2026 March Retro

Projects

Continued writing this blog! Did not make as much progress on my meetup talk as I probably should have (i.e more than 0) but I've always worked best close to the deadline anyway.

Games

Despite being in Italy for 10 days of the month I racked up over 90 hours of Slay the Spire 2 in the 16 remaining days after its March 5th release. That's just over 5.5 hours a day which sounds about right haha, more or less every moment I could be using my laptop. As expected it's the original but better in every way in much the same way as Hades 2, and that's without an Act 4, no alternate paths for Act 2 or 3, ascensions capped at 10 and a whole Early Access of balancing patches yet to come. Despite this I actually still managed to finish a few other games this month, though two were more 'finished'.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse started off fun and quirky, but some unfortunate design decisions regarding RNG and an unfair feeling boss lead to me dropping it about 80% through. Wouldn't rule out playing another in the series because there was plenty to like despite the flaws. My time with Muse Dash also came to an end since I admitted all the time I would've spent on it now goes toward Spire slaying; it was a fun introduction to rhythym games with more than enough content to justify the base price and fair-seeming monetization for extra content.

In games I actually finished, Anomaly Agent gave glimpses of how cool it could make me feel but unlike Sanabi I never actually got to feel that way as I was crushed under a deluge of new abilities. Probably could've used being either a bit longer or having a few less abilities to manage so players actually get a chance to live up to the potential the combat system offers.

Portal 2 made clear that it deserves its legendary status by attaching a fully fleshed out story to the improved and expanded puzzle gameplay of the first, in addition to introducing some variety in scenery and Aperture lore. Never stops being funny and the difficulty progression is almost perfect, I always felt challenged but very rarely stuck.

Books

We spent many hours on trains and many unfortunately sleepless hours on planes during the honeymoon, so I got a similarly incredible amount of reading done. I'll just comment on the standouts since I don't have much more to say about the others beyond their already short reviews.

Piranesi was a perfect fit for the dream-like sleepless state I found myself in on the flight to Italy, letting me enter the protagonist's existence in a dream-like liminal space filled with statues. A Memory Called Empire continued my newfound love of palace intruige stories, this time with a galaxy-spanning empire rather than a Goblin Emperor, while Demon Copperhead presented another compellingly written but painful story of someone struggling against a world stacked against them. Speaking of environments stacked against you, Roadside Picnic's Zone is still a terrifying place even in the text which originally inspired the movie and multiple games.

I also read Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, the first two Midsolar Murders books and The Psychology of Time Travel.

General Life Stuff

Obviously most of the memorable stuff from this month is from our honeymoon in Italy, but I'd be remiss not to mention our attempt to play tennis with our Russian friends for the first time. It went about as well as expected when two complete novices play with a couple who plays multiple times a week but I think a good time was had by all and by the end we even managed a few decently long rallies. Quite an improvement from The Wife and I regularly failing to even hit the ball in the beginning. But that's not what you're here for, you care about the fact that a few days later we were in

Rome

We arrived fairly late the first night, took the Leornado Express to Roma Termini, then struggled with ticket machines before getting our (reusable paper!) tickets to the subway and hauling our suitcases the last 10 minutes to Prati Home. It was recommended to us by friends who'd been the previous year; thanks to them for the great recommendation since the apartment was huge/close to everything. The owner recommended a pasta place nearby for dinner, Cacio e Pepe, then booked it for us and off we went to our first meal in Italy. The Wife ordered some pasta absolutely drowned in tomato sauce while I went with some bacon-based pasta (though as with most meals on this trip we switched halfway through) and they were both great. Very salty though, probably to make you pay for the water which costs money(!) in Europe.

The Colosseum - Day 1

Despite a huge day of travelling we found ourselves awake at the crack of dawn and headed in the general direction of the Colosseum, though not before stopping at the highlight of The Wife's trip, a fancy bakery, for breakfast. Despite some awkward standing around figuring out how to order and if we were allowed to sit at a table a staff member eventually took pity on us and sat us down then took our orders. The food was pretty amazing; we had some sweet stuff, some savoury stuff and a nice coffee latte (or just latte in my case, which it turns out is just warm milk in Italy). Fueled up and energised we walked through a small local market we'd passed on the way then failed to find some bigger flea markets The Wife had earmaked and stumbled upon the Piazza del Popolo. From there we made the long trek up inumerable flights of stairs to Villa Borghese (confusingly a park, not a Villa).

The not-villa park was beautiful; lots of open green space, a boating pond with some dinosaur-sized ducks and of course the Rome special of historical places scattered around like ancient litter. There was an old church holding a service outdoors as children played at the indoor daycare, a stone stadium set into the ground with mysteriously pristine grass at its center and of course the eponymous museum. Mixed in with this were very modern people doing normal modern things like walking their dogs, reading on one of the plentiful benches or playing pickup soccer less than a hundred meters from one of the world's greatest collections of art.

To ensure we weren't late for our Colosseum entry we headed off nice and early, passing some famous steps and one of many giant churches, unable to see our destination until we rounded one last corner and its imposing bulk blocked the sun. I'd prepared myself for it to be smaller or less impressive than I expected but that turned out not to be necessary; despite being ancient it dwarfed all the modern buildings around it. The top level was inaccessible to the north and collapsed in a 14th century earthquake to the south, but with a little help from steel reinforcement the rest of the old circus was still standing. It must've been mind-boggling to experience in its time, surrounded by even smaller buildings and at the peak of its glory. Our tickets gave use access to the main areas; museum displays in the halls of the first and second floors then access to the inner terrace of the second floor, where you can look across the collapsed stage gladiators fought and died on (including in naval battles!). We didn't pony up extra to stand on the platform erected where the stage used to be, which turned out to probably be a wise decision since you get a ground floor view from several angles anyway on the way out.

Next up was Palatine Hill & the Forum, a whole district of historical ruins and buildings. Our first stop was a gigantic trio of half-domed stages, nearly as tall as the second floor of the Colosseum but open to one side. We wandered through the ruins of the Roman Forum, reading snatches of its history (Rome's 'only jail', the flood plain it was all built on) and fervently hoping the occasional drops of rain wouldn't transition to a downpour before we made it safely home. As time was short before closing, we quickly summitted Palantine Hill to get an amazing view of the surrounding city. Having had enough of that we headed for the gardens on the back slope, where The Wife became absolutely besotted with an odd foot statue. Sadly we were hearded toward the exit by staff shortly after, and trudged our way back through a cavalcade of miscellanious historical sites to our hotel with aching feet. Next on the agenda: a house call to the Pope.

The Vatican - Day 2

For breakfast we mixed things up by trying both a different bakery and eating at the counter (cheaper in Italy), as well as grabbing some sandwiches for a later snack. I liked the food but The Wife wasn't impressed by how sweet-focused it all was, so Day 3 found us back in the original, fancy bakery. After brekky we attempted to wander along the Tiber toward a district with some secondhand English-language bookstores before giving up and cutting through city streets since staying on the river was surprisingly difficult/noisy. Each bookstore had a pretty wide selection and we spent a pleasant few hours perusing their wares, unfortunately interrupting the lunch of one shop assistant (I think he ate it while we were looking around anyway).

We spent quite a while attempting in vain to find a park we could eat our sandwiches in before settling for a bench across from a local corner deli and continuing toward our second country of the trip. Immigration was surprisingly lax, they barely glanced at our passports and they call visas 'tickets' for some reason. The artwork on display inside was decidedly not lax though, after a confusingly Egyptian opening section we were bombarded by non-stop, incredibly detailed religious paintings on every ceiling and many walls. There were also plenty of statues and a whole (nearly deserted) wing of the museum where we took a break from the omnipresent crowds to look at some historical artifacts from the area.

After this reprieve it was back into the crush of people making their way through endless painted halls to the Sistine Chapel. A particular highlight was the hall of maps, a good hundred meters or more of hall containing wall-height maps of areas interesting the Vatican. By the time we finally reached our ultimate destination I suspect we weren't alone in being a little burnt out by the sheer quantity of incredible artwork, but Michelangelo was still clearly on a different level. The sheer surface area of the ceiling would make a single man painting it impressive enough, but the level of detail throughout made it difficult to believe he only spent 4 years on the work.

The pleasantly open courtyard shortly after exiting Michelangelo's magnum opus served as a timely reprieve from the oppresive weight of centuries of religious history, while still providing an excellent view of said history personified in St Peter's Basilica lit by the setting sun. After awkwardly standing around for a while we seized some prime real estate on a bench with a view and spent some time admiring the scenery whilst resting our still battered feet. As the sun neared its inevitable meeting with the horizon we finally left, exiting via a spiralling ramp to snap some nightime pictures of St Peter's square and Castel Sant'Angelo on our way home.

The only disappointing aspect of the day was our decision to eat the only bad (mediocre) pizza we had all trip at a chain restaurant near our accomodation, though future pizza-related mistakes could certainly have been avoided by paying attention to the size of said mediocre pizza. With that out of the way it was time for bed and a nice relaxing day of

Exploration & Food - Day 3

Our 3rd and final day in Rome served as a grab bag of the destinations we hadn't ticked off our todo list yet, with no major destination to tie the day together. We initially set off for the Circus Maximus, taking a quick look at Trevi Fountain and walking through the heavily patrolled Jewish Ghetto along the way. While taking a break in some random park in the middle of a few roads we realised we'd ended up at the Bocca della Verità and took a peak from outside, after lamenting that we hadn't grown up in Europe while some French kids wandered past on a school trip.

We initially set off in search of pizza for lunch but since it was closed settled for a nearby gelateria. Definitely much better than the 'ice cream' you typically get from supermarkets, and the range of flavours was incredible. I got 4 and they were all great; there was definitely some rum & raisin (as is tradition) along with something caramely, something with berry and a final flavour which I forgot but remember thinking was delicious.

That wasn't enough to sate our appetites though, as we walked around the Circus Maximus (on this day occupied with the finish line for the Rome Marathon) we planned to head for a different pizza place, one which offered plenty of varieties available in square slices. In a recurring theme for this trip we got far too much and had to take it home for later; there were just too many delicious options to pass up. While looking for a park to eat in we wandered past a surprise UN building, apparently the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. After crossing many roads but not much actual distance we settled on a rock near some locals midway through a personal training session to dig in.

With our checklist for the day completed and feet burning with every step we made our leisurely way home, passing the Colosseum and nearby palace to say hi one last time, and grabbing some very Roman bubble tea The Wife had successfully talked me out of buying until then. For dinner we returned to our old friend Cacio e Pepe for pasta, as well as a surprise appearance by Inspector Rex himself (or at least some German Shepard). He was joined in short order by the second part of the night's entertainment, an energetic little girl who was almost as delighted by his presence as The Wife and elicited much envy on her part as she enthusiastically petted him. At one point she also attempted to make a break from her parents by cunningly sticking her head through a gap in the plastic sheeting surrounding the outdoor seating but was sadly foiled, robbing us of a chance to see the Inspector in action tracking down a lost child.

Exhausted from our 3 days of constant walking around Rome we had an early night in preparation for our first long train journey to

Pompeii - Day 4

The train to Naples was efficient and uneventful, descriptors which sadly could not be applied to the crowded local taking us to the park itself. Some buskers decided to set up shop in the carriages, playing a few songs at ear-splitting volume before solicting tips on their way to the next set of doors. Especially coming from Japan, the idea of someone getting on a train for the express purpose of making noise is horrifying, but some people seemed to get into the mood and clap along.

Once we arrived though, archeological site itself was incredible. You hear 'preserved city' and understand the words but not the actual scope of what it means until your standing among the houses and streets. It just keeps going, we spent hours wandering through streets and remarkably well preserved villas without seeing everything. There's an open air theatre, a mini-colosseum alongside a U-shaped bathouse turned museum, a mini Forum much better preserved than the Roman variety, a graveyard with several ornate crypts and plenty of Villas with rooms, ceilings and wall paintings somehow intact after centuries. It's not all cordoned off behind rope and glass either; as if the wardens of the park were just as overwhelmed as us by the sheer quantity that there's no choice but to mostly allow us to wander freely, touching the same walls people lived within in a different age.

The roads were also remarkably well preserved, bearing the same wheel indents worn by horse-drawn traffic and stepping stones to cross the rivers of effluent which once flowed down them. Turns out all it takes to make roads last more than a few years is a light (ok, heavy) coating of volcanic ash and decreased (0) traffic. The Australian government should take note. As we settled on the rings of the open air theatre for a break before leaving, we suddenly discovered we could either take a train in 10 minutes or an hour, spurring a perhaps ill-advised sprint for the station. We were so close that only some shouted directions from across the tracks on how to reach our platform saved us from missing the train entirely; thus having to not only wait an hour but do so outside the park which represented seemingly the only interesting thing to do in the area.

Had we known what awaited us in Naples we probably would've waited for the next train, or perhaps the next several, as the rain which had been threatening us all day finally fell in earnest. We first hid in a pizza restaurant where The Wife found herself unable to finish most of her pizza (which we'd ordered two of, foolishly forgetting they're enourmous in Italy), leading to an entertaining series of photos of her carrying it all around Naples, on the train back to Rome and to the couch in our apartment. Soon however we had to venture forth onto the (filthy) streets of Naples in search of impressive churches (great success, the amount of money sunk into these places over the centuries must be unimaginable). Sadly the weather was determined to rain on our parade, so I parked my umbrella-less self under an awning with The Pizza while The Wife went in search of somewhere we could shelter in exchange for purchasing hot drinks and pastries. Luckily she was successful, finding a pleasant little cafe staffed by a friendly family who were happy to let us stay as long as we liked.

The rain slowed down as darkness fell, letting us make one final push for a seaside castle to take a photo of The Wife with The Pizza in front of. Mostly we just needed to kill time until our train left, a useful reminder once again to not book tickets in advance if you can avoid it. After the photo op we made our way back to the station and onto the train for the ride back to our final night Rome (for now).

Florence - Day 5

We tearfully bid farewell to our lovely Rome apartment and boarded our Trenitalia carriage for Florence, home of Assassin's Creed 2. Sadly The Wife was more interested in visting some gallery than wandering around the city looking for buildings I jumped into haystacks off of in the PS3 days so after a quick walk along the river we headed there. Much like the Vatican there was a serious overload of art; even the hallways running alongside the gallery rooms on each level were packed with portraits and sculptures. There were a lot of very nice paintings whose true significance was no doubt lost on a philistine such as myself, but 'The Birth of Venus' was famous enough to pierce even the fog created by my lack of culture. Do not be fooled into thinking you've reached the end once you're on the top floor of the building you enter via; there's a whole other building across the archway with its own floors of priceless art (and a nice view of the city from a rooftop cafe).

Other than the gallery not too much stood out about Florence; it wasn't actively disappointing like Naples but it also lacked the spark of Rome, where you could find something amazing around any random corner. At least the food was still amazing; we found a restaurant near our hotel offering a variety of delectable dishes from which The Wife selected some seafood past and I chose the time tested gnocchi. Dinnertime entertainment was courtest of The Wife narrating an episode of Law & Order to me since she was facing the TV, further enhanced by the lack of subtitles and the audio obviously being in Italian. We made our way back to the hotel and thus ended the majority of our time in Florence itself, leaving a surprisingly small mark for such an influential place.

Siena & Certaldo - Day 6

Fortunately we hadn't planned any time for just wandering around the city. Instead the next morning took us on a day trip through the countryside to Siena, a historical city sprawled across a hilltop (but accessed through a comically long escalator at the top of a decidedly not-historical mall). Siena was nice, kind of replicating the tightly packed backstreets of Naples minus the piles of trash and plus a nice square where we spent some time awkwardly standing around trying to ask someone to take our photo. A nice lady obliged but managed to get her finger in nearly every shot, so we had to ask someone else in the end.

The coolest part was outside the main historical area though; a huge brick church perched on the lip of a valley. We'd seen a lot of churches at the point, ornate and festooned with displays of wealth, but despite its size this one was plain and almost run-down looking. There was artwork sure, but the walls were mostly bare and even the offering candles were real rather than the modern electric variety. These apparent shortcomings lead to it making the most lasting impression of all the churches we saw, since you could really appreciate the engineering marvel of building an empty space this gigantic hundreds of years ago, on the side of a valley, and it having it stay standing to this day.

Also a marvel was the gelato we had after leaving, though The Wife wasted one of her two scoops on a very strong chocolate flavour.

After indulging our sweet tooth we made the traditional mad rush to the station after discovering we could make it to the next train, then started our journey back to Florence. Before completing it though we'd stop off on the way to visit Certaldo, an old fort town nestled atop a hill with commanding views of the countryside for miles in all directions. We took a funicular (new word for me) up the hill and basically had the fort to ourselves; some fortuitous combination of it being just before tourist season and late in the day I guess. The town was tightly packed as expected, with a few cobbled alleys winding through B&Bs before converging on the main street (home to the childhood home of Giovanni Boccaccio) before turning into a decidedly more modern road down the side of the hill. After admiring the view from every angle we decided to descend under our own power, resuming our return to Florence at the station after finally figuring out how to validate our tickets (you slide them into the slot at the bottom of the little pod machines on the platforms).

Once back in Florence we were too tired to look for a new restaurant so fell back on the one from last night, where we were apparently regulars as the owner recognised us and the only open table was by chance the one we'd used the previous night. The Wife enjoyed grilled chicken breast while I had some kind of zucchini-topped pasta. Sadly narration was not on the menu this night as the TV was occupied by Euroleague rather than Law & Order.

Lucca, Pisa & Train Adventures - Day 7

Our final 'real' day of honeymoon did not have the best start as you can read in What Went Badly, but despite a tough start, some smokers and a lesson in sunk costs we powered through to have a pretty good day overall. Our first destination was Lucca, home of a wide topped wall most of the city seemed very happy to take advantage of being able to walk, jog and ride around on top of. There were also the the classic touristy back streets and squares within the wall, as well as a gift shop where The Wife procured some soap as a souvenir for her mum.

After a brief and unfortunate detour to a beachside town where we never even reached the beach we finally arrived in our 'big' destination for the day; Pisa. Rather than making a beeline for the eponymous leaning tower we stopped off for lunch and immediately regretted sitting outside as our neighbours lit up actual cigars and puffed their smoke all over us. Luckily tables opened up inside fairly quickly and we were able to move there to appreciate our cream cheese pasta and ravioli without a side of lung cancer.

Then it was finally time to make our pilgrimage to the funny picture place. I went with the very original 'running away from a falling tower' while The Wife went with a genuinely more original 'just take a normal photo in front of it'. There was also a huge (closed) church nearby in the middle of a nice open lawn many locals were taking advantage of to play frisbee, hang out or in the case of some kids throw eachother's belongings on top of the ancient wall enclosing the space. It's that wall which drew The Wife's attention more than any of the more traditional attractions on offer, drawing several "That's such a nice wall" comments and long periods of silent appreciation. I stoically resisted the urge to be jealous of inanimate objects people pay to walk on.

As we made our way back to the station we happened upon a tiny church by the river, housing a some flower art on its floor. The size and vibe made a nice change from the imposing grandiosity we'd become accustomed to from religion over the course of our trip. With our sightseeing out of the way it was time for a multi-hour chain of high speed trains through Florence back to Rome for our final day of

Cheese Acquisition - Day 8

In a fun twist of fate our most modern, convenient accomodation for the trip was the one we spend the least time in. We trudged through the doors late at night after our marathon train journey, marvelled at how modern/well maintained it looked despite the historical exterior, then collapsed into bed. Within 12 hours we'd left our bags in the lobby and set out on our most important task of the trip; acquiring as much cheese as financially/legally possible.

Since we'd need to carry all that cheese once acquired we first set off on some smaller side quests; locating and purchasing a book on design which caught The Wife's eye, investigating the area around Roma Termini and visting Villa Borghese one last time (with a surprise final appearance by Inspector Rex!). I even finally saw a Ferrari, not something I expected to be struggling for at the start of the trip but given the prevalence of cobblestone streets in most places we visited I'm not surprised I didn't cross paths with more in hindsight. The Wife had more luck with cars than me tbh, she absolutely fell in love with the tiny Fiat Topolino which seems to have entirely replaced scooters as the trendiest mode of transport for inner-city Rome.

Finally, regrettably, it was time to purchase hundreds of dollars of cheese (ostensibly half as souvenirs for our friends but since it started going off while they were in Paris I am deeply disappointed to inform you we had to start eating it ourselves :() and make our way to the airport for our long flight home. An incredibly long (and tense) passport check line lead to us needing to sprint for our plane (and me realising how horribly out of shape I am) before an uneventful transfer in Beijing and safe arrival back in Tokyo.

With that our amazing honeymoon came to an end, but our amazing marriage is just beginning...

Work

Got the privacy policy addendum work mostly done before my honeymoon and quickly put the finishing touches on it within a day or two of being back. Also presented it to C-suite and received positive feedback on that. Between some follow-up work on that, the PFM integration and custom onboarding flow work it looks like there's plenty to do for at least the immediate future.

What Went Badly

The Wife leaving her scarf on an Italian train was an unfortunate reminder we weren't in Japan; what would've been a mild annoyance followed by the scarf being mailed to us turned into a game of ping-pong between various rail staff. Initally we tried the ticket booth at Lucca where we got off, who told us when the train was coming back and that we could ask the train manager if they'd found it. Unfortunately she said she hadn't seen it on her walk of the train, and that it'd likely be in the lost & found or with police at the terminus station. One 20 minute ride later we arrived there only to be informed there was no lost & found, and once we found a policeman who spoke English he politely informed us they didn't have it and seriously doubted they ever would. Not a great experience overall, but at least it was near the end of the trip and sandwiched between a lovely walk around Lucca's wall and stroll through through the famous spots of Pisa (plus The Wife's favourite wall).

Action Items

Review

Enjoy your honeymoon!

Great success, see above.

Don't just Slay the Spire

On one hand I put more than 90 hours into the game across the 16 available days of the month, on the other I did finish several other games. Considering the sheer amount of willpower it took to pull myself away from StS2 for the time it took to finish them I'm giving myself at least a partial credit for this. As I write this retro I reached A5 on all characters two days ago and haven't played a run since, so at least until the next patch it looks like there might be some semblance of balance in my gaming diet again.

Next Month