Hello everyone! I'm updating about my work speed and why it's so incredibly lackluster; this update was posted to MGR/MGR2 as well but has been edited for relevance to each campaign. This update is shorter than those two because I have not begun fulfillment here yet.

The best I can do for survey is to attempt (and hopefully succeed!!) to get them submitted for approval next week. I have Ypsi Pride tomorrow (originally last month but rescheduled due to the wildfire pollution), and I have Matsuricon labor day weekend. The last time I was physically capable of doing 2 weekends in a row was 4 years ago so I'm very concerned.

Cryptic Compendium and I both have ME/CFS. "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" is actually a really harmful moniker for it that came 2nd due to most physicians not believing it exists. Its correct name is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Now it being psychosomatic is not as widespread a belief because long covid has caused ME rates to skyrocket, and more are taking it seriously, but I have had ME since my teenage years, as has Cryptic, though his has not progressed as quickly for whatever reason (maybe due to less comorbidities?). FFC/HoloCat recently publicly announced that they have also had ME since serious health issues late last year/early this year. It's generally brought on by sudden illness or severely traumatic/stressful event lowering the immune system. This is why they are also struggling with fulfillment this year. 

This is a really serious condition where the hallmark symptom is getting worse after time due to exertion: Post Exertional Malaise. There is NO consistency to what the body finds to be "excessive" exertion, so it is really hard to pace oneself. Because of this, the increase in severity of the disease is pretty random from person to person.

It's super embarrassing but my health got so bad that I had to drop out of uni, and that was 10 years ago that I had to. I have been running on fumes for a 1/3rd of my life... I didn't see there being another way to financially survive other than conventions, and it has deeply cost me physically instead.

I cannot apologize enough for not being faster. I'm so, so embarrassed over this even though I know in my heart disability is not shameful. My heart rate spikes to 120 at minimum for showering, packing orders, or any kind of cooking or even standing up quickly due to POTS and ME, and there is quite the list of other things making me fall apart. It's very difficult for me to push through the brainfog and wrestle with BK's awful pledge manager UI when I'm feeling so much less than stellar and also juggling order fulfillment for the others. I feel really terrible about my creative output so severely declining along with the rest.  

I don't know if any more merch campaigns are in my future, especially since I'm trying to stop making new things unrelated to my attempt to develop visual novels. But I really can't continue to do conventions for long, as they permanently worsen my baseline and doctors will not help me with ME OR hEDS, and I can't manage my online shop at the same time as doing that.  That's why I've been attempting to find the energy to run a closing sale for the last year... So the Ready-To-Ship - though that unfortunately has become a loose promise lately - markets will likely continue sporadically to clear me out of stock, but new things not so much unless collabs.

I'm doing Matsuricon with HoloCat while Cryptic Compendium is staying home and taking care of the cats, so I will task him with preparing more solo orders for spiders and geodes and packing some of the grab bags for this market!!  

A tremendous thank you for being so patient!!