Surviving the Felon: Week of 02/01/2025
During the Covid 19 Pandemic I spent some time sharing my week to week life. I thought about my struggles but also my accomplishments. The pandemic was a scary time and lots of people were effected by it. I feel as many do that as of right now, the world feels even more bleak than before.
So I’m starting a new series. I intend to survive the felon in chief and I’m writing these weekly posts to help anyone who feels like they are in dark place make it through alive.
Each week I’ll mention a few of the things I’m worried about. Its impossible not to be worried right now. But I also will be sharing my weekly victories. I want to make sure to end on a positive note every week no matter how deep this darkness grows. The Felon in Chief and his psycho supporters want to take away our smiles and our laughter. Which means that the most basic of all forms of resistance is to smile and find happiness in what we enjoy.
The Bad
Well, let’s get the bad out the way. The Felon won and is now president. Many of our checks and balances that have kept our government to falling completely to darkness have been openly eroded. Those who have been salivating for a chance to hurt minorities are now seemingly free to do so.
A lot has happened this week. And its easy to feel overwhelmed. Between the threats of concentration camps, massive financial shutdowns, tariffs that threaten our entire economy, and political censorship crackdowns that have all the clear signs of a fascist takeover, its hard to feel optimistic right now.
Things are likely to get much worse and quite soon. It is the duty of everyone who wants to make it through this to search for truth and archive it. It isn’t illegal yet to know reality from the falsehoods that those now in power seek to cover our eyes with.
I have been grappling with both depression and anxiety lately. The climate changes we were constantly warned about reared their ugly heads as soon as January started. And many of those disasters are ongoing. But with so much happening and this despair overload that has been crafted to drain us of energy and leave us feeling hopeless and defeated its hard to keep track of everything.
The Good
With all the negativity in the world and all these feelings of hopelessness, we have to stay vigilant about protecting our light. The Felon and his minions want to steal our smiles, and take our joy away. They want us as nervous wrecks. And to that, I say no.
This last week I went to Gasparilla and Shipwrecked in Tampa, Florida. I have wanted to go to this for many years and thanks to a last minute chance, I finally took it. Shipwrecked was my first rave. But I won’t be my last. And now that I have experienced a rave and know what to expect, a lot of anxiety I had attending one has lifted away.
I have been reading a lot more lately than I have in years. Right now I’m reading the Berserk Manga. Its far better than any of the Anime adaptations. I’ll be reading plenty more Manga after this. Berserk was the best follow-up to read after I finished Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. And I’ll be searching for plenty more stuff to read while I wait for him to write his next book.
Video Games
When the Covid 19 Pandemic was underway, my roommate at the time got me to start playing Genshin Impact. It became my way of getting through 2020 and I still play it today. When I am at my lowest, the fact that I want to see the entire story of this game and how it plays out has been one of the main things keeping dark thoughts out of my head. Hats off to Mihoyo for giving me a reason to keep going that happens to be a live service game.
I was late to the party but I finally got Eldin Ring a few months back. And even as I get blasted into paste and see the “You Died” message over and over again, I still enjoy every second of this game. I have four different characters yet have still not beaten the actual game. I’ll get to it eventually. I have one character in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, another at the Haligtree, a third at the Mountaintops of Giants, and a fourth in Caelid. Eventually one of them will clear the game right?
I have been replaying Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It seems even more relevant today than it did in 1997 when the original game was released. The Remake, also released when Covid first locked the planet down. And a story about unfettered capitalism that makes a dangerous disease more harmful alongside a planet being burned for profit seems tailor made for current times.
Pokémon Go
I would be lying if I didn’t dedicate an entire section to Pokémon Go. Its perhaps the most transformative game I have ever played as far as changing my life goes. The game helped me discover small parks all over the Orlando area and started my Travel Blog. Through trying times, going outside for a walk has been one of the best medicines. Especially when I feel depressed.
I have gotten much more into Player vs Player. And I’m working on curbing my competitive toxic behavior. Its a struggle every day. Changing my bad attitude when I lose is seemingly unending. But I am determined to stomp this bad behavior out. I have lost friends, and dragged away my own interest in games I otherwise would have loved due to bad behavior.
This week in Pokémon Go, I was at Gasparilla during Ralts Community Day. But being a pirate did not stop me from playing the game. And Tampa was a fantastic place to do so. The downtown especially was exactly what I would expect from urban gameplay.
Anime and Shows
I have been watching plenty of shows to keep me entertained as the world seemingly becomes a tougher place. We really do undervalue the importance of art. Naturally as a writer myself, I might be a bit biased.
This week I watched Dr. Stone and Solo Leveling. And after years of just refusing to watch it, I finally took the plunge and started One Piece. I’m currently at the tail end of the Water 7 Arc and finally understand why people stand by this show so much. Its been a wild ride and I’m committed to finishing it. Even if it takes me years to do so.
Dungeons & Dragons
During the pandemic, I was running two different campaigns. One of those campaigns reached its end. An impressive feat all in itself and possibly one of the highlights of my entire life. Its not a common thing to proudly proclaim the completion of a campaign that went from level one all the way beyond the max.
My second campaign is still ongoing. And I dare say its one of the best stories I have ever written. There is still work to be done and a few of the plot points are experimental and it shows.
Right now I’m leaving my comfort zone and including Fey in this tale. I tend to avoid using Fairies because I have difficulty writing them. Perhaps due to the fact that being on the Autism Spectrum makes me a Changling. Ironically that makes writing Fae as strange creatures with non human reasoning harder, when in the distant past I would have been considered one myself.
I am thankful that I won’t be thrown in an oven or drowned in a river. That was once the grim fate of people like me. In the past people believed that it was only way to drive the evil Fairies away from what they had stolen. Current science knows better. And for that I am thankful.
Writing and Editing
I have gotten back into a rhythm with writing. And just as before some of my ideas are not ones well liked by our current government. And I will not let them change what I write. My legacy will be one of inclusion and stories that tell shocking and oftentimes darkness within the human soul. But I will not spread hate to do so.
Editing is also in full swing for my first Earth Everafter Novel. As a trilogy, I feel that out of all my stories, it will be the easiest to make as a proper debut novel. It has lots of relevant themes that will attract readers from several different genres. I’ll be sure to make more fanfare as I get closer to finishing those edits.
When I am not editing or blogging, I have been writing the first draft of Search for Eden 5: Until the Tower Falls. Its surreal that I’m actually writing this book. Its the end of an entire arc of a story that I have thought about almost nonstop since the age of ten years old. Who would have thought that those ideas would morph into the horrific and compelling tale that it is now?
Wrap Up
As the world feels like it is turning to darkness and with all light fading, it is vital that we all keep our smiles and continue to laugh. We cannot let despair win and give this monsters satisfaction. Find what makes you happy. Search for little things that make you smile. Appreciate what you have and how it cannot be taken from you.
I’ll be writing one of these every week to spread some light and love to everyone struggling during these trying times. Next week, I’ll have something very different. After all, Megacon Orlando 2025 is coming up. So you will get four different posts about that adventure. Afterwards, I’ll return to this new format.
Stay safe everyone. Share what makes you smile and laugh with friends and family. Share time with loved ones. Do not let evil rob you of your love and light. You matter, you are wanted, and we can all make it through this together.