Tyler DeWriter

Well, 2020… what a year it’s been so far, eh? We’ve seen wildfires, murder hornets, several aircraft disasters, riots, protests, police brutality… unsavory voices have grown louder than ever, global tensions are reaching a boiling point, and that’s not even getting into the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic. Let’s face it: the normal we once knew is gone, and we’re never getting it back. Whether we like it or not, we’re going to have to adjust to this new standard of normal.

At this point, I’ve been using this site for about 6 months, so it seems like now would be a good time for me to provide an update about what’s been going on recently. I’ve already made New Year’s and March update posts, so I think I’m going to stick with this trend and upload these types of posts on a quarterly basis. To start this off on a positive note, I was recently able to return to my part-time job! A lot has changed on-site, and there are more things I have to remember to do now, but I can start working to save up money now!

The flexibility of the schedule was one of my biggest concerns while job-hunting. Something I look forward to doing each year is volunteering at Edmonton events, and I don’t want my job to detract from that. Obviously, if I have no choice but to prioritize one over the other, I will go for the paid role. However, if I can do both, I want to do both.

With my current work arrangement, I could potentially travel to work in the morning, then volunteer in the afternoon. I’ll become more fit, I’ll have a steady income, and I’ll be able to keep doing the things I love; it’s a triple-win scenario! Unfortunately, that motivator’s been partially derailed by COVID-19… but looking on the bright side, I can still have 2 of those 3 metrics, and the third will become even easier to achieve when it becomes possible again, as the mostly physical nature of my job will allow me to gain more strength and stamina.

Now also seems like it’s a good time to go over this website’s status. At the beginning of the year, I had made a resolution to post 25 new works here this year. Not counting these update-type posts, I’m already up to 15, so I’m actually a bit ahead of my original plan! My next upload will likely be an Impressions piece but with a different format, this one covering 2 virtual events coming up next weekend: FunimationCon 2020 and Aniplex Online Fest. I don’t know if it’ll be as fun as an irl convention like Animethon, but I’ll take what I can get under the circumstances.

I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone who’s taken the time to follow my website and read/like my posts, it’s nice to know that there are people out there who are interested in the things I have to say. It’s true that things aren’t looking up in the world right now, this won’t always be the case. Yes, there are bad people who will arbitrarily hate and judge others because they’re of a different race, gender, or orientation. Remember, however, that these bad people are outnumbered by everyone else in this world. There are good people who will love you unconditionally, and there are fair people who will not judge your life’s value solely by factors outside of your control.

Through our history, we’ve bounced back from far worse situations than this pandemic, and this societal upheaval has laid bare the face of humanity’s deepest corruptions for everyone to see. If the reasonable minds of our time can stay steadfast in their convictions and open to the inevitability of change, we can make it through this turning point. We can work to weed out some of these deep-rooted prejudices which tarnish our reputation as intelligent beings, and we can work to become a little bit better as a species.