Bloody hell.

So I've been working on a big project for a while now. Almost four years. This past Monday I transformed it into three single-sided, 1½-spaced, cheaply bound 210-page books, signed them all and handed them in to the College office where they didn't give me a bell to ring.

What was the project? A dissertation in programming languages. I helped create a new language, the ill-christened Links. And wrote up my contributions, formalized them mathematically, threw in some explanatory diagrams. And allowed my life to be governed by the cruelties of the academic system.

It was awful. Don't ever do this.

One day I will write about the awfulness—the boredom, the abuse, the hypocrisy, the never-ending spiral, the inability to walk away. The trapped feeling, of solitary confinement.

But now is not the time for such tears (take the rag away from your face).

Now I'm on to the next thing. I've been slightly out of it for a while & I hope to get back in it real soon now.

I learned a hell of a lot about a lot of things: about computer science, about logic, mathematical proof, about technical writing, about programming languages. About rigor and criticism. Moreso I learned about how not to run a research group, or any kind of team. I learned about Scotland, England, Europe, and living abroad. I met some great people, played a lot of Ultimate Frisbee and drank a lot of beer.

Monday I begin closing my Edinburgh life; the next Monday I'll start a life in another place. I've worked hard and survived punishment. I can do more things than before. At last I'll progress to something new, perhaps even something better. Tonight let me raise my glass to Edinburgh, to the science of information process, and to survival, ultimately survival.