was because of the relativey high pressure in the tires).

Now I wonder how long it will take for me to get at least 120 hours practice, given the hour or so today.

Darkzone Shenanigans

Last night, I was invited to DarkZone Box Hill, an offer I could not decline! While we all only played 2 games, they were great fun. “Big Bird” (aka: Yours truly) won the first game (a standard deathmatch) overall. For the second game, a team match, I came second overall (as did my team). I am convinced the overall winning player cheated, because their score was over double my own (which was around that of the first game, which in turn was double that of person who came 2nd). Either that, or they were pretty good!

Afterwards, a subset of those who went to DarkZone had dinner. We all went to “The Booth”, a Taiwanese resturant, just around the corner from DarkZone. I had a delicious beef wrap, which contained slivers of tender marinated beef wrapped in some sort of egg pastry containing spring onions and (I think) chives. Yum. And it only cost $7, which was good value considering it was a generous serving (and tasted great). Just watch out for the ‘Milk Tea’ (ie: Bubblecup style) as it reportedly tasted strange.

Never underestimate the mind of a child

No really. Children aren’t stupid. One of the little whippersnappers who ate with us (I was actually the only legal adult in the group, a humbling thought!) asked for my name. Within about a minute, she had guessed my other nickname. Said nickname is not usually guessed by older people. Scary, no? Perhaps just a different perspective on things?

Small Rant

Coming home on the train (I seem to get about by myself these days), I witnessed some unparalleled acts of antisocial idiocy by some moronic teenager. While I had my book to amuse me, this fellow roused my ire — I genuinely wished to punch his face in (no shit). But I refrained.