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So, how are things, you ask? Hmmmm... well, some words that spring to mind:
Bad. Terrible. Unspeakable. Tragic. Horrendous. Dreadful. Appalling.
Irreversible. Permanent. Heart-breaking. Yes, it's true, it really is. I
admit it. I'm 25. Which is old, really old. I can't even pretend to be in my
early twenties anymore! It is all quite a tragedy, one of unparalleled
proportions.

But seriously... Things are good. Not perfect, but good. Perfect takes
awhile. In the meantime, I'm mainly working half-time for Alex Potanin up at
MCS as a research assistant in computer science. Which sounds like a
terrible idea, given I'm back here because of my RSI, but the work is purely
theoretical. And so I spend most of my time reclining in an easy chair, a
paper on my lap and a whiteboard marker in each hand, captivated by just how
many ways mathematics has of sneaking its way into my life.

Otherwise? A fair bit, most of which is of no interest to anyone except me,
and so I'll bullet point just a snippet or two for you:

* On the upside, having to come back to NZ does mean I've got to do a lot of
things and see a lot of people I otherwise wouldn't have. Like spend
Christmas in Martinborough with family, long planned for and probably the
last time so many of us will be in the same place for a long time. And go
skiing with Mum, Brian, Carmen and Ash in Canada, in a kind of
anti-honeymoon. They didn't want one, so they invited us. Or something like
that, but who cares - the skiing was superb and it's all much appreciated!

* Which rather makes it sound like life away from Oxford is treating me
pretty well. Which it is. But that's not the point. I remember just before
leaving Oxford a recurring daymare - that this whole suspension-business
would be unnecessary, that after 3 days back in NZ I'd find myself able to
tap away 12 hours a day, but for reasons Oxford-or-ACU unable to come up
again any earlier. (Un)fortunately, I haven't had *that* problem. But I am
getting better, oh so slowly, but most definitely - in fact, quite
substantially just over the past few weeks, to the point that I can manage a
couple of hours a day now quite comfortably. Which isn't nearly enough to
return, and it is using a very carefully configured workstation. But it is
several times what was possible when I left Oxford, and it is sustainable.
In short, I'm encouraged. Furthermore, I have 2 or 3 arrows left in my
quiver. Any more detail though, like the probable causal history? That'd
surely only interest a particularly masochistic philosopher or Bayesian, so
I won't inflict it on you unless you ask. And you have been warned!

* But other stuff. Dancing, only just getting under way now. Oxford makes it
so much easier to be so busy! My personal philosophical philosophy, my big
picture, has finally settled down as well. I now like to call my position
"thermonuclear nihilism", in large part because I'm pretentious enough to
think that being one of those sounds kinda cool. I won't even summarise any
of what that means here though, except to say that its
eliminativism-writ-large. Think Dennett, but more honest. And I'm keen to
cross swords with someone on all of this someday too, but I'd have to
explain a lot more before we could do that! And otherwise, in what is
rapidly becoming a rather incoherent paragraph? I've done a little writing,
a couple of chapters, and sketched out a few more. Even inflicted it on
Laura and Susanna, who have bravely agreed to crit it. And my DPhil, last
but not least. Technically, it's suspended, but my supervisor thinks it'd be
a good idea for me to do most of my lit survey over the course of the year,
and I'd tend to agree.

And so, leaving tomorrow with Susanna for the Mount, I know what I'll be
reading while I'm away :)

FINITO