It's been said that people tend to turn inward, to withdraw from others, as a natural habit. We become self-absorbed, caught up in our own dramas and reveries, and can miss what happens around us. We become still, and sometimes stagnate. The solution, the wise tell us, is found in moving toward community. It is in the interaction with others that we find our own wit, that we learn to test our talents, that we find whether or not what we hold dear and believe in stands up to scrutiny. The postmodern self is the self enacted in social networks.

All of which is more or less a high-falutin' preamble to the question that lies before me now:

Do I 1) spend my Xmas dough on modding my Xbox and furthering my soldering skills, essentially in the service of a geekout that few others will see or appreciate, or do I 2) use that dough to get Xbox Live, and thereby step into an arena where my Halo skills can develop to a truly legendary level?

What to do, Gentle Reader? What to do?!! Ah, decisions to struggle through. A more germane question about Xbox Live: can I engage in high-demand broadband gaming using the swiped wireless access from my upstairs neighbor? Now that's the question of the hour. Do I get a wireless bridge and cross my fingers? Or do I come clean, use the latest and greatest Earthlink offer to get us back up to high-speed access, and be sure of the deal? Stay tuned!