Yup

As previous posts on my blog may have suggested to the very few people who read my blog, I am taking a leave of absence from the Ph.D. program in Machine Learning I am enrolled in.

Each person who I have told has asked me: "Why?". And to each one I give a slightly different list of reasons, all of which sound true at the time, but which I am actually making up when I am asked. Why don't I give everyone the same list? Why do I make up a different one every time? Well, I'm actually figuring them out myself.

At least one person has told me that it is not wise to formalize my decision until I can at least explicitly and coherently express the reasons for which I want to suspend my Ph.D. program. I understand his concerns, but I will still take the "unwise" approach. I don't know exactly what motivates me, but I do know enough to make this decision at this point.