When I first started learning German I was in high school.  I only took about two years, and honestly I wasn’t an amazingly devoted student.  Then my junior year I traveled to Germany and lived there for a year as an exchange student.  My inability to speak was frighteningly apparent, and I quickly started to cram as much vocabulary into my brain as possible.  This, accompanied with tutoring from my math teacher at the Gymnasium (because she couldn’t speak any English (only Russian), and I couldn’t understand her mathematics class well enough for her taste), meant I learnt and I learnt fast.  At 4 months I could carry on a decent conversation, albeit a limited one.  I remember going to an event hosted by my exchange program where I held a presentation about American Christmas traditions as I knew them.  At that point I was the only exchange student in our local group who could converse well enough for a large group to really understand.

That is about the same time I started dreaming in German.  Mostly it was unintelligible, but I knew it was German and NOT English.  It seems that I’m slowly getting there with programming.  By that I mean, I start to fall asleep and I can think about is how to make additions to my game, how to make what I want to have happen.  I’m starting to ‘daydream’ about programming, and the passion’s hit me hard.

I hear it’s a common malady for many programmers.  It’s the constant feedback you get from making a change and being able to immediately see it on the screen.  It’s painfully addictive.  I remember the first few times I was able to program something on my own and make it work.  It made me giddy in a very silly way (and I’m already quite silly, so it soon digressed in to beaker-like squeals).  Yet I still have other demands on my time, things that must be done.  How am I to find time to satisfy my urges?  What happens if my urges don’t pay the bills (this the most horrifying of questions)?  

Another day draws to a close and I want to go find a late night coffee shop and order a white mocha and get started on additions to my game.  But I have to keep a schedule, and besides I’m already tired.  Plus the cats just won’t shut up.  Time for bed.

Up Next Time: Interesting notes about programming humor