I think it's lucky that my general misfortune on this last India trip - the loss of my luggage on day 1 (it was returned on night 1) and my loss of a working day through sleeping vomiting and diarrhea-ing (that's not a word) - all happened on the trip where I didn't have a pressing schedule to worry about when I got home. On the previous trip I came home, immediately MCed a gig, and then rolled into the busy weekend of pre-birthday celebrations. On my birthday itself, a Monday off work, I took my wife and daughter to a soft play place and we played. Softly.

Already this collection of thoughts feels like an exploded watch. Lots of moving parts, kind of fitting together, but kind of bendy and all over the place. As similes go, that one was unlike others.

I have a head full of software and architecture too right now. That's something I quite like, but it's distinctly "to the max" right now. On top of it, I've also got a head full of software development process - another thing I like, but again right at the max.

Most importantly of all, there's a little girl who calls me "daddy". Well she kind of does. She might call me "dadda" or "da". Something she just points. She's only 15 months old, cut her some slack. My lovely little daughter has reached an age where she's wandering about the place of her own volition, trying to communicate with things - mainly our slightly fearful and victimised cats, whom she calls "ca...t" or "gat" or occasionally "dat". This is definitely a great age for a toddler to be. She's generally making a great deal of entertainment for herself and having a lot of fun.

So even if life's throwing me all over the place, there's a chance I can take off my shoes with my daughter at a soft play and join in.