Thanks!

As simple a realization as it is, this was an exciting epiphany for me — nowhere near the level of the epiphany I enjoyed when I first grokked closures, but of the same flavor. I think that had something to do with the fact that I went from never having used, or had reason to use, a feature of the language, to suddenly recognizing that feature's intriguing possibilities. Perl's great that way. So is learning a new language, but Perl's kinda like learning a new language every few months.