#365Gratitude Day 282: A thoughtful gift

My friend Michael loves videogames. It was Michael who got me hooked on portal, introduced me to Steam, and who surprised me on Saturday with a gift. 

It's a copy of a game called the Beginners Guide. 

Here's a screen cap from it.  

The premise of the game is very meta, and a bit odd. It's a game about games. Specifically it's about the games that the narrator's friend, Coda builds. 

Without being violent, without being graphic, it's easily one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. There's a certain point in the game, that you realize that you don't know exactly what's going on here.  At that point you reevaluate everything you've seen, heard, and learned. 

It's mind bending, and brilliant.  

I'm grateful my generous friend shared it with me.  

#365Gratitude Day 281: It was a breeze

Thursday morning I went on a very long walk.  I was talking with my friend ShyGuy from Germany over Skype on my phone as I walked.  (Isn't technology crazy?)  He kept me company and we had a great conversation about philosophy, difficult people, Taoism, mindfulness, Quora, science, running, all sorts of things.  

When I got back, I plunked myself down at a little table behind our vacation house and this delightful cool breeze wafted through.

#365Gratitude Day 280: Blue Light Special

Early Wednesday morning, we couldn't sleep.  Around 3am, we just both got up.  For whatever reason, my inner toddler, little mako popped out.  Missy got excited, and used the opportunity to take him (or is that me, or maybe us? Whatever.) out on a spontaneous field trip.

We dressed quietly, and slipped from the house.  We walked around the island, going down to a boat landing.  We stared up at the moon and the stars.

At one point, we came to this intersection that had this really weird blue light traffic light that he (I? Again, whatevs!) was really fascinated with.

We eventually wound up on the beach, next to a sand castle, laying together, waiting for the sun to come up.

It's been a very vanilla vacation, and little mako has been mostly asleep in the back of my head since we left Virginia.  It was super special to get that quality, sneaky, alone mommy-little time together.

#365Gratitude Day 279: Recollection

My wife Missy is a photographer.  She takes her fancy SLR camera with her most places, has some sophisticated photo editing tools on her phone, and always is on the lookout for a good shot.  She particularly likes nature photographs, like cherry blossoms, sunrises, and sunsets.  

She's really, really quite good.

It's a passion for her.  She's the sort of person who loves a good souvenir, and likes to collect things.  I think that's great.

I'm a fan of people having passions, having several of my own.  One of these is her passions.  (I know, that's a little meta.)

I love seeing Missy's passions get sparked.  Often, when I'm with her on one of her photography jaunts, I'll sneak a picture of her taking a picture.  

Just like this:

She was sure digging that sunset.  And I was digging her digging it.

#365Gratitude Day 278: A landmark decision

On Monday, I went out for a good long walk/run.  I intended to do several miles.  I was listening to a good book, Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, and was bopping along at a good clip.  Everything was going great.  There was some rain from time to time, but I didn't mind, because it was really, really hot out.

Then my bluetooth headphones died a sudden, and permanent death, and I decided it was time to go home.

Now I have a really, really terrible sense of direction.  I often joke that if I was stuck inside a wet paper bag, naked, with my butt touching the back of the bag, I wouldn't be able to find my way out.  

I didn't want to keep my phone out, for fear I'd rainwater-fry it just like I did my headphones.

Luckily, I had some landmarks to help me find my way.  Like this one.  

Yup.  Sharky's Restaurant.  Complete with giant shark statue bursting out of the wall of the restaurant.

I followed the landmarks, and ducked under awnings and various shelters to check the map on my phone from time to time.

Without too much struggle, I did make it home okay.

I was grateful for that!  (And grateful there was a place not too far away where I could pick up some new headphones the next day.)