Archive for September 17th, 2009

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by jono

30 Years Young

Today I turn 30.

It seems everyone has an opinion about what happens when you turn 30. Sharing my news of the imminent event with friends would usually result in sarky mutterings of “it’s all downhill from here, boyo“, and affirmations that hangovers feel worse, bones ache more, you get tired quicker and find yourself shouting at kids to get off your lawn. Bob Hope seemed to sum up this cornucopia of codgerly cantankerousness with “middle age is when you still believe you’ll feel better in the morning“. Bugger, that doesn’t sound very inspiring.

Well, screw that.

Don’t get me wrong: I am comfortable with the opportunities and limitations before me. I realize that it is unlikely that I am going to headline Wacken any time soon, I am probably not going to be as fast a drummer as I could, and I am going to have to shelve that plan for an 80’s perm.

But y’know what, life hasn’t changed that much. I still love my wife, family and friends. I love free software, metal, partying, working on interesting projects, having new experiences and supping coffee. I am still a sucker for wikipedia, dogs, PS3 and random trivia, and I still say community too much.

For all the perceived downsides of hitting the big three-oh, there are up-sides though. A little while back I was having a good ‘ol chinwag with Terri Molini from Sun and I shared with her how my perspectives have changed in recent years. I have been re-assessing old assumptions and looking at them from a new perspective, throwing away old expectations and ideas and approaching them from a new angle based on new experiences. When I shared this she said “how old are you?“, to which I responded “30 in a few months“, and she said “yep, that pretty much happens at your age“.

She ain’t wrong. In the last year I have felt a renewed sense of perspective in approaching my work and other aspects of my life, and this has helped me to understand the phases we go through as we get older and how we respond and react to things. I suspect…this is what happens when we grow up.

So, as I hit 30 I am entering middle-age actually a little excited.

Before I wrap up, I want to thank those of you who have generously bought me something from my Amazon Wishlist. I have received Queen – Live at Wembley Stadium DVD and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher’s Edition: A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart – thanks so much, folks, I really appreciate your generosity!

Right, I am going to tell those bloody kids to get off my lawn…

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by jono

Even When Things Go Wrong, Life Is Awesome

A few days ago I started getting sick. This sucks for two reasons. Firstly, I hate being sick. Secondly I hit the big 3-0 tomorrow and I don’t want to be ill on my birthday. I have been assured my many a wise onlooker that “being sick on your birthday is the ‘worst thing ever’“. Don’t want any of that, particularly as we have some friends coming over for a shindig.

To make matters worse, like many others who are also testing the current development branch of Ubuntu, life got very very wobbly a few days ago and many of us are strugging to boot, gain access to the network and get X up and running. This all decided to kick off the very day I started feeling wobbly myself.

I was not a happy bunny. Feeling like crap, broken computer and in the interests of resting and getting better, I had American television to contend with. Woe was mostly firmly pointed in my direction.

It was then I realized just how truly awesome life is, even within my (frankly not very bad) circumstances. On the illness front I had a comfortable bed to rest in and a loving wife who brought me chicken soup and tea laced with honey. On the television side I could bypass the rot and misfortune that is American telly and plonk a few DVDs on, in the form of the Mallrats 10th Anniversary edition, Zodiac and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

And then Ubuntu. I grabbed my Jaunty CD, booted into the Live CD and used my trusty 2GB Mandrake USB stick that I got at PyCon in Brum and installed Jaunty to it. I then set up links, some bookmarks, installed a few apps and I was back up and running while Scott, Lamont, Colin, Steve and others have worked to get the problem fixed in Karmic. Yesterday I sat back for a moment and just marvelled at how incredible free software is and how devoted the folks who make it are. The people who were trying to resolve this were up late into their nights working hard. We are blessed to have these folks in our lives.

So the moral of this story: at times life sucks, but it is in those moments it gives us a chance to step back and see all the wonderful things around us.