Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome to a new Regional Signs! It’s been a while. Let’s get into it!
First, a few additional signs from the previous videos. I will link the playlist here. Two signs from Georgia. Rude, signed like farm but with a Y handshape.
Another sign to add, gray. This one is signed with the R handshape, thumb out or in (more often open thumb), and twisting the wrist quickly. For this one, I don’t remember which region. I know it’s east somewhere, but where exactly, I don’t remember. If you know, let me know!
Now it’s time for new signs! Same as always, I will spell it, tell you what the common sign is, then the regional sign and where it’s from if I know. If I don’t know, I will tell you, and if you do know let me know!
I will start with chile, the food not the country. Chile is commonly fingerspelled.
This regional sign is from New Mexico. It uses the same handshape and motion as LUCKY, with an open hand and the middle finger bent down to touch the chin. In this sign, the twist away from the chin is done twice rather than once. In a way, it has similarities to the sign for spicy.
There’s two regional signs that I have. The first one, I don’t see often: Using a curved index and thumb to suggest a crust, it’s shaken back and forth in front of the mouth. I don’t see this particular one used often.
The second is becoming more and more common. Using the Y handshape with both hands, it’s held horizontal and tapped in a way that suggests the pizza’s circle. The reason being there’s a deaf-owned pizza place, Mozzeria. Their sign is this one, and the sign is actually originally from Italy.
Next, donut. This is one of those signs that have MANY regional signs. I have no idea where the regions are, I think it’s also partly because of migration around the country. So there’s no really clear region where these signs are from. I will just tell you the different signs for it.
Both hands in the R handshape start touching, then move and rotate in a circle shape, the standard donut shape. This is what I tend to sign.
I have three signs, I don’t know which region they’re from. First: using the F handshape over the eye, looking through it while the F is rotated. You know, how sometimes pineapples will be cored and sliced in rings, and you can look through the hole.
Second: The dominant index finger and thumb are extended and curved, other fingers closed. The thumb is stuck into the non-dominant hand, which is in a fist, then the dominant hand is rotated, which can look like cutting the skin off, and taking the core out.
Third: The non-dominant hand is held in a fist, palm down. The dominant hand uses an open claw handshape, tapping the backs of both hands together. It gives the impression of a solid body and spiky leaves on top.
The regional sign is from Michigan, and maybe in the areas around it. It’s signed similar to HOME, but connects only the index and thumb, the other fingers are curled in.
That’s it for today. As always, if you know of a regional sign that I haven’t mentioned, whether it’s one that I’ve said the word, but you haven’t seen your regional sign. Or a new word I haven’t said in this series. Let me know in the comments! I love learning more regional signs. Thanks for reading!
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.
Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome to the first post of 2022! I want to look back at what I did in 2021, and what I would like to do in 2022. I’ll just be focusing on YouTube here. When I was starting to get ready for this post, I realized that I had made a similar post last year… And promptly forgot about it. So let’s review what I said in that, and see how I did! That video will be linked here if you want to see it for yourself. Also, any other video I mention will be linked. I started with talking about what videos I was proud of, and what I’d like to do differently. Let’s do that for 2021, shall we?
The videos I’m most proud of are my ASL translation of Defying Gravity, and finally finishing my art project, Maskenfreiheit. There’s not really much to say, I’m just really pleased with those two, and hope to do more like them this year! I got the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows as a Christmas gift, so I might be browsing that to inspire some artsy videos. I also have Lost In Translation, and have thought about doing some videos inspired by words in there, but I need to revisit it! As for what I’d do differently, I don’t think there’s much except background or the set up. One thing that I did recently get is a ring light, so if you’ve noticed the lighting in my videos is much better, that’s why!
As I’ve said several times on this channel, I don’t really believe in resolutions or specific, numbered goals. Instead, last year, I chose a theme which I think I’ll be continuing this year. The theme I chose is Consistency, and I don’t think I really succeeded in the way that I wanted. I essentially wanted to try and produce minimum of one video per week. I know I just said no numbers, but I wanted to have *something,* and I wasn’t being strict on when during the week. Just *a* video, to end the year with at least 52 videos. I started off pretty alright, maybe not every week, but put out videos semi-regularly. But then I dropped off during June and didn’t get back to being as consistent. This was when I’d started picking up a lot more work, due to vaccinations and things starting to open up again. I was also starting to play D&D, and running it! I ended the year with 29 videos, which isn’t terrible, but not where I’d like to be.
I also wanted to be better at continuing series, which I was very bad at last year. I was consistent (mostly) with only one series, my monthly book wrap ups. Those are easy, because I have a set way of doing them, so maybe that’s what I need to do for my other series. I have two series that I’m not great at updating – ASL Ponderings and Regional Signs. I talked about starting two – Rogue with Rogan, my cooking/baking series which I currently have only one video for, and Title Talks, which I haven’t really started. That one is where I plan to talk about individual books or book series more in-depth outside of my monthly wrap ups. This isn’t really a series, exactly, but I’ve really enjoyed doing ASL story times and have three made already. Making series videos will definitely be something I work on this year!
I hate to say this, because it means more work for me, but I have been thinking about the possibility of doing shorter form videos, because that format is becoming very popular now. There’s a version on nearly every major platform now – YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and obviously, TikTok. There’s a few ways of doing it. I could do clips from my regular YouTube videos to share on other platforms, or to act as a trailer of sorts? But I could also do exclusive content, though that is more work overall. I’m just putting it out there to see what happens!
Not completely related to YouTube, but one thing I want to do this year is start up a place where you can buy prints of my artwork. And possibly merch, but I don’t really know what that would look like, so if you’ve got ideas, let me know!
That’s it for this post. Feel free to leave your thoughts, questions, or whatever in the comments! I look forward to this year with you all. Bye!
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.
I wrote the text in this video in around 2017-2018, so it was written well before the pandemic and the prevalence of medical masks. I tried multiple times to film this, but could never be happy with the footage. When I went on a deaf artists’ retreat in August 2021, I decided that this would be my project, and I’m so excited this is finally done! Thank you to everyone who participated in this video, I couldn’t have made this without y’all.
Maskenfreiheit (text)
Masks. What are they? A way to conceal your identity? Staying anonymous? Conformity to mainstream society? Well… That’s how most people perceive masks anyway. But… What if it was something else? What if we were to look at it differently? Maskenfreiheit: freedom that comes with wearing masks. What if…masks were a way for us to be someone we never could be? A way to meet people we never would otherwise? Freedom to test out things and learn about ourselves in a way that we couldn’t otherwise? You decide. What are masks? Anonymity, conformity, hiding who you are? Or freedom, experimentation, learning about the world? What are they? Masks.
Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome to my wrap up for Round 8 of the Queer Lit Readathon! I did not read all of my TBR, but I realized that I could actually cover all of the challenges with what I did read, so I just barely managed a blackout of the bingo board! Let’s get into it.
First up, I read Cattywampus by Ash Van Otterloo. In a little town called Howler’s Hollow, magic has only been whispered about in relation to an age-old feud between the McGills and the Hearns. It’s strictly off-limits in the McGill family, but Delpha hates rules and wants to be able to conjure to help her mama around the house. She happens to find the family spell book, and has to keep it secret, which is not easy for Delpha. It doesn’t take long before Katybird Hearn finds out that Delpha has this book, and she wants it for her own reasons. The Hearn family allows magic, but only discreetly, and Katy’s magic…is broken. She wants to fix it, and she hopes that the McGill book will help her. They bicker and in the middle of their fighting, a hex is unleashed that quickly gets out of control. It resurrects a whole cemetery of angry witch ancestors bent on destroying everything. Delpha and Katy are forced to work together to reverse the spell and save the Hollow from the zombies. — The challenges that I covered with this one: middle grade, fantasy, host recommendation, beyond LGBT, and queer joy. I thoroughly enjoyed this! The beyond aspect is because Katy is intersex, but she identifies as a girl. Her family was doubtful magic would work for her because in these families, magic is matrilineal, passed from mother to daughter. This is part of why Katy’s magic seems broken, and it’s discussed in the book. I liked the fact that each family had a different way of doing magic, and requires different things from them. I feel like that’s kind of more realistic when there isn’t a magic school or something. Of course individual families would practice magic differently! The hex and fighting is very dramatic, but I enjoyed that! I would absolutely recommend this book.
Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha was next. In Brazil, we follow the lives of Ian, Henrique, and Victor. Ian has just been diagnosed with HIV, which completely changes his life, and he’s dealing with his new reality. He meets Victor, who was just tested and got negative results. Victor is angry because he recently found out that the guy he was dating is HIV positive, and lets his fear of what could’ve happened and prejudices about HIV take control. However, he sees that Ian could benefit from talking with someone who’s been HIV positive for a while. Victor puts him in touch with Henrique, who’s been living with HIV for three years. There’s a lot of grief, anger, long conversations about stigma, and love. It emphasizes the importance of having a support system, people who don’t judge you based on things out of your control, and being there to help you move forward. — This book was the group read, and covered translated, borrowed, and rainbow cover. I really appreciate this book for the rawness it showed, on the part of HIV positive people, the things they have to go through with people – loved ones and strangers alike. I wanted to strangle Victor multiple times for his stubbornness and childishness, but that is really how some people act about HIV/AIDS. I really felt for Henrique when a certain person decided to just wreck his life, and I loooooved how they retaliated. You will be emotional reading this book, no question about that. I think this book is just fantastic and actually teaches a lot about HIV/AIDS in a very approachable way. Definitely read this if you’re able.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. This hits trans debut, seasonal vibes, and choose my own category, which was a reread. I’ve talked about this book multiple times, so I’m just going to say that this is a fantastic story about Yadriel, a trans brujo who just wants to be accepted by his very traditional Latinx family, so he decides to do the rituals himself. He ends up summoning the wrong spirit, Julian, and has to help this very handsome and annoying ghost before he’ll pass over. They stumble onto something huge, and it gets very dramatic very fast. I will always recommend this book!! I can’t wait for Thomas’s new book, The Sunbearer Trials. I am SO ready for this.
Then I read The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons. Spencer Harris just transferred to a new school, he’s kinda a nerd, loves playing soccer, and decides to check out the QSA, Queer-Straight Alliance. Spencer is trans, and not yet out at this school. He transitioned while at his old school and got bullied for it, hence the transfer to a new school. He meets a guy that he immediately has a slightly antagonistic relationship with, but it might change as they get to know each other more. His being trans is not a problem, not even when he’s recruited to the soccer team that Spencer really wants to play on. There’s no need to tell anyone, so he doesn’t. Until his coach pulls him aside one day, and tells him that his birth certificate has a F on it, and he won’t be able to play because of league rules. Spencer has to decide what his next step is: come out and fight for his place on the team, or maintain his life and leave the team? — I appreciated that we got a slightly different trans experience with Spencer, in several aspects. His choosing to not be openly trans, having experienced blockers then going onto hormones, no surgery involved. I liked that the QSA wasn’t “perfect” and the people involved had some work to do in terms of being an ally/supportive of queer students regardless of number. There was a nonbinary character that I love and wish we had gotten to see more of! Spencer has a little brother who is autistic, and I can’t speak to the authenticity of that representation. However, I did feel a little bit like the brother showed up mostly only to push the story along in some way, and didn’t really let him just be the little brother. I loved the soccer team, and how supportive they were of everything. Maybe a little idealistic, considering that this was set in Ohio, but again, this is supposedly the most liberal school in Ohio. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
Then to wrap up the week just in time, I read To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers. This is a journal of sorts, written by Ariadne, who is a space explorer that has gone to worlds beyond to observe and learn about them, what life is there, and just explore. As they explore, Ariadne and her three crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up with different features. This is a future where the explorers terraform themselves to fit the environments they visit, rather than forcing the environment to match their needs. Of course, time runs differently for them, so each time they wake, they don’t know what Earth is like and whether support for their space program has continued or waned. This doesn’t matter to them, because they came out to do a mission, and they will do their job. — This book hit the novella and ____punk, which would be biopunk or cyberpunk, challenges. I love Becky Chambers, she also wrote the Wayfarers series, which I really enjoy. This is not in that universe, but the style is very similar. I loved the little details that changed in the explorers on each world, and the explanation as to why. This was staying on the side of more realistic space travel, where the crew was put into stasis between each world, their bodies continuing to shed and grow slowly, them being out of sync with the passage of time on Earth and knowing that they’d never return to the Earth they knew at the time of their departure. This is a novella, so I can’t say much but I really enjoyed this and loved the gorgeous descriptions of the various worlds they visited. If you enjoy Chambers, you’ll like this as well.
Those are the books I read for the Queer Lit Readathon, and I also covered the final challenge, 40%+ BIPOC. Three were written by non-white authors, and two were white authors. Overall, this was an excellent readathon for me! Let me know what you’ve read from this list, and what you think of them. Or if you want to read any of them! Thanks for reading, bye.
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.
*big sigh* She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named is at it again. I completely understand if my trans and queer followers need to skip this video for their own reasons, absolutely no hard feelings.
Queer and trans people, you can do whatever you want with this fandom, I know it means a lot to some of you as queer people. For the rest of you… I’m not going to go into detail myself, there’s plenty of information out there for you to find on your own. What it boils down to is: the author of the Harry Potter series is a very transphobic woman, and she is going all-out on it now. She is not backing down, despite the controversy it’s causing. I am appalled by the things she’s said about trans people, after all of the morals and values she taught a whole generation with the Harry Potter series. But then again… She’s a very privileged white woman, and is doing whatever she can to hold onto that power and stay relevant. It’s not just the transphobia that’s problematic, oh no. She’s also racist and will cherry pick from other cultures, twisting things to suit her needs.
But enough about her and her actions. What’s next? It’s simple. *Don’t* support her or any of her properties. She is STILL getting money from anything tied with the wizarding world. Publishers, marketers, and various industries will continue producing wizarding world things as long as it makes them, and her, money. I know for some people, this is very difficult because Harry Potter means so much to them. I want to be clear – I’m not saying you have to completely cut it out of your life if that’s not what you’re willing to do. But I am saying this. Consider the impact that you will be making by continuing to consume Harry Potter content, buy merch, talking about it with others. You can absolutely enjoy it on your own in the comfort of your home, but posting about it? Continuing the visibility of Harry Potter? Think about that.
If you’re thinking, but what about the wizarding world? What about that lore? I can assure you, there are so many other books out there just as good, and perhaps even better than Harry Potter. This series stopped publishing in 2007. It’s been fourteen years, I can guarantee you there’s far more interesting things out there now. Especially with publishing becoming much more diverse in the past few years! We still have quite a ways to go, but it’s already come a long way since 2007. Here’s some recommendations – from me and some of my friends. The Young Wizards series written by Diane Duane is an excellent one, it was one of my favorites alongside Harry Potter. I’ve been re-reading this series, and it’s holding up! The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. I’ve read the first couple, and this is a good series that takes inspiration from classic children stories. Trans Wizard Harriet Porber by Chuck Tingle, there are two books now. I haven’t read this personally, but Kathy has and she loved it. This is very much a satire of Harry Potter, absolutely brimming with queerness. I will create a pinned comment with the ones I just mentioned, along with a few more recommendations I didn’t mention. Feel free to add your recommendations on that comment.
I can’t tell you what to do, but I just ask you think about the potential impact that your actions will have, whatever route you choose. I personally said my goodbyes to Harry Potter a long time ago. It’s something I loved and cherished in my childhood, but I’m okay without it today. There’s a whole universe out there to explore.
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.
Recommendations:
The Young Wizards by Diane Duane (series, first book titled So You Want to Be a Wizard)
Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire (series)
Trans Wizard Harriet Porber by Chuck Tingle (start of series)
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey (standalone)
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (duology)
The Flames of Albiyon by Jean Z. (start of series)
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon (start of series)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan (series)
Honestly, anything by the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. So much delicious mythology!
Hello, I’m Rogan and welcome to my Queer Lit TBR. I’ll go over the books that I hope to read during this round. The reason why I said “hope” is because I’m working for half of this, a work trip. So… Two days are travel days, so I can get a lot of reading done during that time, but… We’ll see. I have six books on this list, so let’s just get into it.
One thing I want to mention before I continue. I built this list in a way that yes, I have six books, but I will prioritize two. Because those two, if I’m counting right, will cover ten, maybe eleven challenges. So… If nothing else, I will read two books.
The first book that I will read is Where We Go From Here written by Lucas Rocha. This is obviously the Group Read. It also meets Translated and Rainbow Cover. And… This one applies to most of these, books, because I’m getting most of these from the library, so it’ll go toward Something Borrowed.
Next, I’m planning to read Cattywampus written by Ash Van Otterloo. This will meet five challenges: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Host Rec, Beyond LGBT, and Queer Joy.
Next, I would love to read Cemetery Boys written by Aiden Thomas. It will meet three challenges: Trans Debut, Seasonal Vibes, and ??? – Choose Your Own Category. My own category is Reread.
Next, The Passing Playbook written by Isaac Fitzsimons. This will meet Queer Sports.
Approaching the end, I hope to read To Be Taught, If Fortunate written by Becky Chambers. This will meet Novella.
Last, but not least, I hope to read all of Paper Girls written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. This will meet Cyberpunk.
One more challenge that I haven’t mentioned – 40%+ BIPOC authors. If I read all of these, or some, I should have no problem meeting this challenge. Because out of these authors, including the illustrator, I have four BIPOC and three white authors. From what I can tell.
That’s the six things I hope to read during this round. We’ll see how much I succeed in, because traveling for work will eat up some of my time, but I think I can do it, no problem.
Let me know what you’re reading for this round, what are you most excited for? Thanks for reading!
If you want to support my content financially, I would really appreciate it if you joined my Patreon or made a one-time donation to my Ko-fi tip jar. Subscribe to my channel. Follow me on my socials – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for reading, see you next time.
Hello and welcome to my wrap up for both August and September. I didn’t read very much in these months, so I’m combining them. Let’s just get right into it.
The first book I read in August was Good Talk by Mira Jacob. A graphic memoir told in a series of interviews and conversations with her son, her parents, various people in her life or fictional conversations with celebrities. Jacob looks at the American experience through the lens of being a first-generation American, coming from a family of immigrants. She speaks about her experience of being the only non-white student to win an essay contest and how it felt to be a brown-skinned New Yorker when 9/11 happened. — This was an unique take on a memoir, using a mixture of drawings for people and pictures for backgrounds. I’m not entirely sure I like it personally, but I did enjoy reading this and seeing the various experiences that Jacob has had. This is very much about the immigrant experience and growing up surrounded by that.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. Huaxia is at constant war with Hunduns, mecha aliens that lurk beyond the great walls, and they fight the aliens with Chrysalises, which require two pilots. Zetian, a 18-year-old, signs up to become a concubine-pilot, who usually are the ones to die while the male pilots burn through them. Zetian signed up because she wanted to kill the man who had murdered her sister, and she gets her wish in a way no one anticipated. She eventually gets paired with one of the strongest and most unpredictable pilots, but she’s not about to back down. Not when she could burn her way through the ranks and destroy the system, preventing more girls from being sacrificed. — There is so much that happens in this book, I wouldn’t be able to cover it all without spoiling some major plot points, and I wouldn’t do it justice! Zetian is based on the first empress of China, so this is essentially Asian-inspired sci-fi/fantasy. You can really feel Zetian’s rage at this unfair system, one that is rigged in favor of the men, the overarching oppression of women and keeping them under control. She is far from the stereotype of a meek and obedient Asian woman, is a powerful woman, not afraid to take risks, but it doesn’t veer into becoming the opposite stereotype. She’s still human, still feels fear and has emotions, struggles with her being. This book challenges the strong binary traditions and thinking of Huaxia, and by extension, the world’s. It absolutely speaks against patriarchy and strong gender roles, not allowing those to be a determinant in how Zetian lives her life, along with her lovers. There is polyamory that comes up later in the book, along with men loving men. I could go on and on, but I would prefer you go read this amazing and epic story. This is the first in a series, and I can’t wait to see what Xiran Jay Zhao writes next!
Juliet Takes a Breath: The Graphic Novel by Gabby Rivera, illustrated by Celia Moscote. Juliet is headed to Portland, leaving the Bronx right after she came out to her family. She’s not sure she’ll ever speak to her mom again, but to figure herself out, Juliet is going to Portland to intern with her fave feminist author. However, it’s not a perfect plan since Harlowe is white, has a different upbringing, and isn’t all-knowing. Juliet is dealing with figuring out her identity as an out Puerto Rican lesbian, and she lucks into finding some queer family who help guide and encourage her. — This is based on the novel by Rivera, which I’ve already read. This is essentially the same story, just in a visual format. The colors and art in this is gorgeous! I really enjoyed this, and would recommend it even if you’ve already read the novel.
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo are both students at an elite school, Niveus Private Academy. At the start of their senior year, they’re both selected to be prefects, which is going to look fantastic on their college applications and puts them in running for valedictorian. Not long after the announcement, a mysterious person calling themselves Aces starts sending mass texts to the whole school, revealing secrets about Devon and Chiamaka that could completely destroy their carefully planned futures. The secrets start out as very minor and seemed like a sick prank, but become more serious and dangerous, stacking everything against them. Chiamaka and Devon race to stop Aces before it gets deadly, and expose Aces for who they are. — This is so so good, and I can’t believe it’s a debut! Àbíké-Íyímídé does a great job of creating and building up the unease, suspense, and the sense of danger everywhere we turn. Chiamaka and Devon are the only Black students at Niveus, and it does quickly become obvious they’re being targeted because of that. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that there are queer characters in this. It’s a weird phrase to be saying, but this book is very cinematic. I can easily see this being adapted to the big screen, and I hope it is, with a great director.
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Deka is coming of age and is about to undergo a ritual to determine the purity of her blood. Deka prays it’ll run red and not gold. Those who bleed gold are impure and will be put to death. The feared day comes, and Deka bleeds gold. She’s locked away from the town as the elders attempt to find her final death. Deka goes through an unimaginable amount of pain before she’s rescued by a mysterious woman who wants to recruit her into an army of the impure, called alaki. This is when Deka learns that those who bleed gold are considered demons and have supernatural gifts. They’re sent to fight creatures called deathshrieks, which threaten the safety of the Otera empire. The deathshrieks attack villages, stealing young girls and killing all else. Deka also learns that she is unique, even among the alaki, and is figuring out what this all means for her. She also learns of many dark things that have happened in Otera’s history, realizing that all she’s been told growing up is not the whole truth. — There is so much that goes on in this, but it is incredible. It is very dark, and a lot of violent things happen, including allusions to sexual assault, torture, war, child soldiers and a bunch I’m not covering. Make sure you look up a full list if you need to check. This is a story about a girl who was raised in an extremely patriarchal society, one that controls women by judging the “purity” of their blood, and when they’re recruited into the army of impure, they’re sent to the frontlines ahead of the men soldiers. It’s a very violent story full of exploitation and oppression, but also has stories of love, people caring for each other, finding their own meaning among the horrors that surround them. I didn’t care for the romance between Deka and her assigned soldier, but that was minor. There is a queer relationship which is casually mentioned, but not until much later into the story, nearly at the end. I’m also so over gendered magic because it never considers the relationship that queer, trans, and nonbinary people have with it. Fantasy also rarely considers the lives of queer, fat, and disabled people, which would’ve been nice to see in this especially since it speaks of revolution and pushing the envelope of who can do what. However! That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy The Gilded Ones. I did very much, and I will definitely be picking up the next Deathless book when it comes out.
That’s all of what I read in August and September. I haven’t been reading much this month either, so I might bundle October with November, we’ll see. Let me know what you think of these books, and I’ll see you next time!
Hello and welcome! I know, it’s been two months since my last post. Part of that is I just haven’t been motivated to make videos/posts. That’s part of it. Part of it is that I’ve just been busy doing things. I will give a quick sum up and catch you up on what I’ve been up to.
In August, I had a family reunion from my dad’s side of the family. It was really good to see them. I hadn’t seen many of them for a long time, years. So it was really good to have that short weekend with all of them getting together. Plus we had my two aunts and a cousin visiting for one week, so it was really good to see them. That was nice. So of course, because they were here, I wanted to focus on them, spend time with them.
Then I was involved in the Deaf artists retreat, over a long weekend. Several different Deaf artists got together, mostly from the PNW, some joined from other areas. This was just a great experience. I really enjoyed it, I went as an artist. And I do have a project from that. I still haven’t really started editing, but my goal is to do that while–over the next few weeks. That’s my goal. It was a really great experience. Meeting new people, working with some people that I’ve known for a while or followed for a while. It was a really rich experience. I’m now on the committee for that, and I’m really looking forward to the future, what happens from now on.
Right after the retreat, I went on a road trip from the retreat which was in west Washington, down through Oregon and to north California. Unfortunately, I had to cut it a little short, because the fires… It’s not great air quality. While I stopped by a beach, my car got broken into. I’m fine. It happened while I gone, and they stole mostly what had just sentimental value, nothing with monetary value. Most of what they stole was dirty laundry. So…suckers! Yes, it was annoying that my window was broken, but. The important thing is that I’m fine, things can be replaced. Nothing really valuable like my camera, laptop, iPad, none of that was stolen. So that’s the important part. And really, that trip was good. Getting out, sightseeing a little bit, visiting my friend in Oregon. It was good to see him for a few days.
Not long after the roadtrip finished, I got asked if I was available for a work trip. Sure, so I was arranging hotels, flights, all of that, making sure everything’s good to go for my trip to California and Colorado. I enjoyed it, it was a good trip. I enjoy the people I work with. It was ten days, but exhausting. I came back home, and had only a few days to rest before I went to catsit for a friend, and a friend was visiting from out of town for a week or so. That was really good to see them here, meeting in person, finally. I was taking them and showing them around Seattle, that was fun.
Now you’re mostly caught up on the last two months of what I’ve been up to. Last, but definitely not least, I’ve moved! This is a different location, you can’t tell because of the blank wall. But yes, trubiz! I now live in a house. I have three roommates, they’re all hearing and don’t know sign. But I’m working on it! This house is in the Green Lake area, close by. This is one of my favorite areas of Seattle, I just love this area. So I saw this place, oh yes. I was lucky to get this place. The rent is really good for this location. I just moved in, barely over a week now. I will not show the outside of the house, to protect my privacy and that of my roommates. I probably won’t give a house tour, probably not. But my room, yeah. Once I’m more settled in, have my room set up how I want it, then I’ll show you. For now, just know that I have my own place in Seattle now. I’m very excited about this, much closer to everything. Just happy I found this place, and that I can finally move.
So that’s the two months that I disappeared for. I wasn’t motivated partly because I was tired from all of my doings – work, friend visiting, travel, moving to a new place. And I just wanted to say hi, yes. I’m just busy, and not motivated. I might disappear again for a month? Because I’m leaving soon to travel for a friend’s wedding, visiting a friend, a bachelorette party. So… I will try to, when I have downtime, I will try to do videos and editing, yes. I will try, but no promises. Just saying, don’t be surprised if I disappear again for a month. Go ahead and leave in the comments if you have any questions about what I’ve been up to, or… Any exciting life updates with you all? Let me know! I miss making videos for you all! I’m hoping to get back into it, we’ll see. Thank you for watching, I hope to see you again soon!
