I haven't noded in a long time. Years, apparently. But that's ok. I continued to write a fair amount; first about mathematics, then about travel. I take a fair few photos along the way, too.
Node what you know, was the advice I always tried to follow, and my highest rep nodes reflect that. But the coolest thing I ever carved out of the nodegel was Svalbard International Seed Vault - clearly, far from my personal experience.
Except today I find myself far, far north of almost everything. Probably I'm one of the northernmost thousand people on the planet. And I stood at the threshold of the vault. You can't go in, which caused many to ask why I would want to trek to the end of the world just to look at a door. But the 'what if?' had been kicking around in my brain ever since composing that writeup, with varying degrees of seriousness. Almost a decade later, I was able to make it happen, and there was a strange quiet confirmation; a sense of culmination of a goal never quite stated. The arctic is an ideal place for reflection, contemplation. Naturally with a project this long, I found myself thinking of all that has changed; and what remains constant.
I've held an account here for almost half my life; whilst I don't check in at all often, I never quite left. Although various friends were first met through the site, I've drifted away from the community in the larger sense. But that's ok too. I hope you're all doing well.
pic on homenode