I was bummed the other day. Watching The Hitchhiker's Guide from 2006 made my brain burn with expired tropes, as well inspiring heartache from the passing of both Alan Rickman and Douglas Adams. The book itself was one of the unifying elements I had with my father--a bizarre nexus of Monty Python riffs on British, Western, and Human culture, bound alongside a delightful adventure story, and our general (shared) preoccupation with the end of the world.
As I'm sure you're aware, I love all things British, cheeky, and fun. Most people I knew in my youth could provide quotes from either Holy Grail or Flying Circus about Scottish puddings and elderberries. So, inevitably, my mood picked up and I got back to learning how to code some more Python. No, not the Gilliam kind.
Before I ramble too far, I should at least report my current status. I've got a decent comprehension of how empty lists and dictionaries can be formed and returned after some transformation. I've got the difficulty of tuples down pretty pat. And, most importantly of all, the mysterious for and while loops have been temporarily disarmed and brought into the embrace of our glorious protectorate.
There's a fun dialogue in Mona Lisa Overdrive that attempts to even out the difference between a thief and a scholar. True; both have tools, and when either one's daily labors are finished, they go home with something that wasn't theirs that morning. The difference is that the thief creates a void in someone's life; the scholar obtains things that didn't belong to anybody.
If you put your hand on that which is [G~d's, The Universe's, The Ineffable Chaos from Beyond the Kitchen Sink], and it becomes part of your mind, a secret between yourself and the greater geometry of the universe, you aren't committing any form of theft. More than that, you're conspiring with your creator. This makes me think that whatever built us up, gave us eyes and hands and lips and ears, it wants our presence much as it seeks its own.
This is the general attitude that I'm taking as I enter this new Season of Learning. I haven't gone back to school in many years, and I don't plan to start anytime soon. But it's nigh time I cracked a good book or 3 and started polishing off my old thinking cap. It definitely creates more benefits than the drinking cap. Maybe this is just an illusion that won't stretch much further than my publishing date. Maybe it will inspire you. Maybe it will discourage.
That's not my problem though. Best of luck with your future endeavors, young reader. And if you have any questions, post them to stack overflow. I don't have time to deal with them right now. For now, there's a brand to build.
Good luck-
JW Harter