> What would that be like, I wondered, as his words floated gently through the space above my head, to just be interested in something, not as a stepping stone or as a resume line, but just to sit down and count the paths, just because you wanted to know how many there were?

Not that great, necessarily. Sometimes I wish that I could simply be happy with a "normal" job that pays the bills. Instead of feeling like I have to pursue an academic career, just to be able to work on the problems I am interested in.