Total Bottles Uncovered: 4 | Last Update: 25 October 2025
What Even Is This?
Retrieved on 22nd October 2025
To Whom It May Intrigue,
My old nemesis is words. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a good vocabulary under my belt from a lifetime of being more interested in pages than screens, and I am keenly aware of how to string them into a semi-coherent sentence. So it's not specifically those I take issue with. What I struggle with is distilling the noisy silence into something tangible and legible to another person.
Don't panic. Firstly, I need to emphasise I am absolutely fine. You do not need to quietly advise me to research certain areas in the world of mental health, I assure you I am probably aware of what you're talking about. Secondly, and more importantly, this isn't going to turn into a vent space. The truth is, I saw my pal Wren start something similar and I stole the idea because, hey, I'm always saying I need to be more 'personable' on the internet and it's a good way to force myself to tackle my issues with words head on. Exposure is good for the brain, and not in the influencer way. Guh.
As for the theming, don't think too much about it, I'm just a sucker for the sea and I couldn't skip the opportunity to tie it to that in the biggest stretch known to mankind. What can I say, I'm a predicable shorebird.
Til next time,
Kast [•<
The Beginning and Split Ends
Retrieved on 22nd October 2025
Thames
Northwest backing west, 7 to severe gale 9
Rough or very rough, becoming moderate to rough later
Squally showers
Visibility good, occasionally poor
To Whom It May Intrigue,
I got my haircut today! Small achievement, I know, but something I need to make ridiculously clear: I despise people being uncomfortably close to me. Combine that with small talk and it manifests itself as a crazy stressful experience to endure. But I did it, and my hair no longer is at an irritating length. Huzzah!
Whilst there, I spend my brain time pondering these very messages. I chose to add a snippet of today's shipping forecast as flavour text. For those not in the know, it's the weather forecast for the sea, so ships (nudge nudge) and their crew know exactly what the conditions are. It's also got a bit of a cult following from people who have never been on a boat in their life, but like it for the ambiance and mystical vibes, all narrated by a usually-soothing voice. Except you have to read it. So if you want, you could sing it to yourself with the raw passion of a West End actor.
I'm also still pondering this page, design-wise. It's ugly right now, because I coded this yesterday night with zero plan and the vaguest of ideas and now I'm eating the consequences. If you return in a couple of days, and the page looks drastically different, that's why. I'll update the version number if I do. Consistency is key.
I spent the rest of my day beginning work on my annual Christmas card. Yeah, I know, groan, it's only October, dammit, all of that stuff. I agree. But last year, when I sent it to friends across the pond, it didn't arrive until January and I'm choosing to be more prepared this time. It's a cute design though, I'm excited for it.
Right, okay, that's enough typing for one day. Tomorrow, uhhh... Yes!
Til next time,
Kast [•<
Discworld and a Penguin Called Snow Cone
Retrieved on 22nd October 2025
Thames
West or southwest, veering northwest, 6 to gale 8
Moderate or rough, becoming rough or very rough later
Rain and squally showers
Visibility good, occasionally poor
To Whom It May Intrigue,
I have never read Discworld. This is probably not surprising for the general populace who only engage with my art, but the thing is I adore absurdism and satire. One of my favourite pieces of media I have ever consumed is The Accidental Death of an Anarchist. I watched the old Channel 4 adaptation a while back and it is bizarre and very tongue in cheek. I highly recommend watching it, it's a blast.
[CW for ACoaA: the ableist r-slur is used at some point. The downsides of old media]
Now everything I know about Discworld implies pretty heavily to me that I'd probably enjoy it. What has held me off, other than the outrageous quantity of novels (41 is a crime), is that I read Good Omens.
I did not like Good Omens.
Now I can't comment on the TV show, I never watched it (and I'm pleased about that considering the allegations), but the book was just so boring to me, and I found myself rolling my eyes a good number of times throughout the experience. Maybe this was just a fluke, or maybe it was his co-author's contributions that made me dislike it, but I fear that I will pick up Discworld, with all the excitement fuelled by other's glowing recommendations, and be ultimately disappointed.
Of course, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, but considering Discworld has once again popped up in my periphery to taunt me, I have been thinking about it again. Also doubly doesn't matter, because I already have a horrific amount to read. Blegh.
Now I have scared off a good chunk of my readership (I will not apologise), onto other stuff. My collection of old pins has increased! Pin collecting was a prominent hobby during the Soviet period, and there are so many incredible designs, ignoring the propaganda ones. I want to digitise them and make a pinboard on my website, I think that would be cute.
On the art side of things, I made a small Telegram sticker pack of my penguin guy, Snow Cone! Y'all can download it here. I love this guy and I'll probably make another pack in the future :]
My friend Wren also made this PHENOMENAL little pixel animation of Snow Cone and I am sobbing uncontrollably, look at my funky little guy!!!! They be MOVING and A-SCHMOOVING!!!
Time for me to zip my beak. Go make a hot drink. You deserve one.
Til next time,
Kast [•<
PS. I may be updating this site later today. So the website may look different! If it doesn't then oops...
The Evolution of a Music Taste
Retrieved on 25th October 2025
Thames
West or northwest 6 to gale 8
Moderate or rough in south, otherwise rough or very rough
Rain and showers
Visibility good, occasionally poor
To Whom It May Intrigue,
My favourite music artist list has changed quite drastically since I was a young child. I was raised on 80s pop music and due to overexposure, I disliked it immensely. I followed like a sheep to a flock to pop music and tolerated that for a time, my downloaded songs mixing MIKA and Coldplay with edgy rock music like Three Days Grace that I stole from my sister. And then, seeking to be "original", I briefly ran to instrumental music because I was oh so tired of the music I was consuming.
The first artist I ever discovered by myself was The Oh Hellos.
Now this was a pivotal moment in my music discovery journey. This was well before they were truly popular, but they're noteworthy for two reasons. One, of the bands I have listed so far, this is the only one I still actively listen to. Two, it came into my life around the same time that my then-favourite band was getting heat for the way they responded to certain world events at that time.
Side babble here, but I am someone who will throw an artist away if they hint at unsavoury viewpoints. I mean this should be for obvious reasons (I am a trans man. I don't think I need to spell out more). But my firm stance in this meant that when I threw away this band, I had nothing to listen to, and it forced my hand into finding new stuff.
The second band that really transformed my music taste was Pink Floyd.
Now, as I've alluded to earlier, I had pretty much written off all music from the 80s (this will be ironic later on, you'll see why) and assumed that I wasn't missing out on anything that came out before that. But my at-the-time-mutuals (now friends) kept mentioning Pink Floyd on socials, and a pal from Uni recommended them to me personally. I was stubborn until a booktuber also started talking about them. So, feeling that this was no longer a coincidence, I listened to my first ever Pink Floyd song (ignoring Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2), The Trial.
The Wall is now my favourite album of all time. To the point where I actively have plans to make a zine based around it. I legitimately think it is a masterpiece and I love it oh so much. But more relevantly, it broke my mind. I realised I had been missing out, it opened the floodgates to a bunch of 60s and 70s artists I would have never tried.
Nowadays I listen to everything and anything. Nothing is barred, the strange, the sad, the silly... All is welcome. My favourite artist changes every two seconds, but since March I have been heavily enraptured by Chris Rainbow and I listen to him daily.
My other favourite artist right now is XTC... An 80s band.... The very decade of music I thought I would hate eternally has grown on me. I have a Wham! song saved. I listen to Curiosity Killed The Cat more often than should be reasonable. Growth is beautiful :)
I will link my two main playlists here. This one is everything I currently like right now and acts as my daily listening playlist. And this one tracks all of my absolute favourite songs from my early days until now.
I am noticing a trend with these messages where I ramble about one topic for ages, and then actually tell you what I did with my day. So uh, welcome to the "I actually talk about other things" section I guess!
Yesterday, after my entry, I updated this page a bit to make it look less ugly. It's now passable, hooray! There are still things I want to change to make it less bland looking, but I want to move on to other pages! My idea for this website has always been to be a strange interactive experience. The navigation sitemap is going to be a fake London Underground map. I am going to make every web designer's nightmare. Cohesion be damned!
I also finished the last time-sensitive art piece on my queue!!! My Trello board is finally empty, which means I can start gearing up for opening properly and making examples and all that good stuff. I am excited... When I resigned a few weeks ago from my crazy stressful job, I had this fear at the back of my head that I wouldn't be able to knuckle down and do art full time. But I actually completed everything ahead of schedule, which is insane to my ADHD riddled brain. I am praying to keep this momentum going :>
Right-o! Time for me to stop typing. Listen to your favourite song for me (and maybe send it to me on Bsky, I am always seeking new tunes)
