wildeabandon | Reading

A busy day of immersive theatre and when I left it was pouring with rain, but when I walked through Blackfriars Station to the other side of the river, it magically stopped raining and I headed down to the foreshore!

It was quiet, as people had been put off by the rain.

Earlier in the day, in an Ambient Lit workshop, I had pretended to be a dog and chased pigeons. “Woof”, I said to the pigeons on the foreshore.

There were patches of metal objects, nails, screws, objects once used.

I picked up pipes, pottery sherds and pieces of glass, and also a tiny heart shaped sticker. Thanks for the love, dear Thames.

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5589

smoosh

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5589

Two things:

I keep (especially post-surgery, cotemporal with relearning how to walk) finding more small ways that how I've been doing my various physio exercises isn't quite right. This is a good thing! Isn't it fascinating to be learning more about embodiment and how my body works and how I can best deploy my various muscles!
Up until the hypermobility clinic, all the physio I was ever prescribed made me worse, not better.

It abruptly dawned on me, all at once, that the subtlety of the changes I'm making with adjusting how I'm shifting my weight around and so on and so forth? Are almost certainly not actually externally visible. Like, yes, people not understanding hypermobility and problems with it was also Definitely A Problem, but -- the part where I'm still, mm, not necessarily fixing things but certainly developing them, finding places where even with What The Hypermobility Clinic Told Me To Do I wasn't getting quite right... well, the hypermobility specialists clearly went "eh, good enough", and in terms of the effects on my ability to Things I think they were clearly demonstrably provable correct, but -- yeah, okay, sudden understanding of some of just how difficult it would have been to correct some of this stuff.

(I'm very sure that all my various epiphanies will turn out to be about things that still aren't quite right, that I can still refine further -- I'm having an extended phase of that with Pilates right now -- but this is a good thing, actually. It's really nice to have such clear evidence that I'm getting to know and understand myself better.)

It was just before low tide and the foreshore was busy with people, teenagers on a guided mudlark tour, and others searching.

The foreshore emptied and then there were more geese than humans and the goslings pecked at the wall, green with algae.

That day, I kept finding stripey pottery sherds. As I was going to meet Ingress players afterwards and our team colour is green, I started to concentrate on picking up green sherds. Green triangles!

I found another pipe with an “S” on it, different to the last. The other side looks like it could be a “P” so perhaps it was made by Solomon Price.

Another piece of Staffordshire Slipware, some more pink slag, and a sherd with a letter “E” on it.

It seemed appropriate to go to the Mudlark pub after that to meet friends and show them my bag of finds. On the walls of the pub were pictures of the foreshore and of pipes.

Reading this article on advice to teachers in the UK about using AI, they suggest using it for things like "marking quizzes" and "generating routine letters".

And what really annoys me about this is that it's a perfect example of where simple automation could be used without the need for AI.

The precise example in the article is "Generate a letter to parents about a head lice outbreak." - which is a fairly common thing to happen in schools. So why on earth isn't there one standard letter per school, if not one standard letter for the whole country, that can be reused by absolutely everyone whenever this standard event happens? Why does this require AI to generate a new one every time, rather than just being a standard email that gets sent?

Same with marking quizzes. If children get multiple-choice quizzes regularly across all schools, and marking them uses precious teacher time, why is there not a standard piece of software, paid for once (or written once internally) which enables all children to do quizzes in a standard way, and get them marked automatically?

If we're investing a bunch of money into automating the various processes that teachers spend far too much time on, start with simple automation, which is cheap, easy, and reliable.

Also, wouldn't it be sensible to do some research into how accurately AI marks homework *before* you tell teachers to use it to do that? Here's some research from February which shows that its agreement with examiners was only 0.61 (where 1.00 would be perfect agreement). So I'm sceptical about the quality of the marking it's going to be doing...

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5588

And is good at sleeping

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5588

Books on pre-order:

Queen Demon (Rising World 2) by Martha Wells (7 Oct 2025)

Books acquired in May:

and read:
1. Copper Script by KJ Charles
2. Red Boar's Baby by Lauren Esker
and unread:
1. The Wrath & The Dawn by Renée Ahdieh [3]
2. The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan [3]
3. Kidnap on the California Comet by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman [3]
4. Betrayal (Trinity 1) by Fiona McIntosh [3]

Borrowed books read in May:

The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell
One Christmas Wish by Katherine Rundell
You Have a Match by Emma Lord [2][6]

I continue to not read much (by my standards). I did not manage to read any of the physical books I had out of the library until they needed to be returned, and I've got several half-finished books in progress. (Oh, and in writing this I've realised I already have the Renée Ahdieh book in ebook, and haven't read it there either!)

[1] Pre-order
[2] Audiobook
[3] Physical book
[4] Crowdfunding
[5] Goodbye read
[6] Cambridgeshire Reads/Listens
[7] FaRoFeb / FaRoCation / Bookmas / HRBC
[8] Prime Reading / Kindle Unlimited

Mudlarking - 15A

It was lunchtime and not much beach could be seen. I’d gone down an alleyway that didn’t smell pleasant, and then down steps, and past flies. I walked back and forth on the small patch of shore anyway, while the tide went out and the beach gradually grew.

I found a small piece of glass, a blue and white sherd, and a mysterious brown metal object. It is not the telescope I imagined it was when I picked it up.

A man sat on the steps, but the tiny patch of foreshore was entirely mine that day.

–

Mudlarking 15B

An after work trip to the foreshore, low tide was a few hours before.

A religious looking poster floated in the water, but later appeared on the shore.

An Egyptian goose walked by.

I found a tiny green plastic bottle with a swirl on it and I wondered what it once contained.

I found another square small black tile that looks modern, but I have about 4 now. Maybe I’ll find enough to make a space invader mosaic eventually.

There were a few broken pipe bowls, and what I thought was a piece of green pipe, but now looks like something else.

I found a stone with delightful stripes, or is it a fossil?

I have probably mentioned my disappointment in various British things. We can't manage anything from easily accessed healthcare to reliable rubbish collection. Hearing even the Labour government talk about reducing carer visas, not taking trans rights seriously, etc. really doesn't augur well.

Of course, we nearly ended up living in the US instead, which is even more of a dumpster fire given the lasting damage from the current administration. Both countries' officials seem unwilling to take on the task of responsible governance, instead we see performative policy that harms people without making any real sense.

I got to wondering: after the kids are grown and educated, perhaps we could go somewhere else? I took a look online on where people say is welcoming to immigrants and, ha ha, dismissed any list that includes the UK or the US.

The Scottish summer is currently cool and rainy. R. would be glad not to return to the hot humidity of the tropics. I like to think that we can find some middle ground.

In looking into what the options might be, I discovered that Spain's digital nomad visa could easily allow me and R. to live there someday. Then, we may be on an accelerated path because of the (colonial guilt) agreement that allows R. to qualify for Spanish citizenship more quickly. We would remain within easy reach of our children if they remain in Britain.

I have never been to Spain and know little about it. The language would certainly challenge me: it would be a considerable success if I could come to speak intelligibly, even with a dreadful accent. Nevertheless, as idle fantasies go, it is an interesting one to consider so perhaps I should try to reduce my ignorance in coming years. At a glance, reading about the current protests in Madrid seems an exciting start.

Reading. FINISHED:

Furiously Happy, Jenny Lawson. I can see why people like her! I have also remembered why I wound up unsubscribing from her blog. Very interesting proof of concept in re audiobooks, though.
Prophet, Helen MacDonald and Sin Blaché. Very enjoyable reread in which many things landed differently, in service of...
a word you've never understood, rydra_wong. EXACTLY the post-canon follow-up I wanted but would have absolutely failed to articulate. Have already tried to lure one more person into reading the book so I can then make them go read the fic. Now I just selfishly want Even More Of It.
Pain is really strange, Steve Haines. Reread for the purpose of making notes, this time. Sparked at least one useful thought. Following up references is a work in progress.
How to cook... Desserts, Leiths Cookery School. Read all the way through for the purposes of EYB indexing first pass! Go me.

STARTED:

Adventures in Stationery, James Ward. Borrowed from library on a whim for low-brain non-fiction.

Writing. First pass through indexing a cookbook on EYB!

Some Actual Notes re pain for The Book, including (and I am very proud of myself for this) actually writing down my questions alongside the bare "here's what it contained".

Watching. Murderbot S01E01. I am dubious but expecting to keep watching. If you encourage me I might say more when it is not past curfew.

Cooking. ... apparently I have not managed Much Of Note this week.

Eating. POTATOES at the ALLOTMENT courtesy of ALLOTMENT FRIENDS. Also finished my choi sum and had my first AMAZING broad beans and nibbled kohlrabi speculatively, all on Tuesday.

Today I have nibbled: a cherry; the first few redcurrants; a pod's worth of Kelvedon Wonder peas; half a tiny tomato.

Making & mending. Made some progress on A's left glove. Realised, belatedly, that I'd done the same thing with picking up stitches unevenly along the two sides of the palm. Ripped back most of the way to where I started from and Sulked. BUT HEY I've remembered the pattern and where I'd stowed all the bits for it!

Growing. See Eating for my biggest excitements. Sugar Magnolia (purple sugar-snap pea) now setting pods; my main intention with it this year (given that I planted a whole packet of seeds and have wound up with ...fewer plants than that) is just to get myself sorted with a significantly larger number of seeds for next year, but hey, maybe they'll all be super productive and I'll actually get to eat some too.

Stockings now at the plot to go onto the cherry tomorrow, hopefully.

Tomatoes planted out when tiny not doing so great (i.e. have mostly disappeared). Tomatoes planted out when larger Actually Flowering. Desperately need to stake the lot of them.

Tiny single solitary surviving oca has started to Go.

V grumpy about how poorly the squash I got started A While Ago have coped with getting put outside given that they are in biodegradable fibre pots so I'm not even disturbing their roots. Getting the rest of them in the ground AND THEN SOWING MORE very much also high on tomorrow's priority list. (And the beans, augh.)

Observing. Met a neighbour!

The other day I overhead D telling someone that I now naturally have the voice that I put on for my character in our D&D game a couple of years ago.

I was an orc barbarian, heh.

I was delighted to hear this because I hadn't consciously been doing a voice for Bulrik (I went through dozens of orc names I hated in one of the online name generators before finding one I could live with at all, only much later realizing it's most of the name I chose for my self!) and I didn't know that's what I sound like all the time now! How delightful.

I haven't done any conscious voice training at all, just let the testosterone do its work. And I didn't record my voice at any point with the intent of tracking the change, which I guess is a norm in some online cultures. Both of these choices have been conscious decisions made to protect my mental health and I feel really good about that, but it does mean my boundless self-absorption has nothing to work with here! So it's nice to have some external observation.

The other stuff I've been meaning to write about is gonna have to wait; I'm too tired now apparently.

I went to the park with haggis and her kid this morning.

There was one point where I was pushing said kid on the swings (a lot of the morning was haggis, D and I doing as we were directed and I'd been specifically told to push her at this point) next to a nice young man doing the same with his own toddler.

He said hello by asking me "How old is she?" to which I of course panicked because I'm not sure these days. "...Four??" I said eventually. haggis came over and saved me from more of this peril by making normal parent conversation herself.

Then the guy said "Is she the only one you guys have?" and my thoughts hadn't gotten any further than what, here with us today?

haggis said the kid is hers, and her husband's but I'm not her husband, and meanwhile I was like oh shit he thinks I'm the husband! or the new dad! Oh no! So I joked about being a gay uncle.

I don't think I've ever been mistaken for a husband before! I probably would've thought it was fun, if I wasn't too confused at the time to know that it was happening...

In walking our dog L. we occasionally meet other friendly dogs. It has been interesting for me to observe that many dogs appear to know the rules of a game. Each round has them bring their faces near to each other and pause (tail probably wagging) then they both dart apart and run around or chase a bit before starting the next round. It appears to be very good fun.

1. Summarising the last few days in American politics: (tags:USA politics EpicWTF republicans )
2. UK — High Court to lawyers: cut the ChatGPT or else: (tags:UK law ai )
3. After Pornhub left France, Proton VPN saw a 1,000% surge in minutes: (tags:VPN censorship porn France )
4. Reform UK doesn't know how government spending works: (tags:UK bureaucracy politics )

Having been made redundant from my fully remote job, I am starting a new job that has me on-site in Edinburgh twice per week. In looking into how to make this a cost-effective habit, first I thought of railcards but there don't seem to be any that apply. Fortunately, there are flexi ticket bundles that are useful for people taking a few trips within a longer period, which seem to be the best option.

Among the flexible tickets, the two obvious kinds appear to be from ScotRail which would cost me around £22 per day and allow me to travel on all the relevant trains, and from CrossCountry which for around £15 per day allow me to travel on only their trains which are the minority, only a couple of plausible ones each day either way. We need to save money where we can but the latter option has me arriving back into Glasgow at 21.22 at the earliest.

I didn't discover the cheaper option until after I had bought the other, at least for the initial period. After I learn more about the peak-time trains and the culture in the office, I can look into limiting which trains I may take. Perhaps a couple of longer workdays each week will make sense.

Having transcribed the timetable into LibreOffice Calc and tried some sorts, it seems to me that Central Station has those couple of useful CrossCountry trains which take at least an hour, plus some ScotRail services that take rather longer still. Queen Street station is further from me on foot, easy by subway though, and offers only ScotRail services that run frequently and take less than an hour but are anecdotally rather busy.

goslings! (Canadian; one still very yellow and fluffy, several more rather larger.)
SNAILS. so many excellent snails. we went out on a couple of stupid little walks and saw MANY snails.
ate the last of my birthday cake, with discounted raspberries courtesy of one of said stupid little walks. <3
the post brought Several more books for me (two pain-related, ...some cookery) and I am very pleased with them. particularly looking forward to warm bread and honey cake, though given that I've still not actually read Salt Fat Acid Heat I don't rate my chances of getting to it any time soon...
current borrowed-on-a-whim-from-the-library book: Adventures in Stationery, James Ward. First chapter was paperclips; current chapter is a whistlestop tour of The History Of The Pen, including a much more loving biography of the BIC Cristal than I am normally exposed to via fountain pen fandom!

My brother Mike got me this for my birthday, and it just takes a weight off my mind being able to say "bring the steam temperature up to 95 degrees and hold it there"

(Control over oil temperature when frying eggs is also awesome.)
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Last month I met someone whose visa has just been approved and who started T today.

What a good day.

I was excited to meet another trans immigrant... so much that I immediately behaved as if there was a kind of intimacy between us that does not in fact exist: I teased him about how he only had a few hours left until he started being stinky...and then as we were leaving he asked me "wait, so about that smell thing, was that serious, because I've been wondering...."

oh no!

But! It worked out okay: I saw him again a fortnight later, and he made a point of telling me I was right about the stinkiness. Which made me smile but also gave me a chance to apologize for saying something that could be so easily misconstrued. I tried to explain about the false sense of intimacy I immediately felt when

He said it was fine, it was funny. To be understood as I'd intended was a relief!

He told me that the person standing next to him, an acquaintance of mine, someone he had been draped over all evening, has been counting his facial hairs.

As of that day there were eight of them.

It was so heartwarming and delightful to see early transition so intimately documented like that. Especially for a masc person; the loving detail is something I'm so much more used to seeing from trans fems.

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Sebastian

May 2025

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Page Summary

squirmelia - Mudlarking 17
questionable_content_feed - Musical Chairs
kaberett - sat up very straight at around this time last night and went "... oh"
squirmelia - Mudlarking - 16 & the Mudlark
andrewducker - The advice in the UK over teachers and AI is baffling to me
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 10-06-2025
questionable_content_feed - The Z Axis
rmc28 - To-read pile, 2025, May
squirmelia - Mudlarking 15
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 09-06-2025
mtbc - Speculating on where to settle someday
kaberett - vital functions is struggling with time management and up way past curfew
cosmolinguist - Odds and ends about my voice (part 1 of a series apparently)
cosmolinguist - I do like being a gay uncle.
mtbc - A game that dogs play
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 08-06-2025
mtbc - Becoming a rail commuter
kaberett - some joys of the day
andrewducker - Photo cross-post
cosmolinguist - intimacies

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