Hugh’s info

I propose to begin with a little presentation. If you don’t know me, this will allow you to better imagine what kind of person I am, and if you think you know me, maybe you will notice that you don’t know me that well…

When I compare myself to the majority of the people, I think that I cannot really consider myself as someone “normal”.

Let’s begin the presentation. My name is Hugues (Hugh) De Keyzer. I’m a human male and was born on 1979-11-22 (a Thursday), and thus am 20 years old (in hexadecimal; 32 for the normal people) when I’m writing this. I live in Brussels (Belgium, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way), where I (almost) always lived. I live together with my dear one and am the daddy of a wonderful daughter for almost one year and a half.

So far, nothing really original, you might say. Indeed, it is now that it becomes more serious. First, I’m a vegetarian. For those who are unsure, vegetarian simply means “doesn’t eat animals”. Why? Because I refuse to kill animals or make them suffer.

Then, I speak fluently Esperanto. Why? Because I believe in the need to have a second, common language for everyone, and that Esperanto is currently the best candidate for this. My mother tongue is French and I also speak English (as you might have guessed ;)), Dutch and have a little knowledge of some other languages.

Well, I think that we already moved quite away from “normal”, isn’t it? Let’s continue… I like to question things that everyone considers normal. For example, I like to explore other units of measurement, more logical to me: decimal time, shoe sizes in centimeters (they already exist in millimeters: the Mondopoint system!), the angles in turns,…

Because I like to see things differently, I like when someone makes me think about something I had never thought about. I try to have an open mind instead of being suspicious of things I don’t know. I am fighting against resistance to change (including mine ;)).

I have also to admit that there is a Mr. know-it-all and a brainy smurf hidden inside me, but I would like to get rid of them.

I’m using the BÉPO keyboard layout. I dream about symmetrical keyboards. I’m a computer programmer. I believe in free software and uses GNU/Linux. I don’t drink Coca-Cola by principle. I chose not to have a car. I use public transportation a lot (as well as my legs), and from time to time car sharing.

I use my mouse and my toothbrush with my left hand while I’m right-handed. I can write in French without spelling mistakes :). Despite this, I think that French should have a simpler spelling, directly coming from the pronunciation. I like typography.

I often wonder about the future of humanity, and dream about a simpler world, in which we live more together. In 2007, I did a trip around the world. It’s been 5 years since I last cut my hair. I like to learn new things and understand why and how things are. I love Wikipedia.

As you can see, I’m a little “different” :). I will present these topics more deeply in future articles, so, if you’re interested, don’t hesitate to come back regularly.