Lily’s Blog, Dragon Absconded!
Baking Until I Drop

Well, I am in the mood to switch careers.

I wish to leave academia behind.

When I was in secondary school, I dreamed of being an Architect. I even did Technical Drawing for CXC (O Levels). I might’ve been able to get an internship at a firm in town. It was one of those lovely old houses. I’m not sure what happened aside from there was no thought of going to Jamaica (safety) where there was some sort of institute I could’ve done some stuff.

So, I went the safe route…a degree and decide afterwards!

Before I started my Maths and Comp Sci degree, I had dreams of languages. I did French and Spanish for A Levels. My abilities have lapsed. I can still manage some level of reading. I intend to recover this somehow. Maybe conversational classes. And I’d like to learn Arabic for pretty obvious reasons. And Japanese for maybe some less obvious reasons :-)

Then I went away to Grad school.

Once upon a time my siblings and I all had a mutual sort of dream of a restaurant.

And someone introduced me to the art of making truffles (decadence! much better than buying from Godiva or anywhere else) and I dreamt of being a chocolatier (or a dessert chef). It could still happen.

Well, who knows.

Maybe it’s really Academia which is not for me.

Since I’ve returned home I actually read all those technical websites, all those reviews. I am interested in hardware/networking/practical stuff. I intend to build my first computer from scratch regardless the cost.

I fell in love with Linux. I miss having a computer with Linux. I want to know how to share internet, setup a mail server, do NAT thingies and loads of other things with it. I am such a newbie and it hasn’t been helped by almost 2 years without my own Linux machine. Anything that I did know is going bye-bye and that is horrible!

I got bitten by the Mac bug too. I have this year old PowerBook which I love. I dream of an iMac (and my super duper 64 bit Linux box). But I have no need of 3 computers. But I want a big screen. I also want to know what this developing for the Mac is all about.

Wait, did I say Mac? I have this little desire (it’s small and bud-like) to develop anything. I’d like to work n some FL/OSS project but I neither have the courage nor the time. But I am going to dedicate some time to do that! I need to. I want to know if I can contribute to the community even if it’s just a little thing.

I also dream of finding a job which makes me happy! 

I can’t just sit around without a plan.

I need to make decisions about what I intend to do.

So far, here they are:

• Leave current job!
• I am going to try to find some OSS project in which I am interested and try to get involved even if it’s in some small way. It doesn’t have to be major…I just have to start!
• I am going to build my mom the Linux machine (and help her choose a laptop).
• Then, I’m going to spend some serious time figuring out how to network them properly, not just internet sharing and using the Windows machine and Linux machine as sort of file servers. I’m going to try to figure out what security is, set up a mail server and who knows what else!
• I need to refresh my language skills!
• Gym here I come. You might not believe it, but I sort of miss you. Or if not gym, exercise equipment!
• Once and for all, fix my room!
• And last, but certainly not least, make Hajj and prepare for it (and hope and pray to become a better Muslim)