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.....

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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
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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....

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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
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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.

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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
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by Birdman, Inc

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

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Finally, today is Taurus Pixie's birthday!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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!

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

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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!

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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

Welcome To My Island

Hey! How's everyone holding up? I can't believe it's Tuesday! On the one hand, every day feels like a weekend now, so I keep losing track of which day of the week I'm on. In that regard, this day kind of snuck up on me. On the other hand, it feels like my last blog post was WEEKS ago. With so much time to do things, the days actually kind of drag on... or, at least, they feel longer since I'm not used to getting this much done????

Anyway, I hope that most of you have the option to not go outside except for bulk grocery shopping, hitting up the laundromat (which I need to do today too), or - heaven forbid - medical reasons. True, it's FINALLY getting nice outside, and it's not like the air itself is toxic. So, yeah, have fun breaking up the monotony with walks/runs, taking the pets outside for a bit, play in your back yard, etc. But, please PLEASE remember to not GATHER outside, and to try not to LINGER outside if you're in a public area.

Just... basically...

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Things are already looking worse over here in the United States. A lot of states have officially put their residents on "lockdown" until the beginning of May or even mid-June!

I haven't seen any updates on the state I live in, so I think we're still on a vague "until further notice" instead of other states whose governors have stated "At least until April 30th" or "At least until June 15th."

We need people to comply with these lockdowns so this disease can finally be a bit more manageable for the hospitals. So, please please PLEASE stay home if you can!

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Bitmoji

Okay, I'll climb off my soapbox now...

So, what have *I* been doing during all of this?

Well, I can tell you what I HAVEN'T been doing: writing. Still.

I didn't think the mental strain was getting to me, but I guess I was wrong, because I can't sit in front of my computer and type up more than a couple of paragraphs in a go before getting itchy and needing to move again.

I've NEVER had an issue of sitting still for hours on end before, but I guess now that I'm "restricted" to my home I just get this itch to constantly want to move??? Heck, I'm only about an hour into working on this blog post and my body already wants to pull the ripcord!

So instead my living room is picked up - then Hubby comes home from a long day of work at the grocery store and "nests" and I clean the living room up again the next day... - and I've been working on re-organizing the kitchen. The clothes got folded and put away faster this week. I'm sorting through the cold-weather clothes to figure out what should be switched out for warmer-weather wear by now. I have been doing my Zumba classes still, thanks to the instructor setting up Zoom meetings so we can still all exercise together. I missed last night's though because 1) lost track of what day it was again, 2) was already in the middle of something else, and 3) my knee has been super tight and clicks a lot the past 2 days.... probably shouldn't dance on that until I can get more athletic tape to help secure it....

I've also been watching an exuberant amount of gaming streams on YouTube. Now, despite always enjoying watching Hubby's playthrough of games, I've never been big on watching Let's Play or Playthrough videos before. Even when two channels I really enjoy on YouTube - OutsideXbox and Outside Xtra - have streamed in the past, I've never really been into it. With this NEW world environment, however, and more time than I usually have to spare, I began having them play in the background. It's actually been really chill and comforting to listen to them.

From the OXbox crew, Jane has been streaming her playthrough of Two Point Hospital. It's a RollerCoaster Tycoon-like game where you are a hospital administrator building up the local hospital for the needs of the community. One of her co-hosts Mike did a stream of House Flipper. It's basically how it sounds: you do tasks to help clean/organize other people's homes in order to build up funds that you can then use to buy, fix up, and flip houses. Mike even joked how it's boring and tedious to weed, scrub down a room, and paint, but it's actually very calming and zen to do it in the game. The final host of the channel Andy hasn't streamed anything yet, but he's supposedly setting up to stream Red Dead Redemption 2. 

Now, being OutsideXbox, obviously the team is trying to play as many games on the actual Xbox console as possible, but both Two Point Hospital and House Flipper are available for PC as well, and I believe both originated as PC games. So, yes. After seeing the fun and "chill" environment these games are, I totally added both to my Steam wishlist. I don't have the expendable funds right now, and I do personally prefer to have physical copies of games, so I might have to check to see if I can buy CDs of them instead, but, should they go on a great sale, I will get an email from Steam. So... yeah.

Watching 2hr-long each streams on YouTube took up a LOT of my time this week. Mostly because I can have them going in the background on my laptop or phone as I wander my home doing chores; sitting down to actually watch while I'm eating.

Over on the Outside Xtra side, the one host Ellen hasn't streamed anything yet. As of a few weeks ago, she had been streaming her replay of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, but she hasn't continued that stream since the 12th. Now, she did mention in a video that aired this week that she's in quarantine. I know she's been sick off and on throughout January, so I don't know if she actually has COVID-19 or if she just self-quarantined as a precaution due to her weakened immune system, but she seems to still be in good spirits when she and her co-host Luke did their Show of the Weekend this past week. So I hope she's doing well. I also hope she's just resting up, which is why she hasn't been streaming as frequently as her coworkers. Also, I don't know how their channel works. Maybe she's just been busy doing most of the behind-the-scenes stuff, much like how Andy does over with OXbox.

On the other hand, Luke has been streaming his play through the Master Mode of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for months now, but switched over to Animal Crossing: New Horizons last week. And let me tell you, he has been absolutely adorable the whole time! He's just such a bubbly guy to begin with - he and Ellen are kind of known for their constant giggling on their channel, as opposed to the more professional presentation over on OXbox - but to add in the lighthearted AC:NH game? He just gets so excited about so many elements of the game, and it's the cutest thing to watch/hear.

For a while now, mostly because so many of my friends were excited for it, I've kept my eye on Animal Crossing. I've never really been into the other games before. Mostly because the game plays in real time. I'll touch more on that in a bit. However, the hype for this game was so major. The first time I truly paid attention though was when I saw commercials about how Hubby and I could play together and visit each other's towns. As far as I knew, this was a new feature. Either way, it was a way for Hubby and I to play together. So my interest was piqued.

Fast forward to last week. My friends got their copies and loved it. What I saw online showed me that all the hype for the game was well warranted because everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Then I saw those streams Luke did on OXtra. Add in the social distancing that happened right as the game was released? Well, the members of Eurogamer had streamed themselves playing hide-and-seek on one of their islands, and OXtra did the same thing when Ellen visited Luke's island during one of his streams. Seeing that interaction? Seeing how you can still communicate and play and INTERACT with people in real time via this game? Knowing that I can "hang out" for the first time with some of my online friends via this game? I was sold. I wanted this game now.

Well, as luck would have it, Hubby had MASSIVE amounts of overtime last week, so he splurged some of that extra cash on me. As an insanely early birthday gift, he bought me my own Switch console and a copy of AC:NH! He then bought himself a copy so we can play together with our own islands, and I went ahead and bought myself a copy of Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, because how could I not?

So, as of Saturday evening, I was able to join about 40% of the population who are keeping their sanity by playing AC:NH.

Now, keep in mind, this is my first attempt at this game series. I know the basics of it: building up a town, so it requires proper planning. This is not something I'm good with because I don't know WHAT I'm planning space FOR yet. So, this island will most likely be a complete mess, much like my first attempts at SimCity back in the day. Thankfully, I've learned that - for MASSIVE amounts of the in-game currency - I can have buildings shifted later in the game. So, once everything is set up and all I need to do is maintain - very late game - I might actually get the island looking like an organized town. In the meantime, though, I'm just enjoying my organized chaos.

Much like how I am in real life.

The thing about AC:NH, however, is that I somehow poured a lot of hours into it already, and yet... not?

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I haven't been able to sit still for very long lately, which is very much not like me. Well, even with the distraction of a game, and the fact that I'm still early-game and so I have a lot of objectives to still try to hit - I STILL haven't been able to really sit still for long. I've purposefully NOT played the game on our TV, that way it's out of the charging dock. The Switch has roughly a 2hr battery life, so I play until it's about to die, then I put it back on my dock - which isn't connected to the TV since we can't connect both - and go do something else. Be it more cleaning, checking in on social media - something else I've been unofficially avoiding this week - or watching more streams.

Even when I'm playing the game, I wander to the dining room, which is where my laptop currently is. I check in on game tips online while still playing. I answer Facebook messages. I watch streams while I keep playing. I go lay in bed for a bit. I'm just always moving.

And yesterday, I only played in hour-long intervals. I then go to clean something for an hour, go eat, chat with my mom on the phone, etc, and then went back for another hour of the game before putting it down again to do something else.

The only exception was when I had my first online island visitors yesterday.

First, I was surprised by Taurus Pixie and her boyfriend Jowy Avilon popping by! Yes, that minimalist room is my house. I've only been playing for 3 days! Don't judge!

Then, that evening, Hubby and I noticed that Rozsavaria was playing, so we stopped by her island... and then we popped over to Hubby's island... and then they came to my island.

This is Rozsa's house. Look how nice and clean it is!

In comparison, this is Rozsa over at my place...

The angle was good for this pic, but my front yard is a chaotic mess! There's no rhyme nor reason to it yet. All the furniture I get I put down, with some exceptions. The storage I got with my house is mostly where I dump clothes I'm not wearing and materials I'll need later. I'm sure I have the space to put all of this hodge-podge furniture as well, but... meh? I'll sort that out later.

Now, the fish thing? Well, this brings me back to my problem with the Animal Crossing series: it plays in real time. So, while I was trying to play catch-up with all of my friends who started a week ahead of me, at least for a time, I will always just be behind them because the game has its own pacing that you can't rush without doing a time hack where you change the date on your Switch itself.

I'm not one for hacks, so I'm just playing the game as intended.

HOWEVER, this is the big thing for early game: Day one you need to gather up specimens you find on the island - fish and insects - and show them to Tom Nook. After showing him 5 specimens, he asks you to set up a spot for his friend Blathers. That way Blathers can move to the island and you can show him the specimen directly, instead of using Tom as the middleman. Problem is, Tom now won't take any more of your new specimen. You have to literally wait until it's after midnight your time for Blathers to show up. I knew there's a museum feature of the game, and I don't know how rare anything is, so I didn't want to sell or otherwise get rid of my other new specimens. Also, you only have the tent the first day, even if you do pay off the moving fees. You don't get your house until the next real-time day after paying off the moving fees. So I didn't have the inventory space for all of these bugs and fish. That's when I started displaying them in tanks and terrariums throughout my campsite.

Fast forward to Day Two. Blathers shows up, and asks you to show him 15 more new species of critters so he can get a grant for the museum. Easy peasy! I had about 25 specimen just waiting in my front lawn! So that was easily completed. Problem there is that I still have to wait another two (at least?) real-time days for the museum to set up. Which means those 10 specimens in my lawn? Yeah, they're staying there, and they're getting some buddies as I craft/receive new tools that let me experience the rest of my island.

Now, my "Day 2" is actually "Day 3" since I started playing the game so late on Saturday that my "Day 1" with the Blathers quest didn't actually conclude until Sunday. But still, you get the point.

Also add in that I can now find fossils. I don't want them to take up inventory space, so they are now very large lawn decorations circling around Blathers' campsite until the museum opens up and I can officially donate them.

This is what I mean by "organized chaos, but I'm fine with it for now".

Still, a quest to set up the museum that I could have easily done in a few hours has taken me four real-life days, and it's not even done yet! I don't even have access to Blathers today because they're building the museum! I cannot wait until this first week is done, the museum is built, and I can start keeping this extra stuff off the grass!

Another problem with the real-time mechanics of the game is that I can't catch up with my friends quite yet because I'll always be that week behind on building my house, the museum, the shops, etc. The only real reason I was able to get as far as I could yesterday was because Pixie gifted me with a ladder, a tool I don't otherwise have access to yet. Hubby got his early by buying it from Rozsa's island.

It's fun, and does force you to pace yourself, but it IS a touch annoying as well to have to constantly wait real-time for the game to advance. Plus, it means that when I inevitably give up on the game in favor of another one, or because I'm back at work and no longer have the free time, that my island will keep going on without me. I'm not the biggest fan of games that don't pause when I do. Ya know?

Another little pet-peeve of the game is that I can't manually move things in my inventory to better organize them. I have to drop everything out of my inventory and pick them back up in the order I want them to be. If you know of a better way, please message me or comment below!

All-in-all, though, it IS a fun little game, and there IS a lot to do and explore. So I get why so many of my friends love it.

As for my poor, poor neglected writing? Well... I FINALLY finished up the Adrienette portion of my 'Your Voice' fanfic. It's already 3600+ words long, so I might have to do some editing down... not that THAT ever does any good for me... I've also kinda-sorta sorted out the reason and moment that Chat Noir notices Ladybug's voice reminds him of Marinette's, but I still need to figure out the transition into the LadyNoir portion of the story, as well as how the whole thing ends.

How did this story take over a month to write!?!?!?!?!

Tomorrow is April 1st, which also means it's Camp NaNo time!

Official Logo

So, for the FIFTH FRIGGEN TIME I'll attempt to finish off One and the Same during next month, so who knows what that'll mean for the Fluff Week stories I still have to finish/write. With any luck, the mellowness of AC:NH, as well as getting more acquainted with this new week structure, will help me get back to being ME.

I miss writing so much, and now that I have the time to do it, it's killing me that I'm not touching it at all. I just hope my Muse hasn't been quarantined from me during all of this...

Take care, you lovely people, and try to stay sane. In that regard, I want to thank Hubby and his coworkers for being on the front lines, so to speak, and keeping our grocery stores still running. Thank you to the delivery drivers that allow us to stay put but still get the things we need/want.

SUPER THANK YOU TO THE MEDICAL STAFF AND FIRST RESPONDERS. You ARE the front lines of this pandemic, and may you all get the PPE you need to keep yourselves safe. You are all literal lifesavers.

Thank you to the OutsideXbox and Outside Xtra crews for artificially keeping me company and entertained. I'm like a dog with a TV or radio left on when the owners leave the house, just so I can still feel connected to someone, and these streams are such a soothing blessing.

Thank you to the creators of Zoom for a great - and relatively cheap - way for people to still interact, work, learn, and maintain some semblance of normalcy. Along with doing Zumba still and attempting to stay healthy that way, I also used Zoom the other night to have a virtual get-together with my extended family. I grew up seeing my aunts and uncles and cousins roughly once a month, if not more, depending on birthdays and holidays and other such get-togethers. It's been rough enough to not really see them since I married and moved away, so getting to have a "party" with them was fun.

Finally, thank you to my Hubby for keeping my spirits up, gifting me such an awesome early present to help keep me entertained and connected to my friends, and thank you to said friends. It was awesome to interact with you, and thank you all for your advice and tips for the game. I can't wait to see more of your islands and have more of you visit! It truly is nice to still feel connected to everyone.

I hope you all can find those silver linings in your own situations, and that you're keeping your own sanity. Stay well, friends.

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Stuck at Home

Hey, how's everyone doing? I know things are not boding well for me already. I mean, I'm still healthy, but... well.... Saturday was my last day of work before the business shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thankfully, as far as I know, no one in the company has a confirmed - or even a suspected - case of COVID-19. Instead, this closure is mandated in order to assist with social distancing, and is supposed to last at least two weeks. However, no one knows how long we'll actually have to do this.

You know how, if a child is in timeout but tries to leave it prematurely, the timeout is restarted, so the child's 2 minute timeout ends up taking nearly 10 simply because they wouldn't listen? Yeah. I feel like that's what's going on with the entirety of society. We need those two full weeks of social distancing in order to keep all those with the disease - both known and unknown - fully away from everyone who is still healthy at this point. Every time the government has to yell at people for organizing in groups or still doing frivolous shopping/gathering it's like the child getting sent back into timeout; the timer resets.

The long and short as to why the timer must reset is that it takes up to 2 weeks for the virus to fully incubate and cause symptoms. If, after 2 weeks, you don't have symptoms, then you almost definitely also don't have the coronavirus, and therefore can't spread it to someone else. However, each time more people potentially come in contact with an unknown carrier, the timer has to reset to take their potential contraction of the virus into account.

I found this really simple infographic on Tumblr that helps explain the situation.

So, uh... yeah. The longer it takes for society to just suck it up and stay home/away from people, the longer those of us that are complying will need to stay put. It's frustrating, to say the least.

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(Yes, my Bitmoji is wearing PJs. Why wouldn't I?)

Honestly, I thought I'd be able to handle it better than I have been. Despite arguably being an extrovert, I'm still kind of a homebody, so you'd think it would be easy for me to ignore that things like restaurants, movie theaters, bars, and even my friends' houses exist. Plus, I have a list of things I want and need to do that is so long it probably easily surpasses the two week minimum I'll be home. Heck, this is day three, and I'm still in "aaaah, time to relax and catch up on sleep" mode. So you would think I'd have more than enough to keep me from going stir crazy.

At the same time though, this is only Day 3 and I've already lost track of what day of the week it is at least a half-dozen times.

Bun Facebook sticker
by David Lanham

Also, as I noted, I haven't even started to touch that To Do list yet. Case and point, I STILL haven't had a story update this month. I haven't finished my Fluff Week project. I haven't written any new one-shots. I haven't started up the When Love Matters project. I haven't thought of One and the Same. I have just... kinda... lost myself as if I already had cabin fever.

For instance, Sunday - just Day 1 of my mandatory home-stay - I started off the day listening to the recording of a two-and-a-half hour livestream on one of the YouTube channels I follow. Overly Sarcastic Productions had Red do two reading livestreams over the past few days as fundraisers for Feeding America. The first one, on Thursday, had Red reading various Edgar Allan Poe short stories for 2+ hours. The second one - the one I listened to on Sunday - was held Saturday evening, in which Red graced us all with a reading of the most notoriously horrendously written fanfiction known to man: My Immortal by XXXbloodyrists666XXX.

For those uninitiated, this story was written in the early 2000s - I think 2006? - and it is a gothic Harry Potter AU where the main character is obviously a self-insert, Mary Sue original character. Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way - the main character's full name - is a vampire who is in her final year at Hogwarts. She starts dating a gothed up Draco Malfoy, only to instantly get a crush on a newly goth Harry Potter, who now goes by the name Vampire. In fact, all of the sympathetic characters have become both goth/Satanists and members of Slytherin House: Hermione Granger became B'loody Mary Smith, Ron Weasley now goes by the nickname Diabolo[sic], and, if I remember correctly, Neville Longbottom shows up towards the end with the new name of Dracula. The author even includes an author-insert character for her beta reader and best friend Raven. This character is named Willow.

The "Plot" of the story - if you could call it that - is that Voldemort wants Ebony to shoot Vampire or Voldy will kill Draco. Due to Ebony's conflicting feelings within a very forced love triangle - which also includes Vampire and Draco both being bisexual and ex-lovers - she keeps telling Voldemort no, and for whatever reason he just keeps pestering her to do it instead of following through with his threat. Eventually, Professor Trelawney - who is either "Profesor Sinister" or "Profesor Trevolry", depending on the whim of the author at any given point - who is also gothic ("goffik") and therefore has a friendly repertoire with the main characters, tells Ebony she must go back in time in order to seduce a teenage Voldemort. Seems he only became evil because he was heartbroken. While back in the 1980s, Voldemort, who is going by the name Satan instead of Tom Riddle, does start to fall for Ebony.

Further time traveling and false death shenanigans ensue before the author dropped off the face of the Earth. There are 44 chapters total, however the 39th chapter was apparently written by someone who hacked the author's account. This parody chapter mocked nearly every element of the story thus far before claiming the fic "complete." In the chat of Red's read through of My Immortal, a lot of commenters joked that the "hacker" was Raven, finally sick of the author's poor grammar and spelling despite the beta reading. This joke is also a nod to the real-life drama told in the Author's Notes at the start of every chapter.

Usually, the ANs were generic "gothics rock; preps are just jealous haters. Everyone who flames the story is clearly a prep. Goths, you rule and I love you." There was also almost always a hat-tip to Raven to thank her for the beta reading. A little past the halfway mark, however, the two had a falling out. Apparently the author had stolen a poster from Raven because said poster was of the author's favorite singer, and she couldn't resist stealing it. She apologized to Raven via the ANs - a weird spot to air out dirty laundry and ask for forgiveness, but whatever - but apparently Raven didn't accept the apology. This lead to Raven's insert character Willow getting killed off. This rough patch with Raven, and a couple of earlier chapters where Raven was on vacation and couldn't beta read for the author, were the worst-written chapters. So, despite all of them - except the hacked one - being horribly written, it seems the quality WAS somewhat improved by Raven's involvement. "Luckily," a couple of chapters from the end, it seemed the author and Raven made up, because Willow made a silent return and the quality "improved" again. In the meantime though, the drama between the author and Raven continued to play out with the author bouncing between "screw you" and "I'm sorry, please forgive me" in her ANs. She also routinely yo-yo'd between "don't blame me for the poor spelling/grammar, that's all on Raven's beta reading" and "Just kidding, Raven, you're amazing!"

Let me tell you, this story is ATROCIOUS. It is borderline PAINFUL to experience. I had Hubby listen to some of it, mostly so he could experience the glory that was the hacked 39th chapter, and he almost couldn't handle just chapter 38; I had him listen to that first to hear the narrative change and understand the mockery. And yet, I LOVED listening to Red read it. The story was one of those trainwreck So Bad It's Good type of experiences. Plus, Red's mocking voice acting, her stumbling over reading the misspellings of words and poor grammar, and her running commentary of the work was a delight. Please, note, however, if you do brave Red's "audiobook" of this fanfic - or find and read the fic yourself - that it is bad for reasons worse than poor grammar and lack of knowledge of the source material.

There is an obscene amount of profanity, gratuitous and callous use of wrist cutting, romanticized and nonconsequential views of suicide, and nonchalant mentions of pedophilia and rape (always spelled rap). Now, the pedophilia and rape are always portrayed as horrendous acts, and the acts are never actually described, but the terms are thrown around casually as evidence of how "evil" someone is. Also, bisexual males are heavily fetishized with the author interjecting with phrases like "aren't bi guys so sexy?"

This. This is how I started my two-week isolation. It's kinda only gone down hill from there.

Hubby wanted something new to binge on Netflix, and, due to a lot of talk about it lately with our Anime Night friends, he decided it was time for us to FINALLY get into JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

This... this show... it's... well... it's unique. That's for sure. I'm enjoying it, to be fair, but it is so massively over-the-top with everything. The dialog, the character design, the color palette swaps for dramatic scenes, the move sets, the character/villain names - which are almost all nods to Western musicians and bands - and the POSES - probably what the series is most known for. Add in the casting of just about every male voice actor I adore, and how can I not enjoy this grand slice of Cheese?

That said, "bizarre" adventure is an appropriate title, because, HOO BOY, is this show ever bizarre! So, needless to say, Sunday was an overly "weird" day for me.

Also, if all of that wasn't enough for my Sunday, thanks to a message ChibiSunnie sent me, I fell down the Inuyasha nostalgia rabbit hole. I've been routinely listening to the soundtrack ever since. In fact, while writing this blog post, I've been listening to the full 4min version of "Come" by Namie Amuro on nonstop repeat.

I have also gone back to listen to Red's livestream of the Edgar Allan Poe stories, but that was yesterday while making dinner and doing dishes.

The rest of my Monday consisted of Hubby and I sleeping in, us watching more JoJo's, me cleaning for a bit, and managing to still get in my Monday Zumba class, thanks to the instructor getting a free version of the video conferencing program Zoom. So, for as long as we can't meet up for Zumba in person, we can each go through the hour-long class at home. All we need is some floor space, the link to the Zoom session, and a good internet connection. Added bonus? Some of the normal participants who are out of town can still join in now!

Add in all of the other entertainment - OSP's reading livestreams, various other YouTube videos, Netflix, Tumblr, and (hopefully) this blog post - as well as people's ability to work from home, and still stay connected to each other, and I think the internet is the MVP of this social distancing. Way to keep up the hard work, Internet.

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Speaking of MVPs, can we pause for a minute to talk about the true MVPs? The essential workers that still have to brave interacting with others during this time of crisis?

So, thank you, doctors, nurses, various other hospital workers, first responders, grocery store workers, delivery drivers, postal workers, funeral directors/morticians, and any other worker I might have missed - such as clerks in stores like Walmart that are still open because they also sell food, water, and other essentials. I know most of you don't really have a say in the matter, but I still praise you for your continued work in this chaotic time, and your calm demeanor despite how crazy everyone else has become, and how poorly a lot of you have been treated lately.

I don't know how much comfort it is in these trying times, but, from me to you:

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Stay well, and stay sane out there.

Hubby is one of those brave souls. He works at a grocery store, so please send him all of your Positive Thoughts for the mornings where the store gets a delivery truck. The place gets MOBBED! The store opens at 6am, and when I drop Hubby off for that 6am shift there are already easily two-dozen cars in the parking lot, and the store manager has already let most of them inside! It is a MADHOUSE as people rush to grab up the hand sanitizer, soap, cheap meats, bread, paper towels, tissues, and.... you guessed it... toilet paper. What is up with the toilet paper insanity?

Downside is that Hubby has to still go out and deal with the public during everything, which also means he could contract COVID-19 and bring it home to me. So please keep us in your thoughts. I mean, so far so good, but I don't want to rest on my laurels. Also, even if we do stay healthy, that is a LOT of time for him to be standing when he already has bad knees and a bad back. Also add in the particularly terrible treatment from a lot of customers right now.

Plus side is two-fold. One, Hubby is getting a massive amount of hours, plus a hazard pay premium while everything is going down, so I hope that will help with me having to switch to unemployment for at least the next two weeks. Two, as mean as this may sound, his working while I'm forced to not means I have nearly 8hrs every day to be home alone. I can spend that time cleaning, or writing, or watching shows I want to catch up on but he's not really into, or stealing the TV to play video games; something I don't get a chance to do frequently.

That said, you see how well I utilized that alone time on Sunday....


Alternatively, Monday, while I was doing Zumba in the "dining room" that separates our living room from our bedroom, Hubby switched from JoJo's to a different anime he had on his watch list, but I wasn't particularly invested in one way or the other. After my shower, and our dinner together, I asked him if he would be cool watching more of his show instead of going back to JoJo's. That way I could sneak off to attempt SOME writing.

Squirreled away for roughly two hours before crashing for the night, I once more tried tackling that 'Your Voice' prompt for the long-over Fluff Week challenge. I had told you last week that I was writing down all of the options I thought up so I could weed them out of my head. Well, a few days ago I just kind of gave up and started writing, hoping SOMETHING would manifest.

I'm not entirely sure how I'm feeling about what I have thus far, but whatever I have, I have six pages and nearly 3000 words worth. It's definitely fluffier than some of my previous chapters/stories, although that's not really saying much. It's also far more Adrienette than I initially pictured for the story, but I guess I needed all of it to help set up the pay off? I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to switch to the initial LadyNoir side of the Love Square that I want the prompt to really focus on. So..... we'll see where I go with that.

Oddly enough, mostly due to my frantic attempt to keep up with my now flooded Tumblr dashboard, I haven't actually read anything this week, unless you count my listening to My Immortal.


Seems everyone I follow is now home with plenty of time to either add content, or at least reblog it, on Tumblr. Meanwhile, I still had work last week, and while we barely had any customers, a lot of that time was spent trying to clean and sanitize the store. Not much time to go through Tumblr with enough regularity to keep up with the heightened influx of activity. When I got home each night I spent some time bonding with the husband, and then I would kind of mindlessly sift through my Tumblr dash for four hours.

I have added so much to my already overwhelming drafts folder.

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Since I spent so much time trying to stay up-to-date with Tumblr, I ran out of reading time. Then, like I said, I've been slacking Sunday and Monday, so no reading then either. I'm hoping to get past the mental block this work shutdown has created and truly start utilizing this newfound free time properly.

It's just so weird to be told I CAN'T go anywhere, instead of opting to stay home of my own accord. It's making me stir crazy out of principle, I think. Age old "you don't want something until you're told you can't have it" problems, I guess.

I'm sure it didn't help that it's finally officially spring and we still had this mess to deal with yesterday:

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Why are we still getting snow!?
It was like 70 the day before!

I'm still awkwardly kind of on-call for work since I'm literally a block away from the store. I'm hoping the blinding sun I've seen all morning means the snow melted on its own. Otherwise I might have to go shovel the front sidewalk at least. The store's owner is trying to figure out how to pay me - or somehow give me some sort of backpay once the store reopens - for any time I might spend checking on and otherwise maintaining the building. There's a lot of roof-leaking problems as well that I might have to peek in on.

So... uh... yeah. This time is weird. It's going to feel weird for a while. While I feel like most of us are hoping these Social Distancing restrictions are only going to last for 14 days, I have a suspicion it might last until the end of April at the earliest. Especially if people continue to not voluntarily isolate themselves.

Boy, do I hope I'm wrong, and we can all get back to some semblance of normalcy by the beginning of April. Regardless of which direction this thing leans, I hope we can all stay sane together, and that I've helped you ease some of that boredom and antsiness.

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