living
I’m living in Portland, OR. We bought our house last year which I feel very lucky to be able to do. We’ve been repainting the house and getting things into order. I feel like we’ve got a lot left to go, but it is rewarding!
I bought a bike. Which feels long overdue after having lived here for around 9 years now. I am loving how much less driving I’ve needed to do!
I’ve been playing pickleball, ping pong, and bouldering for exercise lately.
reading
I’m currently reading The Spear Cuts Through Water and The Timeless Way of Building.
A few favorite reads from last year are Winners Take All, Code, and A Desolation Called Peace. I really liked The Raven Scholar which I read this year.
I’m slowly trying to chip away at the Hugo Award Winners for best novel.
playing
I’m playing a bit of Slay the Spire 2 right now. I kinda missed the boat on the original game, and I’m seeing why people made so many copy cats of this formula. It works much better here than in the copies I’ve seen.
I’m holding out for Titanium Court. I hope it releases soon. It has gotten a lot of IGF buzz and it has released a public demo I’m avoiding for now.
making
I just finished organizing Portland Festival of Gaming (PFOG) recently. I wrote A PFOG 2026 Retrospective with my thoughts afterward. Summary is – it went great! I want to do more!
I’m also tinkering with a few little web projects right now. None of them are in a state where there’s anything to show, but I’ll publish them as I go on my “laboratory”.
I’m starting to feel the itch to work on game projects again post-PFOG. That desire has been pretty dormant for a while now, but its nice to see it again.
I’m trying to write about more honest things on this site. I’ve tended to publish more “safe” posts. I don’t think this gets me what I want to get from writing.
thinking about
Philosophy?. Community building.