I tend to be a fairly deliberate person. I like to think things through, consider options, let the process of forming an opinion or making a decision gather direction and momentum, make sure I'm comfortable with an action after it has been chosen but not done. In many cases this trait has served me pretty well. Once something is set and done, I tend to be pretty satisfied with it. I'm sure I've missed out on a lot, but I'm also in one piece here and life keeps getting better.
There are two downsides to this as pertains to the reality of SoM here, though: First, I like to have a discrete block of time available - on the order of two or three hours, if not more - to sit and write and consider and revise and expand and so on, and my ability to schedule such an indulgence is limited at best. My everyday is starting to shift a bit, so this will change for the better. (Maybe I also should hold off on writing magnum opus comments in response to other people's original stuff. That's sort of why this is here, right?)
Second, and more annoyingly, it is deeply galling to see an idea that I have been mulling and wanting to really sit down and explore for some significant time get done almost as a side thought by someone else, sometimes summarizing weeks of contemplation in a sentence or two.
So yes, as a dismal summer of too many sadnesses and outrages turns into a complicated autumn and a foreboding winter, it is good to remember that enthusiasms and hobbies are good things. I've been thinking about this going in any number of directions, especially since everything that happened in Ferguson, but those first two sentences cover it pretty well.
Time and tide and all that. More to come soon.
The human story is speed.