For the first part of this week, I momentarily forgot how old I was. I thought I was going to be turning 33 today. I have no idea why I made this error, but it stuck with me unquestioned through Monday and into Tuesday. When I realised, on Wednesday morning, it was as though I were waking up from a momentary nightmare in which I had somehow lost a year.
Once the feeling had passed, and I remembered exactly how old I actually was, I recalled that 32 held a special significance. You see, despite my emphasis on language and humanities, I actually really like numbers too. I’m just a bit maths-damaged.
So, 32. As I said to Khethiwe yesterday, it has some lovely factors – 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. It’s an even number, and as humans are binary organisms they tend to like even numbers.
Speaking of binaries, that’s part of the realisation I had while thinking of those numbers, and my numbers. You see, it’s 2016. And what’s 16 times 2?
Which means that I have lived exactly half of my life in the 20th century and the other half in the 21st century. To put it differently, I’m half a second millenium guy and half a third millenium creature.
When I mentioned this to Khethiwe, she asked me which one was the happier half.
I still don’t know. But I’m looking forward to the next fraction.
uMabhengwane 