A. Adventures (April 2026)
2026-04-12
The April theme for the Indie Web is Adventure, I think that is an interesting word with what the organizer, Pablo, contrasted it against.
When I think of adventure I think of travelling very far from where you started and finding some sort of thrill in the middle based on all the media portrayals of a classic adventure. But I think Pablo's description is more true to what I experience as an adventure in the mundane day to day.
It's about discovering something new in the world or about yourself! When you go out and don't really know what you will find.
Personal Adventures
One idea I had was to visit 50 different places in a year inspired by looking at the world through a tourist's eyes. I think falling for tourist traps and just doing what people travel to my city for is part of the point of living.
I think it was a minor success!
I ended up visiting a city garden by myself and did end up volunteering to tend to the gardens for a season. It's a neat place where the person who cultivated it used to be the city's governor of parks and funerals. And wouldn't you know, there is a funeral just on the other lot beside the garden. Truly a strange legacy to continue on.
The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary is a region where migratory birds stop by and I have just never been to it, neither have my friends. I went with two of my friends and did a walking loop. We saw two cormorants posed on stumps in the sun. It was a very nice day! I know my friends ended up going back with their families. One friend saw just absolute flocks of pelicans. I didn't realize Calgary even had pelicans, migratory or not. The second friend says its now her family's group walking spot. I like that there is just some whimsy with visiting some place new and sharing it with people.
Adventure in Books
I read a lot of fantasy books so I think that's why my definition of adventure skews towards something more thrill seeking (even though I wouldn't take those jumps myself). However, my favourite novel series, the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, does not have the protagonists travel very far, they "simply" explore their town in new ways like through forests and cave systems. The real adventure was how far they could push the boundaries of their world.
Susanna Clarke's creation of Piranesi was really nice, she described it as an anti-horror novel. It is progress through the novel, the suspense that you experience by the surprise isn't fear but something pleasant or cathartic! Piranesi is an adventure of man with amnesia who doesn't really know what he is doing in this marble building, but loves his life regardless. Exploring the Halls was wonderfully slow paced.
Pablo's Questions
What the most adventurous thing you have ever done?
- Recently I have travelled over the ocean for the first time ever! I went to Rome in early June 2025. It was the Jubilee year but I think my friends and I made it just before the rush. It was not too busy at all!
- It was a weeklong trip but we were based in Rome and visited some great places like the Vatican see: Gallery of Candelabras Frescos by Ludovico Seitz. We also took day trips to different places. I went to Ostia Antica, Florence and Pisa!
- It was a blast, I can see why people love to visit Italy, I would love to visit again as well. I think it's funny just how many other people loved Italy as well for their posts.
How do you feel about your personal website?
- I don't like it quite yet, but I'm glad I started! I made a website from scratch using HTML/CSS hosted on Neocities but my main issue is that I never felt like maintaining it. I like my new solution with Obsidian and the Digital Garden plug-in hosted through Vercel.
- Making the system easy to work with is conducive to making progress on it :)
What song reminds you of a road trip adventure?
- I think about the cover "I love you more than I can say" by Fong Fei Fei. My cousin visited us so we took a road trip to the mountains when I was young. I still remember the song. She egged us on to sing the song at the top of our lungs. "woah woah yeah yeah!"