Last updated: December 20, 2024
Big Updates
This big update is Big with a capital B: I'm expecting a baby!
To anyone who saw me in person at all sometime this year, this is already old news. However, for those with whom I mostly interact via social media, this is probably an unexpected piece of news.
I'm having a child, as a single parent, via surrogacy with a wonderful woman who lives in Oregon, and the due date is January 17. It's been a long process that started either in December 2021, when I decided that I'm fully committed to this decision, or July 2022, when I signed up with a surrogacy agency and paid my first of many, many expenses. Surrogacy is not cheap, y'all! I'll be heading to Oregon two weeks prior to the due date since most newborns have not yet mastered the art of showing up exactly on time. Yes, that is soon. No, I'm not ready; stop asking.
Hosting
In September, I hosted yet another one of my house parties, this time to bid farewell to the summer. This coincided with a visit from Oshry and Kris from London, who seem to have taken a liking to NYC. I also hosted my friends Adam and Diego (also from London) that same month.
In November, I hosted Matěj, who returned to living in Prague after living in NYC for a while, though he was here mostly while I was still on vacation (next section), and I only got to see him for a few days at the tail end of his visit.
And lastly, in December, I threw a small, last-minute baby shower after being asked about it by some friends. I don't really know what goes on in a normal baby shower (it's my first baby), so it just ended up being mimosas and cake. I think I nailed it. I also got lots of cute gifts! I do have a baby registry, but I won't be so bold as to drop the link here; message me for it if you really want to pitch in. I've also got to hang out with Davide from San Francisco for a day and hosted Ryan and Philippe from Montréal.
Travel
In preparation for being grounded for the next few years, I took 5 weeks off from work to travel around Australia and New Zealand. This was a wonderful, liberating trip. It felt like those trips I would take in my early 20s, where there was no pressure to do anything and nothing to worry about. Of course, unlike in my early 20s, I did not stay in hostels, and I travelled with a suitcase, not a backpack. I didn't plan the entire trip in advance but rather planned 1–2 weeks ahead at a time. I can't say that there was a single highlight for this trip; you can find the photo albums here (Australia) and here (New Zealand). Both countries are gorgeous, and the handful of people I got to meet there were all lovely and welcoming.
Hobbies
I've taken more time to play video games these past few months. It's been nice rekindling my oldest hobby, and I got to catch up on some games that have been in my backlog for years, plus some new ones (highlights below).
I've been using my 3D printer more often. I finally felt like I reached the limits of the kinds of gadgets and gizmos that I can design using TinkerCAD, an online CAD tool, and decided to learn some more advanced tools. I started with Autodesk Fusion 360 (the same company that makes TinkerCAD), but the free version is limited, and the paid version is too expensive for my hobby-level usage of it. Instead I turned to FreeCAD, which is, as the name suggests, free (as in, free and open source and all that jazz). It's rough around the edges, but more powerful than TinkerCAD, and I'm happy with the things I can achieve with it.
Media
I'm trying a new format for this section: In the past I've been trying to elaborate on everything I've read or watched, but I don't necessarily have something to say about every single book or play. Instead, I'll list highlights at the top and then drop names afterwards without expanding on them.
Highlights
- Watched Sunset Boulevard, the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber sung-through musical, at the Sydney Opera House. It was mostly about going to the Opera House.
- Read The Mercy of Gods and its companion short story Livesuit. The book is the first in a planned trilogy by James S. A. Corey (the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), who wrote The Expanse (you might have watched the TV series based on those books). I'm obsessed with this new series and impatiently waiting for the second book. It also looks like Amazon is going to make a TV series out of it, and I am very much looking forward to seeing how they represent all the strange aliens.
- Played Animal Well, a platformer/Metroidvania game that has been causing big waves in the gaming industry. This game was made almost entirely by a single person, and it became an extremely successful game, critically and financially, at a time when big-budget game studios are struggling and doing layoffs. I tend to agree with this IGN article; it's games like this that people crave at the moment.
More
- Books
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow / Gabrielle Zevin
- Roadside Picnic / Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- Worlds Enough & Time / Dan Simmons
- Theatre
- The Roommate
- Chicago
- Movies
- Inside Out 2
- Nope
- Back to Black
- Frida
- Footloose
- Breathe
- Wicked
- Video Games
- Terraformers
- Cyberpunk 2077
- POOLS
- Celeste
- Animal Well
- Viewfinder
- Islanders
- Transport Fever 2
- Untitled Goose Game
- Memoriapolis
Soon
- Another house party for New Year's Eve, if the baby doesn't arrive before
- Again. Baby.