I'm very good with words when I need to explain literal constants, but when I try to explain how I feel about something it never comes out quite like I hope, so I apologize if this seems hamfisted…

I suppose to start with saying that I'm a terrible person to buy for. I live portable and that means I don't really have a lot in way of space in my inventory to actually receive anything.

So when I got this gift, I was really quite pleasantly surprised by the frankly profound effect it had on me. Not 24 hours prior to writing this, my Kindle's screen got busted somehow. As with basically everything I've ever had and/or broken, I didn't really care that much about the issue since, while a sink of my money, these things are replaceable. As is everything in my inventory.

And then there's this case. When I first saw it, I sort of paused for a bit and thought about it, turning it about in my hands and just looking at it. I had a case quite similar to it, but there was something profoundly special about this as opposed to the one I had.

It's a customized case, and I can feel the passion that went into its making. It is different. It is personal. And it's a beautiful thing for all of these reasons.

For the first time, I have something that I will carry with me that is distinctly personalized for me.

So how does this give me a new perspective, one might ask? It's all about how I define precociousness. Up until now I've gauged many of my things based on what it would cost to recover if they were to go missing. This is something where for the first time in a long time I cannot possibly replace in any meaningful way.

And I'm going to take it with me wherever I end up.

Oh, and as an aside, I also got a $10 gift certificate for Amazon, but really that's just icing on the already delicious cake.

Thank you, Santa!