For quite a few days, I have been working on a design for my personal website, which will contain this blog, some things about me and some of my favourite links, neatly arranged.
I think that if I rush a bit I might be able to complete my website before I die. Might.
I never realized that designing something for myself, 'my place on the web' as I like to call it could be that difficult. The site is taking more time than I expected even after taking Hofstadter's law into account.
Perhaps I am aiming for too much. Perhaps I expect too much in too little time.
Designing my site: The toughest job in the world
I have been involved in a lot of new things these past few days: learning things on the computer, reading interesting books, listening to different types of music, watching films, trying to play the guitar, ad infinitum.
Here are some recommendations from me:
- Music: Try both Bach and Porcupine Tree. Before listening to Bach: understand the type of music you're listening to - what exactly is a canon or a fugue and you will appreciate the music even more.
- Books: Prisoners of Birth (Jeffery Archer) - a must read modern version of The Count of Monte Cristo. Moab is my washpot - an autobiography of Stephen Fry - an excellent read with splendid English and an frighteningly honest account of the author. Godel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid: A look at "strange loops"; how logic, music, art all address the concept of self. How the thing being defined is defined by itself.
- Films: The animated Sinbad, Johnny English and of course, Iron Man.
Miscellany
I recently (read: today) installed Ubuntu 8.04 on my computer.
First impressions: I really like it. Inspite of the fact that I had to spend almost a day to partition/install it safely, and will probably be spending another night just learning terminal commands, etc. I'm enjoying myself.
It's fast. I have few distractions: I can't play my games here and I don't know enough to read comics. Removin these distractions makes it even more easier for me to concentrate on whatever I want to do.
The aim at the top of the agenda? Learn Linux.
So what do I like about it? (Inspite of having an original copy of Vista installed?) My personal favourite is the sleekness: it boots fast, shuts down fast, gives me maximum use of the screen with decently sized fonts, and most of all: the multiple desktops I can create and shift between.
Why didn't I try it earlier?
Ubuntu: First impressions
I have completed my first year of college. And yet, the what I think of first - whenever someone/something reminds me of the fact - is that there are still three more years to go. The fact that this is just the beginning and not the end is what I invariably think of whenever I am reminded of the fact.
First, a review: Life has changed since IIT. I too, have changed a lot- both physically and mentally. Leaner, toughened a bit; I have been exposed to some new aspects of life now. For one thing, I now really understand the price of one minute of time: every moment is important, every second can be utilised.
For almost 5 years now, everything I have done has been focussed on now: goals to meet, homework to complete, things to do. For once, I can relax, and look into both the past and the future. Perhaps even stop and smell the flowers - without getting run over by the traffic that is life.
Now, 'tis the time to relax and make merry. But I must take care, lest I relax to the extent that I become unable to cope up with my next semester.
Looking forward to the rest of my life. Lots to learn, lots to do.
This is just the beginning.
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