A little bit of perspective from someone five years further down the river: I'm grateful for my honours ticket to the thrill ride that is my job. I see the joy

A little bit of perspective from someone five years further down the river: I'm grateful for my honours ticket to the thrill ride that is my job. I see the joy I find in what I do every day reflect in the others I work with. I'm privileged in this regard and I respect that. I regret the plethora of mis-spent hours that I lost in the pursuit of irrelevance and perfection in assignments; it took me five years to learn to ensure effort is concominent with benefit. I'm grateful for the friends I met. They took me to places I'd never have gone alone. I'm sad that now I see so little of them. My job might be great but I scarificed proximity to other pleasures for it. I'm grateful that I can arrive at a roaring party, find one of those illusive corner jam-sessions going on with borrowed guitars and some drums from a gap year in Kenya and join in without hesitation. I'm sad that I spent five months playing only World of Warcraft. I'm grateful that I spent only five months playing World of Warcraft. I'm sad that I only discovered I could write after I was too far down the arithmetic creek. Paddles came at too steep a price. I'm grateful that I spent a summer crafting a computer game with four great friends and that there was an organisation with the generosity and skill to pay for me to make such an ambitious mistake. I'm sad that I didn't understand what asynchronous development was and how it was, and still is, affecting me. I'm grateful that I was drawn to learn how to cook. I'm sad that, on balance, when given the option, I didn't take it. I love the memory of Maria sharing how she felt about me. I'm sad that I was cowardly and replied with too many words and too little care.