Saturday, May 30, 2020

Personal Digest Saturday: May 23 – May 29

Life news this week:
  • Saturday I had a lazy day. Finished my transcript for Laurann's interview and posted it finally. Played a lot of silly games. Chatted with Meghan on the phone. Got my blogging done. Also chatted to Jeaux because it was his birthday.
  • Sunday I did my chores (laundry, trash, though I forgot the pickup wouldn't happen because of Monday's holiday). I had to redo the video upload for Laurann's video because the quality was terrible and it turned out the recording wasn't to blame. It was my video editor's fault! I used a different editor and it came out nicely. Well! So I also practiced ukulele.
  • Monday I had off work for Memorial Day. I did some budget stuff, recorded a karaoke song, and started working on the video for the next podcast. Also responded to some OKCupid messages and decided to unmatch some people whose messages weren't working for me.
  • Tuesday began my eleventh week working from home, except that half of the day I actually spent at the office! I did some preparation in the morning, assembling proposals, and then my boss picked me up and took me to work (we were both wearing masks). I did my paper assembly and notarizing various documents. We had a stumbling block because the place we wanted to do the binding was closed! Welp. I left it in my boss's hands for binding and delivery. Also, we got good news: we won a contract from that job I interviewed on! GO US! Later I called my mom and finished folding laundry.
  • Wednesday I had to deal with a county proposal and a little bit of data entry and some utility coordination. After work Jeaux and I went grocery shopping and also brought some supplies to my mom. She had made us lasagna so we picked it up and ate it for dinner while watching What We Do in the Shadows and chatting about Internet jerks. I made him some banana bread for his birthday.
  • Thursday I woke up late but it doesn't really matter! I got some utilities stuff done and a bunch of data entry. I'm making good time against that deadline. I had a really long meeting that went well. After work I wrote my webcomic board and talked to Victor on the phone while drawing it.
  • Friday I woke up late again and spent most of the day with data entry. Going well. I bought the newly released Steven Universe season 1 instrumentals track (they're releasing the instrumentals one season at a time, one a month) and reviewed it. Great stuff! Also I spent a lot of time on social media looking at the gross racist stuff going on in our country. Managed to get my comic up and went to bed.

New Reviews of My Book:


Food Plan Update:
  • I was not very conservative with my choices this week, but I also haven't been monitoring how I'm doing, so to tell you the truth, I'd estimate without proof that this hasn't been a great week for me food-wise. Maybe I can improve next week.
Reading progress:
  • Finished Reading: Nothing this week! I didn't ride the bus at all and was very busy at home--did not make time for reading.
    New singing performances:

    This week's karaoke song is "Mr. Cellophane" from Chicago. I'm pretending to be a doormat husband. Weird role but whatever.




    Stuff Drawn:





    Webcomic Negative One Issue 0785: "You'll Be Missed."









    New videos: 

    "Disobedient" ukulele cover is up. It's a little messy but I had some fun. Check out my impression of Sadie Killer and the Suspects.




    New photos:

    None this week!

    Social Media Counts:

    YouTube subscribers: 5,265 for swankivy (lost 4), 675 for JulieSondra (lost 2), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 99 for Not-So-Giant Women (lost 1). Twitter followers: 959 for swankivy (lost 1), 1,357 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 298 friends (lost 1, know not who) and 218 followers (no change) for swankivy, 635 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 61 likes for Negative One (no change), 160 likes for So You Write (no change), 81 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (1 new). Tumblr followers: 2,485 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 202 (no change).

    Saturday, May 23, 2020

    Personal Digest Saturday: May 16 – May 22

    Life news this week:
    • Saturday I finished up planning for podcasts and processed some photos. I did some saving and deleting of screencaps from my phone to clear out space. Did some blogging and worked on my video transcript for Laurann's video. And then I had a very long and satisfying recording session with Daria making podcasts for two of my favorite Steven Universe episodes: "Lion 3: Straight to Video" and "Alone Together." Went to bed after a late-night snack. Very happy!
    • Sunday I got up late and wasted some morning time playing around. I did another ace interview, this time with an ace named Destiny, and I typed up more of Laurann's transcript. Then I did chores: laundry, dishes, trash. Played a trivia game and silly solitaire stuff to relax. And posted some recipes on Tumblr. Oh, and I learned a song for karaoke that my friend Reeny wanted me to try!
    • Monday began my tenth week of working from home. Work was pretty stressful because were focusing on our impending group interview for the work we're trying to win! Monday was packed with interview practices and also editing a letter for a different project. Then I drew a lovely picture after work (more fan art), ate some eggs, and tried to learn a new song on ukulele but it's pretty hard.
    • Tuesday I had to get up early for more interview practice. We did two practice runs in the morning and had to dress up in our private office space and homes for the first historic socially distant interview! It went well even though the question I got was way more detailed than I had practiced, but I did fine and people on my team complimented me. Guess I have a lot of experience talking to a webcam, haha. After work I just took naps in between working on transcripts. I tried to eat a piece of defrosted cake, but it wasn't very good.
    • Wednesday was a bit slower at work, thank goodness, but I got some utility coordination done on a local project and processed some stuff for a new employee we just hired, and had to take a break to get a grocery list from my mom because Wednesday is my grocery day and she for some reason didn't want to ask her roommate to do the errand. Happily, Jeaux agreed to help out with that because he is the world's biggest sweetheart. We did our shopping and errands, and then we made nuggets (chicken for him, fake chicken for me) and fries and we watched What We Do in the Shadows and started the last season of She-Ra. It was so good we kept watching it past when we usually go to bed. Also, this was the 15-year anniversary of my webcomic, and I've STILL never missed a weekly update!
    • Thursday I got a lot knocked out on utilities and spent most of the day updating this database I do (though it was for a district we really don't work in so I am not sure how useful it will be). I wrote and drew my webcomic and talked on the phone to Victor.
    • Friday was good! I did a different database in the morning, took care of timesheet stuff, and finally started my data entry for another work order for our RCI project. I also got to chat with the new employee who went on the interview with me. She is really nice and I think it's going to be cool working with her. Hooray for having other ladies to work with for once! Also struggled with some mom stuff because she wanted help getting cigarettes (she still isn't allowed to drive after the seizure and still didn't want to ask her roomie) but a lot of the delivery places for alcohol and cigarettes have a waiting period and she didn't like it so she ended up asking the roomie anyway. After work I worked on my comic and Jeaux came by to pick up the milk he accidentally left at my house. We ended up making dinner together and watching the rest of She-Ra because we really wanted to know what happens. :D It was great!

    New Reviews of My Book:


    Food Plan Update:
    • Nothing really to report! Just being somewhat moderate about what I shove in my face, I guess!
    Reading progress:
    • Finished Reading: Nothing this week! I didn't ride the bus at all and was very busy at home--did not make time for reading.
      New singing performances:

      This week's karaoke song is "Caught in the Middle" by A1.




      Stuff Drawn:


      It's Steven napping with Bismuth!




      Webcomic Negative One Issue 0784: "What a Kid Is."









      New videos: 

      Ace Interview #1 with Laurann is up. It is very long; the others I'm doing weren't nearly as long but we had a lot of stuff to talk about and Laurann had prepared a lot of material!




      New photos:
      My interview presentation

      Social Media Counts:

      YouTube subscribers: 5,269 for swankivy (no change), 677 for JulieSondra (lost 2), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 100 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 960 for swankivy (lost 3), 1,359 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 299 friends (no change) and 218 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 636 likes for JulieSondra (lost 2), 61 likes for Negative One (no change), 160 likes for So You Write (no change), 80 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (2 new). Tumblr followers: 2,486 (no change). Instagram followers: 202 (lost 1).

      Saturday, May 16, 2020

      Personal Digest Saturday: May 9 – May 15

      Life news this week:
      • Saturday I conducted two interviews with other aces who have agreed to get interviewed on my channel! I interviewed Laurann in the morning and Ruby in the evening. I did my blogging at a reasonable time in between and played too many silly games. I also got to chat with Meggie on the phone and fell asleep on the floor.
      • Sunday I overslept because I went to the bed when I woke up on the floor and then spent some extra time there. I answered some mail and did my laundry, trash, and karaoke, and I posted some reviews of the new Steven Universe graphic novel. I organized a little bit of my website stuff too.
      • Monday began my ninth week of working from home. I sent in a packet for our upcoming interview. Also did some organizing for an upcoming proposal and made business cards and collected timesheets. I processed Laurann's video and sent it to them for review. I answered some OKCupid messages I'd been ignoring.
      • Tuesday I had a slower day--mostly just researched and prepared for our team's interview. And ran a design ticket for some utilities. After work I answered more messages and posted some stuff to share with friends. I wasn't ready to sleep when I slept, but I did it anyway.
      • Wednesday a sexologist from Happier Couples wanted to interview me about asexuality because she wanted to include some of the stuff upfront that most people only include as footnotes. I took a work break to do the quick interview with her, but there's nothing publicly available because it's just for therapists' education. I also baked some banana bread and chatted to my landscape guy, Tony. After work Jeaux picked me up for shopping and we made tacos at my place.
      • Thursday was busy at work. I had a meeting discussion that turned out to not have much for me to do but I listened and got some drawings done while listening. Took a break during lunch to talk to Mom about how she's been doing. She said one of the antibiotics she'd been taking sometimes has a side effect of seizures and that might be what happened. She's having blood panels done soon. I then had to return to work and make calls to utility companies about sending us greenlines. After work I started working on the next Not-So-Giant Woman podcast video and talked to Victor while drawing more comics.
      • Friday was more work meetings and downloading materials to help them. We did some technical working out. The technical review team interviewing us next week is going to be asking to see our surroundings so I am hiding in the tamest non-cartoon-covered room I have (the guest room) and realized I needed to close the door to avoid showing them my Rocky Horror poster. After work I reworked Laurann's video, wrote some outlines for the podcast, and posted my comics.

      Interviews, Articles, Mentions:


      Food Plan Update:
      • The big Wednesday taco binge was the high-food day but it was acceptable! And I'm in no rush, but it is at least cool to know I am down half a pound from last week also. Going to try to do better with eating soup and more greens.
      Reading progress:
      • Finished Reading: Nothing this week! I didn't ride the bus at all and was very busy at home--did not make time for reading.
        New singing performances:

        This week's karaoke song is "Love Like You" from Steven Universe.




        Stuff Drawn:



        Webcomic Negative One Issue 0783: "Doomed to Failure."









        New videos: 

        Not-So-Giant Women Episode 9: Tiger Millionaire is up.




        New photos:





        Tacos


        Tacos with Jeaux

        Taco

        Taco

        My interview setup
        Long hair
        Long hair




        Social Media Counts:

        YouTube subscribers: 5,269 for swankivy (2 new), 679 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 100 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 963 for swankivy (1 new), 1,361 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 299 friends (1 new--got a new friend from a SU group) and 219 followers (no change) for swankivy, 638 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 61 likes for Negative One (no change), 160 likes for So You Write (no change), 78 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (4 new). Tumblr followers: 2,486 (no change). Instagram followers: 203 (1 new).

        The trouble with Trump

        One of the biggest problems with someone like Trump is that he (along with anyone who still supports him) does not actually care about integrity. That's why he is able to blurt the baldest lies, repeat the most contradictory and debunked positions, and make the most ridiculous accusations, and even though he will inevitably be called out later and proved wrong, it won't matter at that point.

        Because he has had the experience of speaking the falsehoods on a national stage, and by the time anyone calls him out on it, the damage is done. It doesn't matter how clearly false they are; people who want to support him only hear the part where he says it, and then the people who contradict him are FAKE NEWS and ALWAYS PICKING ON HIM trying to discredit him. He lies, and then he brands the truth-seekers as unreasonably harassing him, as if wanting him to have any integrity and be in any way beholden to honesty is all just a plot to make him look bad.

        He already looks bad without help, if you would LOOK AT HIM.

        Trump was impeached and the outcome of that investigation was that he was acknowledged to have done the things he was accused of, and they still decided it was okay to keep him in office anyway. He translated that as TOTAL EXONERATION and THE DEMOCRATS' HOAX, and that's what his supporters heard. It's not in any way true that he was "exonerated." It was in fact proven in the investigations that he did everything they accused him of. They just also decided those crimes weren't wrong and that he has the right to commit them, happily flouting the laws of the land his supporters claim to love, and they're walking away with the belief that the Democrats tried to unfairly oust him from office and were instead embarrassed and proven wrong. That isn't what happened. They just established that he indisputably did a bunch of shady stuff and the members of his party fell in line agreeing that the way he abused his power didn't count as abuse. 

        He calls himself perfect and insists that he has "absolute" rights to do whatever he wants. He fires people who get in the way of him abusing power. He hires people who don't know anything about the office they're elected to. He announces utter scientific and historical falsehoods consistently and then fires people or insults people publicly if they call out his mistakes. The man can't even be corrected on his spelling or his misconceptions of literal geography without him blustering at other powerful people until someone's head rolls, and then his followers will still repeat excuses, denials, and reframed versions of the truth so they don't have to accept that Trump has ever been wrong on anything he's ever said. They do this even though the statements are on video. It should be embarrassing for them, but it isn't.

        Despite our country becoming an absolute dumpster fire, Trump continues to praise himself on what a great job he's doing and how nobody else could have done a better job and anything that suggests he isn't winning, winning, winning better than you, YOU'RE WELCOME--anything anyone says against him is met with transparent, pathetic blustering and whining about how we don't see what a great job he's done.

        What I really don't get is how come this supposed perfect superman can't solve any problems at all.

        Our country is now the WORST when it comes to coronavirus response in terms of deaths and illness, and Trump is busy blaming China, blaming Obama, blaming people who supposedly didn't give him the right information, and downplaying how bad it is because he thinks he and his will only be in trouble if the economy continues to tank. Buddy, if everything you do is perfect, why didn't you hire the right people to give you the information? Why didn't you have all your ducks perfectly in a row to handle something like this instead of insisting you couldn't have done a thing? Why, if you're so superior to everyone else, are you failing harder than absolutely every industrialized country?

        I mean, I know why. And I also know why people think you're not failing; because you keep telling them you've already won, and they believe you.

        There simply isn't a way to criticize you that gets through to your supporters because literally anything we say is rebranded as "THEY'RE JUST TRUMP HATERS! THEY'LL DO ANYTHING TO DISCREDIT ME!" Uh, but . . . what we said should discredit you! It's like a couple of third graders are in a dispute and one stole the other's eraser, and then the one who reports it to the teacher is crucified as a TATTLETAIL and a SNITCH because that's much worse than committing the crime they reported. Let's not even look at the eraser-stealer, who is still enjoying the eraser and enjoying watching everyone reject the victim for daring to have a problem with what the thief did. 

        It shouldn't WORK to derail like that, but it does, because many people who follow Trump in the supposed name of patriotism and respect for capitalism are not applying critical thinking skills to any of the statements he makes, and they're willing to get all of their news from a single source that has a strange habit of disconnecting their news stories from sources so you can't research what really happened and drilling into your head that everyone else, everyone but them, is lying to you. (It's a known abuse tactic where you isolate people and then make them think only those in the inner circle are safe. Ironically, it's also what "liberals" outside their circles get accused of--needing "safe spaces" where they can't be "triggered"--and yet these folks are the absolute most oversensitive and easily exploited tools of authoritarianism I've ever seen in my life.)

        You should want to know the real story. You should want to hear opinions and perspectives from people on "the other side" so you can form an opinion of what you think. You should immediately mistrust anyone who tries to give you a sensationalistic summary of this is what happened, and THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA won't tell you about this because it means they're LOSERS and we're WINNERS and they can't handle it ha ha ha! ...and mysteriously, they don't include the names of the people involved in an incident, or the places where it happened, or enough detail to pin down what news story they're even reporting on before they fill your head with specious details about what REALLY happened. If they leave out the details and clutch their pearls over everybody else's fake news, spending more time making you fear and pointing at who you should consider an enemy, they are manipulating you and you are falling for it.

        You should want to know. You should actively seek out the story after Trump and his supporters tell you something happened. Even if you support Trump completely, you should be able to read a countering view without being swayed or poisoned if he's so obviously right and righteous. Just like a "true Christian" shouldn't be in any danger of being corrupted if he goes ahead and learns what other religions actually believe (so he can argue more effectively and with some actual nuanced understanding), you should be able to expose yourself to the "other side's" perspective without getting recruited if in fact one side is clearly wrong and one side is clearly right. But they've got you convinced that no one's saying anything of value on that other side, and that we all "fight" the same in our political arguments. We don't.

        Do yourself a favor and mistrust statements that aren't presented with facts you can check. Do yourself a favor and start noticing when the politicians who serve us toss out abuse to distract from the fact that they won't answer a question. Do yourself a favor and realize when you are being manipulated. Don't be embarrassed; these are established, intentional, aggressive techniques developed to make you fall in line and make you angry. But you should want to know the real story. And if the real story contradicts what Trump told you to believe, no matter how much he calls the opposition losers and comments on how their ratings suck, you should seek out more information and corroborate it from multiple sources, not swing around looking for someone who will repeat what you wanted to see. And if someone's reporting something that makes you think differently about one of Trump's statements, you should let yourself disagree with him sometimes. Unless you think the President is God, you should sometimes be able to think for yourself and separate what he says from objective reality. If him saying it MAKES it true in your mind, congratulations, you are in a cult and worshiping him as a god.

        Saturday, May 9, 2020

        Personal Digest Saturday: May 2 – May 8

        Life news this week:
        • Saturday involved a fair amount of procrastination. My sisters and I picked out Mother's Day gifts and coordinated. I also did outlines for my podcast with Daria and got together with her on Zoom to record. It was lovely like usual even though they were not especially amazing episodes. (Next time, it will be different!) I played too much of a pointless word game and read stuff on Reddit too much. I didn't get my blogging done because I'm lazy.
        • Sunday I again spent too much time avoiding work. I did get my laundry and trash done though. I caught up with all the stuff I'd neglected to post last week and got my blogging up finally. Also did a nice conference call with my family to discuss what to do with some belongings from my grandparents that still needed settling. I ended up volunteering to take a LOT of it. Welp. Very nice to see everyone. :)
        • Monday began my eighth week of working from home. It was not too eventful--taking care of downloads, document processing, and planning for an upcoming interview. I copied down some questions from other interviews for my coworkers. I ended up pretty much just spending an evening playing solitaire, which I had never opened on my computer before.
        • Tuesday I got up late and submitted a proposal at work. My boss made a decision about some work I'd been working on with my coworker Karen and we aren't continuing the job, so I called her and we had an epic chat about stuff. I answered a few OKCupid messages and talked to Jeaux on the phone.
        • Wednesday I had to tackle some utilities work with my boss, and then in the middle of the day my mom's roommate called me and said Mom seems to have had some kind of seizure. What he described sounded dangerous so I asked to talk to her and she wasn't making sense, so I called an ambulance. She had another seizure at the hospital, but based on their reports after that it seems like it might have been caused by low electrolytes. (She sometimes doesn't eat right and I guess her electrolytes were depleted.) She stayed overnight in the hospital. I got to talk to her briefly and she sounded better but tired. I still went grocery shopping that evening with Jeaux and we watched some of What We Do in the Shadows and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.
        • Thursday I had a bunch of meetings and worked on a database. Mom got out of the hospital in the afternoon but I didn't get to talk to her. She had lost her phone charger and had apparently bitten her tongue pretty badly during the seizures so it wasn't possible to comfortably talk. It's weird not being able to go see her after something like that because of the distancing requirements. After work I talked to Victor and drew pictures.
        • Friday I started work early and did a bunch of database stuff and timesheets. My boss called a meeting and said he was considering reducing the size of the office space and moving most of us to working from home permanently. I'd be down with that. In the middle of the day I did finally get to talk to Mom and she sounded normal except her tongue is still busted. I got my comics done while talking to my friend Steve and also started reading a new graphic novel after the comic was posted.

        New reviews of my book:


        Food Plan Update:

        • Bringing back the food stuff, but I'm not going to illustrate with graphs anymore. I did some stress eating when my mom was in the hospital (had pizza with Jeaux!) but other than that I didn't do too terribly and I lost one pound overall. I am disappointed that I didn't do better with eating the salad I bought and more vegetables. I'll try to do better next week.
        Reading progress:
        • Finished Reading: Nothing this week! I didn't ride the bus at all and was very busy at home--did not make time for reading.
          New singing performances:

          This week's karaoke song is "Precious Illusions" by Alanis Morissette.




          Stuff Drawn:


          Webcomic Negative One Issue 0782: "Changing the Future."









          New videos: 

          None.


          New photos:

          There's not much to photograph right now in quarantine, now that the baking has ended.


          Social Media Counts:

          YouTube subscribers: 5,267 for swankivy (3 new), 680 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 100 for Not-So-Giant Women (lost 1). Twitter followers: 962 for swankivy (lost 3), 1,360 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 298 friends (no change) and 219 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 638 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 61 likes for Negative One (no change), 160 likes for So You Write (no change), 74 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (2 new). Tumblr followers: 2,486 (no change). Instagram followers: 202 (1 new).

          Sunday, May 3, 2020

          Personal Digest Saturday (but posted on Sunday!): April 25 – May 1

          Life news this week:
          • Saturday I got up kinda late and made brunch so I could hang out digitally with my friends Meghan, Fred, and Kathy. We all chilled and had our food and caught up and had some fun. I had french toast. Had a nap after, organized some photos, practiced ukulele, and took some time out for talkies with my sister. Finally, I wrapped up the day recording a song and finishing my blogging.
          • Sunday I started a new eating plan which is kinda overdue. Somehow though I also was eating cookies for breakfast. Welp. Some things don't change. Did some morning reading and did some drafts for my writing webcomic. Practiced ukulele. Had a call with my family to catch up, sitting outside at my patio table. Took out the trash and had a potato. Talked to Jeaux on the phone and finished a podcast edit. Found out I won Best of Crafts 2020 on Steven Universe Amino.
          • Monday began my seventh week of working from home. Couldn't get in immediately because my computer at the office was off after power problems. My boss had to go to the office and turn it on. I ended up chatting with a new employee on the phone accidentally when I called in to get voicemail. Finally we hired another lady! Cool. I got all the RCI data done for my inventory project and had to process timesheets and read a letter. Then I went back to reading a book--I'm providing a blurb for it. I took a walk in the late afternoon and got a little lost in my own neighborhood. Some things never change.
          • Tuesday was a slow day. Got some file requests out and did an update on data again. After work, managed to finish the book I was reading and write up a blurb. In between that, I wrote a rant about misconceptions and played a word game and posted the new podcast.
          • Wednesday I got to take most of the day off to make up for working a lot last pay period. I planned a video, talked to my lawn maintenance person, recorded and posted a new Letters video, helped my mom install an app, and got my stuff ready to go out with Jeaux. We went grocery shopping, came home, and made vegetarian shepherd's pie. Watched What We Do in the ShadowsBrooklyn Nine-Nine, and Owl House, and talked about social justice.
          • Thursday was another most-of-the-day-off except I went to a meeting and finished some small things. Wrote a storyboard for my weekly comic, talked to Victor, and drew pictures.
          • Friday was a full work day again. I got a lot done--stuff for the new employees, data updates, forms for an upcoming proposal, etc. Paid bills and finished my comic. I cut it really close though--I procrastinated a lot because I had to have a big fat rant to Jeaux about something ridiculous that happened online. In the middle of the night Mom and I were both still awake so we had a wee-hours phone call that was nice.

          New reviews of my book:


          Reading progress:
          • Finished Reading: ACE: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex. Five-star review.
            New singing performances:

            This week's karaoke song is "Hammer to Fall" by Queen.




            Stuff Drawn:




            Webcomic So You Write Issue 107: "Credentials."








            Webcomic Negative One Issue 0781: "Something Nice."









            New videos: 

            "Independent Together" ukulele cover: I'm singing a cool song from the Steven Universe movie that I just learned on uke.





            Letters to an Asexual #78 is about someone shaming "self diagnosed" people and hoping asexual communities weren't accepting such people.




            Not-So-Giant Women #8: Serious Steven involves Daria and me discussing such topics as Steven's hilarious way of being "serious," Garnet's support for Steven through the maze, theories on whether the Gems keep score with who bubbles what, the first hints of a Gem battle, Zelda references, Garnet's potential inner world, which Gem would be which Ninja Turtle, and guesses at Hogwarts Houses for the Gems.




            New photos:

            There's not much to photograph right now in quarantine, now that the baking has ended.
            Social Media Counts:

            YouTube subscribers: 5,264 for swankivy (lost 2), 679 for JulieSondra (2 new), 17 for v & V Vids (lost 1), 101 for Not-So-Giant Women (2 new). Twitter followers: 965 for swankivy (2 new), 1,359 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 298 friends (no change, but I added my friend's husband and then unfriended an old contact--nothing huge, but it was a last-straw kind of deal) and 220 followers (lost 1) for swankivy, 639 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 61 likes for Negative One (lost 1), 160 likes for So You Write (no change), 72 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,486 (lost 3). Instagram followers: 201 (2 new).