The cats are still driving me nuts. People are always driving me crazy. I still prefer cats and most animals over people, of course. And AI is bothering me. Sums up my week.

I applied for a very similar job with the company I’m currently contracting for. I guess companies are still asking for resumes, so I updated mine for the 1st time since 2024. And I thought, “Is it weird not to run it through AI?” Maybe. But I didn’t want any external opinion. Don’t care that much, plus I wanted to apply in less than an hour, so no AI advice.

Not sure I want the different work because it will likely be more hours for at least 6 months to a year. And if it involves visuospatial stuff (I have a bad spatial deficit), then I can’t do it, but it looks like it must just be writing about places, not locating them, too…because I can’t do that. I don’t want to go back to doing 10 hours a week for them. It’s not about the time. It’s more about the cognitive bandwidth. Plus, on weekdays, I’d be working after my FT job. I have nothing left for complex things on some days.

Another reason AI is driving me nuts is that I’m used to NotebookLM being different from a chatbot LLM, but it has changed, and now it’s like a person, and that’s the last thing I need. It makes overly simplified and therefore wrong assumptions. Just like people. Telling me or any autistic person to stop trying to be neurotypical, as if I would choose that, is a slap in the face. People mask because they have to for money, safety, a place to live, etc.

It’s not a choice, jackass. Yes, I meant to say that. Anyone who thinks otherwise probably doesn’t think racism, homophobia, or any kind of discrimination exists, and I don’t deal with unreasonable people or software. So leave the foolishness elsewhere.

But yes, life would be so much easier if I could just be me. Like some people can. Some more than others. The person who lives alone and doesn’t have to work can usually mask less. Some can completely stop with the neurotypical BS. So jealous. I’m nowhere near that. I read an article on autistic adults who retire, and one of the #1 things they looked forward to was not having to try to be neurotypical. But how many make it to retirement with their skills and health intact? Read the research. Not a lot.

Roommates, neighbors, coworkers, etc., can make life much more difficult…especially when a person loses the ability to fake it, AKA mask. That’s where I am right now. And people…ugh. The worst. The absolute worst is not attempting to be normal. What about murder, stealing, etc.? Nah, but Bob was nice and so normal.

So NotebookLM is now just like a person. Horrible news in tech, but it still created interesting slides I will share since it’s for a mid-year update. Ignore the obviously ignorant, don’t try to be neurotypical stuff. As if!

My Mid-Year Audit (Per NotebookLM)

Tarot Stuff…

My favorite slide…ha!

Note: I’m usually doing normal work at 10 AM, so I’m not sure what “task sprints” mean. Another example of treating one thing as a rule. I think one day I planned to take a break at 10 AM to clean the kitchen for 12 minutes. One day. Not at all the norm.

“Release the Mask: Drop neurotypical standards that act as primary Sacral Energy leaks.”

LOL. Any more unhelpful advice? A person would really suggest this. A clueless person. Yes, your life can be easy. Just stop trying to be neurotypical. Uh, good luck with getting a job. You might be one of the few who can do it.

Seriously, the only people I know who never/rarely mask at work are engineers and similar types of work. It’s not just about being social, btw. I don’t have to be social at work. It’s THINKING. Example: I need to see examples, not just read the instructions. My job is the opposite. Logical-based versus just surface-based. Doing the job fast vs doing the job right is a huge conflict. These are the things people who don’t know what autism is have no idea exist. They think it’s only social…well, then getting a non-social job would solve it. But that’s only a part of the issue. Not that many non-social jobs exist. Introverts would want those jobs too…

Btw, thinking autism is only about being social is very uh, simplistic (and incorrect). And an example of how most people think…from my view. Accept one reason for something, even if it’s wrong. Pretty much sums up underthinking.

What I Did This Week

Music of the Week

• Ellie Goulding
• Taylor Swift
• Ed Sheeran
• Kacey Musgraves

Books of the Week

I finished 5 books since I last posted. This section is longer now because I take notes during the week instead of just waiting to post here.

The Intruder by Adriane Leigh (Fiction) My rating: ★★★
Final book of The Influencer series. Glad it’s done. This was the worst of the three, but I did find something redeeming about the main character. So sadistic. Should I admire the author for taking a risk of abusing a 50 to 60-year-old woman (was going to say elderly, but unsure)? I know it’s just a book, but it was hard to read. I usually enjoy it when an author takes risks, like not having a romance work, avoiding cliches, etc. But enjoying someone’s abuse, even if the character thinks they “deserve it”? Nah. Three stars for the other parts of the book.

The Perfect Family by Lorna Dounaeva (Fiction) My rating: ★★★★
Based on a few reviews I read, I didn’t think I would like this book, but I enjoyed it more than they did. It also had the most realistic autistic kid (think he was about 8), I’ve ever read. Keep in mind this is coming from an autistic adult, so it’s possible the author aged him, but I was very impressed. The other books in the thriller genre that I’ve read just do the no eye contact and don’t have friends stereotype. And that’s it. Anyway, the book is about a mom who’s trying desperately to maintain the perfect family image. Autism, murder, and having a daughter not proficient in Latin are not ideal. BTW, I took Latin in high school, and the daughter was probably 10x better than I was. But not good enough for mom! I thought the people around them didn’t think very highly of them, so I thought the main character was delusional about “the perfect family” thing. They were very normal for the neighborhood. Normal status and money. The ending was far-fetched, but since I enjoyed 85% of the book, the ending didn’t ruin it. The author had to end the story somehow.

(Not related to this book, but I just started a book I got free about a mom and her autistic son who goes missing. I rarely get books for free because I know I can’t commit to reviewing on time, and to be honest, I find “professionally” reviewing books boring. I like just saying what comes to mind, like these “reviews”. Anyway, I’m hoping this book isn’t an obvious stereotype of an autistic kid like the stereotypical “Black friend” because I can’t do an honest review and not mention it.)

100 Ways to Understand Your Cat by Roger Tabor (Nonfiction) My rating: ★★★
For some reason, my local library on Overdrive has zero books on cat care. I find that odd. Hoopla has a few, but there’s a stricter borrowing limit, so I felt the pressure to get the right cat book. I failed. Miserably. This book is OK if someone just wants an overview of cats and is not from North America. In the US, we’ve had cats as pets for 500 years. The author is a famous biologist from the UK. One reason the book didn’t work for me is that it frames cats as if they are relatively new as pets. And in the UK, cat culture has traditionally accepted more outdoor roaming. About 75% in, the author kept mentioning how people in the United States keep their cats in the house too much. I’m far from a cat expert, but maybe indoor-only cats do want to go outside more. But that’s not the point. A person who keeps their cat indoors because they live in a city and doesn’t want it to be hit by a car or poisoned isn’t going to change their mind from this book. I wanted pet cat tips. And I didn’t get much; I couldn’t find any Cat 101 article online. And most North Americans will not be impressed with this book. At all.

For Your Own Good* by Samantha Downing (Fiction) My rating: ★★★ (really 3.50)
Not at all what I expected. A little more enjoyable, but the book is too long. I hate when authors mess up a good premise. I’ve read 2 other books by this author. One is my favorite read of 2026, and the other was good too. Conflicted about this book’s rating. I liked it, but the story dragging on made it hard to enjoy and finish. It’s a thriller/mystery, a little Dexter-like, with an unreliable narrator, and I’ll leave it there.

The Dry* by Jane Harper (Fiction) My rating: ★★★
Another dual timeline book. Once again, I didn’t care about the old story, so that kind of ruins the enjoyment of the book. I did find the present-day story very interesting, but ugh, way too much time spent on the past. I just did not care. Boring. Not relevant. Next! The pace was also too slow. This book is about a family murder in a small town in Australia. I thought it would be better, but I was wrong. Again.

*Affiliate links to summaries.

Quote of the Week