Interview with an IT professional

Debbie Timmins of ACS interviewed Vishuddhi about IT in general, if anyone is interested the interview can be found on her blog.

Just 2 and a hlaf days to go!!!

Exasperated, Confused, Tired, Angry, Irritated and Bugged!

I've been trying to design a set up for a vacuum chamber that I have never seen, using components that I never knew existed, and trying to calculate the electrical loads and wire connections and what not using just the pictures and very little details provided in catalogues!

Simply driving me nuts!!!

And I can't get the required information from the component manufacturers! Obviously they are not in a hurry as I am.

Once I decide on the design I have to order the suitable components (based on my hypothetical design). If by some chance I overlook some small detail on one of these components and the thing turns out to be unsuitable, it's going to be my neck!

And I'm supposed to complete this before I leave to SL, so that an order can be placed for the components.

I hate deadlines!

Specially when I'm totally confused about the subject matter.

Countdown

Nine days more to go.......

Home and the World

A scene from Satyajith Rai's make of the film, based on the book.

Yet another piece of magic by Rabindranath Tagore. The way Tagore understood the complexities of the traditional cultures and the mind frames of people living in his time is simply amazing. His ideas are ahead of his time and even our times.

I won't go into a review here because Ineshka has done some excellent work on this.

And for anyone interested Purnima has found an online resource on this as well.

A Million Little Pieces

An alcoholic at the age of 10, a drug addict at the age of 12 and a drug dealer at the age of 15, charged with offenses and crimes in 3 US states by the age of 18, James Frey was at the point of no return when he was dragged into rehabilitation aged just 23. This is the compelling memoir of James, the son gone wrong of loving parents.

Hallucinations..... Sleepless.... Seeing things, Hearing things...... Blacking out........ Throwing up blood...... Craving.....Craving for drugs...and alcohol... screaming....screaming for drugs....This was his state when the story starts at the rehabilitation centre. And it's no joy ride to recovery, if he ever gets there.

But still deep down inside him he discovers the strength....the strength to make a choice....to live or to die. He protests against the rehab staff, and refuses to follow their instructions simply because it doesn't make sense to him, despite the fact that every one seem to insist that following their rules is the only way out. Despite the instructions of the counsellers, he refuses to 'give himself to God, and have faith in Him'. James is adamant that it's not God who made the decision to take drugs, it's me who did it, so if anyone is going to make the decision to quit it, it's going to be me and only me!

During the rest of his time at the centre he surrounds himself with people who were at one point drug addicts, dealers, womanizers and criminals. But out of this bizzare combination springs some extraordinary friendships that brings out the human counterpart of these people who are despised by the general society.

A best-seller; this is a very powerful and moving story that brings insight to the dark side of life. It's got a considerable amount of foul language and graphic details which only adds to the reality of life.

Read this and you will never look at a drug addict the way you used to.




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I wil just quote a part from the early chapters of the book, but this is definetly not for the faint-hearted. Warren and the bald man here refers to his room mates at the time.

My heart is racing and it's racing irregularly and there is pain with every beat and there is pain with every irregular beat and the pain shoots through my left arm and the left side of my jaw. The liquid has stopped flowing through my body and out of my mouth, but the action of vomiting has not stopped. It feels as if my stomach and my throat are coming out or they are trying to come out. It feels as if my body is trying to rid itself of itself. It is trying to rid itself of me.

I can't do this anymore. I cannot continue to live this way. I am an alcoholic and I am a drug addict and I am a criminal. My body is falling apart and my mind fell apart a long time ago. I want to drink and I want to smoke Crack even though I know drinking and smoking Crack are killing me. I am alone. I have no one to talk to and no one to call. I hate myself. I hate myself so much that I can't look myself in the eye. I hate myself so much that suicide seems like a reasonable option. My family is ready to write me off, my friends are ready to write me off, I have destroyed every meaningful relationship I've ever had. I am vomiting for the seventh time today. The seventh f** time. I cannot continue to live this way. I cannot continue to live this way.

The gagging slows down and I start breathing. Warren is holding me steady and the bald man is staring at me. I raise my hand and I motion for Warren to step away and he stands and he steps away and I lean my head against the front of the toilet. I breathe. I take in as much air as I can. I know the air will slow my heart and calm me down, so I breathe. I take in much air as I can. Calm me down. Calm me down.
Warren speaks. The bald man stares.
"Are you all right?"
I nod.
"Do you need help?"
I shake my head.
"I'm going to get someone"
I speak,
"No"
"You need help"
"No"
"James, you need help"
I stand. I am unsteady.
"I decide what I need. Not you!"

I take a deep breath and I stumble to the sink and I turn on the water and I wash my face and I clean the vomit out of my mouth. When I finish, I turn off the water and I turn around. Warren is staring at me and the bald man is staring at me. I walk past them and I walk out of the bathroom. Warren follows me out and he heads to his area of the room.

"Let me at least give you a shirt"

I look at my shirt. It is white and brown and red. Covered with streaks of bile and patches of shit that I have never seen before and streams of blood.

"Here"

Warren tosses me a shirt. I catch it. It is a starched white Oxford. I look at it and I look at him. He speaks.

"It's the only clean shirt I've got left"

I look at the shirt. It is not a shirt I would wear. I laugh and I look back at Warren.

"Thank you"

He laughs.

"No problem"

The Passing Away of a Pioneer

Vidya Jothi Emeritus Professor V K Samaranayaka had passed away in Stockholm, Sweden. He was a pioneer in the IT industry in Sri Lanka, and an intellectual that we as Sri Lankans can be proud of.

Even though I hadn't had the honour of attending his lectures at University, it was through his work that myself and thousands of other students past and present benefitted immensely. And generations to come will benefit into the future.

It was a life well lived!

Good times

Was cleaning up some folders on my computer and I came across some old photos, old like in just over an year ago, so not that old.

In a temple in Rajangane (Damn! can't remember its name), up on the rock is the earliest known map of Sri Lanka carved in stone.

The temple is being run by a Buddhist monk who used to teach me when I was in Sunday school (and he was in Colombo for his studies). Very rough life, but admirable!

Thanthirimale.

Not the most convenient place for a living, but for those people and monks who opt to stay here helping each other out through all hardships is very touching to see.

Ramya Uncle (who took the photo) insisted on stopping the van and reversing it, to get a few photos of these fellows.

On the steps of the "Biso Maligawa" in Anuradhapura.

And on the way home, we had a good climb at the Rosa thirivana mountain in Namal Uyana as well.

Ali-gata Pera

Came across this by chance yesterday.

Ever wondered where "Ali-gata pera" (in Sinhalese) got its name from? It surely doesn't have any connection with Elephants..?!

Well....... due to their rough green skin and since its shape is close to that of a 'Pear' it's also known as "Alligator Pear"!
:)

The things I miss (from SL) Part 1

• My parents


• My brother (wasn't expecting to miss that!)


• Bingo, Bindu and Bussy


• Bumping into an old friend on the road (never happens here!)


• King coconuts!


• Mom's cooking


• Warm weather


• Relatives/Neighbours/Friends paying visits


• Driving (driving is too prim and proper here, very boring)


• Kola kanda with jaggery in the morning


• Down to earth living


• Birds and squirrels singing as the dawn breaks (and also when they spot our Bussy hiding in the bushes)
• Listening to some real news on tv (and not about Paris Hilton! ugh!)

23 days to go......

Port Adelaide

Yesterday we paid a visit to 'Port Adelaide'.

Port Adelaide is located about 14km north east of the city of Adelaide and is the main port for the city of Adelaide. It had been first proclaimed as a harbour in the 1830's and it has also been the first port of call for migrants into South Australia.

The light house

The port is located further inland from the outer harbour. The difference between a Harbour and a Port is that a harbour shelters and stores ships, whereas a Port is a coastline facility built so that boats and ships can load and unload goods. Therefore ports are generally accompanied with transport systems, cranes and ramps. Ports can also be seaports, riverports, fishports etc.

I was quite eager to see the bottle nosed dolphins who are living in the waters. There are special cruises for dolphin observation 'up close' (as they say), so we boarded a 2 hour cruise journey onto one of these 'dolphin cruisers'. After about an hour in the calm waters we arrived at the Dolphin habitat, only to see a couple of dorsal fins of the dolphins, they never came close to the boat and the boat didn't spend more than a couple of minutes trying to catch a glimpse of the big fish. Very disappointing!! The journey back was very slow and uneventful.

A Dolphin!

Next we climbed up into the old lighthouse, walked around in the "Fisherman's Wharf Market", no it's not a fish market but full of local produce and souveniers and stuff. Then went to see the 'Sea Horse Farm'. It was pretty interesting, they had an educational video and some sea horses, funny creatures they are! Did you know that it's the male seahorse that gets pregnant and carries children? yup....interesting!

And I got to touch a living shark! Well.....no it's probably not what you would imagine, it was a really small one like a well grown Carp. And boy was his skin rough!!

Up in the light house overlooking the port

Up in the light house overlooking the Wharf and the Wharf market

There were quite a number of museums around but we didn't get the time to visit all of them.