[nfoz]

This hits home for me.... it was an unspoken dream of mine to apply to join VPRI, motivated by a side-project that I believed falls under their interests. I never did apply. Which was probably the right call; I was naive, lacking any relevant credential, and I don't even really know what they are or if they take 'applications'. But still. Sometimes it's those weird little dreams, that we wouldn't dare tell anyone, that keep us going. I worked on that project for years before running out of steam. So now I sigh and acknowledge a door is long since closed.

Would love to spend my time somehow funded, even minimally, to build the crazy ideas that I believe in and think could actually matter, instead of the much less interesting or important work of my day-job. But I suppose that's most of us here on HN.