August started in the ruins of July and never really recovered from that. Still, the house has been busy and that’s been lovely. Several people stayed while working on an exhibition at In a Land. We also had Rosy’s friend and her 15-month old daughter staying for the month along with a visit from Dan Sumption.
The biggest change this month was moving to a new client at work. I’m travelling to Leeds twice a week, but that’s a much easier journey than previously. It’s amazing how different things felt when I finished that last role – all my cravings for bad food turned down straight away.
This lack of cravings has not helped with my weight though. Over the course of August, I put on an incredible 2½ pounds. My diet has been better (helped by cooking real food for our guests), so I’m not sure what’s been going wrong. The warnings are there though: I am getting fat. I am slowly working through belt notches. My clothes are shrinking.
I read ten books in August. I’ve been re-reading the Dark Tower series alongside the Talking Scared podcast. The most recent installment, Wolves of the Calla, was a slow epic. Annie Jacobsen’s Biological War: A Scenario was even more terrifying than her previous book on nuclear war (see my blog post). The new Jon Ronson was entertaining but didn’t really go anywhere. Dystopian book club choice Demonic Males was a depressing look at male violence through primatology. Algospeak was a great book about how the online world affects language. Matt Wixey’s Basilisk was an entertaining pulp novel. While it’s been a long time since I’ve spoken to the writer (and don’t much plan to), Ghosts of the Medicine Show was an excellent and inspiring book, and deserves a post of its own. I also read the alpha draft of Cat Vincent’s forthcoming book.
I missed a couple of blockbusters at the cinema due to having guests, which is OK. We rewatched a few things at home including both 28 Years Later films and Fury Road. Ben Wheatley’s Bulk was frustrating at times, but ultimately inspiring. The cinema highlight was a double bill of I Saw the TV Glow with Jane Schoenbrun’s new film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. The latter was a great film which I’m desperate to see again while it’s on.
I’m not convinced by eclipses – give me a good sunset, anytime. But there’s something magical about people gathering for an event, and knowing the last time that it will happen in the UK will be 2090. I’d been planning to ignore the eclipse, but my friend Jen encouraged me to head out onto the moors and I’m glad I did.
Writing has been slower this month, somewhat ineffective. I did a great practical book-binding session where I practised my stitching skills on some booklets I’d generated – each an edition of one.
I passed my Claude Certified Architect exam at the end of the month. This involved a lot of cramming. I also switched from a paid OpenAI account to a paid Anthropic one, and I’m loving the change in models. Claude turns out to be great for personal stuff. While using an AI for coaching carries some risk, it’s effective. And it does make sense to use a machine for these sorts of reflections rather than inflicting it on people.
- An incredible review of the Odyssey: “an autobiographical film about Nolan regretting wasting a decade of his life making Batman films and his attempt to use those films as a Trojan horse for prestige cinema was mistake he and the film industry are still paying for.”
- I met someone who was twice crowned world stinging nettle eating champion
- The Mycelium Parish News 2025 edition is now sold out.
- My biggest achievement of the month: getting a crying baby to sleep.
