Personal Digest Saturday: July 23 – July 29

Life news this week: 

• Another week of Steven Universe episodes made the week kinda weird since I had to go to Jeaux's every day after work to watch it. The mood of this thing is flipping around so dramatically that it's kinda messing with me.
  
• Saturday was really good actually. Most things went right! I went shopping and found some really cute toys at GameStop, and had time to shower and pack before Eric came over and collected me for Drink and Draw. And the night was lovely--got plenty of drawing done, hung out with Eric and Joy and Christian, talked cartoons and art, and then spent the night opening my new toys and eating candy. I felt like it was just a really sweet day.
  
• Sunday I did some shopping and almost got caught in the rain--made it home minutes before the sky opened up. Had a chat with Fred about our upcoming vacation, talked to my parents, and did some household chores.
  
• Monday I worked, shopped for groceries, saw the new episode of Steven Universe at Jeaux's house ("Restaurant Wars"), and opened some packages I got at home.
  
• Tuesday my work had a party for me because it's my ten-year anniversary. Wow! I got pizza from one of my favorite places and they gave me a nice card, aww. I saw the new SU episode, "Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service," at Jeaux's, and Mom came over at my place for a very short time and didn't stay over. I just got some more vacation prep done.
  
• Wednesday I had some printing and binding to do at work, and then it was Jeaux Day. We ate at Marlow's Tavern again (I had a coupon), and my food was super good. I had chickpea fries and a bowl of pasta. Wow. Then the SU episode was "Monster Reunion" (eek), and we hung out at my house listening to Alice Isn't Dead. Got some drawing done too.
  
• Thursday I had some extra time in the morning and spent it on watching some silly stuff and preparing some vacation stuff. After work I saw the SU episode "Alone at Sea," which is one of the most disturbing depictions of a realistic abusive relationship I think I've ever seen in fiction, much less in a kids' cartoon. Yikes, this show. At home I chatted to Victor and finished processing my webcomic.
  
• Friday I tied up some loose ends at work and went to Jeaux's to see the SU episode "Greg the Babysitter." Aw! Then I came home and packed for vacation. That pretty much took up the whole night.

New reviews of my book:

• Nathan gave it a four-star review on Goodreads.

Interviews, Features, Mentions:

• Tumblr user useduppaper posted a picture of my book with caption "finally got it!" Woohoo!
  
• Tumblr user kaylamacintyre answers a writing survey question "tell us about a writer you admire" with stuff about me in this blog post.
  
• The Let's Read About Feminism group is voting on their book club book and my book is a potential selection.

 
Reading progress:

• Finished this week: Nothing this week, but while on vacation I should get some done!
• Currently reading: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.

New singing performances:

Here I'm singing "Violently Happy" by Björk.

 

New drawings:

Did a bunch of calendar drawings to celebrate Summer of Steven episodes. These were each drawn at work as sort of "guesses" about each episode's content focus, so I could use them in my Facebook posts to talk about episodes.

Day 6: Fryman and Kofi arguing about food.

Day 7: Kiki cheering on dream warrior Steven.

Day 8: Centipeetle eating Chaaaaps.

Day 9: Lapis looking grim.

Day 10: Greg holding a baby while Rose looks on.

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0585: "Looking For This."






New videos:

None!

New photos:

I'm at Drink and Draw!

My cute new figures in their box!

My ten-year thank-you card and gift card.

My calendar filled up with cartoons.

And here are the shirts I wore for the Steven stuff:

Day 6: Cookie Cat shirt, watching "Restaurant Wars."

Day 7: Keep Beach City Weird shirt, watching "Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service."

Day 8: Secret Team shirt, watching "Monster Reunion."

Day 9: Back Together shirt, watching "Alone at Sea."

Day 10: Guitar Dad shirt, watching "Greg the Babysitter."

Social Media counts:
 
YouTube subscribers: 5,353 for swankivy (lost 2), 579 for JulieSondra (3 new). Twitter followers: 810 for swankivy (2 new), 1,272 for JulieSondra (4 new). Facebook: 291 friends (no change) and 200 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 639 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 55 likes for Negative One (no change), 124 likes for So You Write (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,457 (2 new). Instagram followers: 79 (3 new).

Wednesday Factoid: Video Games

Today's Wednesday Factoid is: What are your favorite video games?

Aw, my answer's gonna be kinda boring because I don't really play video games much.

My favorite video game at the moment is Dance Dance Revolution. That would have been my answer if you'd asked me ten years ago, too.

I love playing DDR and was super obsessed with it when I first discovered it. My friend Mike sort of dared me to get on the machine at a bowling alley one day when I had never played before, and it was like I was instantly bewitched and wanted to play again and again. I downloaded a simulator so I could pretend to play in my living room even though I didn't have a dance pad or a system, and then I ended up getting it for a home setup and getting really good.

My friends and I had a DDR party once at my friend Mandy's house! I had a great time.

There's me and Joy!

I even once made a cheesy video about how to play the game, with some demonstrations of me playing hard songs.

 


Besides DDR, though, I've had fun playing Bejeweled Blitz through Facebook--for a while I did that so much that I ended up spending New Year's Eve just playing it, and just decided to quit cold turkey one day because it's so addictive and not at all productive. (One of my friends on there was always playing too and we would always be trying to beat each other.) And because I'm obsessed with Steven Universe, I played the couple mobile games they've released. Attack the Light is a lot of fun, and Soundtrack Attack is a really cute game but I'm having trouble with it because my phone lags playing it after a few songs so I can't play it long at once. (The lagging is a big problem if it's a rhythm game.)

Attack the Light!

Soundtrack Attack!

Oh! And I like Rock Band. But I'm not very experienced or good at it. I like playing drums the best, but I can do the guitar. (Weirdly enough, the Rock Band bit I am least interested in is the singing.)

 

I have not actually played the game Undertale, but it was very popular among my friends, so I watched an entire playthrough on YouTube and really enjoyed the story and interaction. So I guess I kinda consider myself an Undertale fan too. I would also never play Portal because I'd be lost actually trying to navigate--I'm terrible with navigation and spacial relations, even in fictional settings--but I am infinitely amused by GLaDOS from that game and that has also caused me to watch an entire playthrough.

When I was in college I loved playing Bubble Bobble Bust-A-Move. My friend Mike and I played in the arcades alllll the time (to the point that I gave him arcade coins for his birthday once). It's very similar to Bejeweled Blitz so I'm not surprised I was kinda addicted to both.

When I was in high school, my friends and I were obsessed with going to the bowling alley and playing the X-men fighting game. I used to play as Storm and beat the crap out of people. (Though my boyfriend would play as Wolverine, play really dirty, and then do things like kicking my ass and then saying "You can start trying anytime now." What an ass.) I liked other fighting games then too. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were a lot of fun. And in middle school I really liked the Mario games. I was really good at 1, 2, and 3. (Super Mario World kinda lost me though. I never played much once the Super Nintendo came out.)

But I can safely say that my very first beloved video game was Ms. Pac-Man. When I was five I was so obsessed with playing Ms. Pac-Man! I wanted to play it all the time, but of course we did not have an Atari so I had to be content with playing at the skating rink or the Showbiz Pizza. I played it so much that I gave myself a blister once. And then wanted to make a Pac-Man glove so I could be cool and protect my hand. (It never happened but it was an idea I had.) 

I guess you could say I've dabbled in video game stuff my whole life but have never really crossed the line into what you'd call a gamer. It's enough for me, though! I've got plenty of other things to do. :P 

I would have liked me

This past weekend was my twenty-year high school reunion.

I didn't go, but someone had added me to a Facebook group designed to organize the event and I stayed for the pictures. I didn't care to go and didn't really want to talk to anyone there, but it was still fun to see.

The night of the event, I was at Drink and Draw.

That night, I hung out with my friends, had a great veggie sandwich, and drew some webcomics. Then I went home, and my friend crashed on my couch while I spent the night opening some toys I had bought and eating candy.

The toys were blind bag variety so I didn't know what would be inside each box. So opening them was a little adventure and I shared the saga with Facebook and my friend Jeaux as I was opening them. I was such a nerd at the store where I bought them that they let me take the box they came in as well, and now I have this.

At one point while opening the toys and posting to Facebook, I wrote this:

"I'm sitting here opening toys and eating Pez at 3 AM my life is so cool"

And then I was thinking today how some folks at my twenty-year reunion probably would not have thought it was so cool to be 38 and squeeing over cartoons like I was twenty years ago.

I don't care at all. But it does kinda suck that I know some of my peers would judge me. For not being "adult" enough to have, I don't know, kids and a car.

Many of them would not consider my lifestyle respectable. And probably, at eighteen, they envisioned their lives looking much like they actually do now. And they might look at me as stunted, as "unsuccessful," as childish because instead of partying with my high school peers from twenty years ago, drinking like grown-ups, reminiscing, showing off pictures of my children . . . I went to a drawing club, ate candy, and played with toys in my bedroom.

I mean actually it's my office. I have an office. And a bedroom.

I have my own apartment actually. And it's on my terms. 

It's covered with cartoon stuff and toys and books and knickknacks and writing stuff and art stuff. I keep it organized. My bathroom is packed with barrettes and hair ties and hair accessories that I would have happily worn as a teenager. I have a Captain Underpants poster in the bathroom.

My eighteen-year-old self would have been proud of how I turned out. And probably a little relieved, too. No, I didn't have to give up what I enjoy to grow up and live how I want. No, I wasn't badgered into a marriage I knew I didn't want, and I didn't have to learn how to drive before people let me be an adult, and I got a college education and didn't end up in a job I hate, and I got a book published, and I can still eat Pez at 3 AM and open toys and get excited about them. (And sometimes, the other adults who are my friends are excited about those things too. I have lots of those. Friends, that is. Who respect me and don't try to tell me I need to "have fun" only in certain preapproved adult ways like bar sports and coitus.)

I would have liked me. I kinda wish I could tell my eighteen-year-old self that I was going to become something she would be proud to be. That I wouldn't have to sacrifice who I am or what I'm interested in to have a comfortable and happy life. That I really did turn out fine. That it's actually better than I thought it might be. That I get to buy cartoon merchandise and go on vacation with my friends and make my own food and go to a job that pays well and makes use of my skills and I get to make creative things all the time, every week, and people look at them and read them and send me messages to say how much they like them, and that the tools for communication have improved and changed so I can use them for the purposes I always dreamed of.

I don't know how many people are fortunate enough to be able to say they're satisfied with or even ecstatic about the state of their adult lives. So it really does sort of amuse me (and make me a little sad) that some of the people at that twenty-year reunion might have been as judgy as they were when we were in high school when I wasn't doing what everyone else was doing then either. They probably would have been able to respect the "accomplishment" of getting a book published though. I'll say that. However, the fact that at 38 I'm doodling online comics and wearing cartoon shirts probably would have prompted a lot of them reply with "jeez, still?"

Yep, still.

And my eighteen-year-old self would have been very glad to know it.

Personal Digest Saturday: July 16 – July 22

Life news this week: 

• As expected, the return of Steven Universe to television all week destroyed my productivity. Ho-hum. Five new episodes, and no end in sight. (Okay. Well. The end is in sight. It's August 12.)
  
• Saturday I wrote a video, bought some crap online, and got a bunch of files organized and cleaned up on my computer. And I wrote some mails and did a comic.
  
• Sunday I did my karaoke, made my video that I'd written the day before, and did some preliminary drawings for the next comic that I'll be doing this coming weekend at Drink and Draw. Had some issues with the video uploading though. It got flagged for copyright because I used a cartoon clip from Avatar that set off the auto-flag and got the video blocked in hundreds of countries. Boo!
  
• Monday was a good day! Everything pretty much went right! I doodled some cartoons on my calendar at work so I could use them for spoiler posts on my Facebook for talking about cartoons each day. Went to the grocery store after work and saw my mom there! Then went to Jeaux's for cartoons, where we ate pizza, watched a show he wanted me to see called Wrecked (it was funny), and saw the double episodes of Steven ("Steven Floats," which we'd seen already because it aired in France, and "Drop Beat Dad," which was cute). Then I came home and fixed the problems with my writing video's copyright issues, and cleaned the kitchen.
  
• Tuesday I wrote some more e-mails, watched Wrecked at Jeaux's and ate my remaining pizza, and got severely crushed into a pile of tears by the day's SU episode "Mr. Greg." Dang. (There are pictures of me crying but I won't post them.) You don't really have to understand the context to realize why a song like this makes people go to pieces. Mom came over after that and watched me clean the living room. We just hung out and chatted. I went to bed relatively early. Oh, and Victor got out of the hospital and went home!!
  
• Wednesday I kicked rocks for the folks at the office and met Jeaux for food at Chili's. We saw Eric there! And then we went to watch cartoons. The episode of the day was "Too Short to Ride" and it was a lot of fun. Nice to have a lighter one after yesterday's. We went to my place (getting caught in the rain) and hung out watching stuff and talking. After he left I didn't do much but look at cartoon news.
  
• Thursday I took care of a lot of business at work, including editing images in Paint and making people think I'm a wizard. Went to Jeaux's for popcorn and more new cartoons. "The New Lars" was the episode. Ehh. Not my favorite thing. I went home and avoided responsibility until Victor called and then I drew 9 of my 10 frames of my comic. Wow! And I downloaded a rhythm game for free for my phone. Soundtrack Attack is fun and cute.
  
• Friday I worked and went to Jeaux's for the last episode of the week, "Beach City Drift," which was pretty good. We were also trying to watch some panel stuff from a Steven Universe panel but it just wasn't posted in its entirety anywhere yet. (I got to see it later though.) I finished my comic at home and posted it, and talked about background characters with my friends on Facebook.

New reviews of my book:

• None.

Interviews, Features, Mentions:

• Vegan Dragon made a video about my asexuality activism, my karaoke, and the fact that it's disappointing I'm not vegan. swankivy | Asexuality | Vegetarian for ethical reasons
  
• The podcast Pieces of Ace is celebrating 50 episodes. They did a "documentary" on themselves including their favorite moments, and one of those was getting to have me on their show. Pieces of Ace - Episode 50 - The Documentary (my bit is at 18:33).

 
Reading progress:

• Finished this week: Sorry, no reading, too distracted by cartoons.
• Currently reading: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.

New singing performances:

Here I'm singing "Life For Rent" by Dido.

 

New drawings:

Did a bunch of calendar drawings to celebrate Summer of Steven episodes. These were each drawn at work as sort of "guesses" about each episode's content focus, so I could use them in my Facebook posts to talk about episodes.

Day 1: Steven floating and Sour Cream DJing.

Day 2: Greg being a bazzzillionaire and Pearl being all wistful.

Day 3: Peridot being salty because she can't ride the roller coaster.

Day 4: Lars being a jerk.

Day 5: Stevonnie offering to race Kevin.

Webcomic So You Write Issue 62: "But You're a Girl."

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0584: "Protect What's Inside."






New videos:

My video Writing Villains and Antagonists is up on my writing channel.


New photos:

Found this green pen at work, so I had to do green art!

My shirt for Summer of Steven Day 1!
SU cast shirt, watched "Steven Floats" and "Drop Beat Dad."

My shirt for Summer of Steven Day 2!
Mr. Universe shirt, watched "Mr. Greg."
Not pictured: Crying that happened while watching "Mr. Greg."

My shirt for Summer of Steven Day 3!
Amethyst shirt, watched "Too Short to Ride."

My shirt for Summer of Steven Day 4!
Big Donut shirt, watched "The New Lars."

My shirt for Summer of Steven Day 5!
Garnet "Stronger Than You" shirt, watched "Beach City Drift."

Social Media counts:
 
YouTube subscribers: 5,355 for swankivy (1 new), 576 for JulieSondra (1 new). Twitter followers: 808 for swankivy (lost 10--account deletions must've happened or something, because I didn't tweet anything all week), 1,268 for JulieSondra (7 new). Facebook: 291 friends (no change) and 201 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 639 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 55 likes for Negative One (no change), 124 likes for So You Write (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,455 (2 new). Instagram followers: 76 (1 new).

Wednesday Factoid: Racial/Ethnic Identity

Today's Wednesday Factoid is: What is your Racial and Ethnic Identity?

In general, I'm white with Jewish heritage.

"White" in my case means I'm German and French on my mom's side and Russian and Hungarian on my dad's side. I think I look like a pretty even mix between both sides of my family, though my dad's side is dark-haired and I've always had naturally blonde hair that didn't really get darker like I kinda expected it to.

My paternal grandfather's side of the family is the Hungarian side. My great-grandmother sometimes spoke Hungarian. My paternal grandmother's side was the Russian side; both of my grandmother's parents were born in Russia in 1892, and they immigrated to the USA, arriving at Ellis Island in 1911. My grandmother and her siblings were born in St. Louis. This side of my family followed Jewish traditions and I suppose you would say "ethnically Jewish"? I was raised with those traditions when my mother converted to Judaism and married my father. By some traditions I don't count as "Jewish," but by others I do because my mother converted.

My maternal grandfather's side was the French one, but I don't have much of his information. All I know is that my great-grandfather was a World War I veteran. And as for my maternal grandmother's side--the German one--I know that from the time of my great-great-grandparents, my grandmother's side was born in the United States, mostly in and around Buffalo, New York, but my great-great-great grandparents' generation looks to be pretty solidly from Germany. This side of the family was Catholic and the families were very big. I was not raised with any Catholic traditions.

Here's a neat thing I found online a while back about what the supposed "typical woman" looks like in various countries. It's a sampling of each of my four major countries:

And then me for comparison:

I definitely look like that's what I come from.

Public criticism

As an author I have of course learned to deal with criticism. Usually, it's fair and it's someone's opinion, love it or hate it. Occasionally, it's ridiculous and full of ad hominem attacks (like one Amazon review I got where the reviewer goes on about how he looked at my websites and thinks I'm a narcissist and is appalled that the asexual community couldn't do better than this for its representative). Or it's in direct opposition to the facts (like one website review where the reviewer stated he did not read the whole book but claimed I do not address X and never explain Y, even though both of those things are in there; a commenter told him what page to find the "missing" information on). I don't mind that people post untrue or harsh things sometimes. It's kind of part of the experience.

It's maybe a little different when the criticism is not about my book but about me personally.

And even then, I just . . . don't really care?

I think it's healthy for people to be able to criticize me publicly. I'm a pretty public person. If it's very silly or misleading, other people can probably see that just like I can. If it's legitimate, I might learn something, for cheese's sake.

Speaking of cheese.

The latest example of the above is someone who made a video about me on their own channel and devoted part of the ten-minute run time to a discussion of being disappointed that I am not vegan.

*shrug*

The rest of the video is about liking my asexuality videos, liking my singing, and thinking I'm pretty cool. And then there's the bit about veganism and how it sucks that I'm not vegan and some stuff about how being vegan is better. The person who made the video sent me a message telling me that it existed, linking it, so they certainly expected me to see it. And when I responded with basic acknowledgment and one side comment (because he went on for a while about how hens are abused and tortured in cages for us to have eggs and I pointed out that I only buy cage-free veg eggs), he was surprised I wasn't upset at being criticized. He said every person he's criticized to this effect so far has shouted back at him.

Maybe I've just been around the block a few too many times for this to matter, but . . . my primary thought is just "why should I care?" This guy has made a video that is about  how I am not vegan and, well, I'm not. I don't mind that someone has said so, and I'm well aware of what vegans' position is so it doesn't surprise me to see a vegan activist saying the same things vegan activists say. I don't feel that this is a call to defend myself or to argue with him. I'm not here to debate veganism. I don't debate vegetarianism against people who are meat-eaters either. I guess that's just not my thread of activism.

And that's fine. He can be disappointed that it isn't, and can be disappointed that I'm not vegan, and can say so.

I've had a few other people make videos about me. There was one time when a self-published author made a bunch of videos and websites about how she's a huge star/youngest novelist in the world/bestseller/internationally famous/film star/screenwriter/singing sensation/model/inspirational speaker, and I made some public statements about the outright lies in her campaign (mostly about how she claims you can't find her self-published book anywhere because it's so in demand that no one can keep it in stock anywhere tee hee and I was like no, that is not why, that's not how self-publishing works), so she made a music video about haters being jealous of her and she had my image edited into the video. (It was pretty funny.) People kept expecting me to do something about it and I was like . . . no? She's made herself look way more ridiculous than I ever could by doing that.

I had one guy make a video about my book with a video review, and that was nice.

I had someone make a video mentioning how great my book was, and that was cool too.

I had someone make a nearly twenty-minute video ranting about me censoring her because I blocked her from posting comments on my videos. (She was saying a lot of really awful stuff about how feminism is a hate movement and it's all about hurting men, and she wouldn't stop trying to goad me into arguing with her about this thing my video wasn't about, so I blocked her, and she had to have her ramble on YouTube about how this is omg censorship and all she was doing was saying feminism is bullshit you know.) I didn't even listen to the whole thing. (If I was actually able to "censor" her, though, she wouldn't have had the freedom of speech to post that. Obviously I do not have the power to "censor" her.)

I had some guy make a six-part video featuring a good hour and a half of circular rambling about a correspondence he had with me. For some reason he'd elected to post a bunch of transphobic garbage on my comments and expected me to receive it politely, and somehow believed I was obligated to watch a bunch of his videos before responding to him. The video series was primarily about me while pretending to not be about me, self-righteously ranting about how to be polite in correspondence and what he expects from correspondents, with some digs in there about how I am probably lying about my age. Eh. It was bizarre, but I guess it was only a matter of time before someone latched onto me for material like this. Long "deconstructions" of other popular YouTubers happen all the time.

Someone made a video documenting their painting process of one of my characters and that was pretty sweet.

I think there are a few others that I can't remember right now? But anyway.

The point is that when I see people complaining about me on the Internet, I primarily just leave them alone. I don't have to engage people or argue with them when they don't like me or think I'm wrong. I do plenty of that already, so when it's something like this where I think someone's criticism or commentary doesn't really matter, I just ignore it or let it be. I want to be able to criticize other people without getting confronted by them too. It's fine.

The only time I'm NOT fine with it is if someone is inciting violence or making comments that are deliberately untrue. I did once go after someone--a real lawyer and everything--for publicly stating that they thought my asexuality was a cover for "liking little boys," with further accusations of molestation of children. And they attached that statement to my full legal name (which I publish under), encouraging other readers to track me down and harass me. I took care of the situation very quietly and did not talk about it publicly until years later. Some people really are out to get you.

But most of them just want to say stuff, and they're allowed to say stuff. Someone's allowed to make videos about how they think I'm rude, or that they think my legitimate callout of explicit lies on her part just means I'm jealous, or that they're disappointed because I eat cheese. That doesn't affect me negatively in really any way.

Say whatever you want. You shouldn't have to be afraid to speak.

Personal Digest Saturday: July 9 – July 15

Life news this week: 

• The week felt long--maybe because it was the week AFTER a four-day week and going back to normal was hard.
  
• Saturday I went out with my friends Sarah and David. We had brunch at Keke's and gave each other gifts. I gave her a box of stationery and office supplies, and she gave me a candle, some stickers, and a gift certificate to Michaels. Which I then spent getting purple markers so I could finally finish coloring a doodle of Amethyst. (I'll share when I'm done inking the other drawings on the same page.) I took naps and made some arrangements for traveling.
  
• Sunday I went to see Victor in the hospital. My mom was nice enough to drive me and we brought him some chicken tenders and hung out. After that I talked to my sister on the phone and got some basic chores done.
  
• Monday I sent a toy trade to a Tumblr pal, came home after grocery shopping, and received my Cheeseburger Backpack! I preordered this thing in February. Hooray! There were actually two in my mailbox because a British friend wanted one and they don't ship to the UK, so I ordered one for her. I spent the rainy evening doodling a picture of SU characters in a casually intimate pose. Ruby and Sapphire are cute as heck.
  
• Tuesday I mailed the extra Cheeseburger Backpack to my friend Susan, then went to work and found out MY COMPANY WON A REALLY BIG CONTRACT with our DOT and everyone's so happy. We had a little party at the office, which included cheese, chips, fruit, and wine. Then I took my mom out to GrillSmith and ate potatoes and cauliflower, and she slept over.
  
• Wednesday I got my toy trade in the mail and was pleased to complete my collection! After work Jeaux and I ate at Marlow's Tavern and I had a REALLY good hummus plate with yummy things to dip into the hummus! After, we watched a voice actor panel on YouTube and hung out. After Jeaux left I did some reading.
  
• Thursday I didn't do much except update/reformat my Tumblr page for asexuality arguments.
  
• Friday I just worked and posted my comic.

New reviews of my book:

• Claire gave it a 3-star review on Goodreads.

 
Interviews, Features, Mentions:

• None.

 
Reading progress:

• Finished this week: Nothing.
• Currently reading: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.

New singing performances:

Here I'm singing "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden.

 

New drawings:

A phone photo of the raw drawing I did of Ruby and Sapphire

Here it is scanned and cleaned up and put on a digital
background with a sweet message. :)

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0583: "Special Filter."






New videos:

None.


New photos:

My Cheeseburger Backpack came!

 

My complete set of mini toys is cute!

And the haircut comparison photos:

Front, February 2014	Front, July 2016
Back, February 2014	Back, July 2016

Social Media counts:
 
YouTube subscribers: 5,354 for swankivy (8 new), 575 for JulieSondra (1 new). Twitter followers: 818 for swankivy (1 new), 1,261 for JulieSondra (lost 1). Facebook: 291 friends (no change, except actually I added a friend so I must have lost one too) and 202 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 638 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 55 likes for Negative One (lost 1), 124 likes for So You Write (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,453 (no change). Instagram followers: 75 (no change).