My (Not-so?) Grand Return

I'm ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Skullington FB sticker
by Jared Nickerson

Dang! Was that the longest I've gone without posting an update to this blog? I'm too lazy to sift back through nearly 10 years (dear lord, this blog is OVER 10 years old!? HOW!?) of posts to double check, so we'll just say it probably is, at least in recent memory.  

Also, side note, seems my first ever post to this blog was September 10, 2010! With all the pandemic and election craziness I didn't even register that! So... sorry, blog, for neglecting the milestone of me doing this for a solid decade! Belated happy birthday? 

Generated by Bitmoji

I guess you guys were spared from a sappy and lengthy reflective blog post as I recapped my experiences blogging for a decade.

"Whew!"
Image generated by Bitmoji

Anyway, April's been a bit of a rough month for me. Nothing too heavy, but just the weight of us doing this whole Pandemic Life(TM) BS for over a year now. I was able to have a nice little Easter celebration with our niece and nephew; tag-teaming between playing with them and helping the hubby grill dinner. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law tried to rein in her father who was in uber-stressed mode. So... that... was... a holiday....

After Easter, work has been fairly non-stop. Let's see, my April list has consisted of (roughly):

• A surge of customers as people are getting their tax refunds and/or the stimulus checks and/or have been vaccinated and feel more comfortable entering stores again.
• Updating clearance for the first time since, like, JUNE (and, for Reasons(TM), updating the clearance is pretty much a week-long process)
• Updating sale tags
• Updating product pricing and figuring out the nation-wide sale prices for these pieces (something else that nearly took a week)
• Battling with the company website not having some products up (which meant I had to track down images and information to put onto the website), having products mislabeled, posting and pricing up a PIECE of a complete set even though said piece CANNOT be sold individually, and sizing information from manufacturers having typos, so the dimensions on some pieces were MASSIVELY inaccurate on our website.
• Dealing with a random influx of angry reviews and trying to explain why I can't do anything about them to the owners.
• Taking webinars about how to promote the business to try to get more POSSITIVE reviews, and then try to convince the owners to do the things suggested in the webinars said owners signed me up to take.
• Playing gate keeper to the seven or so companies that now have my office number and work email (thanks to the aforementioned webinars) all trying to get the owners to buy their website add-ons to help improve customer service.
• Dealing with angry customers who - while warned that it's been hard for us to get product in so it will be roughly a 6 month wait to get new pieces in - are yelling about how long they have to wait for something they've paid for.
• Enduring the near-endless grumbles of at least one coworker who has been threatening quitting (almost on the daily) for over a year now.
• Updating fabric drops, which usually means sorting through hundreds of available samples to make sure we have all the currently offered options, as well as pulling anything that the manufacturer is no longer using.
• Product training that was re-scheduled about 3x and eventually landed on a day I was scheduled off, so I got to go in for a few hours to do that... yay... at least I was allowed to wear my jeans and t-shirt. 

Dang work making me actually work at my job!

Ya-Ya Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Needless to say, work's been a bit... unexpectedly stressful lately. By the time I get home, I barely have any energy left to work on chores, let alone even recreational things. I'm like that gas gauge in the car, where the needle is hovering by the E, but the Low Fuel indicator light hasn't come on yet. Or your cell phone / laptop / tablet with a near-empty battery icon, but the "low battery" alert hasn't flashed on yet. You KNOW it's gonna happen soon, but until it does, you're gonna ignore how close to out you are and hope for the best. Problem being that the need to recharge/refuel only seems to finally kick in when I'm about ready to do something recreational, and said recreational thing takes too much energy itself; it can't recharge me.

Generated by Bitmoji

Case and point: ever since the day that my husband bought me my own Switch and a copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I have played that game daily; faithfully. Even if it's for an hour or so to get my daily checklist done. The exception being, I think, ONE or TWO days I was too busy to play? 

Jump ahead to this month, and I've barely touched the game. It feels weird to not escape to my little island paradise for at least a couple of hours a day, but I didn't even have the energy for that. I missed one day, and then two days, and then three days. So, I did something I very VERY rarely did with the game; I "time travelled" by adjusting the system's internal clock and calendar. That way, in-game, I haven't missed a day. I played through the days I missed, but then fell behind again. Next thing I knew, it was over 10 days and I haven't touched my Switch at all. Haven't played anything on my Steam account either. I just didn't have the mental energy to play anything aside from a small handful of my mobile games. Mostly my nonogram/picross game because I can figure out the logic puzzles fairly easily. I also play some classic klondike solitaire for the same reason: no timer; fairly easy logic.

I haven't even really been on Tumblr much recently, but that's also because I keep needing to dodge episode spoilers now that season 4 of Miraculous Ladybug is beginning to drop. Most of the people I follow on Tumblr do properly tag, so my dash tends to be a wall of blocked posts, but on occasion someone will mistype the tag or forget to include it all together, so there's a big ol' spoiler staring me right in the face. OR, I'll watch an episode, think I'm in the clear, go to click on the blocked post, and realize THERE WAS A TRAILER THAT DROPPED THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT! HERE'S YOUR SPOILERS!

Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

So, most of my recreational time this month has been completely shutting my brain off while Hubby and I either watch anime or the dozens of YouTubers we're subscribed to. Let me tell you, once you've subscribed to YouTubers who are primarily game streamers, it is HARD to stay caught up! Especially when you now have 3 or 4 or EIGHT! hour streams to go through. That's on top of the non-primary-streamers who have their own 2hr weekly streams.

I hold firm that ANYONE who complains that they've "watched all of Netflix" really needs to either branch out to other streaming platforms, branch out to YouTube/Twitch, or expand their preferred genres to watch. Because Hubby and I are barely even keeping up with what we watch, let alone chipping away at that ever-increasing "to watch" list.

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

Needless to say, all of this means two main things: 1) I'm not really writing much, and 2) I'm not really reading much. 

Hubby bought me yet another novel the other day, so I have at least three or four professionally published novels waiting for me to read them (ignoring all of the previously owned novels just sitting in our little at-home library). I also have a list of about a dozen fanfics I still need to start/continue. Most of which are poor Taurus Pixie's.

I'M SORRY, PIXIE! I PROMISE I'LL GO BACK TO READ THEM! I JUST NEED FLUFFY STORIES RIGHT NOW AND... Well... you don't tend to write that???? But every last one IS on my To Read list still. Promise.

Seeing as how I did just bring up a need to read fluffy stories, I HAVE been tag-teaming two INCREDIBLY sweet works by MostLovedGirl this past month.

The first one is a story I believe she's had in the works for months now. It's a Felix and Bridgette AU story. For those who need a reminder, Felix and Bridgette are the unofficial (?) original names for Chat Noir and Ladybug back when it was going to be an anime. I believe the name Felix was pitched because of the famous cartoon black cat Felix. I can't recall where Bridgette came from.

Anyway, as I mentioned in this post about my own concept of making the Ladybug PV "canon compliant", Felix and Bridgette were both reworked to eventually become Adrien and Marinette. The show made Felix a canon character by making him Adrien's identical cousin who lives in London. Felix's mother Amelie is the identical twin sister to Adrien's mother Emilie. Amelie became widowed roughly around the same time Emilie "disappeared." It's unclear if this is related or always one of Felix's traits, but he's a great manipulator and master of slight-of-hand; literally convincing Adrien's friends that he's Adrien and stealing Gabriel's wedding ring right off the man's hand.

Well, for MLG's story Negotiations, Felix still lives in London, still lost his father when he was about 13, is still the son of Amelie Graham de Vanily, and is still Adrien Agreste's cousin (although Adrien's name isn't ever really mentioned). In this non-magic AU, however, Felix isn't a manipulator or master of slight-of-hand. Instead, he's in his 20s, is a gifted lawyer, and is a bit of a workaholic who struggles with social interactions. His foil and love interest is Bridgette. She's also in her 20s, but I believe a couple of years younger than Felix. She was a promising lawyer herself - possibly even more skilled than Felix - but realized the career didn't make her happy, so she dropped it all to instead become a florist. The two luck into meeting when Felix is sent to negotiate a property purchase on behalf of a developer his firm represented. The property the developer wanted to purchase? Bridgette's shop and upstairs apartment, of course.

It is an absolutely adorable story where Bridgette helps shake Felix out of his career-based tunnel vision and truly appreciate life. She's also very patient with him and helps walk him through his social faux pas so he knows how to avoid them in the future. Meanwhile, Felix pulls Bridgette from her Live In The Now mindset, and gets her to think a bit more seriously about the future. The whole lovely story is underlined with the fact that, thanks to Amelie, Felix is fluent in the language of flowers; a language Bridgette knows as well thanks to her career choice. The two share secret sentiments and knowing glances as they "read" floral gifts throughout the story.

You can see how much Bridgette enjoys Felix's company, and how sweetly he takes care of her. On the flipside, you can FEEL Felix falling madly in love, and watch him grow and evolve within his relationship with Bridgette. And then you have Amelie come in about 3/4 of the way through the story and basically verbalize everything the readers are thinking.

Honestly, since we know so little about these PV characters anyway, and this is a Lawyer/Flower Shop AU on top of that, you truly don't need any prior knowledge of this fandom to enjoy this lovely story. I keep telling MLG that, should she wish, she could easily rename Felix, Bridgette, and Amelie and call this an original story.

MLG updates Negotiations every Tuesday, with today's update being the penultimate chapter. It's the perfect time to hop on the hype train for this lovely story.

On the flipside, are you're looking for something involving ML characters you already know and love? Are you craving some majorly teeth-rottingly sweet fluff within the blessed Love Square? Do you want to see those two idiots finally figure out their feelings? If so, you need to check out MLG's Adrienette April story Remember That Time When....

The few times this month that I've been on social media (aside from Facebook, that is), it's most likely to promote this lovely story. The premise is a bit unique with this Aged Up AU story. The year is 2023, and Marinette and Adrien are both 22 and married to each other. One morning, however, they wake up to discover they are once more 17 and it's 2018. Somehow their 22yo consciousness switched bodies with their 17yo selves. Which can only mean that their 17yo selves woke up in their 22yo bodies... and married to each other. Chaos ensues.

The story flip-flops between the two sets of Adrienette. Odd chapters are spent with the married couple back in 2018, trying to remember what it was like to be clueless teenagers not even dating yet. They are struggling to not be as sickingly lovey-dovey as they have grown accustomed to, so as to not raise any red flags that they aren't the 17yo Adrien and Marinette their friends and family know in 2018. Pretending to not even know the other is in love with them after two blissful years of marriage is quite the challenge, especially with both Marinette's best friend Alya and mom Sabine having their radars pinging that something is up with Marinette and Adrien.

Meanwhile, the even chapters follow the clueless Adrien and Marinette as they try to figure out how on earth they went from "just friends" to married in less than five years. Marinette has a complete mental breakdown because she just CANNOT wrap her mind around the fact that everything she's ever dreamed of - being married to Adrien as well as graduating from her dream college - is actually hers. The fact that the 22yo body she's borrowing is almost definitely newly pregnant without her knowing doesn't help matters (yay, hormone imbalance on top of stress and confusion!). On the flipside, Adrien is not helping matters as he easily falls into the roll of loving husband without batting an eye. He's confused as to how he ended up marrying Marinette, but he's cool with it, does everything he can think of to care for his friend (wife???), and quickly falls helplessly in love with her without even realizing what is happening. Probably doesn't help (hurt?) that the actual married Adrienette had planned a romantic NYC getaway to celebrate their 2yr wedding anniversary just before the body swap, and the Adrien currently borrowing his older body desperately wanted the two of them to still take the trip. So Adrienette in 2023 are experiencing a very romantic trip to NYC while stumbling their way through their feelings.

MLG posts a new chapter every day for the Adrienette April writing prompt challenge. This means frequent updates, a lot of great content, and relatively short chapters. This story, honestly, has been such a highlight to my days during this crazy month. I can tear through the new daily chapter during my work lunch breaks, and just be in this giddy fluff-high for the next couple of hours. Such a fantastic final push to help me finish my workload.

There are some downsides to this though. Especially when we get an odd chapter following the married Adrienette in 2018... The story as a whole is rated Teen, and everything is relatively clean, especially since Marinette and Adrien are trying their darnedest to behave themselves since their teenage bodies are still virgins. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean some of those chapters don't get a bit spicy.... Those... those chapters might be a bit of a mistake to read at work.

 

There are also the most recent even chapters - so the ones following Adrienette in NYC in 2023 - where these two dingbats are getting closer and closer to realizing and confessing their feelings and I just want to scream with joy! Buuuut, I'm again at work so..... probably not the best plan.

Pandadog and Friends
Facebook sticker
by Funnyeve.com

This AU story has yet to make any mention of the Miraculous - going so far as to point out that Adrien only wears a wedding band and Marinette routinely switches out her earrings - or superheroes or supervillains or kwamis. It's not tagged as non-superhero AU or non-kwami AU or anything like that, however. People keep asking in the comments, but MLG just responds with something akin to "it's too soon to answer this question, but it will be answered by the end". So I'm guessing Tikki and Plagg ARE still very much involved in this AU, but the same shenanigans that switched the 22yo Adrienette with their 17yo selves also did something to the kwamis. 

Our first hints were in the 24th chapter, when Marinette dreamed of Adrien pointing out a Camembert-inspired constellation and mentioned the myth behind it being the constellation is always in fear of being swallowed by a black cat demon. That dream then turned into a nightmare set up like the flooded and destroyed Paris in the episode "Chat Blanc." So, yeah, no clue what's up with the kwamis or Miraculouses, but that's an extra layer of intrigue along with the pure fluff that is Adrien and Marinette loving on each other in two different time periods.

In truth, because of the MIA magical beings/items, you don't really need to know the fandom to love this story. Here's all you need to know:

1. Marinette has been in love with Adrien for years, but has never had the courage to let him know. Adrien's clueless of Marinette's full affections. He considers her one of his closest friends but never considered her in a romantic light.
2. Marinette is an aspiring teenage fashion designer.
3. Adrien has an emotionally and mentally abusive father who forces his son to model his line of clothes as well as overbooks Adrien's schedule so the poor kid barely has any free social time; keeping Adrien as isolated as possible outside of school.

That's it. That's all you need to know. Most of it is stated pretty clearly in the story anyway, so I don't know if you even needed to previously know any of that stuff before diving in, but here ya go regardless. 

So go dive on in! Again, those stories by MLG are Negotiations and Remember That Time When....

I think one of the main reasons why I'm promoting RTTW so hard - aside from it just truly being such a delight to read; it's easily in my top 10 faves - is because it also helped inspire some more writing from me.

On the one hand, yes, yet again I'm writing fanfiction based on fan content. First it was a retelling of Pixie's story Twelve Days of Chatmas, then it was a story based on Carpisuns' fanart, and now it's a partial retelling of chapter 12 of RTTW. All I seem to do is build off of other peoples' original thoughts. On the other hand, I'M WRITING SOMETHING! LOOK AT ME GO!

Hacker Girl 
Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

So anyway, chapter 12 of RTTW starts off with Adrien in 2023 wondering what to do after Marinette locked herself in her future self's sewing studio all night. He recounts that night, how eventually he went to bed because he didn't know how to comfort his friend, and how she still agreed to join him on the trip to NYC, but seemed both exhausted and incredibly stressed as they waited for take-off.

In my comment about the chapter I had stated that I imagined Marinette creeping out of the studio around 3am, went to check in on Adrien, watched him sleep, wrestled with her desire to just curl up beside him in bed, and eventually re-locked herself away in her studio to resist temptation.

MLG had commented that it seemed like a sweet scene, especially when she wasn't sure what Marinette was doing while hiding from Adrien. That got the ball rolling, and I spent the better part of the next week stealing any brief breathers I could at work - or while doing otherwise mindless tasks such as scanning tags - and brainstorming that scene further. With my limited free time this month, it kept me about ten days to complete my little one-shot (ha! "little"! It's nearly 4500 words long).

Could Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell?

Summary: Marinette is not coping very well when she's magically transported into her older-self's body, and discovers she's now married to Adrien Agreste.

Rating: Teen for mildly suggestive elements

Word Count: 4488

• On FanFiction           • On ArchiveOfOurOwn

                     • On DeviantArt           • On Tumblr

I was excited that MLG loved the story. I was then dumbfounded when she decided to promote it in her own story! So now, when you get to Chapter 12 of Remember That Time When..., the link to my story is in her closing chapter notes. The link is also in the closing story notes, so when you get to the end of the most recently updated chapter - or the end of the whole story once it's complete - you'll also get a link to my story! Like... WHAT!?

Generated by Bitmoji

Thanks to MLG helping to promote my story, I'm actually getting way more love for it than I was expecting, honestly.

I haven't quite hit the week mark for the story since I published it Friday night, so I'm not going to share my normal "week-long" stats. I was also too busy Saturday to properly grab the "24-hr mark" stats. However, I did have a few minutes on Sunday, so here are my "39-hours" stats, I guess.

FFN: 335 views, 9 favorites, 7 followers, and 2 reviews
AO3: 1006 hits, 100 kudos, 11 bookmarks, and 7 comments
DA: 408 views, but no faves or comments

Total Results: 1749 views! 109 faves/kudos! 18 followers, and 9 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 7 notes; 5 likes and 2 reblogs.

Reviews:
  1. Very well done! I'll have to check out the story that inspired this. - Agiani
  2. Review by Wildfire's Flame is too long; see below
  3. Aaaahhh this is such a good addition to Remember That Time When. I love it!!!! I love that Marinette didn’t just lock herself away all night, but he doesn’t know. She’s such a mess, it’s perfect. - ktreereads
  4. This was an enjoyable story! I’ll have to go check out the larger one when I have time. 😊 - Pkk
  5. Review by mostlovedgirl is too long; see below
  6. I'm glad you wrote it. It is such a supplement to that story, written just as well as the original. I'd like to read any more of your interpretations. - jessyxx
  7. Oh this is ADORABLE! These two just... such bliss. Such fluff. - Keyseeker
  8. Review by SteelBlaidd is too long; see below
  9. You can't imagine now how much I want a Someday someday 🥰 - Sunnywet
  10. *inhales* AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Go read this!! Read it now!!! - MLG's Tumblr reblog

I still can't wrap my mind around the number of people who have seen my story already. I mean, 1749 views!? In under two days since publishing?! What!?

As for those three "lengthy" reviews?

  Wildfire's Flame: Giggles. I enjoyed it and I must check out the story that inspired it. I did wonder about Tikki and Plagg. But your summary explained that. I kinda would have liked [REDACTED DUE TO STORY SPOILERS] Going to combust. Grins. Its perfect. Thank you

The gushing from the original author that unintentionally birthed the above story just killed me! I mean, check this out!

  mostlovedgirl: Wow. I— Uh— Gah— AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! (I’m a little lost for words at the moment.)

Okay, so I also could not decide how Marinette spent her night. I still don’t know, but it very may well have played out like this. Give me a few minutes to process and I’m sure I will be convinced that this is how it happened.

So many nods to little details in RTTW. (Girl, how many times have you read it?? Color me impressed.)

And, oh, how exquisitely painful it all was. I’m so glad there are only a few chapters left. Marinette needs her happy ending (beginning?), dang it!! Okay time to get back to writing. But kudos to you. Kudos to this fic. Just... kudos all ‘round. Love you, friend. Catch you later. *waltzes out door gracefully*

(Meanwhile out in the hall... *inhales* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Did MLG really sing my praises that much!?

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
Natsuo Maki from Love Lab
created by Ruri Miyahara

My final lengthy review was from one of MLG's frequent reviewers, and someone I've seen pop up more and more frequently on my Tumblr dash.

  SteelBlaidd: Poor Marinette. She still can't get out of her own way.

Her little inner Chloé voice still whispering that she is too lame for Adrien to ever think of her that way.

Excellent pacing and a wonderful feel for the mood.

Her cycles of tentative acceptance and panic are delightfully tense.

Well done.

Speaking of SteelBlaidd, I just started reading some of his shorter fics. The ones I stumbled onto seem to focus more on friendships, which is nice when so many of us ML fanfic writers tend to focus on the romances. Yes, I'm including myself in this. I haven't gotten too deep into his anthology to have a favorite story yet, but I have been liking what I've read thus far. Go give him a check out too if you're looking for more sweet content.

Circling back to my own writing and MLG's story RTTW, chapter 12 wasn't the only one to inspire me. The very next chapter also inspired me. More specifically, a review by ShawnaCanon on chapter 13 kicked my muse into overdrive. The long and short is that, in the chapter, Marinette in 2018 told her husband Adrien that they definitely can't hang out around her mom otherwise the woman would instantly figure them out. It's implied that Marinette meant Sabine would figure out they're romantically attached and would just assume they're dating, but that alone would still cause a bit of chaos for their 17yo counterparts when they body swap back. Shawna jokingly commented that it would be funny if Marinette meant her mother would figure out that Adrien and Marinette are actually a married couple from the future "possessing" the 17yo bodies.

It was too funny a writing prompt to leave it be, so I wrote the scene of Sabine figuring the couple out when Adrien comes over for breakfast. I have yet to publish it anywhere by itself, but I DID post my scene as a response to Shawna in the comments. So, if you want to read that scene, go on over to RTTW, read through it while you're there, and then check the comments section of chapter 13.

I've been debating pulling the scene from the comments section and publishing it for others to see, but I feel like it would really only make sense as part of a series or anthology. Maybe I'll pair it with Can Your Paradise Also Be Your Hell? In the meantime, the scene and Shawna's initial writing prompt inspired MLG, and she did indeed put a variant of that scene in the actual story! So... neat!

With less than a week left before RTTW is complete, let's see if MLG can inspire me to write anything else. Heck, just last night, I fell asleep wondering if I wanted to expand CYPABYH to further dive into what Adrien was doing that night while Marinette was hiding from him. We have the broad strokes, but what if we zoom in and focus on the details of that night, what would it look like? How much did he plan out that night to try to help make Marinette comfortable? How many times did he study the wedding pictures to try to figure out when his future self fell? How many times did he read through the itinerary for the New York trip? How alone did he feel in that apartment? Was he used to being on his own after living with his father? How long did he linger outside the studio door, waiting for Marinette?

Perhaps if I decide to expand this story or create another vignette like I did with "Sabine figures the young couple out", I'll grab the Detective Sabine short from the comments and officially post it. I'm still a touch on the fence right now though. 

I already have all of these other plot bunnies I've slowly accrued since October - my own Felix and Bridgette story, the various story ideas birthed from Ladybug's Simp Squad, the half-dozen long-standing plot bunnies I've been nursing for years now, a companion story for the New York special, and WIPs such as I Don't Care and One and the Same - and so I'm a bit overwhelmed with writing ideas as is. This doesn't even take into consideration any renewed inspiration to work on "Glitches" again.

Man, I really need to find the time and energy to actually get to writing!

At least I'm stumbled my way into posting something new each month since the start of 2021. That's a lot better than 2020 already! Whoo!

Generated by Bitmoji

So, to finish up this week's grand return to blogging, some house keeping.

First of all, Hubby and I finally managed our first vaccine shot this past Friday. Whoo! We've had some mixed reactions to the vaccine, but nothing too major. I lucked into having both yesterday and today off, and I ended up spending nearly a third of yesterday sleeping. Not sure if that's because of the vaccine, or simply pure exhaustion after this past month, or a "happy" combo of the two, but I definitely feel better today.

Now to hope the second dose doesn't kick my butt too severely in May.

2 images generated by Bitmoji
combined by LycoRogue

Secondly, a belated Happy Easter or Passover or Ramadan or any other holiday I may have missed this past month. I hope everyone was able to enjoy themselves and reconnect with loved ones.

Third, a big happy belated birthday to my niece! She got to go to NYC for the first time and custom-made an American Girl Doll. What a great way to celebrate your birthday!

UPDATE: Somehow I didn't register how close to Pixie's birthday it was, so a quick Happy Birthday to her as well!

Finally, while I know my mom doesn't like celebrating it, since I'm posting on her actual birthday, I can't just let it go unsaid. So, Happy Birthday, Mom! Hope you could take the time to relax and enjoy yourself.

"TOTALLY not making a big deal, Mom"
Image generated by Bitmoji

Now, let's hope May is going to treat me a bit kinder. I really want to see you lovely folks again next week. Until then, 

Making Masks

Hey, folks. How's everyone holding up?

Sorry about missing last week's update. I had actually written something to go up, but last week was a but of a Murphy Week for me: things just could not go right.

I won't get into every tiny thing that piled up on me two weeks ago, but I will say the swing that hit this blog was the one about technical devices and their "love" for me. The programs I was using were slow and laggy, or I couldn't find the command I wanted/needed to use, or the thing would just crash. Happened to me with Zoom and my Zumba classes too. My laptop just wasn't having a good week. It wasn't just the laptop though. It was like all electronics in my house went on strike against me last week. All little things, but happening frequently enough to be a bother. Things like the TV projecting sound but not video, or the other way around, even though the wires were all properly plugged in, and it only happened when we were watching cable. A simple "power cycle" - a term I recently learned and LOVE - usually fixed the problems. Even my CAR started acting up with the radio cluster blinking off and on, and once my car wouldn't even start unless I first lowered then raised the driver's window... Thankfully the car's dash told me that's what I needed to do, but still....

I'm guessing that qualifies as "essential" enough to warrant taking the car into the shop? The radio thing has been going on more-or-less for a year now (but the mechanics never seem to find an issue while doing diagnostics), but this new "car won't start" thing miiiiight be too much of a problem to wait for this pandemic to ease up.

Anyway, that's why I didn't post last week. My battling with electronics just drained me too much. It was about 1pm and I wasn't even done writing what I was working on because of all the technical issues, so I ended up just waving the white flag.

Trust me, it wasn't much of a loss.

As you could probably guess, I didn't do, like, ANY writing yet. Instead, about 80% of my waking hours has been dedicated to, you guessed it: Animal Crossing: New Horizons. At least I'm not alone in this, considering the game has become quite the phenomenon. It's even outsold Nintendo "Mascot Games" such as Mario and Legend of Zelda! I think it is currently the best-selling Nintendo game since people started keeping records of that sort of thing.

Anyway, I'm not here to try to sell you on AC:NH or a Switch. Odds are, by now you either already have both, or you're waiting for a Switch to become restocked so you CAN have one, or you have no intention of ever getting either. My point is that I'm still in the same old slump/routine as I have been lately, with a few minor tweaks.

One being that I have taken some breaks from AC:NH in order to watch some of my shows, watch more of OutsideXbox and Outside Xtra's videos, I've expanded into watching the personal channels of the Outside Xtra cast, and I've broken up my console video gaming with some House Flipper on my computer... when the thing is acting properly.

Another thing I did to get away from video games for a spell, help out myself and my husband, AND chew through far too much time because I'm apparently trash at all domestic activities, was make us a few reusable masks.

I have neither the space for nor the possession of a sewing machine, so I've been hand-stitching these fabric masks using the SIMPLEST instruction I could find online: cut two 10"x6" rectangles out of fabric too dense to see light through, stitch them together - 1/4" hem along the two long sides, and a 1/2"-thick sleeve along the two short sides - and thread ear loops through the sleeves. You're SUPPOSED to use elastics so it's more comfortable on your ears while keeping the fabric flush against your cheeks. There were no elastic strips left when I hit up Walmart about 3 weeks ago - and I've been trying to avoid Amazon as much as possible right now for... reasons... so I've been using shoelaces and old apron strings. Yay, scavenging!

The trick though, is that I am NOT an advanced sewer in the slightest, and so the most secure stitch I know is the back-stitch. Also, for whatever reason, if I have a length of thread about as long as my arm, so that I don't have to re-thread as frequently, it almost always knots up on itself somehow, and almost always in the middle. So I have to re-thread semi-frequently in order to go with shorter lengths of thread to avoid those knots. Also, my vision has been getting a touch blurry lately, probably due to screen strain, but maybe also because I haven't had an eye exam in over a year now, so my prescription has probably changed as well. Maybe because of that screen strain.... AND, on top of all of that, in both sewing and crocheting, I tend to stitch too tightly, and it scrunches everything, so I have to purposefully move slower to make sure everything is a touch looser and flat, unless it's supposed to curve. I also grip pens/pencils too tightly which is why I prefer to type over hand-write things.... I might have a fine-motor issue I don't know about.....

Generated by Bitmoji

AAAAAANYWAY.... Point is, add all of that together, and also add in that the instructions don't QUITE work for Hubby or myself, so each new mask I'm slightly tweaking the instructions and, well... each mask takes me HOURS to complete...

With all of that taken into consideration, perhaps it wasn't the most brilliant idea to start off my project with one of Hubby's custom-request masks....

So, here's the thing, as I mentioned above, about three weeks ago - a little less, but close enough - I hit up the local Walmart to gather materials to make reusable/washable/fabric masks because I didn't trust that the one Hubby's work gave him was as washable/reusable as they claimed. Plus, it's now state-mandated that I wear one while in public places where I cannot keep the social distancing of at least 6 feet. Places like the grocery store or the laundromat. Or... if I have to drop my car off with the mechanic....

I bought a few of those square-scraps of fabric Walmart's crafting section sells for like 97-cents each. I couldn't unwrap them quite enough to see how thick they were, but they seemed like fairly thin fabric, so I specifically bought two blue and two black - one patterned and one solid as a backing - in hopes that it would be thick enough once doubled up. Also, as I said before, I grabbed shoelaces for like $2 per pair to use as my mask loops.

I got home. I opened up the fabric to cut them into the 10x6 rectangles. I held them up back-to-back to the light aaaaand.... You can still see the light shine through them. Not. Good.

You see, this light check is to see if the fabric is good for the protection you are aiming for. If the light penetrates through the fabric it means the fibers are too far apart and won't properly filter the air. Now, fabric in and of itself won't fully filter anything, but the thicker it is - without suffocating you - the better.

Now, Hubby's work gives them t-shirts to wear for the summer months since they're lighter than the polos normally used for the uniforms. Each shirt is specific to that summer with that summer's promotions. Why they don't make a generic Summer Shirt so the company doesn't have to constantly replenish everyone's uniforms each year is beyond me, but the end result is that Hubby has 2 shirts that he could no longer wear into work past last August, and since they are plastered with work promotions, he never wishes to wear them outside of work. Perfect. I can chop those up and use THOSE as the backings instead! EXCEPT.... in January we did a purge. We kept like two of those shirts to use as Cleaning Shirts - clothes we don't care if we ruin while we're scrubbing down the apartment - and then trashed the rest.

I was about to wave the white flag when I remembered, "WAIT A MINUTE! I have free access to discontinued upholstery fabric samples that are going to be junked anyway!" I think my coworkers had a similar thought, because there seemed to have been fewer discontinued samples in the store than I remember there being when we closed....

Anyway, that problem was solved, hooray!


The upholstery fabric was definitely thick enough to do the job, but the fabrics that were left were a bit too rough to wear directly onto your face, and I wasn't the biggest fan of most of the color options either, so... they became "filter layers" between the two cotton fabrics I bought from Walmart.

Still... I spent less than $10 on enough fabric and shoelaces to make at LEAST 2 masks for each of us, and the way I've been making them, I'm actually capable of getting to 3 or 4 masks for each of us. So each mask will cost around $1.50 to make. Not too shabby.

NuaNia
Facebook sticker
by PRANEAT

Now, back to Hubby's custom mask....

While MOST of the fabric I swiped from work was too course to have pressed against our mouths and noses for hours on end, there was ONE fabric that was from my personal "I'm swiping this disco'd fabric to use for projects later" stash at work. It's super soft, and Hubby liked the color/pattern of it as well. So not only did he wish for it to be one of the sides of his mask for work, but he also wondered if I could make his mask reversible: the soft fabric on one side, which will usually be against his face, and the blue patterned cotton fabric from Walmart on the other side. That way, as long as both sides are clean from the mask being freshly washed, he could switch out which side he wants facing out: the heavier upholstery fabric to switch up the look and have a thinner fabric against his face, or to have the blue facing outward and have the thicker, warmer fabric against his face.

Seemed doable... until I went to actually construct the darn thing. Again, I am trash at sewing. I should have known better.

I couldn't use the simple instructions I found online, aside from using them as a base guide to know what to tweak about it. I then had to more-or-less re-invent the wheel as I figured out where to hem and how in order to still have the sleeves needed for the loops and whatnot. Also, originally we were using old apron strings for Hubby's reversible mask, and he was going to tie them behind his head and neck. So I started constructing the mask with those sleeves along the top and bottom 10" sides. I also struggled to NOT stitch the strings in place as I closed up the sleeves. That way Hubby can then scrunch up the hem to better angle around his chin and nose/under eyes. The amount of times I had to completely undo a hem because I did it wrong, or the line wasn't straight, or I stitched the sleeve before flipping the mask to be right-side-out, or I stitched the apron string to the mask so it wouldn't be able to pull like a draw-string bag.....

And the best part is... I don't have a seam ripper! Or, at least, I can't find mine! So every time I screwed up I'm sitting there with my scissors and a straight pin trying to pop open the seams and try again. It was a nightmare, but I pushed through it. It needed to be done, and I was getting a sense of accomplishment in being able to conquer this problem. I could do this. I could make the mask the way Hubby wished.

All of this, only for Hubby to pull an audible and want ear loops instead because he realized it would be annoying to constantly tie and untie his mask. I COULD have followed those internet instructions a bit more accurately instead of trying to sort things out myself....

Yona from Yona of the Dawn anime
Manga created by Mizuho Kusanagi

Reworking a few things again, but, thankfully, figuring out how to adjust what I had already done instead of starting from scratch AGAIN, I was able to complete his request.


In the end, while I quadruple checked with Hubby that everything fit correctly, turns out the ear loops are too long. Probably doesn't help that we tried all of the fittings BEFORE Hubby shaved off his lumberjack beard... So we now safety-pin part of the strings along the side seams. It keeps the ear loops secure and the correct length, and keeps the mask reversible like he wanted. Plus, aside from it being a TOUCH hot on the warmer days we get sporadically right now, it is very comfortable for him to wear for hours on end.

So... win?

We'll just ignore that all the starts-and-stops, the figuring things out as I went, and my already trash sewing ability meant it kept me roughly ELEVEN nearly-straight hours to finish Hubby's mask.... To be fair, I did stop to eat, take potty breaks, and to start/switch over laundry.


It's still holding together and holding strong, so there's that. What do you guys think? It was a pain to make, and I probably won't make another reversible one, but, in the end, I am proud of how this one turned out.

Next was making MY mask.

This go around I was able to use the  mask pattern that I had found online, so that made life easier. However, having a third "filter" layer wasn't part of the pattern, and I could NOT get the thing to stay in the center despite me straight pinning it! What gives!?

Yeah... I'm just THAT trash at sewing....

Generated by Bitmoji

Also, as I mentioned: Murphy Week

Anyway, between trying for FAR too long to get the middle layer to stay put before FINALLY getting it to work, and my incredibly slow pace at hand-stitching a back-stitch... this still kept me roughly 5hrs total between two days.

Hacker Girl
Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

Faster than ELEVEN-FRIGGEN-HOURS though, so... progress. I'm also happy with what I was able to accomplish. After a wash that "filter layer" did clump up to one side - I must not have caught the opposite side like I thought - so I have to re-stitch to keep it in place now that Hubby flattened it out again, but otherwise I think it works.

How do I look? It doesn't pinch under the chin quite as much as it probably should, and I'll have to figure that out as I keep going, but it should at least slow things, right?

My second attempt does seem to fit better, but, in making it so snug, I think I made the shoelace ear-loops a bit TOO small. Next attempt, I think, I'll have to try pleating the sides a touch to get the angling right without putting so much strain on those ear-loops. Especially since, for both masks, those shoelace ear-loops are a touch uncomfortable after wearing it grocery shopping for about an hour. However, once I have access to elastic it should be easy enough to cut the shoelaces off and replace. In the meantime though....

Tada!

Following the internet directions as-written meant I had those hemmed over, but still-fraying-against-my-face edges, as shown with my blue mask. To try to help with that, this feather mask I stitched inside-out - like Hubby's mask - so that it has a cleaner hem. I also hemmed the short sides before folding them over into the loop sleeves and stitching closed. so the end product is a lot cleaner than the blue one was.

I also thought to do a second hem along the top and bottom of the mask - which is why you see it - in order to better hold that upholstery middle layer in place. See? I'm improving each time! Still kept me about 5hrs to make though.... To be fair... I also did a lot MORE stitching this go, so... I'm getting faster too????

I also managed to make a second mask for Hubby so he can rotate through them. In fact, I created HIS second mask before the above feathered one because, ya know... priorities....

Anyway, you know those apron strings I used for his reversible mask? Well, as we were trying to figure out strings long enough to tie behind Hubby's head - back when that's what he wanted - we remembered that I still had an old work apron from when I was at that grocery store. It was mostly in tact, and I had saved it so Hubby could use it as a backup. However, the pockets were falling apart and had been restitched and safety-pinned in, like, five different places. On top of that, Hubby already received spare aprons from work, he didn't need mine.

At least... he didn't need mine... as an apron.

Like I said, aside from the pockets, the apron was still in good condition. So we chopped off the strings and the neck strap to use for Hubby's other mask(s). Then we realized the angling of the apron to fit under arms would actually work awesomely for faces as well!

Plus, Hubby loved the idea of wearing a mask that had the company's logo on it, ya know, just for flavor of it all.

This mask was fairly easy. Three of the sides were already hemmed, so I didn't have to worry about frayed edges. The fabric was also thicker, so just folding and doubling up the thickness would work, which meant I didn't have to worry too much about lining up the fabrics. Simple fold. The hardest part was cutting down the lower half of the apron to follow the curve of the upper portion, and then stitching through those already very dense corners at the top where the neck strap originally was. It was a fun and fairly easy project.

Even so... it ALSO kept me roughly five hours to make.

At least I'm consistent.

Hubby's co-workers got a kick out of the re-purposing of the old apron

I'm slowly - oh, so painfully slowly - improving upon the construction every time I make a new mask, so there's that. But dear LORD, WHY DO THEY HAVE TO TAKE ME SO LONG TO COMPLETE!?!?!

It's no wonder we each only have the two masks thus far. Still, I have the fabric and time to keep going, so I shall. And I'm getting farther and farther along in the game, so I might EVENTUALLY get to the point where all I really have is maintenance work on my island, and I can begin to step away from AC:NH a bit.

Heck, Hubby plowed through island beautification and hit that coveted 5-star rank earlier this past week.

Yes, Hubby's island is named An Island.
Makes me chuckle every time still. XD

Also, the owner of the store I work at called me up at the end of not last week, but the week before. Seems I'm being tapped to be the marketing manager or whatever. He's having me touch base with the marketing company that is rebuilding our company website from scratch, and then remain the liaison, as it were, between them and the store to make sure it stays up-to-date. I'm also now going to be in charge of the social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, and starting up a Twitter account. I have no clue how to promote a furniture store on these social media outlets, so I've been researching other companies, and the like. So that's probably going to be eating up non-gaming time.

Sad to say, as much as I'm loving seeing my stories getting more and more love lately, I probably won't be writing much for a little while yet.

I DID promise you a chance to meet my other villagers and to hear about my cheesy character shipping though. So, if I can get myself motivated and my computer to behave itself, I might do a few extra New Horizons themed posts throughout this week. It will be fun and stupid, and hopefully both brighten your day with my dorkiness, as well as make up for me skipping last week's update.

In the meantime, though - she's going to hate me for doing this, but screw it - can we all wish my mom a happy birthday? She hit the big 6-0 this past week.

Generated by Bitmoji

We're all doing well, and she hasn't murdered my sister - who still lives with her - yet, so I think we're off to a great start of the next decade of her life. Happy birthday, Mom. Please don't kill me for celebrating it.

Ya-Ya
Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

One of my aunts also had her birthday this past week, so a happy birthday to her as well.

Generated by Bitmoji

Finally, today is Taurus Pixie's birthday!

Generated by Bitmoji

We'll have to see if I can hop on AC:NH while she's also on so we can have a birthday party.

Maybe it will make up for the fact that I didn't write her a birthday gift this year....


And to the rest of you, please stay safe. Stay healthy. Try to help each other out the best you can. Try to maintain social distancing when possible. Be mindful of your mental health as well. And just take care.

Generated by Bitmoji

Life in Isolation

Hey, folks. How's everyone holding up? Have you been doing your part to Social Distance (although, I do prefer one governor calling it Physical Distancing because we can still be social in other ways)? Have you done your best to try to slow the spread this week?

It's in my normal Bitmoji style instead of my LycoRogue persona, but I have this as my current Facebook cover picture. Felt fitting to share it here too.

Individual images generated by Bitmoji
Banner edited together by LycoRogue

I truly hope you are all doing well. How are you de-stressing in this time of crisis?

Me? Well... it's still not writing. Sorry about that, everyone. Guess Camp NaNo hasn't really helped motivate me after all.

Generated by Bitmoji

I've been using this analogy all week, so I might as well use it here too. I'm like a puppy with too many toys spread out on the floor. There's just so much I want to do and play with, and I currently have seemingly unlimited time to enjoy myself. I get so overwhelmed with what I should attack first that I end up not doing.... anything... really.

I've been waiting for this opportunity for years. Time to watch all of those shows on my queue; I have about 60 items in my Watch List on Netflix, another 15 or so animes on Crunchyroll, and one or two shows on Amazon Prime, AND I would love to re-watch some movies/shows I haven't seen in a while. There's also the, like, A FULL MONTH'S WORTH of Critical Role on YouTube that Hubby and I can FINALLY start watching. I have time to clean my home! I can re-organize the pantry again, and sort though the dishes/utensils/containers/pots and pans/etc to figure out what should stay in the kitchen and what should be tossed/passed along to someone else. I can sift through the MOUND of "organize later" boxes I have on our closed-in back porch. I can finally attack the no-man's-land that is my spare room; formerly the library, now my Catch-All space when I need to "quick clean" so people can find a place to sit. I can reorganize Hubby's like 100-some tabletop/board/card games that is just this precarious tower on a sofa table in our living room. I can sift through mine and Hubby's clothes as I switch from cold-weather to warm-weather clothes. I can frame and hang wall art. I can organize my computer; empty out files I don't use all the time onto externals, check my backups and re-organize them, etc. I can update this blog! I haven't touched that Aspiring Writers tab in years. I could start transferring the old X-Future posts to the new forum that Hubby set up, or at least find a way to archive them and write SHORT recaps of what happened so everyone is on the same page. I can finally set up the HDMI splitter Hubby bought me last year so we can set up more consoles for the TV, allowing me to still play things on our WiiU or bring out his SNES or Gamecube. I can FINALLY do a craft I had on the back burner for 2 years even though I have all the items I need for it. I could get started on crocheting Christmas gifts, because I KNOW I'll forget to do so until about November or so and then not get any done by Christmas. I could read the book I've had since the fall and haven't picked up yet. Alternatively, I could read the hundreds of fanfics I have on my To Read list, and/or are pouring into the fandom daily. Heck, I could even use the time to finally get into the longer works of fiction that Taurus Pixie has but I haven't previously had the time to tackle yet. Of course, I could try to write my OWN fanfiction - be it finishing the Fluff Week stories, FINALLY finishing One and the Same, working on When Love Matters to help fill the void between seasons, or something completely different - or I could work on my original works - such as finishing world building for Gyateara or Glitches, or finishing Jolene's story Lost Loves and Paramores, or see if I can evolve Blame Fate for This into a more complete novel idea - or even just do more of my Meet My OCs write-ups for Tumblr. I also have TONS of video games I haven't played/completed yet, including a small handful of Legend of Zelda games despite it being my favorite game franchise. Yes, Breath of the Wild is on the list of LoZ games I haven't even started!!!! I could even just stalk Tumblr and Discord in order to fully immerse myself in the fandom, replying and reblogging all the time, and adding my own theories and other content. Really get my name SEEN within the fandom in order to better help build my base.

That's not even my full list, but you get the idea. I don't really get people who are already bored and stir-crazy. Like... I've got my retirement all set already. There is ALWAYS something more to do. Another task, another project, another activity, and more keep getting released as well.

Instead, I'm that poor puppy with an entire basket of toys out and I just nibble on each of them without ever fully taking the time to play and enjoy one. Can someone get situational ADHD?

I have only done the most basic of cleaning to keep us healthy, and I did organize ONE cupboard...

Hubby and I have gone through THREE of the shows on the list: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the latest season of HunterxHunter on Netflix, and the 2nd season of Altered Carbon. Later today I'm going to track down the premiere of season 2 of Fruits Basket on Crunchyroll. I'm also keeping up-to-date with the gaming livestreams and listicles by OutsideXbox and Outside Xtra, and animated video uploads by Overly Sarcastic Productions, all on YouTube.

I haven't read a single thing since I stopped working. Same with crafts. I just don't have the motivation/energy to get started.

I've barely touched social media outside of Facebook, and that's largely to just keep track of what's going on with my relatives and IRL friends. It's not even because of a flood of depressing COVID-19 news on those sites. It's because nearly everyone is home and EVERYONE is on Tumblr and Discord now, and if I'm not just planted in my seat, I cannot keep up. And if I try to catch up on what I've missed, I end up sitting there for HOURS. Meanwhile, that little ticker of new posts climbs up to double-digits that tend to hover around the 30s or so. I just can't. So if you've posted something the past month that you think I'd enjoy, please go back and tag me so I can see it. I'm literally just jumping on Tumblr long enough to see if I'm tagged in anything and if my posts are reblogged, then off again I run. Same with the Discord server I was invited to. I have alerts set up for the introductions thread for new members, and if I'm ever tagged in a comment.

Even the video games thing. I started off with trying to go further in Super Mario Odyssey, but since Hubby bought me my own Switch my video gaming life has more-or-less circled around Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Even so, I'm not on THAT nearly as much as I thought/feared. There's even been a day or two where I noticed it was past 10pm and I went "Whoops. I didn't do nearly everything I meant to today. Guess most of these tasks aren't getting finished...."

There was a Steam sale this past weekend for one of the games OutsideXbox showcased on a gaming stream, so I ended up picking up House Flipper. It's a chill and relaxing game. It's so weird, having a list of tasks/chores is fun for me in games like Animal Crossing and House Flipper, but having one in real life is daunting and boring.... Maybe it's because I can't just wave a magical mop at the hard water stains in my tub and they'll disappear in 3 seconds... Or maybe because I don't get paid for weeding or redecorating my own place. If only Game Logic worked in the real world.

That being said, I think the games I'm playing mean I'm craving structure again. I've had my fun. This is Day 17 of not having to work. Originally, I was supposed to be going back to work either this week or next one. Now, who the heck knows when it will be safe to go back, but I'm quickly burning through oil with the silly mindset that I AM retired and have truly unlimited time to do everything I want.

So my task this week is to set up a firm time structure to create some semblance of normalcy again. Also, that way I know I have time for everything I want to accomplish, at least, in part. I'll know I have time to clean, separate time to organize and rearrange, time to play video games, time to play AC:NH specifically - usually with the Hubby - time to check on social media, time to watch shows/movies, time to watch YT videos, time to read, etc. And, most importantly, time to focus on writing again.

Watch, once I get into this new rhythm will be when work re-opens and it all falls apart again... But at least I'd have tried....

Speaking of trying to set up some normalcy again, I want to give a shout out to three people who all had birthdays on the 5th:

First of all, here's to an...er... eventful?... big 5-0 to my one aunt.

Free-Use image found via Google

Thankfully, she and the whole family are well and safe. What a way to "celebrate" though, huh? At least she was able to get her surprise party at the end of February, before everything hit hard. Plus, her kids are still all living at home, so she had family to celebrate with her on Sunday as well.

Another Happy Birthday to one of my IRL friends CelestialTyrant, whom I got to reconnect with a bit more last night as he showed off his and his wife's joint island on AC:NH

Generated by Bitmoji

He and his wife also seem to be in good health and equally good spirits. I hope we can chat a bit more, especially with us being able to play Animal Crossing together. I'm telling you guys, this game is a godsend for extroverts. I think I've socialized MORE, and with more people ever, since I got this game. I'm hanging out with people nearly daily!

Generated by Bitmoji

Last, but certainly not least, a happy 7th birthday to my niece!

Generated by Bitmoji

She had a mermaid-themed birthday with her parents and brother, but Bitmoji doesn't have any mermaid images, so we'll go with the equally magical unicorn. Just like everyone else, my sister-in-law and her clan are all in good health, and the kids certainly are still in high spirits even though they haven't left their secluded property in the mountains since mid-March. That's right, they aren't even brought off-property to go to the grocery store or visit their cousins one house - and about an acre - over. That's because my in-laws know how to Social Distance. So round of applause to them!

Generated by Bitmoji

I'm glad that, even with circumstances being what they are, and my social butterfly of a niece being denied a party outside of immediate family, she still seemed to enjoy herself and love the love she was showered with all day regardless. Also, while not quite the Zoom Invader we've been warned about for Zumba, my nephew did "infiltrate" our session by poking his head in while his mom was exercising. So it was fun to see him also in a good mood, chocolate-covered face and all.

I hope all of you are equally in good spirits, and if not, I hope this blog helped you out a bit more. If you're like me, know it's okay to be a lump at home during this crisis.

• If you're a Creative, it's okay to not be creative right now. You don't owe anyone any new stories, or artwork, or crafted projects, or videos, or music, or any other form of creativity right now simply because you have "free time" to do them.
• If your house is disorganized, but it's clean in a hygienic sense, that's fine. Who's coming over to see it now anyway? If it's more stress to organize it than to sit among it, then just take a time-out. You don't have to organize simply because you "have time" now. However, if the chaos is stressing you out more, please try to find time to organize to the point where you're less stressed.
• If social media is overwhelming you for any reason, you don't have to stay on it. Find other ways of letting people know you're still alright, and let everything else wash away. There was content you missed before you joined, and you were alright with that, right? Once you feel comfortable to re-join social media just pretend it is your first day on the site and forget about all the content you missed. And, just like with the Creatives, you do not owe anyone more content on your end. If you don't feel like adding content your followers will find it elsewhere. If you lose people because of that decision, then it's their loss.
• If you don't feel like watching anything, or you want to watch something that isn't already on your list, that's fine. Maybe you need a change of pace now that the world is different. You don't HAVE to attack that To Watch list now that you have the time to do so. Your current attitude is different, so why shouldn't your entertainment tastes not also change?
• Same goes for reading. If you can't concentrate long enough to absorb the written word (first of all, sorry about these posts then), and/or the stuff on your To Read list isn't the style/theme/mood you want to consume right now that's fine. I love Pixie, but one of her longer stories that I still need to read is a realistic depiction of depression, and I also think PTSD???? NOT something I really want to touch right now when all I want is to lighten the emotional weight on my shoulders.
• If everyone else is telling you that you HAVE to join the AC:NH wave and/or play Doom Eternal or jump on the Final Fantasy VII Remake train, but you don't feel like playing any of those games, or even games in general, that's fine too. 

The take away here should be that, during this time of crisis, social distancing, and quarantines, you are not obligated to do anything you don't wish to do, as long as it isn't effecting others. So, as long as you aren't potentially contaminating others - remember, COVID-19 can be transmitted asymptomaticly - and you're not hoarding products that others also need, and you're not spreading misinformation about the disease, then you're good. You are not obligated to do anything else.

Except maybe changing your underwear... Make sure you're still doing that.


Take care, Friends. To try to leave you in a better mood, I'll send you off with yet another serene sky-gazing shot from my game of Animal Crossing. Man, I love taking these pictures....

Star gazing from my bamboo forest on Ghetta Way