Reflecting on A Geek's Life

I Write Because...

Tue, 04 Dec 2018 19:57:30 +0000

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One of my earliest memories of doing stuff with my mother is of a newspaper cutout, sheets of paper and her sitting beside me encouraging me to apply whatever iota of critical thinking I could summon to whatever was the task of the day, usually some Close Up essay competition or the other. I don’t recall us ever submitting any of those, the discipline of wrestling thoughts into semi-coherent arguments perhaps being the point of the entire exercise. That sense of writing as a vehicle for thinking aloud about a subject is one that has stayed with me over the years.

31 Days of Journaling, Day 31: Wrapping Up

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 11:15:40 +0000

It has been a fascinating month going through the Art of Manliness Jump-start your Journaling 31 Day Challenge. I suppose the key is in the challenge bit because for what it is worth it wasn’t the easiest of things to complete. A few themes came at me time and time again, mainly related to my relationships with people and how much (or how little) I ave allowed others into my deepest space. That (friends and brothers, mentors, my romantic relationship and a few others) is one of the key focus areas for the next year, which I have captioned The Year of Living Intentionally.

31 Days of Journaling, Day 30: Thankful For...

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 20:03:58 +0000

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

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For the Day 30 prompt. Thankful for:

Life: Given how many people I know who died during the course of the year, both young and old
S: Who chose to accept me, warts and all
T&M: Who continue to hold down the fort on the family front through what have sometimes been testing times.
Books: For the opportunity to slip into them away from the world
Friends: Who have stuck with me through the years
Work: Which in spite of a growing sense of dissatisfaction still pays the bills.
Travel: The chance to get away from it all from time to time.

31 Days of Journaling, Day 29: Something I am Proud Of

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 19:46:25 +0000

The prompt for Day 29 is to write about one thing that brings you great joy. Here goes.

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A few years ago I would have said that my job was the one thing that gave me great joy, seeing as I felt very strongly that I was contributing and saw my future being very much intertwined with corrosion and materials. For a variety of reasons, including the sense of coasting that I have struggled with over the past year, it is beginning to feel like something I just do, that pays the bills.Trying to suss out the underlying reasons and getting back to a place of excitement about my current role (or something else) is something I have to focus on resolving in the new year!!!

31 Days of Journaling, Day 19: On Romance, A Reflection

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 19:10:44 +0000

For Day 19 of The Art of Manliness Journaling Prompts

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The one romantic relationship I am in is with S, my wife of just over a year. As highlighted in my response to the Day 5 prompt, it has hardly being the smoothest of relationships, not helped by living apart and both being very busy people.

The one area I’d like to improve is improving the quality of our relationship primarily from the perspective of making clear to her that she is the priority in my life and that every other thing including work and sustenance lies in second place. To achieve this my intention is to communicate better with her, making the effort to stay in touch on a daily basis regardless of what pressures work and life pose. Fingers crossed.

31 Days Of Journaling, Day 10: The Hero's Journey

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 03:05:46 +0000

Photo by Brett Patzke on Unsplash

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The Hero’s Journey makes for interesting reading, showing how in 12 stages the boy becomes a man as he journeys through a life. Although based on myths, the underlying idea behind this framework is that these myths work because they represent how we understand how life happens to us. Vogler’s model, which the folk at AoM espouse, is an abridged version of the original in the Joseph Campbell book (The Hero with a Thousand Faces) and identifies 12 steps (from the Wikipedia page) as below:

31 Days of Journaling, Day 7: A Reflection

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 15:55:49 +0000

Image source: rawpixel @ unsplash

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And so comes Day 7. Whilst those who believe in numerology think seven is the number of perfection, the past few days have been anything but perfect. What they have been though is an opportunity to flex thinking and writing muscles which I haven’t used in a while, which were to put it bluntly beginning to atrophy.

The general idea has been to try to block time out in the morning- between waking up, devotions and heading out to work- to pen a few words in response to the challenge of the day. There have been hits and misses along the way but thankfully I’ve managed to show up. Here’s to discipline winning through and birthing delight in the end.

31 Days of Journaling, Day 1: Why Journal?

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 11:45:57 +0000

Image Source: Heartwoods

It feels like a good time to try to develop a regular practice of journaling. For one there is the need to reflect properly on my latest attempt at rebooting, as well as the plethora of other more intelligent folk who think it is a good thing: David Sedaris, Austin Kleon, Michael Hyatt, Samuel Pepys, David Thoureau to name a few. The benefits are many, ranging from providing opportunities to reflect on life, a record of one’s day (both for the individual and for posterity) and also a source of material for future creative writing pursuits.

Lull...

Fri, 09 Sep 2016 03:13:33 +0000

[ Source]

In conversation with a gentleman I consider a mentor of sorts, the question about what was going on in my life at the moment got asked. After a few moments pause, I realised that the answer lay somewhere between ’nothing of note’ and ’normal'.

With the Summer Fridays out of the way, life is focused on fleshing out budgets for 2017 at work and waiting on a direction on a critical decision I have to make; somewhat of a lull compared to the frenetic pace of life over the past few months.

New (old) Job - A Testimony of Sorts

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 23:54:26 +0000

I came into church on the 10th of May feeling deeply distraught, the overwhelming sense being that all was not well. Two main issues drove the sense of disjunction I felt; uncertainties around work and an inner turmoil around a decision in my personal life I had wrestled with for nearly a year.

The message on the day was by Rev Charles Achonwa - one of the first things he said being about surrendering to grace. This spoke directly to where I was at the moment, as I had taken time off a month before to come up with what I felt was the perfect plan with multiple backups and redundancies but had made little progress which fed the sense of frustration I felt.

"Mene mene tekel parsin"

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:17:27 +0000

Its midway through the year already…. 2009 has sped by with alarming inerrancy…. And the midway point will soon be reached…….I find myself musing, questioning, probing and sifting through the evidence hoping to find proof that I have indeed focused on the right things so far that will make the most difference when push comes to shove and the bricks fall down as though ripped to shreds by a tsunami of cataclysmic proportions……….The big chronological milestone approaches too, and with it comes a sense of dread - I will officially become ‘old’ in my book - but then on the other hand is some gratefulness for still being alive against all odds….. …… Its taking stock time here………….I really hope the verdict is not “mene mene tekel parsin”