To Everything There Is a Season

... Turn, turn turn..

I've always wondered about that song. Is it speaking to a need to compartmentalize our lives and attend to each thing in its turn, or something broader?

I mean... okay, for example: When Robert Fulton was working on the steamboat, there were at least three or four other scientists in other parts of the world who were working on the EXACT SAME THING. Mr. Fulton wasn't even first, by some accounts, but I digress.

One could maybe argue that the sum of human knowledge as a whole had simply brought us to that point, and so steam-powered boats were the next logical step, but was it really? Is there really a distinct lineage here that mandated that after this technology happened, that one inevitably had to follow? The world is a pretty broad place.

Perhaps, instead, this speaks to a certain interconnectedness of mankind, leading to 'seasons' of the human experience. Unconnected people in unconnected places, doing the SAME THING for unconnected reasons! Maybe the Steamboat wasn't the next logical step; maybe these scientists just happened to be a part of the Steam Engine Season of the Humankind Experience.

So it has been on the Intersphere off late. I'm sure everyone reading this has suffered the sabbatical of the Wil Wheaton in Exile blog as its author underwent some kind of nasal surgery lately. And Josh Sortelli has left Elf Only Inn collecting dust while he works at some kind of 'real job'. Danielle Corsetto's 'Girls with Slingshots' underwent delays as she moved into a new house, even Jonathan Coulton got preoccupied with Lady Aberlin and failed to update his blog with his upcoming concert tour dates. Likewise, I, sadly, was forced to leave you all wanting for a brief time so that I could plan a 40th birthday party for my husband.

Unconnected people, unconnected places, all slacking off for unconnected reasons. How can anyone deny the confluence?

Well, like all seasons, the Internet Slacking Season seems to be passing. Mr. Wheaton has recovered nicely from his surgery and is back to cracking Paxa up with his Twitters on the eclipse last night. Ms. Corsetto is nicely settled into her new house and finally got Hazel into Zach's taxi on Valentine's Day (we'll forget that V-day was last week sometime). Jonathan Coulton has finally confessed to where he'll be performing over the next six months, and Andy's party went very well. We're all back in our respective saddles, ready to seize our respective reins and get back down to business.

Well, all except for Josh Sortelli. Stupid Real Life Job.

Anyway, I've a notebook full of fun notes. My next project -- I PROMISE -- is to finish the Attributes programming so we can stop having uninteresting eyes and nondescript hair. That just does such a disservice to all of you that I stand here ashamed to have written a program that described you that way. Shameful.

Turn, Turn, Turn.