I watched the Sounders win yesterday. Thinking about becoming. Seattle sports guy. Uh-oh.
Just quite pleased with the espresso I made this morning, from Herkimer Coffee. That’s it, that’s the post.
Listening to this Josh Ritter album after dinner tonight as the sky gets darker. Released for just a few days in Dec of 2020, it’s a wonderful album of live performances of so many favorites. Wish I could tell you where to pick it up. Friends’ll have to come over and listen to it some summer night.
I photo-walked to a neighborhood shop for coffee and breakfast first thing yesterday. It was a beautiful morning to get out for a walk.
Mods are asleep, post desktops.
I finished reading The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson. It’s a sometimes harrowing adventure story about searching for peace and home, and while it wasn’t written specifically for this time we’re in, it has passages that hit home in the moment we’re navigating. The more I look at the things I highlighted, the more the through-lines of hope, finding who you are, and the power of truths shine out.
On happiness and struggle, a character says,
“Let me tell you something important. The real struggle on this earth is not between those who want peace and those who want war. It’s between those who want peace and those who want justice. If justice is what you want, then you may often be right, but you will rarely be happy.”
And on survival:
Her breath would come only in gasps, long stuttering things that burned her throat, but she took them, one after another, agreeing with each one to live a while longer.
I’m really grateful for this lovely and evocative novel.
This sea of people at Seattle’s Hands-Off rally yesterday was an energizing affirmation. Even after moving much closer to the front, I could still barely hear anything coming from the stage, but the energy and happiness of the crowd — to unify and to recognize in one another the hope we require — was just what I needed.
Playing a lot of Lonely Mountains Snow Riders this weekend. I really enjoyed its mountain-biking predecessor, and this version – on skis – is a treat. It adds a chaotic, fun multiplayer racing mode that gave me a surprisingly great co-op game last night, in which an opponent would zip ahead of me, then pause and turn to watch me descend to their location, emoting cheerful hearts and thumbs-ups.
When I yard-saled myself off a rock or into the river, which happened a lot on one of the maps we raced, they patiently waited, cheering me on, occasionally falling off their own skis so that we respawned together at the same checkpoint starting line to try the pitch again. When I finally found the right line, we glided together down the rest of the route, angling around long curves and dipping through a field of bumps before crossing the finish line to our camp. It was like skiing with a coach, or, sometimes, like skiing with my dad; and it reminded me of the surprise co-op session of Ashen that I played last fall, and was, 100%, the most wholesome and warm and encouraging game experience I’ve had in a long time.
Sometimes games are really good, gang.
