This is what happens when I start reading science fiction novels that are as obsessed with the 1980s as I am. I start longing for my old, outdated, retro technology in a major way. I guess that's part of the reason why I hang onto this account, because I know, eventually, I'm going to be struck with the desire to type things in a terminal again, to come back to the command line, to leave the world of automation and pictures and flash movies and auto-correct and come back to the cold, crisp, clean world of text-based Internet, where all of your mistakes are there for the world to see, where you have no choice but to move in a specific matter along the hallways and corridors of the words and phrases, where the meat and the substance has to hold up to the quality, the solid quality of things. It also means that I'm hungry, that I'm waiting for something to happen, that I want to change my perspective, and that I'm ready to try something old that's new again. How difficult is it, really, to be a woman in this age, to walk along the corridors of geekery with companions who claim such a monopoly on this space, especially when there's so much you don't really know -- when you're much more about culture and art and creation that about the ones and zeroes of the world. I wouldn't know how to program my way out of a paper bag, despite all the fooling around I did with BASIC as a kid. It never stuck, and so I push myself through each day, pretending to know more than I do, and hoping nobody notices. Does that make me a poseur? I suppose it's possible. It's funny that I was always so worried about people thinking I might be a poseur when I was in high school and that now, years later, I'm still struggling with the same worries. I suppose some things never really change. I would love to get all of my stuff together in one place. I would love to finally collect my entire life in one area. I would love to, at some point, be able to say, yes -- this is me, this is everything I've ever been. My life has been so disparate and disjointed to be able to do that effectively, I suppose. When I keep reimagining, reconfiguring, and reinventing myself, what am I doing but trying to find some way to start again? I get started on one path, and I immediately have to turn somewhere else. I'm not convinced that I know what I'm doing, but on the other hand, I suppose nobody else ever really does, either. What I do know is that my stomach is growling, that I need more sleep, that I want to just curl up into the hearthfire of time and find a place to sleep for a while. It's been a very, very long last couple of weeks. Don't come looking for me unless you know where to find me. Don't ask me questions you know I can't answer. Don't ask me to think too much about everything right now. It's tough times all over.