Welcome.
If you’ve stumbled across this blog for the first time, the latest article isn’t necessarily the best place to start. Unlike a diary, these essays aren’t really chronological. So, if you’re looking for Pete Little’s essays and wondering where to begin, this is probably the best place. They’re simply thoughts that escaped from my cranium before they caused structural damage.
If you’re wondering what you’ll find here, the short answer is “a little of everything”. The longer answer is essays on curiosity, technology, neurodiversity, communication, philosophy, collecting odd things, and whatever else happens to be occupying my brain at the time.
So, make yourself comfortable, have a wander, and see where curiosity takes you.
Life, Philosophy & Random Musings
These are the essays where I attempt to make sense of life with varying degrees of success.
- Growing Old Without Growing Up
Why becoming an adult doesn’t necessarily mean becoming sensible. - The Universe Doesn’t Give a **** About You!
Why cosmic insignificance might actually be one of the most liberating ideas I’ve ever encountered.
Curiosity & Lifelong Learning
Some of the happiest moments in life come from realising there’s still more to discover.
- Why I Love Museums
A love letter to curiosity, history, quiet places and why knowledge never needs to justify itself. - The Wondrous View from the Top of Mount Stupid
Why discovering how little you know isn’t depressing. It’s the beginning of genuine learning. - The Surprisingly Bearable Lightness of Being Alone
Why enjoying your own company isn’t the same as being lonely. A personal reflection on solitude, relationships, happiness, and finding contentment. - The Curious Value of Learning Things You’ll Probably Never Need
A love-letter to the surprising value of learning something you thought you’d never need, then being proved otherwise!
Neurodiversity & Identity
Living life with a slightly different operating system.
- The Slow Creep of Autistic Burnout
When coping quietly becomes exhausting. - Why Neurodivergent People Often Become Collectors
Why some of us surround ourselves with fascinating objects and wonderfully obscure hobbies. - Pride Month and the Anxious Asexual
Reflections on belonging, passing privilege, and finding my place within the LGBTQIA+ community. - The Curious Freedom of Pretending to Be Somebody Else
How dressing as a Victorian Ghostbuster taught me that pretending to be somebody else is sometimes the easiest way to stop pretending to be “normal”. - Two Wolves? No. Inside Me Are Four Petes
I don’t have two wolves fighting inside me. I have four Petes. Adult Pete, Five-Year-Old Pete, Autistic Pete, and ADHD Pete all have opinions. A humorous look at identity, growing older, and discovering that perhaps we’re all a committee rather than a single person.
Technology & The Internet
Technology isn’t just about computers. It’s about people.
- The Internet Was More Interesting Before Everything Became a Platform
A love letter to the gloriously weird web that existed before algorithms took over. - This Post Was Written by AI
Why people keep accusing me of writing like an artificial intelligence, despite having sounded like this since approximately 1975.
Communication
The strange ways human beings attempt to exchange information.
- Small Talk Is TCP Handshaking for Humans
Why conversations often resemble network protocols more than meaningful exchanges of information. - My Life as a Stammerer
How acting accidentally taught me to speak.
The Senses
How I experience the world, and occasionally fail to.
- The Difference Between Sound and Noise
Why I adore music, rely on noise-cancelling headphones, and regard office chatter as a form of biological warfare. - Smell Is Basically a Superpower
What it’s like to be born without a sense of smell and why, to me, smelling things is somewhere between X-ray vision and telepathy.
If You’re Not Sure Where To Start…
If I had to choose a handful of Pete Little’s essays that best capture what this blog is about, I’d probably suggest these:
- Growing Old Without Growing Up
- Small Talk Is TCP Handshaking for Humans
- The Internet Was More Interesting Before Everything Became a Platform
- The Universe Doesn’t Give a **** About You!
- My Life as a Stammerer
Together they probably explain me better than I ever could.
Happy wandering.
And a gentle reminder…
Please do try not to trip over the slide rules.