Hello, friend.

Here we  are again. It's been  longer than I expected.  And yet, I
still feel like I don't know where to begin. As they say, start at
the beginning.

I haven't  written all year, and  I don't know why.  Just couldn't
work up the motivation to really sit down and write. It's a shame,
really -- I probably would've  benefitted from such an outlet. But
here  we are,  three  quarters of  the way  through  the year  and
nothing to show for it  on gopherspace. Well, some track listings,
but nothing phlog-wise. A ~/  of half-finished thoughts and missed
opportunities. Is that  a bad thing though?  After all, gopherland
is more than just phlogs.

So instead of recounting the year's  events, why don't I start the
year fresh, this wonderful September day?

I'm  writing  now from  something  I  found  myself doing  on  the
fediverse:  documenting shower  thoughts.  Not  because it  wasn't
popular there  (narrator: it wasn't),  but because I feel  this is
the more  appropriate medium for it.  I'll start with one  I had a
little  bit ago,  and I'd  love to  write about  another but  it's
slipped my mind. It's just an  impetus to actually write them down
here instead of escaping into the aether.

For  some time  now I've  really wanted  a MSSIAH  cartridge. It's
purpose  is simple:  play the  SID  chip inside  a C64  as a  MIDI
device. This, of course, is right  up my alley, because I love all
(ok, most) things SID, and I've been kicking myself since I missed
my chance to  own a SidStation. Unemployment has  that effect. But
while I know I would absolutely love to get this cart and play all
the .MIDs squirreled  away on it, wouldn't it be  more fun to DIY?
(The answer is "yes")

So I have  this COne that I  picked up ages ago  because it's cool
and I  like playing with  C64s, and reconfigurable  computers were
supposed to  be the future  and everything,  but of course  I lost
interest and didn't grab the expansion board for the minimig core,
and my  first idea for a  project implementing the NES  on it fell
flat as soon as  I learned someone already did it.  So why don't I
take this fancy computer and configure  it up to be a MIDI device?
Sounds plausible, and far from the worst idea of the week. It will
keep me  out of trouble  and I've been  itching to mess  with VHDL
again. Of course, the IEC port is not the same as a MIDI port, but
a quick adapter should solve that.

Hrm, I might actually do this one if I work up the motivation...