Reading and watching Science Fiction

I have rekindled recently with reading Science Fiction books, in great part because I discovered ( probably a bit late compare to everyone else ), this "weird" author that is China Miéville.
So far I devoured "Embassytown" and "Perdido Street Station". The universe he described are something I rarely seen before, mixing steam-punk, with insects and other weird world descriptions, pulp, horror.

List SF authors and books  which had the most influence on me:

• Jules Vernes: 20000 miles under the sea but more importantly Robur the Conqueror.

• Philip Kindred Dick: The Man in the high castle, Dr Bloodmoney, Time out of JOint

• H.G.Wells: the invisible man, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The Time Machine

• Frederic Brown: Martians Go Home, What Mad Universe

• H.P.Lovecraft

• Richard Matheson: I am a legend

• John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar

• Robert A. Heinlein: Starship Troopers

• Arthur C.Clarke

• A.E. Van Vogt

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Christophe's sf book montage

Christophe's favorite books »

[Overdue post] Diving weekend 2015 ...the story so far...

Much overdue post, just couple of pictures of diving weekends.

Connemara with Aughinish, in April.

Cleggan beach Snorkelling time.

Maybe Badger from the wind in the willows, decided to move to the seaside...

Changes ....

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”  ― Heraclitus

So I have been neglecting this blog and the other one ( 7 months without a post ) for quite a while, as more changes are lining up in my life, it is time to redefine those blogs. It may be time to close and archive them for good, I still have a couple of drafts in there.

To be honest I am not sure, if I should resurrect that in other forms.

I like the idea of the blog, to keep a trace of this journey and others - I started when I came to Ireland in order to document that mini-adventures.

I do not like the format, I am also split between the various platforms (medium is attracting like a new toy, twitter is frustrating, wordpress feels slicker than blogger, and blogger despite its clumsiness remains the one I keep coming back), also I have certainly been lacking the discipline to write regularly. At the same time, I'd like to simplify the whole writing and sharing process and focus on one vehicule.

So right now, in those changing times, I am still unsure how those blogs are going to continue.... in which format I am going to write and share.

Will see

10 Years in Ireland ....

A month ago, I read this French Foodie blog post about her last 10 years in Ireland, only to realize that myself, I was going to celebrate my 10 years in Ireland in a couple months.

And here we are, 10 years ago, I debarked in Rosslare with my old french car. A long road trip, which took me from the French Alps to the west coast of Ireland.

From the boat bringing me to Rosslare

To be honest, I initially thought, I would only stay a year or two, before moving on with some enhanced knowledge.

A thought, that I now realize has been shared by many expatriate, not the ones who left - as planned - after a year, all the others. One year, leading to another then without as much of a whimper to a decade.

So I am still there, 10 years after. So why did I stay so long ? What is making me stay ?

First, as a matter of fact, I  like Ireland. And more and more, the longer I stayed... even if at the same time, I am becoming more and more infuriated by some aspects of Irish life - I have the same relationship with France.

For each year I stay, there was a different reasons, from the diving, the professional challenge and finally the girl.

So in summary ... "Putain 10 ans !!!"

So to celebrate those 10 years, and yes I am copying the idea from the foodie post, I hope she won't mind. I do concur with most of the items in her list, except for Penneys, hence the duplicates.

1. The Irish people. I am not a people person, but Irish are incredibly friendly. In particular, they are really easy to work with - especially when compared to my own compatriots. I felt welcome here from day 1, and continue to have that sense, every time I encounter someone here. 
2. Pubs. An obvious one, linked to the previous item. I like the variety of ambiance, atmosphere. Nothing better than ending the day, sipping a Murphy by the fire, chatting away with friends. Since my move to Dublin, I am on a quest to find my perfect local.
3. The west coast of Ireland. I loved living by the atlantic ocean, being able with an hour drive to be by the rugged coast, from the humbling stormy waves, to a serene blue sea.
4. Scuba Diving in Ireland. I probably had the best of my dives here and love being part of this vibrant community.
5. The extra long days. Nothing beat a late evening barbeque by the beach under a late sunset.
6. The gigs in Ireland - I love how the Irish public engage with the music, and the musicians.
7. How passionate the Irish can be about any particular subject. At first Irish can seems passive, but they are also passionate, either for gaelic sport in their own parish, food, sea activity or music.
8. Irish comedians: Just look for Dara O'Briain, Dylan Moran, Foils arms and hog or the rubberbandits.
9. Cosmopolitanism. An incredible change has happened, from a country of emigrant, Ireland is now attracting brilliant mind from all other the world. I lived in Grenoble which use to have a big contingent of foreigners, but I never felt so much diversity pouring in the local culture. I am actually curious to see what Ireland will be in the next ten years as a result of this immigration flow.
10. And finally the one.

Failures, successes and lessons learned from 2014

"There are years that ask questions, and years that answer." Zora Neale Hurston

As much 2013 (and the year before ) was an exciting year, full of change, and challenge.. the past year 2014, did not turn out to be as promised, mainly of my own fault.

2014 mark a failure on my part on few areas. First and foremost I failed in finalizing the Msc I started in 2013, only managing to scrape a Higher Diploma in the process.
I somehow neglected my friendships and myself.
I  did not go scuba diving as much as I had initially envisaged, stop going to Aikido, my lack of exercising. All this also resulted in some extra gain weight, basically regaining all I had lost in the past two years.

But at the same time, I had a couple of interesting opportunities and encounters.
I went for the first time to Body & Soul, and it was a refreshing experience.
I started to go to meetups, mainly related to R, Data Analytics, hackers and Python related subjects, and discovered a vibrant community.
As a result of one of this encounter, I was part of a team who entered the Kaggle Epilepsy challenge ; we ended up in the first tier, not that bad for a first participation.
I engage myself in more projects, and used online resources (Coursera, Checkio ) to practice and learn more about python, programming and data analysis.


So what did I learn from all that...

• Always ask questions, question everything. Ask for help and advice to mentor and veterans. This is something I was doing all the time when I started my engineering career, but somehow during my thesis, I forgot about it.
• Be relentless, and focus. Only chase one rabbit at a time. Focus on the task at hand, then move on.
• I need my own alone time, to reflect on my own project. Somehow I forgot that about myself.
• Exercise, make it a habit. Either be going dancing (salsa/swing) every week, snorkelling, hiking or diving. 
• Have project and objectives, those might change depending on opportunities arising.
• Not only seize opportunities, but also thrive to create them.
• Embrace friendship and be present when needed.

I intend for 2015, to learn from those errors and not reproduce the same mistakes again.