I've been trying to get motivated to refresh some of my skills at home, and it's been a disaster: I wanted to re-write "Gassy Girl", got as far as the USB debugging not working on my phone, and gave up completely; I wanted to learn a new web front-end framework, did one DuckDuckGo search, got bored, and quit; I wanted to learn how "Machine Learning" algorithms work, I started reading, got bored five minutes later, and quit.

"Why don't I have any energy for this technology stuff anymore?" But then it hit me: I do-- it's just happening through my kids. When in my above discourse I related that I got "bored", I invariably walked over to Duncan: "Hey, want to work on your web site's JavaScript some more?" Or to Henrietta: "Let's try some scripting in 'Roblox Studio'!"

It's not that I've lost my passion: it's just that the locus has shifted from myself, to my kids. In other words, my kids are my "outside of work" project for which I have endless energy. It's like playing with technology, with the added bonus of watching their faces absolutely light up when something "clicks". It also has this satisfying "bigger than me" vibe, which is why I think a lot of people turn to religion, or politics: like I'm leaving my own legacy through my children.