Florent Alexandre’s blog.

Video Games Journal 2025

2026-01-06T23:00:00Z

I’ve updated my Video Games Journal to include everything I’ve played and enjoyed in 2025.

My Top 5 this year was all about indie games (played on my Steam Deck).

Hollow Knight: Silksong being my GOTY is a surprise even to me as I fully expected to hit a wall and bounce off it as I’m usually turned off by punishing games. But I found myself incapable to stop playing and kept trying to beat every boss until I fully completed it. The gameplay never felt unfair, and even when getting brutally murdered again and again I could feel I was slowly learning the rythm of every fight which kept me going. The art, music and lore were also perfect. I can’t recommended it enough even if you think it’s not going to be for you.

Blue Prince came highly recommended by my favorite video games podcast and is certainly the most creative game I played this year. I spent hours in Mount Holly Estate trying to solve every puzzle, find every little piece of lore (and there’s a LOT of it) and master the unique room drawing gameplay.

Blue Prince reignited a new love for puzzle games and luckily for me The Séance of Blake Manor came out quickly after. That game is the perfect video game equivalent of the weekend long Murder Parties I used to attend. The thrill of discovering everyone’s motive, combing through rooms, even the 2 day time limit, everything was there in addition to a super interesting setting and time period (1897 Ireland).

Dispatch made the list as it came at the perfect time to distract me from heavy personal stuff. The story immediately hooked me and the gameplay of the dispatching itself was fresh and engaging.

Crow Country gave me my fix of Survival Horror this year. They nailed the PS1 retro vibes and the puzzles and survival horror gameplay were both very solid, a hidden gem.

Hardware

The Steamdeck was my main gaming platform this year but I bought the Switch 2 to keep playing Nintendo exclusives. I enoyed Donkey Kong Bananza even if it was a little bit too easy and replaying some old favorites with better framerate and nicer hardware. The Switch 2 really makes the Steamdeck look and feel a bit clunky if I’m being honest (except when looking at the screen, even if the colors are better than expected it’s a blurry mess in motion).

I upgraded my PC’s GPU right on time before the big AI hardware apocalypse and got a 5070 Ti at a great price before it simply disapeared! . As a result I expect to play more PC games in 2026 starting with Expedition 33 and Resident Evil: Requiem.

A Year of Running

2025-11-23T23:00:00Z

I’ve been running frequently for about 3 years now and I started 2025 with 2 objectives:

Run a 1000K. I reached 778K in 2024 so it felt like a reasonable increase and everybody likes a round number.
Do more races. I participated in my first half-marathon in 2024 and even though I usually run alone I fell in love with the energy of the community there.

As I write this I’m at 960K total this year so the first objective will probably be achieved (hoping I’m not jinxing myself here). I was lucky and consistent enough to run at least 20K a week most weeks and that set me on a good trajectory.
As for the races, I ran 4 and they pushed my running to new heights and deepened my love for the sport.

The first one was the badly named « 15km de Liège Métropole » in April. This is actually a multi-event race and I chose to do the 21K trail run that started next to my village, continued through the woods I usually run in, and finished in the city center of Liège. It was a great way to start running again and to work through some difficult changes at work.

Nothing like running at a good pace to end up in a queue for 20 minutes — that’s a trail running race for you.

I had a great time running it at a relaxed pace. I listened to Live On Boston Harbor by the Fleet Foxes to match the moody environment and discovered new paths linking villages to Liège through the woods. I really love finding the old footpath connective tissue and byways between places. Their aid stations also made me realize that pepper Tuc are awesome trail running snacks.

Soon after, my running buddy Laurent asked me if I was motivated to register for "Les 4 Cimes", a 33K road race with 700m of elevation (hence the name which means “4 peaks”). It’s a famous event in the Liège region, entirely free and taking place in the beautiful hilly surroundings of the Pays de Herve.
I was initially unsure since a half-marathon was the furthest I’d ever run on roads, but I ended up registering. I figured it would be a nice stepping stone towards running a marathon someday. Also they offer a free cheese plate to the finishers — say no more.

Training for the race gave structure to the rest of my year and I established a rough plan for the next 5 months, slowly increasing my weekly distance and elevation. I also registered for 2 races of increasing difficulty to act as checkpoints. Running plans are a tough balancing act: if they’re too strict they rob the fun out of my running, and if they’re too loose I end up undertrained. So I try to set only broad objectives well in advance to not worry too much about a week where I’m doing nothing but going to the beach and eating pains au chocolat (that might be a real example).

Those 5 months of training went great: no injuries, no sickness, just steady progress. The focus on adding elevation made me discover new paths and the longer runs were the perfect opportunity to indulge in my newfound love of audiobooks.

My second race of the year was the Jogging de Tilff (13K) in August, a short race with 223m of elevation. Clear blue skies and my family cheering on the side of the road "Allez Papa Allez Papa!" as I ran through my village made it a memorable run. I finished in the first 40% of runners which gave me a big boost as someone who’s never achieved even average status in sports before.

Captured by my partner Cécile as I ran past my house. I’m the big blue guy.

The 3rd race of the year snuck up on me fast and I was a bit undertrained for it: La Fontinoise, a 24K trail run with 750 meters of elevation (my recording says that it was 900 meters of elevation, and my legs tend to believe that higher number). The beginning was great as I chatted with my pal Willem who came to run this race with me as an excuse to catch up. The real test began when we split ways at the 13th kilometer as Willem was running the 17K race. I jokingly said to him we might still finish at the same time and oh boy do I regret bragging.

Still looking fresh right before the start in Fontin.

Those last 11K were hard. The elevation was very steep and the paths technical. I met runners lost in the woods because they missed a sign and a guy just sitting on the forest ground, his legs shaking. When there were only 5K to go, a thunderstorm started and drenched me. I almost gave up then and there until I glommed on to a group of runners persevering under the heavy downpour for mental support. For the first time on a run my legs started shaking uncontrollably too with 3K to go, but I walked for a bit and it subsided. I managed to finish running but barely. I did not arrive at the same time as Willem but a solid hour later. The fries we had after were some of the best of my life.

I still enjoyed the race despite the difficulty, but it gave me a bit of a confidence crisis for Les 4 Cimes. Even if this one had more elevation and a technical terrain, it was also 9K shorter and still almost broke me. I also knew that there wasn’t going to be a lot of time left for training until November with my daily life getting busier. I recuperated for a week and immediately started training as much as I could fit into a tight schedule, running only 2 times a week rather than my usual 3 but at least putting in some long hilly runs to prepare for the demands of the big day.

Taken during the race, a typical Herve landscape.

November and the last race day of the year finally came. It was one of those beautiful dry crisp autumn days with leaves still falling, occasional blue skies and a perfect 10°C. The event was super well staffed and organized and there was a full-blown fanfare playing before the start. I was not feeling extremely confident about the distance, having only managed to run 20K 600m at most during training, but I figured it should be doable by taking it easy in the beginning. I knew that after 20K nothing would be easy, no matter the pace. I paid even less attention to planning my nutrition during the race. I didn’t pack any fancy gels or electrolytes but stuffed 4 slabs of cooked marzipan into my backpack, thinking deliciousness was probably more important than anything else to keep me moving forward.

The race started, I felt the usual energy from all the runners surrounding me, took it easy, deep breaths, leisurely pace, and immediately rolled my ankle. It wasn’t too bad, especially in the beginning, but it became one of the only things I could think about in the last few kilometers. During most of the race I was in a flow state, listening to music, moving with the crowd, looking at the scenery, eating bits of delicious marzipan, maintaining my form without thinking too hard about it. I received audio messages from my partner and daughter encouraging me; lots of people were also cheering during climbs and on the sides which really makes the event charming.

As always when I’m pushing myself comes a part where the flow state ends and the mental gymnastics begin. In the beginning the math is simple: “over halfway done, nearly there!”. With time, the subdivisions become more contorted: “OK, only 3K to go until you only have a 5K to run, 5K is easy, 3K is super easy, it’s all very easy really.” This time my ankle pain was part of the mix and I tried as well as I could to ease it by trying to find the perfect spots on the uneven roads to put more effort on the other foot (I don’t think it was doing anything at all but you know — mental gymnastics). After a while, portioning the rest of the distance into smaller mental chunks became more tiring than motivating, and I couldn’t even think about eating marzipan anymore. I was just left with simple inner-voice cheers and grittted teeth until the finish line.

The end of the race is at the summit of a bonus peak that they do not count in the 4 official ones. It’s cruelly a few meters higher than where the starting line was, and you just have to climb this long straight street to finish. At that point I was fully walking, just wanting to be done. But some people started to cheer louder at a man who must have been nearing his 70s behind me. He was still running. I want to believe it was out of being inspired rather than misplaced pride, but seeing him made me pick myself up and run the last few meters of the climb. I crossed the finish line seeing spots and almost passed out. I stumbled towards the aid station, ate an apple, drank a big glass of very sugary tea and all was right in the world. I got my free finisher t-shirt, skipped the free cheese plate and drove to McDonald’s — the heart wants what it wants in those moments.

It felt very good to have achieved this race after aiming towards it for so long. Races are inherently unfair as even if you train and prepare right, you might end up sick, life might throw something unexpected at you or you just might feel and perform like crap that specific day without rhyme or reason. But when everything aligns there’s nothing quite like it. It feels good to push your limits and find that you can take it. Immediately your minds absorbs this new milestone and readjusts its perception: 10K? A little morning fun. 20K? Easy enough. 33K? Achievable. 42K? I want to try that next.

Reading habits

2025-07-29T22:00:00Z

I still remember learning to read my first few words in a book. Well, it wasn’t really words, but onomatopoeias in comic books, as a Belgian kid does. I was so excited to be able to read “Boom!” “Wow!” “Haha!” and the rest followed. For years after that, I only read comic books, not Marvel or DC, but what we had in my local library. I particularly remember Les Psys, Les Tuniques Bleues, and Les Femmes En Blanc. Now that I list them, I realize these three were all written by the same author, Raoul Cauvin. It’s fair to say he probably forged my early sense of humor.

I stubbornly refused to read actual, non-picture books, to the dismay of my mom and local librarian. Then finally, I got stuck in bed with the flu for a week when I was 10, and my mom came home with the first Harry Potter. I had nothing else to do, so I begrudgingly started it and then quickly got sucked in. After that, I was unstoppable. I started devouring every fantasy book I could get my hands on: The Chronicles of Narnia, Otherland, The Farseer Trilogy, and a lot more. I was reading every evening and past curfew, using every light source I could find to keep reading under the sheets, even a tiny, tiny lamp from a LEGO set when my mom got rid of all the flashlights. I even started spending Wednesday afternoons helping out at my local library, sorting books and writing little reviews for other teenagers.

My reading habits slowed down after I got my first PC, well into my teenage years. Long evenings of reading were replaced by playing online or chatting with friends, but I always had a book in progress and kept up with a few favorite series. It slowed down even further once I started working and became generally more mentally exhausted, in need of dumb escapism, which video games provided more easily.

The situation got really dire in the past couple of years after the birth of my daughter. I brought a book to the hospital for our three-day stay after her birth. I didn’t read a single page. That was an omen for the months to come. I think I managed to finish one or two books a year over the past two years. I just had too little free time, and what little I had went to spending time with my partner, my newfound passion for running or playing video games, since that was all I had the energy for at the end of the day.

I missed reading and watched new releases in series I enjoy pile up, unable to figure out how to find the time. Until I read an article earlier this year (I’ve tried hard to find it again to link it here, but couldn’t). The gist of it was: don’t be precious about how or where you read books.

For the last few years, I had been reading only physical books bought from my local bookstore to support them instead of Amazon. And because a shelf full of books is the most beautiful thing in the world, of course. But sticking to that habit robbed me of so many chances to read—waiting rooms, queues, or late at night with the lights off so as not to bother my partner (sadly, I don’t have my tiny, tiny LEGO set lamp anymore).

The article made the case for two ways to read more:

e-books, not on an e-reader but on your phone
audiobooks

Tad Williams had just released the last tome in the Osten Ard series, so I bought it and started reading on my phone. I wasn’t sure it would change anything, but I gave it a shot. I finished it in a month. That hadn’t happened in years. I made steady progress every time I had a free moment, and it came with the added bonus of eating into my doomscrolling time.

But the true revolution in my reading habits has been audiobooks. I was always a bit wary, thinking I wouldn’t be able to focus enough to follow a complex story just by listening. To be completely honest, I also felt it would somehow be “cheating” and less beneficial to me than reading.

Well, I’m glad to say I was wrong about the focus part. Of course, I can’t multitask as much as I do while listening to podcasts, or I’d get lost in the story. But listening while doing familiar tasks like driving a regular route or washing dishes works perfectly. My two big listening moments are during relaxed runs and right before sleeping. I’ve found that listening to a book during long runs actually helps my running. I usually tend to run too fast, but listening keeps my pace relaxed without effort. It even gives me extra motivation to go on longer runs just to get more book time. Win-win. And listening before bed is the perfect way to wind down. It’s actually how I get my daughter to sleep every night too.

Of course, I was wrong about the “cheating” part as well. I don’t have proof, because the idea was ludicrous to begin with, but my mind changed after I managed to listen to four books in a month, for the first time since my teens. Reading four books a month, even if it’s somehow a shortcut, beats reading zero books a month every time.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” This is a lesson I keep relearning since becoming a parent. “Badly” here is pushing it, though—there’s nothing bad about reading e-books or listening to audiobooks. But it does mean that lowering your standards to do something is better than not doing it at all. You’ll be better for it and probably realize some of those standards were misguided in the first place.

I wish I could still support smaller bookstores or my local library like I used to, but we don’t have a strong digital lending system in Belgium. I’ve started supporting them in other ways though—by renting or buying a ton of physical books for my daughter, since she’s now the one with all the time in the world to read.

Why build a personal website in 2025?

2025-07-21T22:00:00Z

Because it's fun!

As an iOS engineer used to the lengthy process of building, uploading, and waiting for Apple's approval to ship it feels downright magical to write something, upload it and have it available for the whole world to see in minutes, sometimes even doing all of it from my phone with the help of Textastic and Working Copy (isn't it a bit sad that I can quickly make a website from my iPhone but not an iOS app?).

With a full-time job and a 2-year-old I don't have as much time for side projects as I used to and the web fits in that limited availability better than a complete iOS app would while still giving me the joy of building something that's entirely mine from scratch.

I can just go about my day, suddenly have an idea about a design change or a content update, find 30 minutes to code, try it out and ship it. This is also particularly suited to my creative process as ideas tend to come to me while doing something else. With the web those ideas don't have to accumulate in an ever growing backlog waiting for me to have a couple of hours of free time to work on them, I can just iterate quickly and have the satisfaction of having shipped what I had just imagined of a few moments earlier.

And of course it's just fun to learn something new and to do it by « hand ».

Because of ownership.

I think it's more important than ever to regain ownership of your online presence. For me the process started a few years ago when after migrating from my old gmail address I moved to HEY. For a year I was very happy with it and started sharing my shiny new @hey address. Then controversy hit 37signals and when I learned more about their founders and their opinions I moved away from the service. To future proof myself I got my own domain so that I could start using @florentalexandre.be and not care what email provider was behind it. Just to avoid being affected by the next scandal. With that domain came a bit of storage and I also created a one page website.

Since then, a lot of the third party services I was using started enshittifying or worse. Twitter of course was bought by Elon so I deleted my account and moved to Mastodon and Bluesky. Instagram which used to be my favorite way to share photos transformed into a TikTok clone. I sometimes felt the need to write or share something but just didn't have enough trust to do it on a platform I don't own anymore.

Then I got motivated to build something of my own after reading a blog post from Louie Mantia and seeing a few beautiful personal pages in my mastodon feed.

I still don't know exactly what this website will end up being but I'm enjoying the process and it feels important to have a little corner of the web where I can present myself in exactly the way I want to. At the very least I want it to be my official about page and a repository for sharing what I like. I also want to start writing more but we'll see what happens after this initial post, I'm not making any promises there.

If you enjoyed reading me and are curious to see if I'll ever post again don't hesitate to subscribe to my RSS feed or contact me.