Well hey hey, ya babes!
I had several plans to get things written here, like my thoughts on Pearl, why I thought The Last of Us on HBO was pretty much a flawlessly-done video game-to-TV translation, and an update on why I’d be taking a week off of Twitch streaming/work in general, but alas, I gave myself too many things to do in a short amount of time, and then none of those things got done. I suppose some day, I’ll have a better sense of how much time it takes me to get tasks done, and how much energy I have to do it all.
ANYWAY, the short version is that I had my gall bladder taken out. Here’s the long version:
It started with a little pizza I had about a month ago, with pepperoni and some other greasy meats on it, and it was a delicious pizza, but 2-3 hours later when I was walking around the local Trader Joe’s, my whole abdominal wall said “you know what? Nevermind, that wasn’t cute” and decided to give me sharp cramps for almost 5 minutes. And of course, I was standing right in front of the cashier once the cramping started, a cashier I’ve talked to about Pokémon who I thought was kind of cute. Murphy’s law, or something.
Thinking it was a fluke thing, or a side-effect from a new anxiety medication (I don’t know, bodies are weird) I went about my weekend and had a cheeseburger (yeah, big uh oh) with a friend before going to Emerald City Comicon. I had a solid, yet again, 2-3 hours before the inevitable abdominal impact, where I started cramping, sweating, and bee-lining my way back to my car in the middle of a crowded convention. I’m sure everyone could see, hair pasted to my face from the sweat, a slight hunch because of the pain, and the urgent stomping, that I was having a Very Bad Time™️ (not because of the con though, I was having a blast before Ms. Gall decided it was time to go.)
About 4 hours of being at Urgent Care, we discover I have stones in my gall bladder, and the next week, schedule a surgery for March 28th. As I’m writing this update, it’s been 8 days since the procedure and I’m feeling pretty much back to normal! I’m still taking it easy until the surgeon gives me the go-ahead to go back to my normal workout routine, but as far as my daily routine, I’m pretty much back to it! It could have been way more inconvenient of a procedure/recovery process, so all in all, I’m just grateful that the worst of it is over, and I can get back to living life without being in fear of fatty foods physically hurting me (and so far so good, I’d say! Been dabbling back into foods that would have hurt, and no pain, so far!)
I’m one of those foodies who’s obnoxious about being a foodie. I can’t be having an organ that wants me to suffer every time I want a slice of pizza! That’s rude!
Much like my body went through a refresh, my branding online is also something that needed some work done. I’ve had the cutesy gems and sparkly, bright colors were fun and gave off the impression I wanted to give for these few years that I’ve had them, but as time went on, it was starting to feel…a little TOO cutesy. I felt like it was giving an impression of me that was more of a pushover, super soft, and almost too…innocent, I guess? Not the vibe.
It was clean, fresh, and helped me find my footing, especially in the Twitch streaming space, but as time went on, it became more and more apparent to me that I needed something else.
So let me present to you, the first of many “something else’s” to come:
(Logos done by @yay_peppermint!)
Y’all, when I said I wanted a refresh, this is EXACTLY what I wanted from it.
It’s still clean, but bolder, more elegant, just as eye-catching, and breathes a life into my brand in a way that I think can evolve naturally without having to do a near 180 like this was.
However, this is FAR from what’s left of the full rebrand. This is just the personal branding.
I still have a whole plan for the Twitch channel, where this personal logo plays but a small role in a much grander picture. I wanted to make my channel feel more like a venue, and less like a link that you simply click on. I wanted something that set the vibe more effectively that I was doing before. I wanted it to be a place where people can take a deep breath, feel safe, relax, and enjoy whatever gay shenanigans I decide to host, that day.
But that’s all the teasing you’re going to get…for now. There will be more updates to come, so keep an eye on my website for more (you can follow with your email if you haven’t already!) as well as my Twitter and Instagram, where I will be dropping bits and pieces regarding the new branding in the very near future, and if you support me via Ko-Fi, you’ll get to see some of that new branding before everyone else! (In fact, there’s already some there, sooooo…something to consider!)
Thanks for reading, everyone! Happy to be back into the swing of things, and hope you enjoy what’s to come!