=============================================================================
       Date: Oct. 01, 2019
       Location: Somewhere Above the Ruins of a Cybercity
       Mood: All Programmed Out
       Music: death's dynamic shroud.wmv - DERELICT MEGATOWER
=============================================================================

       Spent most of the day sitting in my recliner with my laptop. Decided
to try automating the creation of my various posts here on Continuum, so I've
been steadily forging a series of bash and C++ scripts that will do that for
me.

       At this point, I've got scripts that will create dialog prompts and
menus in the terminal, which I've always been quite fond of using, though I
had no clue how to make my own. Well, today I spent many hours browsing man
pages and the occasional Stack Overflow question about bash scripting, and
I'm pretty proud of what I'm left with.

       Menus and input prompts for phlog posts, album write-ups, poems, and
tech posts, all working properly. I even hooked each script into a hub
script that allows me to choose a file type. I can then create a new file of
that type and send it over to my SDF remote, or just send an existing file of
that type to the remote.

       For someone who only really works on big projects for school, my
scripts are usually just a couple lines or so to do something simple, like
combine commands, print/format something nicely in my terminal, or run a
command on startup. Something simple. So this is the largest personal project
I've ever actually completed. I know for a lot of you out there in the
gophersphere a couple of bash scripts is something you might eat for
breakfast, but for an undergrad like myself, it feels really rewarding.

       And now I get to write this phlog post with my script!

       Other than that, I've mostly just been listening to music all day,
trying not to sweat my ass off in the sudden humidity. I much prefer
yesterday's weather: a constant light rain without being too cold on a lazy
day. I've been reading some discussion about this "melancholy season" that's
been gripping some users out there. I can see how the shifting of the weather
causes changes in ourselves as well, but I personally don't find autumn to be
all that melancholy. Winter is a much more depressing time of year for me,
despite the fact that my birthday is during the winter. Fall has always been
a creatively rich time of year for me, and I love the atmosphere (Although
you won't find me downing any pumpkin spice goods).

       I actually relate to a sentiment my father has about melancholy. He
once told me that when he thinks of "melancholy" an image of motionless trees
under amber sunlight comes to mind. Nothing is moving, everything is quiet,
and there is this air of death to everything. No action, no life.

       I really resonated with that sentiment, but I think of that as more
of a bittersweet melancholy. There is a sadness to that air of finality, but
there is also this sense of completion. Of rest. Of comfort. Something about
that image of melancholy really draws me, and perhaps that is why I'm not
stricken with this grim shade of melancholy during this season.

       There are many ways of seeing melancholy, as with all emotions, and
they can be drawn out of us with different images, different landscapes,
different ideas. Wherever you are, out there is this wide and sometimes quiet
gophersphere, recall these images. No matter where you are, put yourself in a
place of joy.

       If you can recall those images for yourself, let me know. I'd love to
hear about it.

       Thanks.
       - Ben