I’m sure you’re already aware of it, but Episode 8 of Cave-In went up on Sunday. I wondered what it would be like since there’s so much legitimate misery in the world at the moment. I should have had more faith, however. Weldon (and therefore Steve) kept it light and fun, and I found it to be one of the best episodes so far (not THE best; that’s still Episode 5, in my opinion), except that I’m not thrilled with my part in it. 

I had a lot of things that I felt I could talk about, some that were COVID-related and some not, so I thought I would wait to decide to see whatever other people were talking about first, and if they were all talking about the pandemic, I would try to talk about something else. 

But it didn’t go the way I intended. First, I forgot to mute the YouTube audio, so 15 seconds into the conversation I started hearing my own voice echoing in my ear. Second, (and I’m not complaining but just stating what happened) Weldon changed my plans by bringing up the topic of the governor again. If I’d known I was starting a running gag by mentioning her, I probably wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. And I feel awkward criticizing her in the middle of a crisis, especially when she is actually showing some sensible leadership for once (welp…that didn’t last long). But anyway, it distracted me and I didn’t end up saying what I meant to say, or really much of anything at all. 

I didn’t really mean to say “she has a lot on her hands.” I meant to say either, “she has her hands full” or “she has a lot on her mind.” Somehow it came out wrong. Weldon managed to make a hilarious and disgusting joke out of it, but I’m still a little embarrassed about it. 

Weldon seemed offended when I told him that the conversations I’ve had with him have been the least unpleasant of all the conversations that I’ve had with trolls, but he doesn’t know how unpleasant the other ones were. It’s actually a pretty low bar. 

I should say that despite what I said, which I exaggerated for comedic effect, I’m not unmoved by the pandemic. It is true that it hasn’t had much effect on my activities, but it has affected my mental state. I’m concerned about my family, which is spread out all over the country. I’ve heard from most of them, and so far they’re okay, but just because they’re okay now doesn’t mean they will stay that way. I kind of dread opening my e-mail now for fear of getting bad news, but at the same time, if something happens, I want to know about it. Also, while it is true that I work from home, with the economic situation being what it is, fewer clients may continue ordering web content, and if that drops off, I’m in BIG trouble financially. I can’t work from home if there’s nothing to do. 

Nevertheless, isolating myself at home truly isn’t much of a hardship for me, but I know that it is for most of you (probably). I took the liberty of putting something together to try to make it a little easier. It’s a YouTube playlist of all the full Cave-In episodes, so you don’t have to pause in between them if you don’t want to. I intend to keep adding to it as each new episode comes out. It’s not much, but it’s something. I also have a similar but much bigger project in mind, which I mean to get started shortly.

In the meantime, keep well and safe, and I’ll try to post something fun for you again soon.