Coding Vacation '08: Bad Timing

Several weeks ago I took the initiative and committed to something that went against my conventional patterns of behavior.  I decided that I would spend some vacation time devoted primarily toward developing software -- my personal projects, of course.  In the back of my head, I heard voices telling me that this was not an acceptable justification to take vacation time.  Vacations are for trips or visiting family, they said.  But, much like the thought processes that steered me toward the video game industry rather than business apps, the thoughts compelling me to take this vacation won in the end.  I announced my plans confidently to my friends and family, as if asserting it this way would protect against any criticism.  And, well, I didn't receive any.  In fact, I only received support.

My girlfriend, of course, saw this as an opportunity to spend more time with me every day.  She is currently unemployed, so she has a lot of free time.  It's very difficult to make the argument that I need to spend so much time doing things alone on my computer when I have a rare opportunity to spend extra time together, but she seemed to understand.  Of course, that didn't stop her from coming over often, inevitably leading to a lot of time spent away from coding.  Much of this time was spent with her playing the newly released World of Warcraft expansion: Wrath of the Lich King.

I can't blame her for this; I always want to play, and I have to keep myself at least somewhat disciplined.  It just makes it so much easier to play when I have someone to play with.  Between my uber druid and my hopelessly gay mage, there's so much fun to be had; so many hours to lose.

For the past week it's taken all my energy to avoid getting completely sucked into the grind.  I have to reach level 80.  I have to purchase an epic flying mount.  I have to obtain uber gear, etc.

To make matters worse, I'm leaving to visit my brother for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Don't get me wrong, I love visiting him, but it's more time spent away from coding.  Compounding this is the fact that he plays World of Warcraft as well, and I'm giving him the new expansion pack as a gift.  Nevertheless, I'm bringing my Mac Mini and an LCD monitor with me tomorrow.  Yes, I'm a little bit crazy.

Despite all of this, I have made significant progress on my app, but there's much to be done.  I will talk more about it later when I feel less reserved about it.