checking in

Checking in because Nicky has been complaining that I don't update my blog often enough these days. And she's right. Not only am I insanely busy, but the literary afflatus that used to be my constant companion at one point seems to have left me. I'm not necessarily complaining. The endless work has been fun in its own way. I'm decidedly more of a CS major now than I used to be, which is oddly satisfying, though I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself, lest I end up being undone by a "Hello World!" program. Which is not as far-fetched as one might think. I like to pretend that my humble contributions at the lab where I spend a great deal of my time constitute research in their own merit, though there are many who would dispute this. In these days of optimism, in which being optimistic consists in forcing yourself to nip any unoptimistic thoughts that may creep into your psyche from time to time right in the bud, I am reminded of something my luculent and highly inspirational manager at my internship a couple of years ago often said: "Persistence is key. You will probably think you're bad at something when you first start doing it. And after many attempts you might feel that you're simply not getting anywhere with it. But at some point, it will click, and you will be unstoppable." Not in so many words, of course, but you get the idea. And if I may be bold enough to add, "And Amy is a cow."