When I blog, it’s because I want to rant, or share some thoughts, or talk about something that means a lot to me. I don’t get clicks or make money from ads. I don’t get hearts or shares. I write because I enjoy it. The way it was meant to be. Personal.

I don’t think I’ve opened Feedly since around March. Today, for some strange reason, I did — and I found out about the sudden passing of Om, to whom I owe so much of my journey as a blogger, along with the quote you see above.

It reminded me that having a blog also means knowing when to stay silent and when to speak — whenever you actually have something to say, whatever that may be. And today, I felt like writing.

As I mentioned in this post, I’ve dedicated most of my free time to gaming. Considering the past few months, I haven’t finished that many games, but I’m actually on a pretty good track record compared to my usual pace. Here’s what I completed:

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• I got completely lost for many hours in the world of Crimson Desert
• I finally finished Ghost of Tsushima
• Mixtape
• Incredibly, I played 007: First Light straight through
• Silent Hill 2 Remake

And all the rest of the time? Well, I haven’t done much else besides creating content with eFootball. My YouTube channel has grown quite a bit and I’m still having fun with it, even if a bit more sporadically.

A few days ago I turned 43, and in April we finally received our long-awaited green card. I’m not entirely sure what this means for our future and for living in the United States, but for now we’re holding steady. The urge to escape hasn’t hit us strongly. On the contrary, it feels like the right moment to finally catch our breath and enjoy our time here as much as we can — remembering that what we have is precious and has cost us real effort.

Soon I’ll be heading back to Italy for a week to disconnect after an intense work period. I’d like to dedicate as much time as possible to reading, because it’s been ages since I’ve even opened a book to read a few lines.

The problem is that there’s also an infinite amount of depressing and/or enraging shit out there on the web.

Manuel is right. And not just on the web, unfortunately — or fortunately. But more than anything else, I’ve come to realize that I’ve reached a point of balance: I no longer feel the need to follow the mainstream news flow. I’m not interested in being up to date on the latest trend, meme, social post, or headline.

I just do what makes me feel good and happy.

And very often, that means video games and my family.

What else do I need?

Ciao Luca,

Ieri erano le prime luci dell'alba qui in California e mentre mi apprestavo a fare gli auguri di compleanno a mio padre, leggo della tua scomparsa.

Ho pensato a lungo ieri. Ho cercato di ricordare quando ci siamo conosciuti e in che modo. Ma il tutto risale a ormai a quasi 20 anni fa e la memoria non è tra le mie più grandi qualità. Una cosa è certa, quando avvenuto è stato grazie al tuo blog e al tuo essere pioniere e maestro dell'arte di raccontarsi. Nel 2007 io ero responsabile del blog di Microsoft Italia (che a pag.22 di questo PDF preso dal blog di Nicola mi ricorda nostalgicamente di un tempo lontanissimo), mclips.it e ricordo perfettamente quanti consigli utili e preziosi ci hai dato per poter portare alla luce quello che in quegli anni chiamavamo come conversazioni online.

Ricordo le nostre chiacchierate ai barcamp e alle blogfest. Il mio blog era appena nato e ancora non capivo bene come navigare questo mondo. Avevo fame di imparare, voglia di fare networking e provare ad emergere. Mi hai fatto capire che dietro un blog non doveva esserci strategia, ma l'essenza di noi stessi.

Ho sempre invidiato il modo perpetuo di raccontare la tua vita attraverso i tuoi post. Così come la tua libertà. Hai deciso di vivere profondamente abbandonando le superficialità di un mondo che non sentivi più tuo da tempo e, leggendo negli anni quanto condividevi, ho sempre pensato che tu fossi uno di quelli che ci fosse riuscito. A vivere senza dipendere dal giudizio degli altri, dai soldi, dalla fama e dall'essere schiavo della Rete.

Tu la Rete ce l'avevi dentro. E più di tanti altri avevi capito come utilizzarla per diventare l'uomo che volevi essere. Fino all'ultimo.

Un altro gigante del web italiano se ne va.

Non sarai dimenticato.

A couple of nights ago, while we were getting ready for bed, we started hearing a series of extremely loud sirens right below our house. We looked out the window, and this was the scene we saw. Fortunately, there were no victims or injuries.

The next morning, of course, a crew from a local TV station was camped out on the dock, trying to get information from passersby for their segment.
While I was out walking with Panna, two things crossed my mind. First, how was it possible that in just a few hours the two boats involved had been removed so quickly, whereas two years ago, for two similar incidents, it took months? And the second was about the frequency of this kind of incident—with fire involved.

We own a house in Santa Teresa di Gallura that overlooks another marina similar to the one where we live now here in the United States. In over 20 years, something like this never happened even once there. In just 2 years here, we're already at 3 incidents.

Is it due to the electrical systems on the boats? People's carelessness? It's all very strange...

Not sure if this can turn into a blogger's challenge, but:

1. I can't stand it when in hotels I find the hairdryer cord all coiled up tightly on itself. Same thing at home — I never do it, and I asked my wife to do the same from the very first day we started living together
2. No way can I eat pizza by the slice with my bare hands—I have to slice it up into small mouthfuls and take my time tasting each one
3. I can't bear slow drivers
4. I can't stand it when at a restaurant they say: Sorry, the thing you wanted just sold out
5. The ones behind you on the plane who whine when you recline your seat. (And yes, I completely disagree with that article—opposite take here.)
6. Again with planes: When people literally drag huge treasure chests into the cabin instead of checking their bags, leaving practically no space for anyone else
7. Voice messages
8. Matcha, fish and sea food
9. Unload the dishwasher and dryer
10. When people are late

These intersecting interests are part of why I write this blog, so it certainly isn’t impossible to keep the intersection rooting in adding value to your life.

I want to start with this quote from The Tangible Life. These intersecting interests aren’t just what have fueled the engine of this blog—they’ve powered my entire life. And on that note, I can’t help but think about how fortunate I am. Not that luck has much to do with it, but in the sense that not everyone gets the chance to turn their passions into a lifelong career. So many factors play into this: living conditions, place of birth, social status. Sure, they’re not decisive, but I realize they make things a whole lot easier. Why? Simply because they open up more opportunities.

But let’s get to this month’s IndieWeb Carnival theme. My intersecting interests really came together toward the end of high school and the start of university, when I began hanging out online and following some gaming forums.

From there, by constantly chiming in and interacting with other users, I ended up connecting with someone who was, at the time, a marketing manager at Electronic Arts. That led to me effectively becoming the community manager for Italy for the FIFA series—which, in turn, brought me to Canada in 2007 to witness game development firsthand and to launch this very blog.

Not only that, but in those years I also started writing for a few gaming magazines, feeding my passion for the humanities while trying to figure out the best way to share my passions objectively and accessibly.

It was only two years ago that I managed to return to the world of video games professionally, but keeping this blog alive for so long meant I never lost touch with them. In fact, over the years I even co-founded www.fuorigio.co with some friends and continued telling their stories in my free time.

In short, I think intrinsic interests are really just a synthesis of who we are and how—even unconsciously—we experience our everyday reality.

Where the hell have I ended up?
My last post dates back to mid-November last year… An eternity. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long between two posts before.

I simply lived.
I focused on gaming.
I finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and found it magnificent, even though I’ve never really played a turn-based combat game in depth before.

Then I made an important choice: after just a few months, I sold my super high-end gaming PC. I realized I’m not a PC gamer at all—I’m a console gamer. I need to not have to deal with any hardware issues, not worry about updates or anything like that—just turn on the console and play.

And I made another big decision: I sold all the Xbox devices I owned and bought a PlayStation Pro. Specifically, the 30th Anniversary limited edition.
Xbox has basically become a publisher now, releasing all its games on PlayStation too, so for me, there’s no point in keeping two consoles anymore. The PlayStation ecosystem has everything I need, and when I’m traveling, the PlayStation Portal finally lets me play any game in my library… It doesn’t get better than that!

What else? We went back to Italy for the Christmas holidays. A week and a half that was super intense—full of food, family, and friends. I don’t think we’re quite set up yet to properly manage our schedule when we’re in Italy; we mostly get overwhelmed by all the events and find it really hard to say no…

We’ve started the paperwork to get our green card. This will give us a bit more peace of mind, and we won’t have to go back to Italy every 3 years to renew our visa anymore. On the flip side, for now we can’t leave the United States until the process is complete, and it could take up to 18 months.

In the meantime, on January 22 I had shoulder surgery. I dealt with the U.S. healthcare system and I can’t really complain—obviously I have great insurance, and I only had to pay “just” $2,000 for everything. But the system is so efficient that over the weekend my surgeon called me on my cell phone to check how I was doing. At least on that front, we were pleasantly surprised, unlike what we’re usually used to—doctors mostly trying to cover up the pain rather than treat the root causes.

Our dog Panna had surgery in Italy for a melanoma on her belly. Back in September, we decided to leave her there until December to avoid stressing her out with travel. Once we got back to the United States in January, they told us the melanoma was malignant and there were some micro-metastases. We saw an oncologist here, who said the results suggest no recurrence at the moment and no other cells have been affected. Fingers crossed.

I keep creating content on my YouTube channel, I’m still having fun, and every now and then I go back to Feedly to read posts from a few blogs. I don’t know if I’ve lost interest or if I’m just tired of being online, but that’s where things stand right now, and it’ll continue like this for the time being. My blog is always here, and when I have something else to say, you’ll know.

Joining the Forking Mad list of questions. I love these blogging challenges a lot I have to say!

Do you floss your teeth?

Never ever done. Pointless. Brushing your teeth carefully is more than enough. And it seems to me that a few months ago, or perhaps last year, a study on the subject was published.

Tea, coffee, or water

Espresso!

Footwear preference?

Are there any other brands besides Nike for good shoes?

Favourite dessert?

Crostata all'albicocca, which in English you can translate with apricot tart

The first thing you do when you wake up?

Unfortunately still grabbing my phone, but I'd prefer to say having breakfast is the very first thing I want to do.

Age you'd like to stick to?

That's an interesting question. I don't really have an age in mind. I do say that probably mid 30s is the right one. You are grown up enough and still plenty of time to learn and enjoying the best of your age.

How many hats do you own?

4 I guess. But I don't really like how my head looks with hats. So I wear them just when biking to work and back.

Describe the last photo you took

It's a photo of the venue I am working at. I can't share it here otherwhise would be too big of a spoiler.

Worst TV show

Honestly Game of Thrones and Lost ruined years and years of seasons just with their last episode. I'd say that the worst I've seen lately is Sugar on Apple TV.

As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?

Football player for Juventus. Of course. What else?

I haven't been back to New York in about 10 years, so I can't say how much it's changed because I'll mostly be cooped up at the venue where I'm working for an event. I'll only manage to do a bit of exploring next Monday and Tuesday when I take a couple of days off.

But these days, I'm reflecting on how I don't miss this kind of metropolitan vibe at all. The traffic is wild and totally out of control—both the cars and the pedestrians. The city is insanely noisy, and at any hour of the night, something shatters the silence: an open construction site, a cop's whistle, car horns blaring.

From that perspective, I can't say if it's just a Midtown thing where I'm staying, but the stark contrast to where we live in California is unbelievable.

That said, what hit me right away is how much I miss a setup where you can do pretty much anything on foot or by public transit, no car required. Grabbing a decent bite to eat at any hour of the day or night without stressing if this spot or that one's closed for a shift. Just the capital of the world, as it's been for the past few decades.

I'm sitting here staring at all the unread blog posts piling up from the last few weeks. My RSS feed is bursting with stories and content I'd love to dive into, but I just don't have the patience right now. I'm laser-focused on these final weeks of work before the Christmas break, when I'll be hopping coast-to-coast on planes multiple times.

I've reset my phone's home screen. Just one active page now, and I've ditched all the apps I don't need—X is my only social, nothing else. Life feels so much lighter without that phone addiction... And that's where I've been thinking about how my RSS feed doesn't demand constant attention to keep going; the stuff I'm into will just sit there, waiting for me to check it out when I'm ready. The social world, on the other hand? It keeps spinning even if I'm not in it, but to really engage with it fully, I'd have to live and breathe it every single minute. Not worth the trade-off.

Hoping to snag a few more killer shots of New York—fingers crossed I avoid the clichés and nail something truly iconic.

Love the little entry from Carl.

...It’s about recognising that writing online can be quieter, slower, more intentional. I don’t need to publish to perform. I just want to build a body of work that remembers where it came from.

Each entry here is an act of keeping — something read, seen, built, or felt. Some memories are full essays; others are fragments...

Blogs were meant to be a trace of the present, but year after year became a memory lane. A place to come back to and experience how we changed, what shaped us, what kept us interested, engaged.

Never forget about that. All the rest online, contrary to popular belief, disappears fast.

🔗

Finally. Santa Catalina Island had been on my bucket list for a couple of years. Probably because compared to what we're used to seeing on the beaches around Los Angeles, Catalina seems blessed with the same water quality you find on Mediterranean islands. Maybe not quite as warm, but still crystal clear.

The island—first an indigenous settlement, then a retreat for the rich and famous—became a tourist spot in the postwar era and still is today. I don't know why, but it reminded me of La Maddalena in Sardinia; it gave off the same kind of vibes.

We caught the 8:15 ferry from Long Beach and after about 70 minutes, we docked in Avalon, the island's main town. We walked a good half hour to reach the Wrigley Botanical Gardens and its memorial at the top of the hill across the way.

On the way back, we grabbed lunch at The Lobster Trap, which I recommend if you're into fish—or at least that's what Noemi says, since seafood's still a hard no for me 🙂.

After that, we headed to Descanso Beach, where we not only spotted two deer but also squeezed in the last swim of the season before hopping the 6:30 ferry back to the mainland.

The island's pretty big, and to really see it all, you're generally better off renting a golf cart—they're basically the official mode of transport there too. Next time, we'll do that, maybe even staying over for a night or two.