What Happened in June?

Hello everyone! This month has been a conundrum. It went so fast, but so, so slow. June is usually a very busy month for me, but the pandemic kind of threw a wrench in all of that! On one hand, it’s been nice to not have to do something every weekend. On the other hand…I miss the festivals and crowds and music!! Hopefully next year June will be super busy for me again and I can do everything I missed this year.

In the meantime, let me tell you all what happened this month!

Kelso Says What?

At work, we’ve been cleaning everything with a bleach-based cleaner. When we first started using it, it wasn’t a huge deal; it didn’t really bother me that it made my hands kind of goopy, or that I could never wash it off. I’d come home smelling like bleach and shrug like “oh well, it’s the new normal”. I had no idea I was literally burning my hand every single day at work.

In my head, I knew it was bad to get bleach on your skin. Obviously I didn’t think about it too hard while I was working. After all, turning tables is so important now that there’s only 10 tables to turn. We’re getting busier and busier every day, so it became normal to quickly clean every table glove-free.

I’m not 100% sure the evidence is easily seen through pictures, but ya girl has a chemical burn on her right hand! I imagine that it’s mild, but I’m not going to go to the doctor about it because I know there are people who need to see the doc more than me right now. After all, I figure I know what he would say (“Stop cleaning the tables gloveless, Mary”). I made a point to put gloves out at the server stations for me and the rest of my coworkers. Hopefully they use them so they don’t end up getting burned themselves.

As for me, I’m just nursing my right hand, trying to keep it moisturized (thank God I have ten thousand aloe plants) and making sure to put on some damn gloves at work! We’ll revisit the saga next time to see if it’s gotten any better.

Issa Revolution

As we all know, Black Lives Matter protests have been going on all over the world for the past month. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others pushed Black communities over its breaking point. I am very proud of all of the people fighting for their rights to live, and I’m especially proud of my friends going down to protest.

They tell everyone not to pat people on the back for not being racist (after all, it’s basic human decency), but I will be the first to say that I am very proud of my non-POC friends for unpacking their learned racism and learning not only how to simply not be racist, but how to be anti-racist. It’s uncomfortable and it’s hard, but it’s very important to do in order to truly be an ally to the BLM movement.

I’ve had to take some of the racism I’ve learned over the years and unpack it as well. I benefited strongly from growing up around so many White people and ignoring the Black side of me, so it’s been an interesting time to really look within and realize that yes, I learned some racist shit and now I have to unlearn it. Being Mixed has always been a blessing and a curse. I love who I am now, but back in school I was never “enough” for either the White or the Black kids.

Over the years, I’ve learned how to ignore the stereotypes and just be me, but this year (especially this month) has shown me that it’s wrong to ignore the struggle that my Black friends and family (and myself, even) go through each and every day. It’s been very good for my soul to unpack all the shit I’ve learned over the years and toss out the really damaging stuff. Racism has no good use in my heart, so I threw it away.

I’m thankful that the Black Lives Matter movement is happening in my lifetime while I’m still young. It’s helped me realize that yes, all lives matter, but valuing Black lives is the beginning to a whole new society where we are all truly equal. It gives me time to learn and change my view to something positive, something that can be used forever as a tool to help others come together to cast racism aside for good.

I say all this to really say: I’m grateful that this revolution is beginning in my time. It gives me hope for the future!!

Monthly Obsessions

This month, The Midnight and SOHN have been my music obsessions. SOHN released a live album with the Metropole Orkest, and the Midnight have been slowly but surely releasing songs from their upcoming album, Monsters. Due to the BLM movement and Pride Month, however, I’ve decided to gather songs I love from Black artists, both LGBT and not.

The only song that’s not by a Black artist is the very last on the playlist, “Revolution” by Diplo. I included it specifically because I like it, and it was the first song I thought of when I think of the word ‘Revolution’. So while it doesn’t fit with the entire Black/POC theme, it fits with the whole Revolution theme. And it’s a fun song! Hopefully you all enjoy the playlist this month!

As for other obsessions, I’ve gone over 100 straight days of checkin into Animal Crossing, so there’s that! I also bought Katamari Damacy Reroll, a remastered version of the original Katamari Damacy game from when I was a kid. In the game, you play as a tiny little alien Prince who has to clean up the galaxy and make stars for his father, the King of All Cosmos, after the King destroys them all. You roll a sticky ball called a Katamari and gather objects that are then turned into celestial objects. It sounds crazy because it is!! It’s also a lot of fun, so I highly suggest checking it out if you own a Switch and are curious.

I’ve also been catching up on my favorite modern anime, My Hero Academia (or Boku no Hero Academia if you’re a true nerd like me). Matt and I LOVE the show, but we had problems with our Crunchyroll account during the break between Seasons 3 and 4 and ultimately missed out on watching the newest season with everyone else.

Finally being able to catch up on the show is wonderful. So far, we’re only a third of the way through Season 4, and so much has already happened!! Deku and Eri are a stellar team (so far, anyways), and the death of a character (that I won’t spoil just in case) had me blubbering like a baby.

If you liked Dragonball Z, Naruto, and Bleach, I think you’ll like MHA. It reminds me of DBZ (mostly because I didn’t watch Naruto and Bleach) but it’s got a charm that is fresh, as well as a storyline that has you on the edge of your seat. Deku and his classmate’s growth is amazing to watch over the course of 4 seasons, and I am so excited to continue watching the rest of Season 4!!

This June, I’ve been focusing on work and spending time with people that matter most to me. I’ve also been doing my best to educate not only others about BIPOC issues, but myself as well. 2020 has definitely been the year of inner growth for yours truly! It’s been hard but so, so worth it.

July is shaping up to be more of the same. Work, spending time with Matt and the fam, socially distant hangouts with friends and lots of Animal Crossing. As repetitive as it is, I honestly enjoy the ease in which life is going right now. I know it could be so much worse for me during this whole pandemic, so I’m staying humble and grateful every day because it could all change in a second.

If you’re interested in following the day to day, feel free to follow me on Twitter! I also tweet out blog updates, so if anything, keep an eye out for the next post on Twitter. Hopefully next month I’ll have more to write about! We’ll find out…!

(PS: if you own any of the images above, please let me know so I can credit appropriately!)