Category: Family and Musings

J. M. Coetzee and Moving to Cape Town

Like pulling a massive tree out of the soil, a move of country and city is especially hard once you are older and grown up. The roots are longer, the trunk less flexible. The uncertainty is greater and the relocation more scarring.

One thing I was worried about when I moved to Cape Town was leaving the culture, the art, the vibrancy of our lives in Sydney, Australia. Living in Africa can feel like living in the past and in the outback at times, with outdated technology and infrastructure. Less trendy, less options.

At least, that’s what I thought.

The truth is, South Africa is as vibrant a place you could hope for – its present and its history are full of stories. The Silicon Cape initiative is thriving.

What makes me especially happy is that great authors have written stories set just down the road from me. I love relating to art on many levels, and one of the best relationships to have with a book is an intimate understanding of the geography. Much of “Disgrace” is set in Cape Town and in areas of South Africa I have seen with my own eyes. I am a quarter of the way through and loving it so far. So far the protagonist is an unlikable man, but his predicament is fascinating.

I think I will stay in Cape Town a while longer. At least to finish this book!

Managing expectations

An often-used phrase, but I believe managing expectations is everything.

If you can do more than expected and surprise on the upside, you’re a step ahead and probably have an evangelist on your hands, ready to sing your praises or give you valuable feedback.

Surprising on the downside means you’re back to square one.

Conscious watching of TV

When I was younger (I’m still incredibly young of course, despite my grey hair, stiff back, and penchant for listening to jazz)….but when I was younGER I used to watch TV by default. I had no decision to make, I had nothing else pressing my time. I just had myself to think about. Quite recently it has become different. Others are relying on me and TV is now something to manage – just like Music, Facebook (which I eventually quit), cell phone notifications (quit) and computer games (quitting).

I need to watch TV with a little more purpose and a little more constraint. This is probably stating the obvious, but I do find it difficult not to just consume movies and series every night – especially with today’s binge watching options. I love literature and film, and I love technology so the streaming thing would take up a lot of my time if i let it. It’s not as if I don’t let myself watch anything – Film and series are fantastic and worthy art in my life. My point is simply that it is a conscious thought now to watch these things, all with the aim of productivity and creativity. Before it was just a default setting.

If you are struggling for time to be productive, start with thinking about the things you do as a default setting. In my case it started with registering Facebook, cell phone notifications and computer games. Now it is TV. Some need to be stopped, others managed, others nothing at all needs to be done – but it’s a useful exercise.

Family and the self

If you do something over and over not only do you get good at it, you start to expect it to happen and so do those around you.

Family is a beautiful thing, but starting one inevitably sucks your time and energy away from individual pursuits. I have to be careful here because I love my child and my wife and I love spending time with them…. but if I am not mindful of my time, I devote every second of the day to them and that is not healthy for things like creativity, relaxation, pursuing dreams.

So I have to start new habits and feed them into my family dominated routine drip by drip. I am now reading a book of my choice, just a little each night. I take time each night for myself and holy moly what a difference. I read better and then I sleep better. Not only that, but I can feel myself getting better at reading. The words fly off the pages and I reach that “zone” where I don’t notice the outside world much quicker than I used to.

All of this is probably for nothing as we are expecting another child soon – but til then I am enjoying regaining some of my lost time and reading some more good stuff.

Dune final thoughts

So I finally finished Dune – the sci-fi classic which has clearly influenced the likes of Game Of Thrones and most other popular sci-fi stories since. I had two final thoughts on why it is so impressive and resilient to this day as a gripping sci-fi story.

First – The characters are super, but the world in which they inhabit is the real star of the show. A character on its own merit, Arrakis dominates any event in the book. Just as ‘winter is coming’ in GOT, the extreme weather and awesome beauty of the desert planet is what the main characters have to come to terms with to fulfill their destiny. Though it is a completely different sort of novel, I am seeing a similar strong focus on setting and location in the book i am currently reading: “The Knowledge” By Steven Pressfield.

The impressive depth of the cultures, languages and religions created by the author in Dune are second to only Lord of The Rings in my experience. I marvel at the time this and dedication this must have taken from Frank Herbert. It gives the story authenticity and reflects back to the reader our own clan like behaviour and superstitions here on earth.

Dune is magnificent. Well worth the read and the reputation it has gathered.

Streaming music

I like to think about the music industry.
For my streaming needs I oscillate between Google Play and Tidal depending on how pretentious I feel about streaming quality, and how much cash I have. In reality there is not much difference though – all of the major streaming services have an impossibly huge library, the convenience is amazing too. What is most interesting to me is the angst it brings me – Whenever I stream something I think to myself “am i doing this right?” – with LPs and CDs it was far more clearcut how best to listen to music. Now nobody knows.
Which is the best streaming service? It’s not an obvious answer or even an obvious question – Best for the listener? Best for the artist?
I live in South Africa and don’t have access to Spotify or Youtube Red (or whatever Youtube’s subscription options are) it seems to me that Soundcloud was trying to be the Youtube of music, but failed to make money – why? The music industry seems capable of flicking a switch and making an artist centered service like Soundcloud disappear almost overnight.
The whole streaming genre has taken a grip on my brain – it’s such a vast universe and there are so many ways to listen to music now – Which hardware is the best to use?
I follow it with interest and compulsion.

Be more Scandinavian

I recently went on a three week holiday to Scandinavia – Norway and Sweden to be precise. It was pretty incredible. Coming from South Africa – a place struggling with its economy, identity and environment – Norway and Sweden felt like a glimpse into the future.

The nature was pristine. I saw mountains, fjords, forests and moose. I went salmon and trout fishing in rivers that were so clean I could bend down and drink, straight from the flow of water at my feet if I got thirsty in between a cast of the line. The cities were incredibly well organised with museums, public transport and cycling lanes. There was also construction all around and there were Teslas everywhere with charging stations lining the streets. Recycling of rubbish is a given.

Patriotism and a sense of community was evident all around. People fly flags and live with no fences or security worries. The state is clearly rich and so are its people. Everybody (and I mean EVERYbody) spoke perfect English.

It was an inspiring trip. Now that I have recovered from the flight back with my pregnant wife and my 2 year old, I am on a mission to be more Scandinavian – to me this means more focus and simplicity, more organisation, more environmentally aware, more disciplined and secure in everything I am doing. That’s the idea anyways. So far it has translated into one blog post at 630am with a cup of tea for company.

But it’s a start, and anyways neither Stockholm, nor Oslo were built in a day.

Be more Scandinavian.

Ethereum…yumyum

How to get your head around the blockchain and Ethereum? Tokens? Ether? Cryptocurrencies? Sheesh….

Here’s my take on how Ethereum tokens might work:

The tokens allow application builders (coders) to set up rules for an exchange of value within an app’s network. Hypothetically, if a Facebook competitor was created on the Ethereum blockchain (rather than the internet), a token (or a fraction of a token) might be exchanged each time you liked something, or shared something. More likes = more tokens. Maybe there is a shop on the same token system to exchange for goods.

For another real life example – an application such as civic (www.civic.com) which seeks to secure online identity will trade a token as a marker of a user’s true identity details. Anyone or any company that is part of the Civic network can exchange tokens and be assured that these tokens represent true, non-fraudulent proof of identity (I think…not quite sure on all of this).

Trying to write your own understanding of something helps you to learn about the subject. I am not sure I understand this subject completely, but I am getting there.

Happy weekend 🙂