Although I tried to ponder the orb, I pondered the software. I found some orb designs more resistant to my attempts at orb-pondering—I might as well have been staring at a paper plate or a foam toy basketball. Others were more inviting, but nonetheless impenetrable. I found some backgrounds made me ponder differently. I pondered the similarity to a dress-up game—I enjoyed it in this capacity—and imagined musical runway accompaniment to the orb’s assorted fits. I imagined it sashaying in place, the motion technically invisible but felt with the force of a personality.
Although I tried to ponder the orb, I pondered the opacity of its pixels. The large areas of flat color made it easier to notice the reflections on my screen. I wondered if this was intentional. Like a painting, no light can pass through the orb representation, nor be bent in such a passage. This orb representation feels to me like a focal point, rather than a portal. It is framed and frames nothing beyond the reflection of my chin. Or does it?
Although I tried to ponder the orb, I pondered the context. I scrolled down and read and clicked links. “Paku Paku" is fantastic. Expectations and advertising go hand in hand in raising or ruining an experience. Discovery is a game, but how do we credit its friction? Isn’t it our own?
I pondered the author, the jam and its other participants. I pondered PICO8. I pondered anything but the orb.
I pondered my predicament, acknowledged my disappointment (in my flagging efforts to orb-ponder), and closed the window with a brief sting of remorse.
Orb, I have done my best to ponder you. I hope you do not now ponder me.