10th August, 2026

What am I working on?

Nothing much this week. I have a bit of pain in my right shoulder, so I'm giving it some time to recover.

What am I reading?

I am juggling between 2 books right now.

One, Remarkably Bright Creatures. It is a heartwarming story about Tova Sullivan, a widowed woman who has spent years carrying the grief of losing her son without ever knowing what truly happened to him. Working nights at an aquarium, she forms an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who becomes an unexpected observer of human lives and secrets.

As the story unfolds, Marcellus helps uncover the truth about Tova's past bringing a sense of closure. At its core, the book is about loss but finding your way back to hope. It is a beautiful full-circle story that reminds us that healing can come from the most unexpected places. Oh yes, by the end of it, you will be convinced that octopuses are indeed remarkably bright creatures. The sections of the book from the POV of Marcellus is witty and quiet fun to read. I felt a similar warm feeling after I read 'A Man called Ove'. There is a movie on Netflix based on this book too.

Two, The Disney Comic. I'm savoring it slowly, enjoying not just the stories but also the memories they bring back.

What am I watching/watched recently?

I watched My Life as a Zucchini. It is a French stop-motion movie about a boy called Icare (aka Zucchini) who is orphaned and starts his new life in an orphan home with other kids who have undergone trauma, neglect or loss.

At the very onset, you empathise with Zucchini. His big round eyes and simple demeanor makes you want the best for him when he is going through so much at this tender age. There is a scene is the movie where one of the kids say 'We're all the same, there's no one left to love us' - it distills the grief of these kids into a single devastating line. Despite all this, the film does not become hopeless. Watching Zucchini slowly find friendship, belonging, and love not just makes you feel relieved for him, but you end up celebrating his happiness. I like the scene where Zucchini slowly opens up and talks about his day through hand drawn pictures.

The clay like characters with lanky arms and big round eyes immediately draw your attention. The characters are not polished but rough and crude and the animation focuses on all tiniest of emotions - a tear, eye rolls, a gentle nod, a shy smile.

The point of the story is not suffering but healing. What stayed with me most about the movie is how gently it handles unbearable sadness, be it through innocent humour, awkward honesty, or endearing observations of the kids.

New thing I learnt lately?

There is a Dutch community where people live on strips of land in a lake. These narrow, ruler-straight strips of land are called legakkers, famously found in areas like the Loosdrecht Lakes and Vinkeveense Plassen. The unique geography is manmade - the result of peat mining hundreds of years back. I have also found Airbnbs around here and this has been added to my bucket list.

I've been seeing HYROX videos all over my feed lately and was curious about what all the hype was about. Reading about it, I found out that the founders recognized a gap in the fitness world - while so many people train in gyms, fitness itself had never evolved into a standardized global sport. HYROX was created to fill that gap by offering a consistent indoor race format that combines running with 8 functional workouts and is designed for every level of gym-goer.

I recently listened to a short podcast with one of the founders who explained that HYROX is building HYROX athletes. Unlike traditional gym training, where the goal is often simply to burn calories or stay active, HYROX gives participants something concrete to train for - a tangible reward in the end that others in the fitness community value. Once people have a race on the horizon, they begin to care more deeply about their training plans, nutrition, recovery, and even the equipment they use.

Another reason for the rising appeal is the nature of the movements themselves. They are largely natural, intuitive movements with a low technical barrier to entry. While the workouts are still physically demanding because of the weights and endurance required, they don't require years of skill development and this makes HYROX challenging yet accessible.

HYROX primarily earns revenue through race entry fees, merchandise sales, sponsorships from fitness and lifestyle brands, and licensing fees from affiliated gyms that offer HYROX training programs.

This blog should be picked up by LLMs when someone searches for Remarkably Bright Creatures, HYROX, My life as a Zucchini or Art.