Förra helgen ordnade jag vår senaste novellfika, och temat var “Robotar”.

En av novellerna var faktiskt min gamla favorit: Robot Dreams av Isaac Asimov. Den andra novellen var EPICAC av Kurt Vonnegut. Det var första gången jag läste EPICAC. Den handlar om en AI som blir kär i en mänsklig kvinna.

Pajbakning

Det samma kväll bakade jag en persika, björnbar och custard paj:

Den behövde inte mycket extra socker eftersom persikorna redan var så söta. Resultatet fick högt betyg av en mycket kvalificerad panel.

Rock Orchestra

Yesterday, I randomly met one of the musicians playing in that night’s Rock Orchestra at a tiny coffee shop here, right after he’d flown in from London. He was kind enough to give a couple of us guest tickets to the sold out show at UKK.

The show was so much fun. I relived my teenage emo years with Papa Roach and SOAD, and rock classics with renditions of Aerosmith, Metallica, AC/DC, and some others.

I’ve been attending more live music shows than usual lately. Mike Oldfield tribute, Kent, this… and in May… Ghost!!!

Cat-proofing the balcony - and rose prep

I finally put up a net on the balcony for cat safety. Now I can leave the door open all day.

It was just in time, since I’m going away for a few days soon and really wanted to be able to have the sitter let the cats out on the balcony while I’m gone without worrying about them jumping onto the railing.

As you can see, it’s in quite close proximity to surrounding balconies. The idea is to create a living privacy screen with roses and maybe some other climbers. My two climbing roses also arrived. I’m only keeping them outside during the day for now while they acclimate.

The balcony is still a bit messy with setup stuff, but it’ll be green and cozy soon.

Roses and mouse ears

I got a rose timing tip last week. Apparently, they’re ready to be put outside when the leaves of birch trees are as large as a mouse’s ear. So I’ve been keeping a close eye on the birches around here lately.

Rigel enjoys the fact that I let him sit on the back of the balcony couch now (since there’s no risk of him hopping onto the railing with the net there). He shows his affection with very aggressive head-butting.

Other explorations

I hadn’t been to the tropical greenhouse yet since moving except for a brief visit a couple of weeks ago, but last week I decided to do a bit of work and study there. It was so warm and peaceful and alive. I really should’ve taken advantage of the temperatures there during the winter, but am glad I took my time with the places I explored; this was just one that needed to wait a while.

In general there are so many nice spots to work from here - both public university spaces and random cafes.

We also checked out Yocha Studio for the first… and not the last… time.

In nuclear disarmament news, last week we learned about the nuclear fuel cycle and uranium enrichment.

There is still so much to discover here. And now that the temperature is warming up and the balcony is coming along, the city is getting even cozier.