Grab Bag vol. 15
Things I found interesting lately, what I’ve been up to, and whatever else comes to mind.
Despite my best judgement, I published some writing about.. well, I don’t know. Running. Failing big goals. Falling apart. I wrote it last June, so it’s not reflective of where I am now. But it felt good to write it. To Pieces.
As I grapple with my own fears and what I should push through and what I should let shape my decisions, I love this.
I don’t think I’ve written about the game Gris yet. I played it nearly two years ago when I had Covid and found it calming, relatable, and profound. Apropos of nothing, I was listening to the soundtrack the other day (which is fantastic), and found myself reading about the game. I came across this thoughtful piece. It requires a Medium account to read fully, so apologies if you don’t have one.
Here’s what I can say about the game. It’s a simple platformer with spatial puzzles and absolutely divine artwork. You start out in a grey world (Gris) and as you progress to each level, you learn more mechanics and new splashes of color are added, building on the previous. In the end, you bound along crumbling ruins covered in tragically beautiful flowers, full of color and life. Each level is meant to represent one of the stages of grief.
From the Medium post linked above: “As we go through the cycle of grief, we don’t leave the past emotions behind. They are what built us towards that final stage of understanding. Like how colours are added to a canvas, our inner worlds are full of complex colours stacked on top of one another. Only through all the colours are we complete.”
The Internet is still a delightful place, if you look in the right spot. Like nownownow.com which is about “Now” pages. You can browse a huge selection of pages from random folks across the globe with personal websites just like mine, and I feel just a little bit more connected to the broad spectrum of people just out here existing on the internet. Honestly, delightful. So delightful. Makes me feel slightly less embarrassed about having a blog >.<
I’m watching a few close friends turn from non-parents to parents lately, most recently my long time best friend who gave birth to little Irwin in September 2025. She asked me to take some newborn photos of the growing family, where we played around with daylight coming through the window and a soft look of the cozy home life of early parenthood. While I love snuggling the newborn, what I enjoy most is watching my friends grow into the next stage of the life with laughter and grace.
