|
TaoJones...
I'm touched by your words; thank you. This really is hard, and for years I've been stepping past the boat with a distinct *pang*, many times a day, as I wander to and from my office. Somehow the implacable effects of Time changed everything before I even realized it, and for a while there I pushed on with esoteric landing-gear refinements even as I was starting to sense that she might never again roll out of the lab.
This is of course an old story with boatbuilding, though my own foray into that realm was compounded by the geeky intensity of the project along with the attendant publicity.
Meanwhile, the athletic nature of life in a tiny amphibian boatlet became less and less compatible with my ever-creakier back...
Much good came of the project, though. Learning curves I would have never imagined, brilliant co-conspirators, and an understanding that our human hulls get just as fouled as those of our ships from idling too long at the dock. It happens so slowly that you hardly notice, until your intake is blocked, your prop is encrusted with barnacles, and a million tendrils keep you rooted to the spot.
I'm applying that lesson to the new project, and although I am naturally still afflicted with gizmological obsessions that make everything considerably more complex than it needs to be, I am keeping things moving as fast as possible this time.
Thank you again for the kind words. I thought of the museum, but she doesn't really have a story yet (unlike my old BEHEMOTH bicycle, which is in the Computer History Museum, still filthy with ancient road grime and scarred by a decade of adventures). It would be cool, perhaps, to partner with someone who hops aboard the Microship and boldly goes... another reason for not quoting a price or being too enthusiastic about brokerage is that some non-traditional arrangements like that are possible (given the right person). This seems like a great place to launch the quest for my successor.
Fair winds from Nomadness,
Steve
|