AI slop is permeating the Internet and nobody is noticing

I started reading on Wattpad sometime last year, drawn to GroveltoHeA's stories. But recently I've noticed that so many of the Wattpad stories (by other authors) are starting to have the same staccato cadence of writing: with just one or two sentences per paragraph, as if a paragraph cannot hold a full thought. 

It's like these authors are all writing the same way. There's no variety, no distinctive way of recognizing one author's style from another. It's giving AI, and it's very disappointing. I mean, I don't know for sure if they are using AI or not, but it doesn't make sense for everyone to be writing the same way all of a sudden.

I also see this in a lot of shared Facebook posts -- the human interest stories. But what is scary is that no one seems to be noticing. I saw people in my reading groups commenting, "Oh, this was a good story" but could you not see that the writing was so stilted and canned? 

What this is telling me is that people can't tell good writing from bad. And the people that can tell are slowly being "trained" not to notice, because guess what? When you read the same type of thing often enough, it becomes normal and your brain stops telling you that hey, this piece of writing isn't up to the usual standards, because the "usual standards" have slipped down. 

And, AI is just going to continue spotting out more of the same, because AI is trained on stuff posted on the internet, so AI will scrape Wattpad and then be all like, "Yes, this confirms the pattern! This is desirable!" and then we are all screwed. 

This is all very depressing to me. Writing is supposed to be a creative endeavour. Like all forms of art, it's about self-expression, giving form to your thoughts and feelings and ideas. You express yourself in a way that is unique to you. The way you write, your voice, is personal. The idea that a piece of writing produced by AI can be just as good is antithetical to the whole point and reason for writing. 

When breakfast looks super presentable hehe

Very proud of this breakfast, so must post! Hahaha. I took a bite of it before I realised that, hey it looks quite impressive & Instagrammable, should take photo 🤣

Had time this morning due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday, so I put this together. Poached egg, avocado, and "herbs & spices" cream cheese spread on buttered sourdough bread. 

I used a shortcut for poaching the eggs: Fill a medium-sized bowl halfway with water, crack a raw egg into the water. Microwave for 1 min 20 secs (timing depends on your microwave and how done you want your yolk to be; it took a bit of experimentation to discover the perfect timing for mine). Scoop out the egg and serve. 

This Arla brand is the cream cheese spread I used. I like the tanginess and that it doesn't just taste like cheese, if that makes sense? It doesn't taste sweet, more savory. 

Loved the breakfast, 10/10 would do again. If only all mornings could be this leisurely! 

I'm in my cooking era

Today, I: 

• Googled whether baby spinach leaves are safe to eat raw... while eating them raw (with buttered sourdough bread and garlic & herb cream cheese spread)

• Spent some time reading up on the difference between poached eggs and coddled eggs

• Watched videos about how to make poached eggs

• Tried making a poached egg in the microwave (fill a medium-sized bowl with water up to halfway, crack an egg into it, microwave for about 1 minute 20 secs... I tried 2 mins first and it was way overcooked, then did another for 1 min 10 secs and it was slightly undercooked) 

• Watched videos on how to make miso soup 

• Watched a video by a Japanese chef (speaking English) on how to identify if store-bought miso paste contains dashi pre-mixed into it, or is sweetened

• Watched videos showing how to cook Japanese curry in the Instant Pot using store-bought cubes of roux (I have a Philips pressure cooker, not the Instant Pot, but I'm pretty sure the pressure cooking function works the same way on both)

• Asked a friend whether the extra virgin olive oil I'd bought was suitable to be used for cooking food in the air fryer 

• Looked at various brands of hand blenders on Shopee because I want to make pumpkin soup and don't want to have to wash a whole blender (I do have a bullet blender, which I've never used 🙈)

• Put off the decision about buying the hand blender cos it's not urgent and I literally just bought a mini 1.6L Cornell multicooker and the Ninja Crispi air fryer like three weeks ago. How many gadgets does one need, anyway? (All of them!!!!)

• Did NOT cube and airfry the butternut squash that I had planned to cube and airfry, because I didn't feel hungry so I skipped dinner 

Tried & tested: Cooking frozen salmon in the microwave

Microwaved frozen salmon

Marinade salmon fillet with salt/light soy sauce, pepper, and a dash for Worcestershire sauce. Chuck into freezer. 

When you need a quick meal, take salmon out of freezer, rub rosemary powder and basil flakes onto the frozen fillet, and place in a microwave-safe dish. No need to defrost!!

Place one-third of a stick of garlic & herb butter on top of the salmon fillet. Pop in the microwave on medium heat for 2 minutes. 

Turn over and microwave on medium heat for another 1.5 mins (depends on the thickness of the fillet). 

Yes, there is such a thing as too much cheese

I made quiche again yesterday and this time I discovered that you can definitely have too much cheese in a dish, something which I did not believe before 🤣 So it is overly salty and the cheese taste is overwhelming. Oh well... still edible, as Em says, but this will teach me not to be greedy lol. 

I don't actually measure out my ingredients except for the 6 large eggs. I go by packs -- one pack of mushrooms, one-and-a-half packs of baby spinach leaves -- I put in nearly two packs of cheese, so now I know one pack should be sufficient. 

And I forgot to layer the container with baking paper first because I was so focused on putting down my layers of ingredients. Luckily it's glass and therefore should be easy to wash. If metal, once any melted cheese gets stuck to it in the baking process, that would be a pain and a half. 

Microwave cooking: Quick & easy

Tonight I nuked some bacon bits in the microwave for 50 seconds (I put them in together with the dinner roll buns -- both were from the fridge -- nuked the buns for 20 seconds to warm them up, then took the buns out and decided the bacon bits probably needed a bit more cooking, so popped them back in for another 30 seconds). Added the bacon bits to the sandwich that I assembled with mayonnaise, streaky beef brisket cold cut, and lettuce leaves. It was super tasty! 10/10 will do again, maybe without the streaky beef. I usually add dill pickles to my sandwiches also, but left them out this time.

Two nights ago I learnt that you can microwave salmon and cook it super fast and easy that way, even if it is frozen salmon. Win! 

I don't like cooking that requires a lot of prep (chopping vegetables, etc) and a lot of steps. But I also need to eat reasonably balanced and nutritious meals. During MCO I learnt that you can microwave broccoli with 3 tbsp of water for 4 mins, toss with butter and serve, and it is delicious! I would eat a whole head of broccoli a day (as part of my lunch) to fulfil my daily fibre quota. 

I love my microwave... it's the most used appliance in my kitchen 🥰 I love that clean-up is minimal and I don't need to stand over a hot stove and watch the food to make sure it doesn't boil over or get charred or whatever else that can go wrong with stove-top cooking. 

I think I have read too many romance novels

Can we talk romance plotlines for a second? The billionaire wants a kid but he wants to conceive it the old-fashioned way... Which billionaire would leave that much up to chance? You could end up having sex for years with no baby to show for it! He's much more likely to opt for IVF imo. Extract the eggs, provide the sperm, pay the lab guys to ensure there's a viable embryo, and then get her to carry the baby to term and give birth. He has all the money, he can afford IVF. He'll want to ensure he gets the kid he needs in order to secure his inheritance or whatever. 

Speaking of which, I always wondered if those types of clauses in the grandfather's will could be enforced. You know the ones: grandfather requires grandson to be married within six months in order to inherit, or all the money and other assets will be donated to charity. Surely this could be challenged in court. It seems absolutely bonkers to me. It's not like the assets are held in a trust; that would be different, the trustees would have to abide by the parameters of the trust but when it's just a stipulation in the will, can it be upheld? 

And finally, the trope where "I hate her, so to get my revenge against her, I'll force her to marry me." Err hello are you thinking quite clearly? You hate her but you want to legally tie yourself to her and see her face across the breakfast table every morning? What??? I think it's more that you hate yourself. You might need therapy, boyo.