Blue Monday - January 20, 2025

Hello folks! Today is Blue Monday. This is statistically the most depressed day of the year, or in other words, the most difficult for mental health on average.

Normally, this day is difficult because it's cold and dark in the northern hemisphere, the holidays are long over, and it's about the time that most people give up on their new year's resolution and run low on money.

This year, I think, brings even more challenges to the table. Wealth inequality has reared its ugly head and stepped out of subtlety. Climate change has entered the 'find out' phase. It's easy to feel hopeless.

But that's what my Blue Monday posts are for. It's time for a little bit of hope. I've drawn some things to hopefully bring a little cheer into this dark time.





I also want to talk a little bit about hope. Since I've quit social media, I've had more time to pay attention to things and learn about what's going on in the world. Don't worry, this isn't where I list the horrors. Instead, I want to talk about patterns.

The first pattern I want to talk about is kindness. I've recently noticed a lot more people talking about empathy, and by 'empathy' I think they tend to mean the acts of compassion that people show to each other. Giving a helping hand, a kind word, or the benefit of the doubt. I've noticed people talking about these phenomena like they're a video game stat that some people have more than others. But that simply isn't true- Kindness is fluid. It changes inside of us from one moment to another. The thing that diminishes it the most effectively is fear. This is important.

The second pattern is problem-solving. We are a species that excels at problem solving like nothing else in our history. And IN our history, you can see it. Tyrants and megalomania are not new, and we continue to find new ways to solve these problems. We are wealthy with information now, more than we ever dreamed of. We are actually solving problems, incredible problems, as we speak. We are solving ecological issues and curing diseases. We are finding ways to connect people. This is all happening right under our noses, just beneath the noise.

Lastly, I want to talk about the pattern of distraction. Throughout our history, you can see many examples of greed and ambition using hate as a tool to control people. Why? Because people are fundamentally kind. You have to diminish their empathy, their kindness, with fear- to get them to permit the atrocities only greed and ambition would aim for. I've fallen for it myself. I found myself cursing and hating regular human people who have simply been lied to. And I can speak from experience when I say hate made me close my eyes and narrow my vision so I forget to look for connections.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is: keep your wits about you. There are strong powers at play now who want nothing more than for you to stay trapped on your phone, cursing and hating, so that you never look outside. If you take care of yourself and find joy, find a sense of calm, you may be shocked at the power of connection and what we can all accomplish if we work together. There is hope. I am sure of it.

TINR and Facility sites fixed - December 31, 2024

Okay that was a lot more arduous than I expected, but thisisnotromance.com and facilitycomic.com are back online. These are both just very old webcomics I made, but I know some people like having access to them, so I'll keep hosting them.

My other websites are down - December 28, 2024

thisisnotromance.com and facilitycomic.com [ my old webcomic websites ] are currently down right now- sorry! I'll take some time next week to get them back up. It's not a huge problem, I'm certain it's just because my hosting likely auto-updated the version of PHP they're on, and my coding on those websites is so old that it doesn't work [ so the database connection breaks the whole site ].

I already had to learn the new PHP/SQL syntax to get this website's news system [ the one I'm typing into right now ] working, so it shouldn't be difficult to fix the coding on those old websites and get them back running soon.

Yet another post about Canada... Post - December 19, 2024

Hello again folks, there's been updates in the post situation so I can give you some more clarity about my shop moving forward.

Two days ago, Canada Post resumed work in working through the mail backlog. This means that anyone's trapped packages they bought in November should start to move again and be on their way to you.

However, an entire country's 4 weeks of backed up mail is nothing to sneeze at and Canada Post did not hire temporary seasonal workers, so those packages will still be moving slowly. I would not expect to receive your package before Christmas [ I am very sorry to people who bought gifts; You may have to give your recipient an I.O.U while their present works its way to them. ]

Canada Post is now accepting new dropoffs and commercial mail starting today. Etsy has not yet allowed the purchase of Canada Post labels though, as I personally believe they shouldn't.

Despite it being technically possible for me to send mail again, I will not open my store. Canada Post has published estimates that mail will still be delayed until mid-January at least.

In my experience, a text warning about slow mail is not enough and does not reach most customers, and I cannot count on Etsy to provide accurate shipping time estimates [ I'm not sure anyone can in this situation ]. I am simply unwilling to endure more angry customers, as I have been berated almost daily for the past week about packages not showing up and have issued so many refunds that my Etsy account has gone negative and I will be receiving a bill. I am just human after all and I am at my emotional suffering limit this month due to other personal things going on in my life. For the time being, I'd rather be broke than yelled at any more. I'm sorry.

In good news though, the plan for now is to re-open my store in mid January when the mail has evened out and become predictable again. I will of course keep my eye on the mail situation and make sure as best I can that the service will be reliable and that my customers will actually receive their package when Etsy tells them they will.

Thank you everyone for your patience.

Update on Canada Post Situation - December 14, 2024

Hello again, I've deleted a news post I made yesterday because I jumped the gun on the situation- it turns out that something has just changed.

Apparently the labour minister has ordered the union workers back to work. This means that Canada Post will likely begin operating again as soon as Monday [ Dec 16 ].

The good news is that anyone who has been waiting for their package stuck in limbo should get it eventually. Workers will begin working through the backlog of deliveries and those deliveries will be made.

However, there are a few caution points I have to make. The backlog will probably be worked through quite slowly. It is 4 weeks of Q4 mail and I'm going to assume the usual temporary xmas workers haven't been hired since everyone in this equation is broke. Also, the strike did not reach an agreement. The workers have simply been forced back to work. This is bad for the long term goal of stabilizing Canada's postal service, and there is nothing stopping them from striking again in spring.

I apologize, but I will not be reopening my store any time soon. I can't in good conscience accept orders right now when I can't be sure how long they will take to be delivered with the backlog- or if another strike will begin.

I will only reopen my store once I feel like I have access to reliable, reasonably priced shipping. I don't know if or when that will be, but I'll keep a watchful eye on the situation and of course update this website if anything changes.

Store Shut Down due to Strike - November 26, 2024

This morning I woke up to find myself unable to purchase shipping labels any more for my Etsy store. They've removed the option due to the Canada Post strike, which is still ongoing and shows no signs of resolving.

I have been forced to close my store. I can't buy labels from any other outlet due to the strike, and I don't live close enough to any drop-off locations for other services.

If you have purchased something recently from my store: I have cancelled and refunded the orders I received overnight that I could not buy labels for. If you bought something from my store in the last 2 weeks, it is very likely delayed and stuck in the Canada Post system [ this means that it isn't being shipped, but it has been stored in a secure location ]. I am very sorry for the delays. I assume your package will be shipped once the strike ends, but I don't know when that will be.

I support the workers. They are fighting for a living wage and fair conditions.

Canada Post On Strike - November 15, 2024

Starting today, Nov 15, Canada Post has gone on strike. This may cause shipping delays for anyone buying anything from my Etsy shop. Please be patient with your orders as the workers fight for their rights, fair wages, and better working conditions.

I'm here - November 6, 2024

To Americans, and to everyone else, I'm sorry for this loss and my heart is with you. If you are afraid, I offer you my hand in mutual fear.

I wish I had something better to give. I wish I could dispel the pain. All I can say is that I'm here and I see you.

Fox Keychains Are Back In Stock! - November 5, 2024

I've received my restock shipment of keychains! Popular items with low stocks have been rescued from running out and the Fox Keychains are back :D You can find them in my store here!

Boring Shit - November 1, 2024

I have a few boring but mildly important statements to make:

Apple's changes to Patreon are dropping soon. This means that anyone signing up to my Patreon through the app store [ on a phone or ipad ] will be charged 30% more and that money will go to Apple. DO NOT SIGN UP TO MY PATREON THROUGH THE APP STORE PLEASE Seriously I would rather you just pirate my posts than reward Apple for this horseshit. You can still sign up online in an actual browser without paying Apple as well of course.

The other thing I wanted to mention was tariffs. I may be Canadian, but the vast majority of my customers [ through my Etsy store ] are American. Americans, I am sure you've heard of the election happening right now. You may have heard the word 'tariffs' being thrown around as well. If tariffs are imposed on Canada, you will have to pay more for my products.

So far, my American customers have never experienced tariffs for online purchases from me, so you may not actually know what that will be like. My customers from other countries know though. What happens is, you will see the same prices in my shop and the same cost for shipping. Then you'll pay what you've always paid for my items. But when it reaches the border, they will apply the new tax/tariff to it, and you will be expected to pay that when you receive your package. And no, you generally won't be told what you're going to pay in tariffs when you buy an item. There's no good way for me or other shops to know that for every country we ship to.

One last thing.

Beware of ever thinking of someone as inhuman. No matter the crime or ideology, if you think of another human as less than human, you lose a piece your own humanity.

Good luck, and may you all remain safe.