School, work, drains, computers and the future

For the first time since I started this blog I have failed to write one post a week. I've just had so much to do with my final thesis, work, a clogged drain (which is still not fixed) - and on top of everything my laptop decided to throw in the towel yesterday (ironically only 4 days before Towel Day). Since it is now pushing up the daisies – has passed on – is an ex-computer – I've had to retrieve everything from my harddrive (which, luckily, was still working!) - and I thought I would remind you all to backup your work regularly. A dead computer can happen to the best of us!

Anyway, since it's been so long I wanted to start up again slightly slower, with just some inspiring quotes, thoughts and ideas. So here you go, and I hope you find something worth writing about!

"When you take away the flesh there is only the soul." - Unknown

 "You must become a terrible thought" - Batman Begins

"What good are many friends, mon ami, when you have one bad enemy?" - Poirot (The Case of the Missing Will)

Idea: Murderers atone for their crimes by becoming doctors and saving lives.

"This job is eating at me." - Criminal Minds

 Names: Mercer, Silas, Barney Butter, Shmi

"Open your mind, son, or someone might open it for you." - Walter Bishop (Fringe)

Why do bad things never seem to come alone?

I hope some of this struck your fancy, and hopefully I'll be back next week with something more useful. Take care!

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Since I've been a little slow on the blogging side lately I thought I would write a short book tip just to prove that I'm alive. Since the time for writing this is coming out of my sleep-time, I'm going to keep it short. Nervous Conditions is a wonderful novel. That's just about all I have to say, but there are some things I would like to say as well. For one, this novel made me madder than any other novel I've ever read. It might not sound like a good thing, but I like when a novel makes me feel - no matter if I feel angry. It also inspired me, made me want to be a better person and made me want to work harder.

So much for how the novel made me feel, but what is it about? Dangarembga tells her own semi-autobiographical (as far as I understand) story about growing up in apartheid Africa. Her parents don't want to pay for her to go to school (so she finds a way to pay for it herself), but when her brother dies she gets to go to live with her wealthier uncle who sends her to a school where she excells. But it's a hard life, being a young girl in Africa (as though it isn't har enough everywhere else too). She has no one who understands her or can take her side, yet she somehow finds the courage and strength to stand up for herself.

It might sound like a depressing novel - which, in one sense it is - but you'll come out of it feeling strengthened and motivated. I promise.