I just had melon and strawberries with a generous drizzle of custard and a sprinkle of muesli, and now I feel like the goddess of breakfast. Damn, that was good.

For those of you who like puzzles, I don't like to boast, but… Just got into bed and immediately found the slightly melted and smooshed half a chocolate biscuit from last night. Never solved it so fast before. Feel very proud of myself.

[Random memory. Alcohol.] I was in my early twenties, in Surrey Hills, close to Central Station, and out of my mind drunk. I simultaneously realised that it was something AM, that I had ten dollars to my name, and that I was far too drunk to successfully negotiate the new post-midnight bus […]

The difference between learning a craft and learning a trade is the difference between getting better at doing something, versus getting better at persuading other people that you're good at doing something. Intrinsic value versus market value.

I am in a bad mood, and it's nothing to do with me turning 55 tomorrow. Probably. I'm going for a couple of pints at the Dickens. I'll be the old, useless, unlovable hag at the end of the bar by the kitchen door where nobody will see me.

[Your regular reminder that children are horrible] While waiting to cross the road to the library just now, a kid cycling past hailed me with a cheery "Hello Mister!" Only the second nasty thing anybody's said to me in 3½ years in Melbourne. Should have kicked the bike out from under the […]

Could not pass up the opportunity to review this North American delicacy, as previously endorsed by another delightful North American delicacy (i.e. @Dawn). https://archive.org/details/hot-tamales And for those not familiar, here's the lip gloss option […]

Could not pass up the opportunity to review this North American delicacy, as previously endorsed by another delightful North American delicacy (i.e. @Dawn). https://archive.org/details/hot-tamales And for those not familiar, here's the lip gloss option […]

As I believe I've mentioned, my secret shame is YouTube videos of Americans reacting to classic Doctor Who. Because the trick to getting likes and subscribes (and monetisation) in the reaction vid game seems to be maintaining a relentlessly upbeat and excitable persona, it's rare to hear a […]

Saw a young woman standing outside an office building yesterday using chopsticks to smoke a cigarette. Smart. No nicotine-stained fingers. If you want innovative, outside-the-box thinkers who can find elegant solutions to practical problems, you should be hiring more addicts.

A gentle reminder that some people caught onto the grift thirty years ago: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL683373M/The_trouble_with_Dilbert

The big difference I see between OG Fediverse and Mastodon-dominated, post-Twitter Fediverse is that now people complain when you favourite one of their posts. Because favourites don't bring them reach and engagement, and as your opinion is worth nothing to them, why didn't you boost? If I […]

Sometimes, when the world is going insane, I love the Fediverse because people keep on defiantly living. At the exact same times, when the world is going insane, I can't understand why some Fediverse people are losing their minds arguing over their preferred free software desktop environment […]

Got a new old bike. $150. Isn't she… inexpensive? Approximately 5 in-hub gears which are only slightly iffy. Rode it home from Northcote in 27℃ heat. Only got slightly lost once. Dedicated bike/pedestrian trail or at least painted lane the whole way. (Yay […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Bad thing about today: stepping out into the cool change that pushed the temperature below 30℃, and looking up to a dirty grey sky and and big dull orange sun.

My big achievement for today was getting my colleague Kev to play the Fall on Australian broadcast radio in 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90EMCj98es @andyc would be proud.

[Melbourne weather] Guess I picked the wrong day to be cooking pasta (and sauce) in a tiny studio flat. If I'd thought ahead, I could have stocked up on towels and birch twigs and charged admission.

I like to wear a light housecoat type of thing around the house (which I suppose is where the name came from). I just realised that the pockets were inside out. Then I thought no, wait, maybe the whole thing is inside out and the pockets are fine as they are. Then I thought oh, look there's a […]

I wrote a thing about what I did to ring in the New Year: https://katyswain.me/about/journal/nyd-2026

Getting old is without question an achievement, but the rewards are rather a mixed bag.

Dear #lazyweb can anybody recommend a reputable source of second-hand bikes in inner #melbourne? I need to exercise more. The occasional leisurely stroll is not holding my weight down or keeping my strength up.

In 2026 I'm going to be far more emotional. That's not a resolution, just a prediction based on recent data. So get some popcorn, settle down, and enjoy the show.

Oh, hi insomnia! Thanks for stopping by. No, I wasn't doing anything important; why do you ask?

Went for a long walk today. Got very badly sunburnt. I'll blog about it tomorrow (probably), but as a teaser here's a photo of an exhausted old lady who just wants to go home, standing in front of some technology that once powered the elevators in high-rise office buildings in the Melbourne CBD.

[Alcohol] Me: You know, I really don't have any reason to drink so much. Also me: Yep. Me: In fact, that's probably why my moods are so all over the place. Also me: Good point. Me: There's nothing wrong with having a glass or two with dinner. Or even _while_ cooking. Nobody is a bigger fan […]

[Old trans lady TMI] Didn't sleep a wink from about midnight last night. Blasted libido. Until about a year ago I was sure I'd seen the last of it. That's my reward for getting my endocrinology sorted out, I suppose. I don't what good it's supposed to do. It's certainly not doing me any […]

[mh-] I've had a crappy day. And only because I let something I can't fix right now get on top of me. I could just put it to one side and carry on with my day pretty much as planned, but no, I spent the day shaking with anger and drinking. And the things I planned to do in the coming weeks now […]

I am so angry that anybody in Australia who could have unambiguously answered a question related to a now privatised or outsourced public service was sacked about thirty years ago in the name of efficiency. Nothing works, and there are no explanations forthcoming for why that is, but on the […]

Possibly the most beautiful building in Australia, the State Library of Victoria. Part 1 of 4. #buildings #building #architecture #australia#architecture#victoria

Made a platonic coffee date with the only other trans person in my MMT student social circle. Squee! She's delightful and brilliant, but quite shy. Over nearly two years, we've interacted in online tutorials or on Discord maybe half a dozen times, I've seen her in person once or twice, and we […]

[Selfie, ec, Katy cloistered] I love me a good cloistered quad. My natural habitat.

RE: https://social.lol/@thetonearm/115780862112373457 Still have my bootleg copy of the Beatles Christmas Album. The last couple of Christmases were a bit of a downer, what with everything 1968 and 1969, but the others showcase what a funny and multitalented group they were.

This evening's festive viewing is Season's Greetings, the 1986 TV adaption of a play by Alan Ayckbourn, who made a career out of black comedies about middle class people making each other's lives hell for no good reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rslZreUTnA Features the gorgeous Barbara […]

Most weeks I go through the supermarket duopoly's catalogues, because when you're skint, you actually have to behave like homo economicus and gather all relevant market information (not hard when the market is two firms). After two months of Christmas promotion, I cracked and bought a half leg […]

It's funny, getting old. When I try to remember any previous NSW Premier, all sorts of sad, saggy faces flit though my mind. But I can't readily name any one of them unless somebody mentions an associated corruption scandal. I couldn't name the latest one until recently, and I'm sure I'll […]

Replacement laptop power supply update (spoiler alert for those who want to binge over the holidays): It arrived on Monday, the day I learned that posties carry master keys for letterboxes. Being a diligent public servant, as all posties are, this one duly locked my letterbox so nobody would […]

I object to the spelling of "jewellery". The third "e" is redundant unless you're writing a musical adaption of Dickens (or something involving lovable cockney stereotypes) and find yourself needing the extra syllable. Without it, you can dispense with the second "l", and I think we'd all be […]

Replacement laptop power supply still not arrived in the post, which means I can't work from the library. So to try to improve my focus, I've resorted to eliminating my main source of distraction thus: sudo chmod o-x /usr/games/sol #desperatemeasure #gnome

[Possibly controversial musing] Is the term "socially conservative" anything other than a euphemism for "bigoted"?

[Not very cryptic subtoot] I am again 24 hours behind on the Fediverse, and not very successful at resisting the urge to compliment the dazzlingly brilliant and beautiful trans women in my parasocial circle. The compliments are entirely warranted, but responding to a post with gushing praise a […]

Replacement transformer for my laptop briefly hovered about my door this morning, then went back to the mail sorting station in North Melbourne because there was no unit number on the address. I put my unit number in the form at the vendor's website, and in the form at Paypal. Then the vendor […]

What?! Say it ain't so! https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/melvyn-bragg-decides-to-step-down-from-presenting-in-our-time/

RE: https://mastodon.online/@FTEpodcast/115739628221527058 Enjoying the hell out of @nathanbottomley and the boys revisiting the work of Uncle Terry. https://500yeardiary.com/s3/ Highly recommended for anybody who has had enough of the real world this year and just wants to get lost in the […]

[Old lady TMI: Things I learned while trans] The presence of a casually discarded bra on the floor or draped over a piece of furniture is absolutely not an indicator of something sexy having recently taken place. Do not believe Hollywood. No predictive value whatsoever. To say nothing of the […]

RE: https://masto.ai/@transworld/115731567781032770 I had a long time before I could get all my ducks in a row, so I could digest the wisdom of @Impossible_PhD, @oldladyplays, @zinnia, and so many others. As well as learning from the quiet examples set by many more who I'm tempted to embarrass […]

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Vibracobra23/115731140555738551 I refer the Internet to the t-shirt I was wearing yesterday. https://mastodon.social/@katyswain/115727787881815735 This is good music. Get it into you. #thatpetrolemotion

Just blew $600 on a new pair of glasses. If nobody compliments me on them I will not be impressed.

Trying to extract general principles from what seem like my arbitrary preferences, I prefer the term "free software" to "open source" because who you can be and what you can do is more important than some authority's allegedly objective measures of quality and efficiency. #capabilityapproach

[mh~] I don't know whether what I've been experiencing lately is just a slightly more extreme version of the usual emotional rollercoaster. Yesterday I was feeling so up that I was positively manic, and making ambitious plans like nobody's business. Then I forced myself to listen to a long […]

I caved and did the silly thing, because I do what the computer says. I don't know whether somebody who creates more new posts than replies should be called "The Oracle" or "The Egotist". https://mastodon.social/@katyswain/wrapstodon/2025/5972ef8bbe82e4e7 #wrapstodon2025