Sunday, October 23, 2005

Who is IITQ?

In response to that damn Chitty - second time he's tagged me - here are 20 random things about me.

  1. I was born in Cape Town and lived in the same house from birth to when I turned 23 and boarded a bus for my first job in Johannesburg. I came from a lower middle-class home where my parents did everything for us to have opportunities they did not.

  2. I only got my driver's licence at 21 - luckily I had generous friends who picked me up to go out.

  3. It was also at about this age that I somehow attracted fights. I was at a friend's house party when a mate comes up to me and says, "Hey, this bloke just walked in and hit Jerry." I race around the corner and straight into a fist. A short while later I was at a friend's holiday house on the Breede River. These guys followed us home from a party and laid into us. I got my nose broken then. I forget the rest, but they probably involved The George, a rough biker pub in the Cape Town city centre, and other places of ill repute. It got to the stage where a friend was having an argument with this huge guy in Dirty Dick's in Hout Bay, when he turned towards me and said to the giant, "This is IITQ, and if you want to take it further, he's your man." At which stage I volunteered to help beat up my friend.

  4. I was sick in my first year at university, failed and had to leave to repeat it through correspondence.

  5. My parents still do not believe I was ill in my first year and blame things on what they view as my alcoholic tendencies.

  6. I aced my repeat year and was allowed back into UCT to finish my degree.

  7. I made friends with a whole group of people beyond my school friends due to the experience, including one of the most incredible people I've met. I fell in love with him, but he was straight and I remain confused.

  8. He was the overachiever's overachiever, breaking academic records and doing well at sport. I wished I had tried harder before that point rather than just believing I could do anything if I wanted to. I have vowed to make the best effort of every opportunity since then.

  9. I played club rugby for Villagers in the last season I was eligible for the under-21 league. It was the best sporting experience of my life and I wished I could have played more - time has not allowed. Perhaps this is as well, as every week I spent about 3 hours in the sports injuries clinic nursing various injuries. I also spent time at three practices and one match a week, and lots of gym to ensure I minimised the potential injury threat.

  10. The nicest thing anybody ever said to me happened during that year. As I entered a beer tent at the Constantia Fair, two young guys were coming out. The one guy pulls his friend back and says, without a hint of sarcasm, "Hey buddy, let this guy through, because otherwise he'll squash you." I'd never walked with my chest puffed out before that moment, but I did for the rest of that night.

  11. I like to keep my options open - even though I like closure. I considered studying architecture, accounting and advertising when I went to university.

  12. I was very unpopular with the Western Cape matric examiners for this, because I did art, accounting and computer science for matric. They usually scheduled the province's year end exams for these on the same day and they had to re-organise their entire schedule because of me.

  13. I started in my last job nine years ago and broke global promotion records for the company. Nobody knows that except some of my ex-colleagues. That doesn't matter - I do.

  14. I have come to know that downs follow ups and vice versa. Despite my success at work, I still mess up. My latest project has been an absolute nightmare and my overambitious scoping has resulted in my request for forgiveness by my client for delays in results.

  15. I am very hard on myself and while I believe that I am in control of my destiny, I am working at acknowledging that I am not fully responsible for everything that does not go according to plan in my life.

  16. Much of what I have felt and done until about two years ago was motivated my Cape Town Southern Suburbs boys schooling. I struggled for acceptence and never really forgave the little boy I was. That's pretty pathetic, but I'm closer to forgiving him now.

  17. Despite all this, I enjoyed much of school and was involved in everything. I did athletics, cricket, rugby, cross country, houseplays, seven subjects, etc.

  18. I am a eclectic music fan and enjoy everything from pop and dance to rock and classical. One of my favourite pieces is "Vide Cor Meum" from the movie Hannibal - it is hauntingly beautiful.

  19. I have travelled a lot and seen many cities. I love New York and would still like to live there for an extended period (although I have been there many times). I love Boston and despite pushing away attempts by my previous employer to get me to do my MBA (although a long time ago now), Harvard is something pretty special. I love London and stumbling from pubs late at night. Soho streets are like carnivals at eleven o'clock at night. Stockholm blew me away - a city built on an archipelago where the water running between buildings is so clean that salmon fishermen stand and fish outside office blocks. But that has made me appreciative of every city. Cape Town is unmatched for natural slendour, Johannesburg has the buzz of a frontier city - on the forefront of the African renaissance. And places like Knysna are as beautiful as any.

  20. I planned my career when I was sixteen and had very definite ideas of where I should be by thirty-five. I'm thirty-two now and have decided to take time off to completely reconsider what I plan to do with my life. That said, I am very happy with what I have achieved and the day-to-day life I have lived over the last nine years.


There you go, now I definitely can't meet anybody who has read this blog. I've also given the National Intelligence Agency clues to find me if they don't like my Zuma post...

In the hope of bringing them back to blogland, I'm going to nominate some old favourites: Dodge, Rantscribe, you've been gone too long guys. Chris, I'm nominating you because I think I'd find your response funny even if you didn't intend it to be!

7 comments:

andrea said...

IITQ: you have just put to shame those of us who say things like "I like peanut butter" as one of our 20 things. Still, it's nice to know you better.

ChittyChittyBangBang! said...

Dammit Dude, if this don't beat all!! There is certainly nothing trivial about your 20 random things.
I take my hat off to you.

Anonymous said...

i always intend to be funny. it doesn't always work.
Chris

kyknoord said...

Love number 11. Doesn't that just say it all for a lot of us? Still like to meet you, though :)

Anonymous said...

Wow. What a great post. You seem to be so completely ... sorted!

I also did the Art-Computer Science-Accounting thing and always thought I was pretty unique. Obviously not!

I cannot even imagine mapping a career out at 16 and managing to stick to the path for another 16 years! So totally un-crazy.

Reconsidering the plan is exciting. But do you ever wonder what it would be like to get rid of the map altogether?

Not a recommendation, just a though...

LiVEwiRe said...

That is amazing! I don't know if I have 20 things I could say...especially now that Andrea already mentioned 'likes peanut butter'. You have certainly lived a busy life, mister! =)

It is the question said...

Andrea: Peanut butter is good - except before meeting someone you would like to kiss. Then it is bad. More specifically, peanut butter breath is bad.

Chitty: Now no more of these tags man. They make me too introspective.

Chris: It works!

Tripeak: Thanks. Try blogging about it man. If being anonymous helps, create another blog where your friends won't know your name.

Kyknoord: Yeah, I hate indecisiveness, especially in me. But I love having options.

Dizzy: definitely not sorted. Good to meet another unique person! I've thought of getting rid of the map, and would love to spend a year living in Paris Latin Quarter learning French and sitting at the Cafe on the corner opposite Notre Dame. But I guess I'm too conservative for that. I tend to think too much of "opportunity cost."

Livewire: Sure you could. Your blog tells of someone who has had an eventful life.