What was your most painful realisation of 2012?

Everyone dies. :'(

The widespread evidence of the existence of extra-terrestrials.

Realizing that the US Government is getting very close to fundamentally destroying freedom on the Internet (domestically, with ramifications globally; and to the extent it still exists). It's not five or ten years away, it's now a daily battle with all the legislation they're throwing at the wall to see what they can get to stick. It was understood in the 1990s that they'd eventually seriously harm the Internet, given their unlimited thirst for power, but some part of my brain always hoped it was further out. It's clear they're never going to stop coming after it, and they have a nearly unlimited budget and apparently nothing better to do with their time.

That my mind produces ideas and features a LOT faster than my fingers can code them up.

One of the great frustrations I'm finding in being a self-taught, 1-man developer. I'm learning, and it's intensely satisfying, and it's going well.

But MAN does it take a long time to do things. I know I'll get faster, but things that I think should take a few minutes take a few hours. Designs I think I should be able to put together in a day take a week.

So the painful realization is that I'm going to get a lot less done in 2013 than I'd like. I'll still get a lot done, but it's sobering to realize the limits of your execution.

Life is precious and brief; we squander it by griefing, and we never respawn.