(Real word. Look it up.)

I have an album of music starting to build in my head, where the songs are phrases that evoke an image or emotion for me. I'll be getting an Apple PowerBook eventually, and I'll start putting it together. I think it's mostly instrumental, probably with lots of guitar because that's the instrument I'm good at. Should be interesting.

Some people have pointed out that I have now accumulated so many things to see and do in Europe that I actually need to take a few months off work and "tour the Continent", as they used to say. I've also startled people with the fact that the only things I feel compelled to see in Italy are Venice (which is sinking) and Florence (Santa Maria del Fiore, which is kind of a geek pilgrimage for me). Beyond those two places I'm mostly interested in Spain and France, where I need to spend a few weeks each at least. That would be a post-black-belt plan: I figure it's another 2-3 years until my shodan, and if I'm still at my current job then (or maybe even if not) I'll have the savings and the skills and credibility to ditch for a few months. If the coming years have some of the same stuff as this year, I may go and not come back for a long, long while. I wonder if France needs upper-echelon server programmers.

I'm *just* doing my Christmas shopping. This is normal for me, but this year we have the added twist that I'm not traveling, so I need to package everything up and get it to my parents' house by the 25th. While I pack and look for a new place to live and various other things. Things are fine, really, but so complex right now that I'd like to crawl under a blanket, sleep for a year, and wake up as someone else.

It occurs to me that I would almost certainly be happier if I were genuinely willing to give up on things sooner; if I didn't care quite so much, and didn't try quite so hard. However, I think there's a consensus that that would make me a different person; and probably less interesting.