Update on July and August
So that whole "I'm going to blog my coursework and keep everyone in the loop on what I've been reading!" thing?
Yeah...sorry. July was...a month. August is still...a month. I mean, I'm doing fine, I've just been ridiculously busy, it's been so hot that I've been mostly wiped out, so I spent most of my time trying to desperately stay on top of everything and blogging just...kinda fell by the wayside.
Of course, now that I've submitted my coursework and I'm just waiting for the next module to begin, I'm entirely at loose ends and about the only thing I have going for me is trying to get every achievement in House Flipper Remastered, so, really, I should just get back into this.
But, first, a summary of why July was a month, with all the things I did. And a few photos, mostly with the Lemur in them.
June 29-30 - July 1-5 — Information Security Principles and Pansy Division
Getting into information security and business was interesting, but the professor kept on focusing on Systems Theory and one of the activities was asking an LLM about security, and...no. No, I will not do that, thank you.
I did get to make a pretty neat little diagram though, showing security challenges for a system.
(Very randomly — has anyone actually ever looked at the HTML spewed out by Canvas? I mean, dang, I was just looking for the alt text I put on that, and the sheer amount of <div>s just killed me.)
And then that weekend I went and saw Pansy Division, which was an absolute delight filled with middle-aged queers remembering their pop-punk days.
And they played "Homo Christmas", which is still my favourite holiday song.
July 6-12 — Security Vulnerabilities and My Chemical Romance
I wish I could say that online security was still very interesting, but it was starting to really show some issues here. Aside from using a company's completely fake "here are the attacks that are happening right now" map, the essential reading was the FBI's Internet Crimes Report, and...yeah.
I mean, there wasn't too much that was shocking in there, but the fact that "Threats of Violence" was listed as a crime without any indication of what that meant and who was being charged with it... Yeah.
But fine, whatever, you know what was more fun?
My Chemical Romance at Wembley hell yeaaaaaah.
Except for the heatwave and the fact that my seat was directly under the sun for all the time before the band started, I had a wonderful time. I still have regrets that I didn't go to their Danger Days tour, when they played the Nottingham arena and I could've gotten the bus, but, hey, I've seen them now. I've heard tens of thousands of elder emos shouting "I'm not okay". It was a damn good time.
Plus, I got to actually meet Mary in person, someone who I've been online friends with since the late 90s, and we were young and ridiculous back then and old and ridiculous now.
July 13-19 — Insider Threats and Electromagnetic Field
Yeah, okay, theoretically I was doing reading about insider threats and pointing out that Tesla's big company data breach only happened because all their data was in the same place and why are your customer complaints in the same area as your employees' social security numbers why is that even accessible...
But, naw, there was something much bigger to focus on. Electromagnetic Field.
Admittedly, it was so hot that I spent most of the time just in a vague state of "something is happening, but I do not have the energy to see it", and I was sober the entire time because all I could stand to drink was water with electrolyte tabs in it, but I still had a wonderful time, surrounded by wonderful people, seeing wonderful things, and just generally being delighted.
Plus, I got to tell the entire camp about Coelcanth Saturday so fuck yeaaaaaaaah.
July 20-26 — Reading Week, Nottingham Pride, and Hot 8 Brass Band
Reading week just means I spent a lot of time reading a lot of papers that were alternating between cybersecurity and systems theory. I got to read James Gibson's original Theory of Affordances, which was interesting, and I enjoyed that, but the rest...eh.
Then Saturday was Nottingham Pride, which I went to well after the crowds died down, so I didn't get to pick up as many freebies as I have in the past (Boots loves throwing money at Pride, so they always have a stand where they're giving out piles and piles of random free toiletries), but we did get to chill and enjoy being in a nice queer space. Plus, there was a craft fair, and I got to pick up some pretty bitchin' comics by Ollie Hicks
(Way ahead of you there, buddy.)
Then we hustled over to the Rescue Rooms to see the Hot 8 Brass Band, a New Orleans classic.
I wore my Wagner's Meat shirt, but, alas, no one mentioned it.
July 27-31 - August 1-2 — Cyberawareness and Sandy Bawls
"Cyberawareness" wasn't too bad. I mean, I had to actually write a summary of a paper using academic language, and that practically killed me, but it was good practice for the literature review I had to do. And I also had to make a ridiculous little presentation summarising the paper, and that I excel at.
They wanted us to do a video presentation and...no. No. It's too hot. Don't make me do things like that.
But all of that was nothing, because I got to spend Friday evening performing in my first real drag show.
I've done open mike nights before, but in this case, I went up to Hull specifically to be a part of a seafaring adventure.
I had a lovely time. I was first on, so that was kinda terrifying, but my combination of ridiculous sailor garb and Salty Dick's Uncensored Sailor Songs joined together to be a lot of fun.
Plus, now I have a loose guide as to how to organise my David Lynch Drag Revue in March.
Also, before I went, I finally went and made SandyBawls.com. I'm going to add more to it at some point, but, generally, having a website is a nice thing to have.
August 3-16 — Nature of Cyber-Criminality and coursework writing
Oh, this is definitely where the wheels fell off on my course. Not only did I have to sit through an interview with a "cybersecurity expert" who, as near as I can tell, was a scammer who got busted for doing scams, then did more scams, and now have discovered the scam of being a "consultant" (it really tells that the only actual information I could find about him online was his LinkedIn page and a few interviews he did with my professor), but then one of the papers I had to read was where my professor went and investigated crime on the Internet...
...by going to Omegle and asking people "what's the worst thing you've done on the Internet".
Yeah.
And, like, come on, you can't just put a single sentence disclaimer going "Oh, people might be lying but they might not be and therefore I have to take all of this at face value". It's entirely anonymous. You have no reason whatsoever to tell the truth. You are going to LIE and LIE SOME MORE and SAY RIDICULOUS THINGS. You can't treat anything that's said as a definitive source!
Just...ugh. And having to sit there and pretend that this was serious research. And the scammer. And everything else. I was just very much in the "Why am I even here, what even is this terrible thing, why what is wrong with the world" phase of mind.
Which did not remotely help with my paper writing. You want me to do a 3000 word critical literature review on a "disruptive technology"? But all you really give me as a list is blockchain, 3D printing, and AI?
...
I wrote about NFTs. I hate NFTs. I've always hated NFTs. And even though I got to write that they were a scam and everyone should be mad at themselves for going along with it, I still can't believe that there are people writing this year who still think NFTs are a good thing.
I also had to create a giant chart focusing on cybersecurity affordances in another disruptive technology. I chose 3D printing, which was fine, I got to bring up a lot of random things and didn't include the "you can print GUNS" hysteria. Plus, I got to include a paper about 3D-printed chocolate, which, let's face it, is always a delight.
But, really, I just need to pass this module. I don't want anything more, I don't expect anything more, I just need to pass so I don't have to take this module again.
I'm still stressing out about it a bit, but soon enough, it will be evaluated, and then I'll move on to "Information Management and Visualisation", which will be so much better, oh my god. "How can managers move from the different possibilities that data create in order to generate meaningful information in a business context?" Yes, PLEASE, give it to me.
August 17-23 — Science and Zoology
We went down to London for my husband's birthday, which meant
The Zoo, which I always love going to, because I can see lemurs and lions and tigers and komodo dragons and giant salamanders.
The Science Museum, where I nerded out so hard over the Wellcome Collection.
But I'm still wiped out.
And I feel like I should be doing something. I mean, I'm applying for jobs, I'm doing things, but I still feel like I should be doing more.
So I'm going to go back to W3Schools and figure out what I can do. I don't think I'm going to go back to JavaScript just yet, because I've forgotten a huge chunk of it, and I need to get my head around it, but maybe SQL? That'll help with the information management I have coming up, I bet.
Oooh, wait. They have a Data Science section! Well, there we go.
So look forward to that. And look forward to me trying to kickstart this whole thing again.
Today's Sticker
It's rare that I actually show my stickers on things, but when I got Eldritch Rach's July Sticker Club set, I was so delighted by it that the Loch Ness Monster had to go on my new course notebook.
I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with all those ridiculously cute jackalopes, though. Or that Mongolian Death Worm. Or the Fresno Nightcrawlers. God, though, the urge to just get the jackalopes tattooed going around, like, my ankle or something...that would be a delight.