After some serious, heartfelt consideration, I’m reversing my stances on a number of things in my life, ranging from the political to the personal.

First of all, I’m not going to write science fiction or fantasy anymore. I’ve tried, and tried, and tried, but I’m just not making headway, and I’m certainly not making enough money at it. I’ve still got the writing bug, but I could probably be more successful as a technical writer, perhaps with the occasional foray into literary drama. In fact, I’m fairly sure the science fiction elements of the novel I’ve been struggling with can be easily excised, and the resulting prose would be better for it.

Second, I’m through with Linux. Done. Fed up. Nothing ever works right, rebuilding the kernel takes up too much time, and the constant security threats are a nightmare to keep up with. It may be more expensive, but I’m going legit: Windows 7, here I come! I haven’t decided whether I’m going to go all-Microsoft all the time, but I’ve already bought a Windows-powered phone and switched my default search engine to Bing.

Perhaps the most startling change is that I’ve come to realize the error of my political ways. After reading some of Robert W. Welch Jr.’s works, I look back at my liberal history with — I’ll be frank, here — shame. The way we’ve destroyed capitalism in this country! The way we’ve hamstrung our own businesses! No wonder our economy has been so bad for so long. And don’t get me started on foreign policy. We ought to be forcing all those primitives and communists to embrace democracy, even at gunpoint. Our very lives depend on it.

Mark this date on your calendar as the day I saw the light.