‘Til All Are One

Things have certainly been crazy as of late. Being elected onto the SLUG Committee (at the March AGM) has given me a greater appreciation of local community issues and of what it takes to co-ordinate a group. At the same time, managing the Linux Australia stand at Open CeBIT has also been a tremendous learning experience. My official report is here.

I’ve had a few requests to elaborate upon the ‘brush with death’ mentioned in that message. Driving home after the second day of CeBIT, I experienced a car accident. While travelling at at least 60km/h, I somehow lost consciousness, and woke up phoughed into the side of another car. Fortunately, the car was parked and unoccupied. Nobody was involved aside from myself. The car was a write-off, but the passenger cabin was fully intact and I experienced no injuries. The other car was part of a company fleet, and its custodian wasn’t bothered much at all. Insurance took care of the costs on both sides.

I was quite shaken after the crash, and I very nearly didn’t go to CeBIT the next day. After being cleared by a paramedic and two doctors (one on the night of the crash and another the following morning), I decided that I wasn’t going to let this get in my way. It was probably the best decision that I made, since it forced me to get back on my feet doing something that I love, rather than sitting at home in misery. I was unable to moderate the Linux Australia panel discussion that I had helped to organise, but I was there at the stand just like on the previous two days.

Otherwise, CeBIT was a resounding success. It proved to be a fantastic springboard for us to launch the inaugural SLUG Bootcamp. More on this later.

I can’t fully explain why I blacked out in the first place. When I was younger, I would occasionally black out under certain circumstances. Neurologists at the time couldn’t identify what it was, but told me not to worry about it. I was probably just exhausted, from the exhibiting all day, the planning in the lead-up to the event, my new job, TAFE, and various other things. The doctors that I spoke with agreed with me that it was probably just a microsleep.

I’m still recovering from the after-effects of the accident. I get stressed more easily when driving, but I can feel that slowly receding with time. Most of all, I feel exceptionally lucky that I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else.

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