Last updated: August 29, 2025
Big Updates
Oh well, it was bound to happen. My supposed quarterly updates are now more of a semi-annual thing. Turns out, surprise-surprise, that taking care of an infant keeps one busy. Before starting to write this, I didn't realize just how many times I would be mentioning Aiden in this update, but I guess this is my life now!
Since the last update, Aiden has started day care. He's already crawling, standing up on his own as long as he is holding on to something to support himself, and he started teething. He's a happy kid, keeps pushing his own boundaries, and loves to meet new people. I hope these traits will stay with him for life; they would surely serve him well.
I hired a nanny that comes twice a week in the evenings so I can enjoy some adult life, and several friends have volunteered to help out by babysitting every now and then, which has been a huge source of help and relief.
My parental leave ended in May, and I've been going to the office 3 times a week as required. Work is not that interesting right now, but that just gives me more time to focus on Aiden and my personal projects.
I applied for US citizenship and am waiting for any sort of update. My understanding is that I should not expect anything before the end of the year.
Hosting
While Aiden's future room is still my guest room, I've had several people stay over. Adam was visiting from London in May, and a chance encounter on one of our nights out led him to start talks about a job in NYC. Fingers crossed for a smooth work-visa process.
Trying to see whether I can still host an occasional house party, I invited a dozen or so friends to watch Eurovision in May. About half the people in the room were watching the competition, and the other half were watching Aiden.
In June, my parents came to visit again and helped out with Aiden while I took a few mini-breaks from full-time parental duties. They were in Italy just before coming here, and the attack by Israel in Iran happened while they were on the flight from Italy to NYC. As a result, their trip was extended by an extra week while Israel's airspace was closed. Naturally I was happy to have them stay longer and be safer here, and with the extra time, they could help out with babysitting duties.
Later that same month, I hosted a Sunday afternoon party for Pride. That party lasted well into the night, and come his bedtime, Aiden slept through the entire night (with the baby monitor always within earshot, of course). I feel much more confident about being able to host parties again, and Aiden seems to enjoy the attention he gets from my friends.
Travel
I've taken Aiden with me on the LIRR and Metro-North a few times to visit friends. We also took the ferry to Sandy Hook, NJ, for a beach day. Aiden had an entire emotional journey as I dipped his legs in the ocean for the first time.
We still haven't taken any overnight trips, although I recently bought a few necessities (such as a portable crib,) and hopefully we can plan something soon.
Hobbies
I've been able to carve out some time in the evenings after Aiden's bedtime. I started working on a new video game that I currently call Atoll. It's still in early prototyping stages. The gist of it is a city builder / colony sim type game set on an island whose shoreline constantly shifts around. I try to work on it at least one evening a week, and I've been able to make surprisingly good progress on the prototyping. I post regular updates on a “secret” Mastodon account; ask me if you're interested. As part of this game development work, I wrote and published a small plugin for the Godot game engine.
I bought a SpaceMouse, a silly little device that helps navigate 3D spaces in CAD software more easily. It was a huge waste of money and I love it.
Lastly, in the ever-increasing attempts to save the curious child from himself, I added a backsplash to my computer desk so that Aiden would not be able to reach all the cables running behind it. It was a neat little hardware project. I bought panel pieces from Amazon, used my Dremel to cut them perfectly to size, including a hole for the bass speaker and an external hard drive, and 3D-printed a mould so I can paint the recessed parts in black. I also 3D-printed brackets so I can mount it to the sides of the computer desk and trims to protect the floor. I think it looks professionally made.
Media
Highlights
- Read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez after watching the Netflix show with my parents. It's a chaotic story with dozens of characters, almost all of them named one of four names, so I had to consult a family tree that I found online just to keep track of what's happening to whom. Entirely chaotic and worth every minute!
- Played the recent remake of Riven. They changed a few things since the original game while still keeping the spirit of the series intact. I loved the changes that they made, as they improved some of the story elements and explained a few ideas that weren't conveyed successfully in the original and that I only learned about after reading some lore online. If anyone is interested in getting into Myst and Riven nowadays for the first time, I would recommend going with the remakes.
More
- Books
- Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity / Sander van der Linden
- Movies
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Paranormal Activity
- Sebastian
- Emilia Pérez
- Queer
- Conclave
- Mountainhead
- The Brutalist
- Anora
- Clueless
- The Phoenician Scheme
- TV
- The Ark
- Planetes
- Dune: Prophecy
- The Last of Us
- Doctor Who
- The Wheel of Time
- Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
- Star Wars: Andor
- English Teacher
- Video Games
- Halo Infinite
- Thimbleweed Park
- Frostpunk 2
- Myst (2021 remake)
- Heaven's Vault
- Theatre
- Floyd Collins
- Death Becomes Her
- Gypsy
- Buena Vista Social Club
Soon
- I'll be missing my family's annual vacation, this year in Sardinia, because of, shall we say, World Events.