Tim Keller

Phew what a day. Its midnight and I’ve just wrapped the SAPA DVD for Wednesday’s presentation in Bloemfontein (it has to be delivered first thing tomorrow morning).

The Statistics test turned out to be okay. Not too hard, but not completely simple. Sorta average where a test should be I guess. Sleepy now. Wow. Good night.

Ps. Amy has Sinusitis and is on tons of meds… feeling quite (very) sick still so do keep her in your prayers if you wouldn’t mind. Thanky.

Ah my girlfriend amy has got Sinusitis it seems. We went out last night to a braai at the minister’s house but by 9pm she was *not* looking good so I took her home. She’s just sleeping today but it’s really sore. All the tubes and surrounds get inflamed and hurt.

From Wikipedia.org
Sinusitis is inflammation of the paranasal sinuses from either bacterial, fungal, viral, allergic or autoimmune issues.

Therapeutic measures range from the medicinal to the traditional and may include simple analgesics (such as aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen) or ibuprofen), inhaling steam, nasal irrigation or jala neti using a warm saline solution, hot drinks including tea and chicken soup, over-the-counter decongestants, prescription nasal sprays, and getting plenty of rest. If sinusitis doesn’t improve within 48 hours, or is causing significant pain, one should see a doctor, who may prescribe antibiotics or nasal steroids. If the recommended doses and duration of antibiotic treatment(s) are ineffective, one should reconsult a doctor; who may suggest further treatment by a specialist.

Hopefully she’ll be better by Monday.

Hi all,

So it looks like i’ve been missing in action for the past week or so. Tonight I figured it was time for a come-back. And what better way than with a shiny new theme. Its a little slower than the old one but graphically its stunning. Credits to the brilliant designer are at the bottom of the blog, I just edited it a little for personalisation and customisation.

So, this week has been really really busy for both Amy and I… and my next week is even more interesting. Amy’s been finishing up her Teaching Prac’s which she posted off today in one big parcel at a cost of R70. She had to include all the media she had made for the lessons, photographs of her board schemes, reports from the teacher marking her, and personal reflections on each item to name but a few. You can understand the stress and length of time in getting this together!

I wrote a CompSci test (got 74%), Maths Test, CompSci Practical Test, and Maths Mini-Test in the past three days. My next week is as follows:

Saturday: Finish CompSci Tutorial (due Mon), Do Psychology Essay (due Thursday). Edit SAPA DVD.

Sunday: Study Chapters 1 – 3 of Statistics for Test on Monday at 5pm. Submit CompSci Tutorial.

Monday: Hand in CompSci Tutorial, do Maths Workshop (2pm-4pm). Write Stats test (5pm – 6:30pm).

Tuesday: Work on Psychology Essay.

Wednesday: Finish Psychology Essay, Due Psychology Tutorial.

Interesting week hey? Quite sad when one starts using one’s blog to plan out your week! hehehe.

Those of you who also play Uru and participate in the various Uru-like forums will need no introduction to what I’m going to post about now. Although discussion has been banned for 24 hours on the UruObsession and other forums, I feel it neccesary to speak my mind on the matter on this private space. For those that don’t play, I think some information should be given.

On Tuesday 15 August the husband of a person we’d come to know as Starfyre reported that Kirsten “Starfyre” had been involved in a hit and run accident and was currently in a coma at a local hospital. News later followed that her sister Tara had passed away.

Garrett, her husband, kept posting news throughout the coming hours while we as the community waited, hoped and prayed that she would come through it. Then came the news that she had passed away.

A wave of outpouring from the community ensued unlike anything I recall. TCT plugged a tribute page onto the splash screen of its website, their forum ran a black banner, Carter produced candle icons which most people changed their DP/Avvie to, and plans began for a memorial. I went to sleep having grown depressed by the thought of her husband and two young twins living without a mother and wife from now on…

I woke up this morning to a number of posts requesting I urgently remove the tribute on the TCT website and the black banner on the forum. I looked a bit furthur and found the following post:

Dear friends,  

I have spoken to Garrett, whom you know as Starfyre’s husband. The truth is a bit more difficult, and Garrett has asked me to explain.  

Naraya Starfyre was Garrett’s avatar in Prologue, and he continued to use the persona after Prologue ended, and into Until Uru. Unfortunately, the persona became overwhelming. He has been trying to separate himself from “Starfyre” for some time, unsuccessfully. Sadly, he felt his only choice was to kill her, in order to remove her from the community and ‘life’ completely, so that he could begin to heal himself.  

He wants to stress that he did not mean for anyone to be hurt, and that any money that happened to be sent to him through paypal will be returned in full.  

Garrett is very aware of the reactions the community will have to this news; shock, anger, sadness, concern. It is my hope that the community will be able to have compassion, as well, for the difficult time Garrett faces in putting this behind him, moving on, and becoming a whole, healthy person. Given the outpouring at “Starfyre”’s passing, hopefully we can remember the positive works Garrett-as-Starfyre did, and welcome him back to the community when he is ready.  

There’s no need for a large debate or discussion on the forums. What is done is done, and we can only move on from here.  

Many times we have encountered people who have had one illness or another, and have wished him/her well. We need to do the same thing here. Garrett is seeking to heal, and we can go a long way to help him accomplish this.  

In community spirit,
Eleri Hamilton

It had all been a massive lie… a trick… Discussion bans remain in place on UO and TCT forums and will do for another 12 hours. I’m not entirely sure how people will react to this… “shock, anger, sadness, concern” as Eleri writes are just the beginning.

My Uru persona is a person called Miles. But Miles is me. My name is Timothy Miles Keller in RealLife. For Garrett, he found the need to create an all new person, a woman… Starfyre. He-as-she has spent nearly 3 years as this person and I guess it just got all too much for him. How do you suddenly stop and tell everyone you know that in fact it is a lie. You’re a man playing as a women in Uru.

What I’m trying to say is… When does Virtual/Altered Reality (Uru and similar games) become just a little too real? It’s meant to be a game, not an all-encompassing-life-destroying-experience.

I am glad I never knew “Starfyre”. I would feel betrayed, cheated and disgusted. I do not understand why Garrett decided to masquerade as Starfyre, but I do understand why he did what he did to remove her from the story and his life. I hope he will now take some months to sort out his life and get help. 

Garrett, my best wishes for the rest of your life. I hope you find peace.

Beta News reports:

Since I posted my news piece about Mike Wills leaving Cape Talk 567 I have received numerous comments and messages agreeing that he should not have been fired, asked-to-leave, or whatever term you may want to apply to the situation which saw Mike’s contract not being renewed for another year.

I believed him to be the finest host that Cape Talk had to offer and know that Cape Talk has definitely lost a lot of listeners because of their decision. I have not yet found out what Mike is up to these days, I really hope he’s doing well… I do know that my mornings are somewhat incomplete.

Comments on this blog have included:

I agree – my mornings just haven’t been the same since Mike left. And as much as I’ve been trying to give Aiden Thomas the benefit of the doubt, I just don’t enjoy the morning show as much as I used to. I wish Cape Talk had been a bit more open about their reasons for not renewing Mike’s contract. I guess the only logical explanation is that the decision was BEE based. Whatever. At the end of the day, Cape Talk has definitely let one of the better guys go… 

Mike Wills was the main reason I lisened to Cape Talk. I now listen mainly to SAFM, but still switch stations looking for someone like Mike.

Really sad to see Mike gone. It was great to wake up to someone who sounds like just a regular guy, but is really passionate about what he does and what he believes in. Agree, could only have been a BEE decision. The poor fellow they have in his place now brings up frightening memories of Frasier Crane’s colleague Gil, the way he unmelodiously sings his message across. Primedia, do what you have to do, but the day John Maytham leaves you’ll lose a sizable portion of your ‘thinking’ audience. 

Really miss Mike in the mornings. I have also stopped listening to Cape Talk in the mornings now that mike is gone. Do still listen to John in the evenings though. 

These comments are all from people I dont know and that have somehow found my blog while Googling or the similar. If these people can find me there must be hundreds of others also missing Mike. The question is, what can we do about it?

Through my work at Umoya Networks I have been tasked to develop the website and setup the email system for the Government of Liberia.

Liberia, officially the Republica of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire. Liberia, which means “Land of the Free”, was founded as an independent nation by free-born and formerly enslaved people from the United States. Recently it has witnessed two civil wars, the Liberian Civil War (1989–1996), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), that have displaced hundreds of thousands and destroyed its economy. –Wikipedia.

The process of registering a .lr domain for them is proving difficult as the single man who manages the .lr domains is, at best, impossible to work with and has been unhelpful every step of the way. Nevertheless we trust that God has his hands on the situation and it will be resolved shortly.

Here is an early mock-up of the front page. I’ve spent the last day and a half writing the PHP5/MySQL backend that will run the site. Pretty exciting Click thumbnail or larger image.

The phone bill was exceptionally high and the man of the
house called a family meeting.

Dad: People this is unacceptable. You have to limit the
use of the phone. I do not use this phone, I use the one
at the office

Mum: Same here, I hardly use this home telephone as I
use my work telephone

Maid: So what’s the problem? We all use our work telephones.

Hehe got this from Amy Lol! It’s gotta be the Tatoo of the year!

For a few weeks almost every year, the Ceres area of the Western Cape experiences heavy Snow-fall and thousands of families from the otherwise snow-forsaken country flock to the area to build snowmen, throw snowballs, and consume large quantity’s of alcohol (atleast, from what I gather).

Anyway – for the first time ever I was part of that crowd (well not the alcohol part) today! Amy, myself and her parents were up at 5am getting ready to leave by 6am and take the 2.5 hour trip to Ceres.

My dad has our Fuji digital still so I just had my Canon Digital Video and Amy’s Olympus (a really nice camera I might add) to take footage. These three are now on DeviantArt: