T w e n t y S i d e d

Wow. For the first time in almost seven years I’m in full-on crunch mode at work. Last time I did this I was 28 years old, and I’m finding that as the birthday signpost labeled “35” looms ever closer that I am no longer able to get away with this as I once did. The spirit is willing (although the spirit is also a little bitter and grouchy) but the body is not quite able.

This is not to suggest that my body is failing. It’s just that it is failing to keep my brain energized for the 17 or so hours each day that I’m asking from it. As bedtime draws near I can feel my concentration slipping. Instances of a personal stack overflow – those times where you are working with more than two ideas, forget one of them, get confused and lose all of them – become increasingly frequent. I find myself wishing that programming was like less cerebral endevors, such as ditch-digging, so that I continue to work on sheer force of will alone.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.