The USS Quad Damage

What is the most enjoyable part of your life right now?

The real answer is probably quite short: the most enjoyable part of my life is, always has been, and always will be sleep. The entire rest of my life is a means of securing more sleep (at least, comfortable sleep in good weather and a nice bed). The exception to this is the "abscence makes the heart grow fonder" postulation, where you wake up and do stuff to make the next night's sleep better.

However, this answer is unfullfilling, even for me. In reality, enjoyment is multidimensional, and you can enjoy different things in different ways. I wake up in the morning (the absolute worst part of my day, especially considering how it's begun to get darker and colder as we get into winter) and go to work. I used to hate going to work, but since getting my Commodoré (olé!) and listening to 2MBS, it's actually quite a nice and refreshing start to the day. In fact, I might even say I find it quite enjoyable on the whole. I know I keep babbling on about 2MBS, but this station sometimes plays music good enough to bring me close to tears. That's something special for a radio station (and sometimes dangerous when driving). The commodore is enjoyable too, but that goes without saying.

Work is enjoyable, too. I'm developing an app that's big and actually does something. I mean, I just haven't written big apps with other people, so work's quite fulfilling in that way. I'm learning lots doing the kind of thing I'd do without incentive, and I'm getting paid for it, which is cool. I'm working in a lab, with a lax bunch of cool people (by cool I mean nerdy, but it's all relative) who aren't stuck up! This has got to be the only company like that (well, the one I used to work at was a bit like that too, but it wasn't a "lab", and they didn't have a coffee machine ;)). Seriously: only two companies like that in this country, I reckon. The sense of acheivement coupled with stuff I like doing is enjoyable. Point is, I enjoy it (I wouldn't do it if I didn't).

Hapkido, when I can make it, is enjoyable. There's a lot to learn and it takes a lot of fitness, but when I can make it, it's fun. It's a bit of exercise, it gets you thinking (and learning), it makes you calm and relaxed, and (hopefully) one day I'll be good enough to use it, even for non-fighting related purposes. I mean things like falling when I trip, jumping up and climbing things, and using the locks and self defence to (gently) lock people up for my own amusement. I've been doing Hapkido for a while now, and it's made changes in me that I really like. I haven't been able to attend more recently, and some of those changes are reverting, but some are more or less permanent, and that's a good thing. I'm still a long way off acheiving my goals, because every time Master Brown does a demo for us, I notice problems in my own form that I didn't notice before. However, I feel myself progressing: I'm finding myself being more non-resistant, even in ordinary life, and I'm starting to think circular, but the water principle is really tough, and understanding the flow of 'ki' energy is something I'm going to have trouble with for a while, I think. Anyhow, Hapkido is something that I enjoy.

I code and draw at home. I do this less now, because of work and Hapkido, but whenever I get time I like to code up some project I'm working on, or draw stuff. This tends to manifest itself in graphic design and web design, because it's satisfying on both levels. I drew again after a long time, and it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. I haven't slipped a lot, so I'm happy. The problem really is that with all this I wish I could fit in some electronics, or something involving hardware of some sort.

Where am I going with this? It's simple: all the things I said were enjoyable, aren't always consistently enjoyable, and aren't always enjoyable, and sometimes I'd rather be doing one of the things I'm not doing. Sometimes I'm at work and I get the urge to draw, so I don't enjoy work as much. Sometimes I get hurt in Hapkido, or my kicks are really bad that night and I just end up looking retarded for an hour. Sometimes I just can't freaking draw!

Here's an example of what I mean, and it's demonstrated in something that should almost certainly be enjoyable: video games. I was playing P.N.03, and I was stuck on this level. Call it bad spending, but my suit was way below par, and I kept dying. Certainly not enjoyable. I gave up for the night, to try again a day later. I put all my concentration in the night after. I finished the level, and got master level. I got so many points I could upgrade my next suit to max. Enjoyable! to the MAX! The next level I got Amateur again. Without the night before, the night after would've been meaningless: I would just have done Amateur again.

So, every part of my life is enjoyable, but not every part of my life is enjoyable all the time. It's the wax and wane of enjoyability that keeps everything fun. So in answer to the question, the most enjoyable part of my life right now is... everything. But, you know, mostly sleep.

[[Edit: Whoah, I used a lot of commas in the original. This time, some other punctuation makes a guest appearance, like FULL STOPS!]]