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\n\n“If we write properly, we get accused of being AI — it’s absolutely ridiculous. Long term, I think it’s going to be a big problem.” — Aldan Creo, grad student studying AI detection at UC San Diego.
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So we’ve built detectors that penalize writing well. Students are paying $20/month to make their own work sound worse just to pass a broken test. Non-native English speakers are getting flagged at higher rates. One student said she rewrites everything until the detector approves it — not to cheat, but to survive.
\nAt what point does “proving you’re human” become the assignment? Link
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-31T03:01:19-04:00", "url": "https://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/03/31/if-we-write-properly-we.html", "tags": ["Tech \u0026 Gadgets","Writing","AI"] }, { "id": "http://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/03/27/my-accidental-ai-writing-stack.html", "title": "My Accidental AI Writing Stack", "content_html": "
I didn’t plan to build an AI writing stack. I just kept getting curious.
\nThat’s usually how it starts with me. One tool, one question, and one thought that won’t leave me alone: could this actually help?
\nOver the past year, I’ve messed around with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Notion AI. Not because I wanted to hand my writing off to a robot, but because I wanted to know where these things actually fit into my process. Could they help with research? Wrangle my notes? Or would everything start sounding like it came out of a corporate press release?
\nSo, I started poking around.
\nHere’s the part that surprised me most. It’s also the part that makes my experience a little different from most people writing about AI tools.
\nI’m Deaf. English is my second language, and ASL is my first. Writing has never come easy. It’s something I’ve had to work at, think about, and keep getting better at over time. I overthink sentences. I overwrite when a simpler version would land harder. Sometimes I’ll repeat the same idea in two different places without even realizing it. Sometimes I go hunting for a word and it just won’t come. And sometimes I hit a wall and the whole draft stalls out.
\nThat’s where these tools started making real sense to me.
\nThey don’t do the writing. They help me see my own writing more clearly than I can when I’m too close to it. One catches the repetition I missed. Another finds the word I was hunting for. Another asks the question that unsticks me when I’ve been staring at the same paragraph for twenty minutes. Sometimes one of them suggests something I hadn’t even considered: a different angle, a cleaner structure, or a connection I walked right past.
\nBut I’m still the one making the calls. Every suggestion is just that—a suggestion. The writing is still mine. The voice is still mine. The curiosity that started all of this is still mine.
\nThe internet loves asking whether AI will replace writers. My experience so far says it’s not even close. It just feels like having better company while you work. For someone who spent years feeling like English was a wall I kept climbing, that company has been worth a lot.
\nWhether that changes, I have no idea. But right now it’s working, and that’s enough.
", "date_published": "2026-03-27T10:32:44-04:00", "url": "https://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/03/27/my-accidental-ai-writing-stack.html", "tags": ["Personal","Tech \u0026 Gadgets","Writing","AI","Long Read"] }, { "id": "http://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/09/ive-always-wanted-to-start.html", "content_html": "I’ve always wanted to start a bullet journal. It was created by a designer who needed a better way to stay organized and focused. The idea of having one simple place for goals, habits, and daily tasks really appeals to me. Might finally give it a shot this year. Link, Link, and Link
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-09T11:43:00-04:00", "url": "https://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/09/ive-always-wanted-to-start.html", "tags": ["Personal","Lifestyle","Writing"] }, { "id": "http://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/09/building-meaning-in-finite-time.html", "title": "Building Meaning in Finite Time", "content_html": "You're lying in bed, scrolling. Two hours vanish before you even realize it's happening—until suddenly you do. And there it is: the awareness. Your book's still on the nightstand. Your essay's waiting on your laptop. The puzzle's half-finished on the table. The coloring supplies are untouched.
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\nI catch myself here, too. Not in a guilt-spiral way, but in that quiet moment where you realize: this is finite time, and I’m choosing how it goes. That’s when everything shifts. Because it’s not really about doing enough—it’s about whether I’m actually building something that feels like mine.
\n![\"fpSO3vf.jpg\"](\"https://iili.io/fpSO3vf.jpg\")
Here’s the wild part: we know we’re going to die. We know our time is limited. And somehow, that knowledge doesn’t usually send us running toward meaning—it just… sits there. Heavy. Sometimes paralyzing. Sometimes ignored. We scroll instead.
\nBut here’s where it gets interesting. That same limited time that should crush us? It’s also what gives us permission to choose differently. Knowing we won’t live forever makes life feel pointless and makes it matter. Both at the same time. That’s the odd thing we’re all living with.
\nThink about it. If we had endless time, would anything be urgent? Would anything be precious? Would you actually care about finishing that book, or would you just keep scrolling because there’s always tomorrow?
\nThe limited time isn’t the problem. The problem is pretending we have more time than we do, and then being shocked when we look up and realize we’ve spent it on things that don’t feed us.
\nI used to think building meaning meant achieving something big. Something impressive that proved your life mattered.
\nBut that’s not what’s happening when I sit down to write. Or when I’m deep in a puzzle, completely absorbed. Or when I’m finally reading the book that’s been calling to me for months. Or when I’m in that meditative space of coloring, just… being present with something my hands are doing.
\nMeaning isn’t always loud. It’s not always finished. Sometimes it’s just the practice of choosing—over and over—to do the things that make you feel alive. To read instead of scroll. To create instead of consume. To be present instead of distracted.
\nWhen I write, I’m not building meaning because I think my words will change the world. I’m building it because the act of writing—of finding my voice, of wrestling with ideas, of putting something that’s mine into the world—that’s what makes me feel like I’m actually living, not just existing. Same with the puzzle. Same with the coloring. Same with cracking open a new book and disappearing into someone else’s world for an afternoon.
\nThese aren’t distractions from life. They are life. Meaning is a practice, not a destination. It’s what you build in the small, intentional choices you make with your limited time.
\nHere’s something I’ve been sitting with: our lives are limited, but the things we create—the connections we make, the work we do, the person we become through these choices—those matter beyond just us.
\nYou don’t have to believe in an afterlife to understand this. You just have to look at what lasts: a book that changed someone’s thinking. A conversation that shifted how someone saw themselves. The memory of someone’s kindness. The impact of someone choosing presence over distraction, meaning over numbness.
\nWhen you build something—whether it’s writing, a creative practice, a relationship, or just the habit of choosing what matters—you’re reaching beyond your own limited timeline. You’re part of something bigger than yourself. That’s not about being remembered or famous. It’s about the quiet knowledge that how you spend your time matters to people around you. That your choice to read instead of scroll, to create instead of consume, to be present instead of numb—those choices ripple out. Not because they’re perfect or impressive, but because they’re real. They’re yours.
\nLook, you already know you’re limited in time. You already feel the weight of that sometimes, usually when you’re quiet and thinking. The question isn’t whether you’ll run out of time—you will. The question is: what are you going to do with the time you have?
\nNot in a frantic, productivity-obsessed way. But in a deliberate way that’s true to who you actually are and what actually feeds your soul.
\nMaybe it’s finally picking up that book. Maybe it’s committing to your writing, even when it feels small and insignificant. Maybe it’s giving yourself permission to sit with a puzzle or a coloring page without feeling guilty that you’re “not being productive.” Maybe it’s just this: the next time you catch yourself scrolling instead of building, instead of reading, instead of creating—pause. Notice the choice. And then ask yourself: what am I really wanting right now? And is this how I want to spend this hour?
\nBecause here’s what I’ve learned: limited time isn’t a tragedy. It’s an invitation. It’s the universe’s way of saying, “You get to choose. You don’t have much time, and that’s exactly why what you choose matters so much.”
\nYour limited time is your most valuable resource. And you’re allowed to spend it on things that feel meaningful to you—even if they’re small, even if they’re quiet, even if nobody else understands why they matter. That’s how you build a life that’s actually yours.
\n", "date_published": "2026-02-09T09:00:00-04:00", "url": "https://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/09/building-meaning-in-finite-time.html", "tags": ["Writing","Deep Dive","The Deep End series","Long Read"] }, { "id": "http://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/08/i-have-not-been-asked.html", "content_html": "I have not been asked why I become a writer, but I will answer anyways. Like she said, reasons are: words bring me joy and I always question constantly about everything, I always learn new every day and would write about them. The quote was from this link, she was talking about the burnout, but I just thought I share her quote and want to share with you.
\n\n\n", "date_published": "2026-02-08T13:10:00-04:00", "url": "https://tobygeeksout.micro.blog/2026/02/08/i-have-not-been-asked.html", "tags": ["Writing"] } ] }When people ask me why I became a writer, I have plenty of reasons to list: Words bring me joy. I ask questions constantly. - Isobel Whitcomb
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