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Blog of that guy who’s wandering around. 📸

  • Gdańsk Przymorze

    Alfi’s Bachelor Party – My First One Ever

    Alfi's Bachelor Party – My First One Ever

    At the age of 37, I finally went to a bachelor party. (It just so happened that my closest friends haven’t exactly been rushing to get married, so I never had the chance before.)

    On May 10th, I hopped on the IC 3560 “Witkacy” train, which showed up 45 minutes late. I brought along a brand-new sketchbook I plan to fill with whatever catches my eye. I decided I’m only going to use black and shades of grey inside (except for a brown fineliner I use for labeling the drawings). I’m doing the linework with a dip pen and black indian ink from Renesans brand. Sometimes I leave it as plain ink, but I also have a tiny Roman Szmal metal watercolor palette with six different shades of black: Roman Black, Ivory Black, Velvet Black, Mars Black, Vine Black, and Aquarius Black. I’ll be mixing some of those in with the ink as I go.

    The bachelor party kicked off at Pixel XL – a kind of interactive game room with a floor that responds to movement. You have to wear these special socks with rubber grips on the bottom (not sure if they also help the sensors pick up your steps or if it’s just to keep you from slipping). It was my first time in a place like that – and I don’t just mean Pixel XL, but any kind of interactive/escape-room-style spot. I had a blast. My favorite part was a dance game we played at the end – kind of a mix between Guitar Hero and Beat Saber.

    Then we headed over to the 32. piętro (32nd Floor in Polish) restaurant in Olivia Star – the tallest building in the Trójmiasto at 180 meters. It was my first time there and I loved it. The food was great, but honestly, the real showstopper was the view from the windows and the observation deck.

    After dinner, we started bar-hopping around the city: Bunkier club, Lumi shot bar, Wiśniewski bar, Miasto Aniołów club, and the “new” Cafe Absinthe.

    While we were standing outside Wiśniewski, a street musician came up and asked if we wanted some live music. It started out low-key – just him singing a few songs for us – but it turned into a whole scene with a crowd forming, including our group of six, some random Swedes, and a bunch of passersby.

    We started in the evening, and by the time we were politely kicked out of the last bar, Cafe Absinthe, it was already daylight. I see my friend Rafael almost every time I’m in Gdańsk, but I rarely get to see his brother Alfi – the man of the hour – and I almost never run into Janek or Artur, so I’m really glad I came. I had an awesome time!

  • Gdańsk Przymorze

    Came to Gdańsk for Easter + Walked by the Sea

    Came to Gdańsk for Easter + Walked by the Sea

    I’m living with one foot in two different lives – the one with Ola in a small village near Łódź, and the one I left behind in Gdańsk. Sometimes it feels painful, sometimes it’s inspiring and kind of magical. As usual, it depends.

    I came to Gdańsk for Easter. My family’s not super religious; some of us don’t believe in God at all, though honestly, I’m not even sure what the proportions are because we’ve never really talked about it. Still, we all enjoy those moments during the year when you sit around the table, slow down a bit — eat and just be together. Everyone’s on the same page about that.

    I brought my notebook where I’m keeping a Final Fantasy 1 game diary (I’ve already filled up most of the pages; soon I’ll be starting a second notebook), and my watercolors, so I could keep working on it. I also brought a foldable, portable sitting pad I ordered from Aliexpress — it’s an awesome accessory if you’re someone like me who’s always wandering around and sitting everywhere. You can keep it in your backpack or bag, or clip it onto something. It folds out fast. It’s waterproof and it keeps the cold out.

    I arrived the day before Easter. Hung out a bit with my family, then went for a walk in the seaside park that stretches across two neighborhoods — Przymorze and Brzeźno. On the beach, I ran into a couple walking their black cat on a leash and without one, and a lady who was the only person brave enough to swim in the (probably still really cold) sea.

    During the whole walk, I kept playing Final Fantasy 1; sometimes walking, sometimes stopping and sitting down here and there. The game’s got a lot going for it, but for me, the best thing is that it doesn’t hold your hand. In modern games, whenever your character does anything — picks up an item, finds a new place, gets a clue — the game updates your journal automatically, figures stuff out for you, and changes the instructions for your quest along with the map markers. Basically, you can just follow the arrows without even reading any dialogue if you want. But when Final Fantasy 1 came out (1987), it was assumed that you’d read and figure things out on your own. It’s honestly a much cooler experience, traveling around different locations, exploring them, and gathering rumors about places you’ll visit in the future.

    I only brought one handheld with me to Gdańsk, the Anbernic RG40XXV, and two accessories for it: the tiny 8BitDo Zero 2 controller and a miniHDMI to microHDMI cable. Whenever I stay at my parents’ place, my dad lets me borrow his projector — a Samsung Freestyle — so I can watch YouTube at night and in the morning. Thanks to the cable and controller, I could also play GBA and NES games projected onto the wall. It was pretty cool — I’ll write more about that in later posts.

    In the evening, I wanted to visit Derkacz, a small bar near the beach in Brzeźno, where I used to always get this amazing veggie sandwich, real late-90s street food style, but unfortunately they were closed the day before the holidays. So instead, I dropped by Bar LED next door for a pizza.

    Before going to sleep, I played a bit of Contra on the projector. I love that game — I spent a crazy amount of time on it as a kid. It’s one of the hardest games I’ve ever played, though I think I actually beat it back when I was little.

  • Gdańsk Przymorze

    I Walked Around Przymorze and Brzeźno, the Districts of Gdańsk and Drew a Final Fantasy 1 Game Diary

    I Walked Around Przymorze and Brzeźno, the Districts of Gdańsk and Drew a Final Fantasy 1 Game Diary

    I started my day with a walk around Przymorze, a district in Gdańsk where I was born and where I grew up. It was sunny and really nice outside. I walked along the falowiec (from the Polish word ‘fala’, wave), which—even if you grew up near it—always makes an impression. It’s the second-longest residential building in Europe! One single block is 860 meters long (about half a mile), has 1,792 flats, and over 6K officially registered residents (though someone once told me that police unofficial estimates are much higher).

    I also went to Ronald Reagan Park, a beautiful, seaside park that I love spending time in. While there, I played Final Fantasy 1 on my tiny Miyoo Mini and sketched a game diary in my notebook. I have zero artistic talent, but I enjoy doodling and messing around with watercolor paint on paper. I also love keeping a game diary—it makes me more immersed in the game and just enhances the whole experience.

    Later, I met up with my friends. We took a walk by the sea and ate at a Chinese restaurant. After that, we split up since they had other plans.

    I headed back to the seaside alone, but this time to a different district—Brzeźno, where there’s a pier I like to visit. I kept playing Final Fantasy 1—first on the pier and the beach, then later in the forest of the seaside park.