In my opinion AI is total bollocks!!! Anyone who has tried to navigate the complete incompetence of AI virtual “assistants” will know what I’m talking about. It is so incredibly frustrating. Is this really the future that everyone wants? We can’t talk to a real person now, but instead a completely useless AI bot? Who is that helping exactly? It’s certainly not helping me – the customer.

Vast amounts of money are being spent on this display of incompetence. Why not instead invest this money in real people? In society, health and education. Jobs are being taken away from people, who were actually quite capable at doing this work, and instead being given to annoyingly stupid systems that don’t work!!

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Paul messaged me the other day to say a cyclone was coming in. I confirmed that yes, one was indeed on the way. His response was not concern for life or property, but encouragement to go and try for 200 feet in the wind. There is nothing quite like a challenge from Paul to get me out there on a stormy day.

Staying motivated is important. With casting, there comes a point where improvement stops being accidental and starts requiring actual work. Someone I used to train with in another sport had a rule: don't practice the 80% you can already do, practice the 20% you are not so good at. That's where the gains are. So I appreciated the message. It was well timed.This is not a story of training that 20%, but at least the weather conditions are difficult and mastery of this represents improvements.

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If anyone asks “how's the fishing going in the Bahamas”, my initial response is “it's very very windy!” however it is also amazing. Besides catching the fish, there's lots of ospreys pretty much on every flat we go to (they seem as common here as red kites in Oxfordshire), plus rays, a few of which I have nearly stood on before they have startled and fled away. The one positive about the strong winds is that they keep you cool in this heat, a downside is that besides making the casting tricky, the constant waves can drag your fly line before you've started to strip the fly, sometimes causing the hook to snag something on the bottom. I've had this a few times where the snag has such a hold of the fly that I can't move it and I've just had to frustratingly watch the bones move around where the fly is – where I could have got a take, or if not, could have recast a few times to improve the chances of catching one of them. On these occasions I pray that the bone may dig up the snagged fly, however this has only happened on one occasion that I remember.

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That's old saying in Finland, not sure if you are familiar with this. It refers to the typical, harsh and dramatic depiction of nature in Russian films. And wind on those is very strong, cutting or chilling. If you think about  you can even hear it fi-uuuuuu.
 
Last weekend we handled our reindeers at farm and drove Satu's reindeers to little north and enjoy summer, calfing is just behind corner, well in one month. They got gps devices so it gives us peace of mind.
 
Weather has been mostly sunny and warm and we have been having two ice fishing day during week, not huge success yet some decent perch to cook. It has been little slower life, except Wednesday.

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So last week I mentioned my eye. It seems good now and I don’t have to run around with blurred vision any more.
But it caused a bit of a problem when I attended a small competition during the easter. Wounded eye and I couldn’t use contact lenses, so I was not able to wear sun glasses. And this isn’t the first time for this happening. So I should probably get a pair of prescription sun glasses. What’s the best allround lens colour for a fly fishing competition?

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My visits to New York are always nostalgic. I lived here for thirty-five years and will again someday. My days are filled with a greater variety and number of activities than I enjoy in LA, mostly curated by Jackie, who has ants in her pants and doesn’t value naps. Many of her friends are active in migrant Asian community’s political and cultural organizations. The museum exhibitions and cultural events we go to are often eye-opening. Some shine a new light on my past experiences. 

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