July Update

So, um, I forgor. I wrote an update for my Patreon, I even made a couple posts on the site, but then I forgot to do the monthly update for July..... whoops! Um, here it is, just a couple days late I suppose!

Pride Month may be over, but that doesn't really change anything. I'm keeping every day just as trans and lesbian as the last, pride doesn't end with June. I spent a lot of my work time in June planning out future stories, both for The Gaia Machine and for my upcoming story that'll also be on Patreon. I'm taking July off from posting in order to put more work into this new story and have a first chapter available in August, as well as continuing to work on The Gaia Machine so I can keep up the monthly updates. For more on writing updates, you can check out this month's Patreon update, as well as read the new intermission for free!

Aside from that, I've been spending a lot of time with friends irl. A few days ago I played Magic: the Gathering with some friends for the first time, and had so much fun! Finally finished making a decklist centered around "Zimone, Infinite Analyst" and I'll be on the lookout for cards I need as I go around. A lot of friends are moving around over the summer, with a friend of ours coming back to town in a couple weeks, and lots of folks that I'll be helping move alongside my girlfriend. It'll be great to have all these people actually living nearby, instead of in a dorm for the school year. I've missed a lot of them over the summer.

I've also been getting back into Pokémon! I mean, I never fell out of it, but I've been actively playing multiple games recently. I'll save the details for my monthly "What I've Been Playing!" post over on the game blog, but I've started a new journey in LeafGreen, continuing my HeartGold and I'm closer to Battle Tower-ready than ever, and copying my HeartGold box to Pokémon Battle Revolution to use them in different colosseums! I've also tried out Pokémon Champions and have been playing a good bit, so expect my first impressions review and thoughts soon on the game blog!

I've made a couple of big site updates over the last month, including the implementation of sidebars into the layout, and a new tagging system on the blogs! The sidebar has been a feature in the site's CSS since I launched it, thank to the sadgrl.online layout generator, but was never actually used in any of the page layouts. I had a friend give me some feedback on the visual and functional implementation of them in places like the homepage, the blog archive, and more. After some notes and edits, I really like how it looks! Spices up some of the pages, and adds some functionality to better seperate stuff like recent posts, quic links, etc. from the main body of the content. As for the new tag system, you can check it out on this very post! The monthly update posts are tagged #updates and you can find the extended tags system through that. I've also started rolling this system on the game blog (as well as a full overhaul of that blog's backend), and I have plans to implement it in the writing blog, but I'm not sure when I'll get that done. Considering the writing blog is a lot smaller and updates way less often, it's hoenstly not a top priority. I really like the tab system, and I'm glad I have it. Hopefully it serves readers well when they check out the blogs! (^▽^)

But that's largely what I've been up to. Honestly not a whole lot to cover, mostly just working, playing Pokémon, and hanging out with friends. Expect a new "What I've Been Playing!" soon, as well as my Pokémon Champions first impressions review. Hope everyone out there in Internet Land is doing well in their real lives, and I'll see you all soon!

~ Alex Amelia Pine