I've been churning out tons of working code lately. My Java persistence manager is nearly finished, and then I can start working on the TradeWars-style game I've wanted to make since I was about sixteen. It's so great to be able to think clearly again... to be able to compartmentalize my anxieties (including neurotic perfectionism) and focus like I used to. Hooray for Prozac!

I want to take a programming class that isn't about syntax and data structures. I need a class that's about setting up tool chains and managing large projects.

Tonight I wrote a Java program that dynamically loads and reloads classes. I actually wrote it for somebody who is trying to do that in a commercial application. I ran into some problems at first, but I figured out how to make it work. I love it when my programs work.

This is what I like about programming. I enjoy starting with an idea, writing notes, planning the structure, and implementing it. The process is often more satisfying than the end result. And when it all comes together and it actually runs, it's like... wow! I made this! Mental orgasm.

If any of you nerds want to look at it, I'd welcome your comments: http://madscience.dyndns.org/java/Plugins-20030906.zip

I feel like doing some programming, but I don't know what. I feel like writing a Java app or improving my knowledge of the standard C library.

Is it just me, or does drinking Mt. Dew cause hackishness?

I was in a programming mood tonight and hacked out something I've been designing in my head for a while: an API for Swath that will give user-defined scripts advanced mapping capabilities.

And now for something completely different!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to write a book and start a cult. One of the most important doctrines of that cult will be that our awareness of the passage of time is critical to our appreciation of Nature and hence to our spiritual well-being. In most of our lives, one day can be almost indistinguishable from the next; days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and seasons slip by before we know it.

I've postulated something called a Drift Clock, which is a computerized clock programmed with your geographic location (possibly updated via GPS) that stretches or compresses the hours so that the sun always rises at precisely 6 A.M. and sets at 6 P.M. Living by this clock, we will become acutely aware of the changing seasons.

I've also invented a new calendar. It consists of twelve thirty-day months, each having six five-day weeks. New Year's Eve will be Winter Solstice and the new year will begin with five Feast Days.

It's been another sleepless night. Now I have to decide: go to sleep now, wake up at five in the afternoon, stay up all night again, and be tired for work tomorrow; or stay awake all day and sleep tonight.

Need... coffee...