Today's been a pretty good day, compared to the rest of the so far unmemorable days of my new year. Up to now, I've been coding on and off to keep my skills sharp, to learn new techniques, and to have something presentable to potential employers if need be, but it's mostly been just more or less what one might consider "fooling around": experimentation and modifications of existing demo code, without a unifying purpose to tie them together.
But, relatively suddenly today I had an epiphany about what something I could work on: a specific type of game that I've always found interesting, and the engine to power it. It's not groundbreaking, but at least, I've got the genesis of an idea from which I can really start designing and spec-ing out stuff. I'm psyched. =)
Also, heard from a friend of mine on the east coast that was truly a surprise to hear from -- you might consider the friend in the category of "someone I've hung out a few times with, have several interests in common and have the desire to know better". (Yes, it's a girl, and no, the relationship is strictly platonic...) Anyhow, I got a belated Christmas card from this person, and the pleasantly surprising nature of it made my day, and gave my hitherto flat morale a further boost. =)