I've had a strangely bland week. Throughout the week i've felt pretty much drained, both during work and after. Hence the lack of blogging this week, and also the lack of blogging topics.
One thing that I do think that is blog-worthy (and i've been meaning to blog for some time), is a quote from the author of the original blog script that this blog is based off. He writes about what it's like to develop software:
Imagine you were a sculptor, but you can make anything appear out of thin air. Imagine you can make whatever you pull out of thin air do anything. Imagine then that if you make the smallest mistake in that thing, that the whole thing will not appear. That's software development. Within the confines of the computer, I can invent any abstract "thing" and invent what it does, how it works, and how it does it. I can invent the way you use it, and the way it appears. Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it - almost godly.
That's it - that's the analogy I'm looking for. Software development is like playing god. You start with a void, and into that void you create, invent, shape, nurture and train. Sometimes it takes thousands of lines of instructions to the computer to describe what you're creating - and sometimes it only takes a few. Sometimes the thousands of lines don't appear to do much - and sometimes a few lines can change everything - and yet if only one character is out of place it can be catastrophic (and usually is).
It is quite true: the immense power you have over what you can create; but then again, the workings of what you can create are so very intricate and fragile that one single incorrect character out of literally millions can bring the whole thing crashing down.
I think it is what makes software development (and also to an extent website design) so limitless, but also inherently so completely and utterly frustrating and difficult. Hence also why I don't really want a job as a software programmer or website designer.
Last night poker resumed as normal, and we had a pretty good showing of six players. In the end it was down to between Nick and me, and after both of us going all-in on all of the last hands in order to finish the game, I had the luck and emerged the winner. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of myself for the blog :(.