Since my brain refuses to boot beyond UEFI today¹, here's a lovely list of things I liked doing before our daughter was born:

• Write large philosophical blog posts;
• Enjoy a late night out with friends;
• Read a thousand page sprawling fantasy;
• Play a complicated Uwe Rosenberg boardgame;
• Get on the bike and let it take me to random places;
• Ink up the fountain pen and brainstorm in the journal;
• Cook and enjoy a nice meal with my wife;
• Plan ahead to bake a few sourdough breads;
• Lose endless hours chasing after Stones of Jordan in Diablo II;
• Have a nice long walk in the woods;
• Soak in a warm bath while thinking about life's problems;
• Hack away at retro hardware.

Now here's a list of things I like doing lately:

• Write short lists of things I like doing;
• Go to sleep at 10 PM;
• Read the first sentence of a blog in the RSS reader;
• Get out Patchwork and enjoy simply finishing it without interruptions;
• Stare at the passing traffic from the parked car;
• Fantasize about inking up a fountain pain without moving from the couch;
• Eat in shifts wishing for the crying to stop;
• Hope the sourdough starter isn't dead;
• Match three tiles in a 5-minute round of Puzzle Quest on the DS;
• Walk with the stroller around the block and enjoy the sun on the face;
• Get a quick shower while trying not to think;
• Sniff on an old motherboard and then put it back on the shelf.

This felt a bit painful to write. Does it feel painful to read as well? I wonder what kind of things I will like doing in a year. Or in three years. Perhaps I should start preparing for the inevitable but laughably bad How do you see yourself in five years? question.

It's funny to see how one readjusts one's life expectations once kids arrive. Nowadays, we get a lot of energy from a few mischievous smiles and simply wish for her to grow up healthy, and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. I can't even remember what I wanted to get out of life before all this, it feels like my mind is playing tricks on me. Things that seemed relevant before---status, respect, self-development---are shoved aside and suddenly deemed much less important, even though I didn't think about this consciously.

Perhaps I should start thinking about this consciously.