In other news, Reddit has invented a word best explained by this image:

You've probably seen it already, but if not, well, now you have.

Today was my last day in Mountain View, which I was visiting for a series of tech-talks and team-building exercises. Do you remember the feeling you had when you first joined 64Digits? Or if not then, then the community before it? The feeling of being surrounded by people of a like mind? This week, I was literally surrounded by other living, breathing individuals of that variety. Some of them I had worked with over the Internet. Some of them I had never met before. I know it sounds absurd; I would have passed off all of this as corporate bullshit or the false sense of community you get at anime/video game/pogo stick conventions. But it really was remarkable.

I'm feeling a little sad, now, actually. I left today, saying literally nothing more than "adiós" to anyone—some of whom I knew I'd, in all actuality, never see again.

People drift in and out of my life all the time, and I never think anything of them. I don't know why this is different. I'm looking inside myself to try to find an answer—some logical rationale behind what I considered the dumbest and most frivolous of sentiments.

I noticed that I've become a bit complacent; I stand by, watching life flow by, interacting only as necessary to ensure that I, well, continue doing so. I don't really talk to people unless prompted; I don't do anything that far outside of what I'm asked to do. I live as though convinced that whatever there is to be done can just happen later. And it's starting to terrify me.

This is the first time in my life I've ever willingly stayed at a social event. It might even be the first time I've willingly attended one. And I was somehow occupied the whole time. It ended so anticlimactically, it's as though we all assumed it'd continue tomorrow. Or maybe this is the first time in my life I've ever felt even the slightest bit emotionally vulnerable, and I was literally the only one who will ever think anything of it. All I know is that come Monday, my life resumes as it was, as though none of this ever happened. Yes, I'll have pictures, but what gives them any more value than a memory of a pleasant dream?

I'm going to cut this blog short, because it can only drift into a full-blown existential crisis from here. I just wanted to share how I'm feeling. I'm sure a good number of you have felt that way before. The rest are probably just like I used to be. I don't know what to wish you. I don't know if, given the opportunity, I'd have just spared myself this experience, because I was very happy with my life before any of this happened, and I have no idea whether that feeling is going to last now… and more importantly, I don't know if it is good for me that it does last.

If you want a philosophical conundrum of more worth, I'll leave you with an old question you should have already been asked: if you're already happy, is there any value to a state in which you are happier?