I guess i'm not a blogger any more.

There was something extraordinary about blogging and being part of a world-spanning conversation. I put real effort into being entertaining and informative and shared my ideas and learning from yours at a deeper level than any casual conversation. Then we all moved to Facebook, but its short format discouraged the deeper conversation we had enjoyed and encouraged short attention span wall/war scrolling. Almost all of the 30 or so people who formed the community I was a part of have ceased blogging; I still know a few of you in person, a few are active on FB, some have sadly died, and others have faded into busy lives, the ven diagram of our acquaintance having drifted. If anyone ever reads this and wants an update - my children have grown and are now adults: one seeks a future in aerospace, and the other in politics and international relations. My wife, to whom I am still enthusiastically and ecstatically married, has climbed the corporate ladder and sticks executive sutch and sutch in front of her title. And me - I'm still interested in bugs, rocks and flowers. The arthritis I was diagnosed with in my 20s has been held at bay for 30 years by various drugs. Still, it has continued to smoulder, and its effects are accelerating beyond what even modern medicine can keep in remission. I am no longer interested in the grind and pressure of IT management. Since my last post, we have travelled the world, lived in different cities, raised children, and enjoyed life unreported here. I founded an IT startup and became disenfranchised by the cost of success. I have dabbled with alcoholism and (attempted) to learn languages. The covid slowdown allowed me the opportunity in my 50s to reflect on my future and reframe my life. I have returned to uni and completed yet another master's - this time to become a teacher. I plan to spend my long retirement teaching maths and physics to little turds that don't care about their future. I still plan on finding interesting bugs, rocks and flowers. Wish me luck. Steve