if it doesn't come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don't do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don't do it.... unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket, unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, don't do it. unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don't do it. ~ Charles Bukowski

The quote above is from a world-famous computer programmer. Okay, that's a lie. It was written by a poet and author, about writing. But it describes how I have been recently feeling about coding.

Yes, coding has always intrigued me. And yes, writing code that works has always been an immensely rewarding feeling, even when all I knew how to do was make a basic html web page and change the colors and fonts.

But recently, my passion for coding has become something more. When I am not coding, I am daydreaming about coding. I dream about ideas I could bring to life through code. I think about the logic that would get something to work. I solve in my head what I could not figure out during my coding session. Programming is on my mind as I'm falling asleep. It integrates itself into my dreams. It is on my mind again once I wake up. Even as it frustrates me, it brings me peace.

It is amusing to imagine computer programming having its own spirit; an entity with a personality, like the ones in Spirited Away. If it did, I would say thank you.

Thank you for being there for me in a special way.