Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas but the winter weather is still a ways off

So, I was gonna do a sort-of update entry last week, but once I started writing about the tragic deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, I thought it would be more than a little tone-deaf of me to be whining about my own personal grievances in the same post, so paying my respects to the Reiners obviously took priority.

I’m not short on topics I write about at the moment. I suppose I could write about my experience doing the Belfast Punk Music Walking Tour because it was an insightful and eye-opening experience for me. I’ve always had a deep-seated love and appreciation for punk music but while I was fully aware of the local punk scene here in Northern Ireland, I never really ventured into it beyond the occasional Undertones or Stiff Little Fingers single. That’s something I’ll try to rectify going forward… provided 2026 doesn’t end up going completely topsy-turvy, that is… but needless to say, I really enjoyed the tour and I loved learning about the history of punk in this part of the world. I’d definitely recommend taking this tour if you’re into punk music or you wanna see a less traditional side of Irish music.

I could also write about that time last week when I learned that my phone’s camera has an “intelligent optimisation” feature built-in which uses AI to… well, optimise any photos I take almost instantly. Not gonna lie, I feel pretty dumb for knowing this sooner and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that. I’d like to say that I’m not entirely opposed to A.I. but if I can paraphrase Batman Forever for a moment, it raises too many questions and I don’t really have any clear answers. I’m staunchly opposed to generative AI (in other words, things like ChatGPT are an absolute no-no in my book) but I don’t know where to draw the line if there is one. Even seemingly harmless or insignificant things such as my phone’s “intelligent optimisation” are troublesome enough for me to question both my skill and my integrity as a burgeoning photographer. For what it’s worth, I did adjust the settings on my phone to “minimum” optimisation but I’m not sure if that actually resolves the inherent problem and I still feel like I can no longer be proud of the many photos I’ve taken over the past year-and-a-half. Maybe it’s time for me to dust off my trusty DSLR again. Haven’t used that thing for what feels like an eternity now.

So anything else to write about? Um… I’ve started getting into Doctor Who recently. So far, I’ve only seen at least half of the Jon Pertwee era and the entirety of Christopher Eccleston’s sadly short-lived tenure as The Doctor, and yeah, I’m really liking it. I’ve still got plenty more Who to watch before I’d ever consider myself to be a proper Whovian but I’m liking the series.

I don’t know what else I’ll get around to watching over Christmas, but I think now is a good time to wrap this up. I don’t know when my next blournal entry but I’ll be back. I can guarantee that.