S2, Episode 7: Hot Mess Express: Cryptids Part 2!

In this lively episode of the Lost Girls Podcast, hosts Neva and Maria delve into the captivating world of cryptids, exploring mythic creatures like Mothman, Chupacabra, Jersey Devil, Selkies, and Nessie, blending folklore, cultural insights, and personal anecdotes. 

Throughout the episode, Neva and Maria interweave personal reflections on social issues, embracing vulnerability and the challenges of maintaining awareness in a complex world. The episode ends on a hopeful note with the hosts sharing what’s bringing them joy amid chaos, emphasizing community, creativity, and imperfect progress while drawing a thematic connection to a folkloric figure, Perchta, who warns against self-punishment for unrealistic standards. The conversation blends humor, critical thought, and warmth, inviting listeners to appreciate the storytelling power of cryptids while recognizing the real-world contexts underpinning these myths. 

Highlights

• 🦶 Illinois ranks among the top five states for Sasquatch sightings, showcasing local folklore pride.
• 🎲 Cryptid Urban Legends: a new two-player game spotlighting the pursuit and evasion dynamic between scientists and cryptids.
• 👁️ Mothman of West Virginia symbolizes both a benign mythical guardian and a driver of local tourism economies.
• 🐐 The Chupacabra myth combines terrifying animal imagery with a humorous cultural catch-all for unexplained phenomena.
• 👹 The Jersey Devil narrative explores historical witch hunts and misogyny embedded in cryptid legends.
• 🦭 Selkies represent themes of patriarchy, control, and resistance in Northern European folklore.
• 🐉 Nessie maintains enduring fascination despite technological improbability, nurturing beliefs in mystery and wonder.

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✨ Produced & Edited by Maria Ruscitti, LLC

🎶 Huge thanks to Nick J Ludwig Music for composing and mixing our theme song, "Go Do This."

🔮Neva Rowland (she/they) is a multi-faceted creator whose work blends spirituality and art. They work as a state-employed civil servant to pay the bills and feed their art supply and tarot collection addiction. 

🔮Maria (she/her) is a mother to two adorable gremlins. She has a long-term partner. Maria has been a public school educator for nearly 20 years. She has been a practicing witch for most of her life. She loves Moon and High Holiday Rituals (Especially Beltane), Simmer pots, Tarot Pulls, candle and herb magic, and plants! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aINFidzRtj0

Transcript

 Hi, friends.

 Hello friend! Hello friend! And hello friends listening, this is the Lost Girls Podcast and I am one of your hosts, Neva. And I am your other host, Maria. So welcome to the episode. This is part two of our cryptids episode.

 And because we just got too carried away last time talking about Neva's boyfriend, Sasquatch, and I mean, America's really. And giant ghost Italian ladies. Oh, what's fun fact? Oh, yes. Fun fact. Right before we got on, I found this random article that said Illinois is in the top five of Sasquatch sightings.

 I love that. Good for Illinois, man. I know, right? Yeah. It's like, okay, you get a cool primary and Sasquatch? Good for you guys. There's just two birds going at it outside my window right now, and I'm very distracted. I was wondering. I was like, why do you keep glancing?

 Why do I keep glancing over to the side? Like, the birds and the bees? This is the birds. Like, ooh! Putting on a show! One of these Robins clearly has an exhibitionist kick, I'm just saying. Maria has, like, a porn show going on outside her window. Yeah.

 It's like Nat Geo after dark. Just on my front porch. I love that. Okay. I have something fun and exciting to share with you. Yes, please. Okay. I love your fun and exciting stories. So last week.

 we went to madison wisconsin to visit avery's sister and her partner and we went to a game shop store thing um and so like i i love playing tabletop games but it's just me and avery and it's so like they had this whole section for like two player games and

 And I found it's called Cryptid Urban Legends. What? That's going to spike the mic. That's so cool. And apparently it's like a follow up to a previous game they created, which I think was also called Cryptid. And the first game was like cooperative game.

 Oh, okay. And this is like one person plays as the scientist and the other person plays as the cryptid and the cryptid is trying to avoid detection and the scientist is trying to prove that they exist.

 what that's so cool yeah oh my god i love that i had i mean we had to watch we had to watch a walkthrough because like we were playing it as we were kind of reading it's like i feel like i'm missing a key piece of information and so we watched like a 10 minute walkthrough like oh that makes sense so like you might have to find a walkthrough if you want it but anyway yeah cryptid urban legend

 Oh my god, it looks so cool! Oh, and like, the artwork. The artwork on the cards is super, super fun. Let me just dig this out. I love it. So, okay, are there different cryptids you can play as, or do you just like... It's only Mothman.

 Ah, still, though. Yeah. So, like, here's the back of the scientist card. And, like, the scientist has long hair, which implies that it's, like, a female, which I kind of like. I dig, yeah. I mean, even long hair ambiguous is better than short, stocky, definitely a dude. Right. And then there's the back of the Mothman cards. So cool! And then Mothman climbing a building.

 So when you guys played, you were definitely the cryptid and Avery was the scientist. Well, I haven't got Avery to play with me yet, but her sister helped me learn the game because I was like, if you help me learn this, then it'll be easier to teach Avery instead of Avery and I trying to learn...

 at the same time um so so yeah i definitely was the cryptid first and then we like switched and it's interesting like because of how how the game works like you have to like shift your way of thinking because with the cryptid you're trying to like avoid detection and with the scientist you're trying to like prove prove they exist and right you're trying to like gather evidence

 Right. Yeah. The artwork is beautiful and yeah. I love that. That's awesome. That's my fun little show and tell.

 That's really cool. I'm really glad. Oh, my God. I like it. Also, what a cool, like, display to have in a game store. It's like... Yeah. Do you just want to play games at home, you and your partner, or, like, you and a friend? Because, like, sometimes getting a group of people together is... A pain in the ass. It's a huge pain in the ass. Yeah. Yeah. So...

 I say that as a person who plays D&D all the time, and it's really hard to get the group of people together. I mean, we make it once a month. That's as often as we can get our shit together. I mean, for however many people that is, that's pretty good. Yeah, six. I can barely clear my schedule for one friend at a time. Right. Our podcast!

 is like hard enough to do some weeks and we're like oh my god two hours on a Sunday morning are you kidding me oh okay in this economy monogamy in this economy oh my god I love it I love it so much I love us me too I'm a big fan of us

 Okay. Cryptids. Are we going to do the big guy first? Jump in with Mothman? Yeah. I mean, you already mentioned him with the game. We might as well, right? It is a natural segue. It is. And speaking of Mothman games, dot, dot, dot. Mothman is a creature that exists in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Okay.

 And there's a whole museum dedicated to him, it, whoever. Yes! There's like a whole museum you can go on tours. You did more research than I did, I guess. Well, I have a friend, shout out to Nicole. Yeah, and she loves Mothman. And was like, briefly talked about, mentioned going down there for, to like...

 as like a trip and i was like oh it's like not even far it's like a five six hour drive from us um yeah so i was like you know trying to see if it was like a thing we could swing anytime in the next couple months um but when i was researching that i was like oh my god shit there's like a whole museum and they do tours of the town and they like totally i would say capitalized on the fact that like

 Cause Point Pleasant, West Virginia is a tiny fucking coal mining town. Yeah. It's like only known for it's like toxic waste and bridge collapses, which is apparently is how Mothman was born. Yeah. So yeah. So there you go. That's as much as I know. I wonder. Okay. So, you know, places like, what is it? Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Yeah. Yeah.

 They capitalize, you know, on this, and then they get the tourism, the tourists and everything. Do you think it's possible that at some point in time, someone was like, you know what we need? We need a good cryptid. A cryptid?

 yes like and like the jersey devil like the jersey oh i was just gonna say the jersey devil oh my god my computer is shaking so much but i was just gonna say the jersey devil but i looked it up and jersey devil this is like a chicken and egg situation technically the jersey devil came first so before the state of new jersey

 No, before Mothman happened. Oh, okay. Just like timeline wise. So I'm saying maybe West Virginia, they were like, hey, they made their Jersey Devil. Maybe we can make something too.

 mothman yeah take a man and put some wings on him sure give him some red glowy eyes oh there was a bridge collapse let's blame mothman let's blame mothman yeah or that's how mothman was born toxic waste got dumped into this river some shit and i'm like this is like some like joker batman comic

 fell in a vat of poison bullshit but i do like the myth of mothman because it's like he's not aggressive yeah or killy right yeah he's not sucking the blood out of livestock you mean

 like a fucking chupacabra yeah no or like or even like born from a myth that clearly like degraded women or was meant to control women in some way right it's just like now we have this toxic sludge and we're gonna make him into a gripton I was like fucking okay mothman no no no mothman sorry no I love that

 I think we were just under the time on copyright, so we're good. Oh, God. But yeah, I don't know. I like it. I think Mothman's, I think my sister's favorite cryptid.

 Which was the reason why I made the Mothman earrings. Was because I was like, oh, Gila likes this. Maybe other people will, too. Yeah. Fuck yeah, they will. So awesome. But yeah, I mean, there have been tons of sightings. Have there?

 I mean, I read, I was reading on, I mean, okay. Here's the thing. With cryptids. Right? It's like a bunch of people in this town were like, yeah, we saw them. All right. But like, did you? Or are you like really cool with the tourism and business that this brought to your town? Yeah.

 That's what I'm saying. But you know what? I don't mind. You know what? I don't care. If someone can be creative enough to create this entire mythical being, fuck it. Hot take. Hot take. How is this different than any religion ever founded ever?

 Right? Fair enough. For real? All started the same way. Yeah. So this baby was born. Heard his mom was a virgin. Let's all go to this town and see if we can get a sighting of him. Like, that's Mothman, but Jesus Mothman. Jesus Mothman. Jesus Mothman.

 I feel like we're going to piss off every community possible with that. And for those of you who aren't watching us visually, I'm just like across with my hands. And then I flapped my arms like Mothman. Oh, sweet. Sweet Mothman Jesus. What are you going to do?

 i know that there's like a mothman day i just never remember when it is i mean i'm sure if i looked up on the website are you okay

 Neva's, like, keeled over crying red-faced because they're laughing so hard. Sorry. You said Mothman Jesus and it reminded me of that scene in Talladega Nights. I haven't seen that in so...

 long oh shit like trying to like little baby jesus oh my god okay i think i'm okay oh my gosh oh my god that was a laughing jag yeah all right

 all right okay water yeah all right while you um realign your senses over there chakras so so mothman rules that's what we've decided yeah and yeah fantastic whether he's an actual cryptid or something happened and then they capitalized on it or whatever i'm here for it 100 i love it

 Plus, I love the idea of kids staring out their windows into the creepy nighttime and seeing a Mothman with glowing red eyes and being like, it's just Mothman. Okay, awesome. Mothman's watching over us. Yeah, I think there's a little of that. Like, Mothman's got my back.

 Mothman won't let anything bad happen to me exactly go with Mothman we mentioned the Chupacabra do we want to talk about Chupacabra sure let's do Chupacabra and then do Jersey Devil because I got shit to say about the Jersey Devil alright all I really know about Chupacabra is creepy as fuck

 Sucks the blood out of livestock. Usually goats. Mostly in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Southwest Texas area. And Avery likes making jokes about Chupacabra. Why? If something unexplained happens, it was the Chupacabra. Seriously? Every mystery. It's the Chupacabra. Oh my god.

 I mean, translated, it means goat eater. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Actually, okay. It's horrifying. It's like a South American, Latin America myth. Although, okay. So, do you remember the story I was telling about, like, the dark-shaped dog-like thing that crossed in front of my car? Yes. Okay. Was that a chupacabra?

 I mean, I'm looking at these pictures. Oh my god, really? I mean, like I said, it was just like a shadowy shape, but maybe I fuckified. I don't know. Now I'm a little freaked out. Oh no! I mean, not freaked out, but like,

 Yeah, I'm looking at the pictures and I'm like, maybe. I mean, I'm in southeast Kansas. That's a little bit out of its territory. True, but it does look like a fucked up spiny hyena dog. Yeah, which is kind of how I described it. That's true.

 Revelations, live on the podcast. Live on the podcast. Here's the thing. Right? Oh, my God. There's a kid's book called Don't Eat Me, Chupacabra. Oh, what? No me comas, chupacabra. A delicious story with digestible Spanish vocabulary. Guys.

 so that exists i'm speechless that is it from the perspective of a goat or a child

 I think it's from the perspective of the goat. Yikes. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know if it's cringe or fantastic. I think it might be both. I think it might be both. As my friend says, to be cringe is to be free. And then there's a monster fucker one called Checked Out by the Chupacabra.

 And it's a chupacabra and a librarian. Oh, no. Oh, no.

 I don't know how I feel about that. This went down a weird hole. You know, I read, I read a published, like traditionally published monster fucking book once and I went, I finished it and I was like, yep, that wasn't for me. And that's okay. Sure. And that's okay.

 Yep. Yeah, I've dabbled. I've read a bunch. I've dabbled. I've read a bunch. Yeah. I mean... It's great. So... Anyway. Not at all thinking about those monster fucking books. But...

 Yeah, Chupacabra's a little terrifying. I think what's most terrifying is that, to me, it very easily could exist.

 Because, like, there's so many different breeds of dogs, and, like, when you look at, like, African wild dogs and hyenas and, like, obviously at some point those continents were connected. Mm-hmm. And... Yeah. Who knows what developed in what area of what rainforest...

 In order to survive. Like, to me, it seems like a no-brainer that, like, yeah, some, like, spiny, possibly winged, mange-ass looking dog is sucking the life out of goats and livestock. Um, the dog in... Oh my gosh, what's the Disney movie with the little Mexican boy who wants to play guitar? Coco! Coco. Coco. Okay, so, like, take that dog, but just make it, like, rrrrrr.

 right yeah yeah it's not not chupacabra-y yeah i think it's cool yeah yeah so all right chupacabra unbelievable you want to talk about the jersey devil there is an x-files episode called the jersey devil but it's not about the jersey devil oh interesting

 I think it's about a man who is an asshole in Jersey. Kills people every 40 years or something to live forever. I think. Fair enough. Okay. If I'm remembering my episodes correctly, which I'm probably not. That's okay. I guess I'll find out on my summer watch of the show.

 um so tell me about the jersey devil it's a horrifying creature it's like a pissed off horse with fangs and claws and wings all right so in 1735 a woman named denise leeds um

 And this was, like, during the witch hunts. So in Jersey in the 1700s, apparently this woman was a witch and fucked the devil, obviously. Obviously. Which I'm assuming just meant her husband was a dickbag and she didn't want to be assaulted every night. Well, that's what witches do, you know. Right. Right. Because that's what witches do. Clearly. Clearly. Clearly.

 I mean, it's on my to-do list this week. So, witchy to-dos. Fuck the devil. So, apparently she got pregnant with a devil baby.

 And gave birth to a horror that was born with, like, leathery wings and skin and hooves. And then this thing terrorized Jersey and killed all of the good Christians. Oh, yes. Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, right? Naturally. Naturally.

 So, yeah. That's the Jersey Devil. And I guess there's been sightings through... I say that with air quotes. Through till today. But I have a lot of feelings about the Jersey Devil. And it's still killing all the good Christians to this day. Apparently. Apparently. This thing is horrifying looking. It looks like a little...

 Devily Imp. I don't know. It's like in the Jersey Pine Barrens. Oh, gosh. What? Right? Did you look it up? Yeah. It has like horns and wings and like hooves.

 Oh, now it's good. In some old posters, they call it the Leeds Devil because that was her last name. A living dragon. It has a lair and drags people down to its lair and then eats them. It looks kind of like if you crossed a horse with a dragon and a goat. Yes.

 Honestly? Which, like, you know, the reason goats freak people out is because they're, like, vertical pupil slit eyes. You know what it really, really reminds me of? What? Thestrals.

 Not that that bitch ass turf didn't rip off enough shit. Right. But like extremely similar vibe. Yeah. Like a skeletal dragon with leathery wings that looks freaky as hell. Yeah. So. Can you only see the Jersey Devil if you've seen death? I mean, maybe. Who knows? Yeah.

 So, yeah, I was reading about it and just kept making me more and more mad because, like, clearly this woman had to be a witch and gave birth to a devil baby because, you know, that's what women do. Right. When they stick up for themselves. So.

 I can't remember what we were watching. Oh, okay. We were watching West Wing. I feel like we talked about West Wing last time, too. We did. The West Wing rules. And I was very interested to see, because I was looking at the time period in which the show aired, and I was very interested to see what they did after September 11th. And I got to that episode, and it was like...

 it was it brought up some feelings yeah like i was like wow this like hit me in on like so many different levels not just like remembering what that was like to live through that but also like what we're living through right now like yeah crazy amount of

 parallel there but there was a scene and actually this was it was an episode that's not technically part of a season it aired before the new season started and I'm guessing they like wrote an episode real quick so anyway but part of that episode is the chief of staff is like interrogating this White House

 employee, staffer, who is of, you know, Muslim heritage about some bullshit thing. And I turned to Avery and I was just like, it's never been safe in this country to be a woman or brown-skinned, has it? And she looked at me, she's like, well, it was at one point, like, before white people came here. Basically, yeah. Wow.

 Or for the eight years-ish that Obama was president. Oh, man. Those were good times. But like, other than that, no. Yeah. No. It's never been safe. Yeah.

 I know. Isn't it wild? Let's talk about more cryptids. Because fake scary things are less scary than the real scary things. Yeah. The real scary things are too scary right now. Yeah. You know, I've been doing a pretty okay job of being informed and not letting it drown me.

 Yeah, that's been a real struggle. Yes. I feel like everyone's either learning critical consumption skills or they're not. Yeah, and I have watched several people around me just disengage completely. Which isn't healthy either. It's not. And it also, like, I have a real problem.

 When people are like, well, I'm not political. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Your privilege allows you to pretend like nothing's an issue. I literally had a friend say that to me last night and I said, that must be a nice privilege. Yup. And she just kind of stared at me and I stared at her and then we can, then the conversation moved forward. But like, yeah.

 but it's like how do you not recognize that that's what it is yep like i'm not saying you need to go out there and march in marches or do anything but like recognize that it's happening i don't know it's it's a delicate balance anyway delicate balance oh my god more cryptids please talk about a crypt how about how about nessie

 Oh, yeah, let's leave the country. I love that. Yes, please. We love Nessie. I do. I love Nessie. Nessie is, like, hella old, and she's just been lurking in her little lock for hundreds of however many years.

 freaking people out um underwater brontosaurus yes i feel like nessie i want to believe nessie could exist but i also feel like with modern technology there's no way that they wouldn't have found out you know

 That's where I am, too. I'm like, how would you not know if a giant creature existed in this relatively small body of water? Like, you could drag that whole, you know, that whole rock. Yeah, that whole lake. Yeah. Yeah. Unless, you know, you subscribe to the theory of, like, hollow earth and tunnels, and then maybe Nessie just escapes and chills somewhere else. Unless she's escaping to an alternate dimension like Bigfoot.

 That's true! There's nothing that says there aren't water areas in other dimensions that she could just phase in and out of. Like, oh, I'll pop my head up for a picture and then I'm gone. And then I'm out. Oh, you got my good side. Oh, thank God. Look how long my necklace is.

 crazy i love it so much so i'm a big fan of nessie we should say nessie is in scotland for anyone unfamiliar with the theory of the loch ness monster true yes thank you for clarifying you're welcome and uh loch just means lake and yeah scottish is scottish a language what is the

 Scottish Gaelic is a language. Okay, there you go. And the name of the lake is Ness, so people call her Nessie. I mean, okay, why do we call the Loch Ness monster a she and we call Bigfoot a he? Yeah, I don't know. Who knows what gender they are? It's not like anyone's gotten under the hood to examine it.

 All we have are, like, blurry-ass pictures from 200 feet away. Like, yeah, that's definitely a female... Silhouette of a monster. I do like the idea of, like, this big, hairy monster that lives in the woods and is feral must be a man. And this beautiful water monster with a slender neck must be a woman. It's like...

 All right. We're like assigning our gender roles to cryptids. We are. And it's like, no, just let them be what they are. We don't even know how they reproduce. Who knows? Who knows? What if it was two Sasquatch outside your window? Okay.

 I'd certainly watch. And I may or may not have read a book like that. Sorry, I'm just imagining what that would sound like. Like when you rub two carpets together.

 the static alone so there would be lightning that's okay guys we solved it anytime there's a lightning storm in the woods it's too Sasquatch's fucking static electricity solved it done solved it also I'm trying to think of how hard it would be to write a monster fucker novel called the Sasquatch outside my window

 Because it doesn't seem too hard. Oh, no. Just saying. Coming to a publisher near you, probably never. But if you write that, give us credit in the acknowledgements. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Oh, God. Oh, no.

 You can write the, like, preface or whatever. This is a fun episode. I like it. All right. Tell us about Selkies, Maria. Fucking Selkies.

 so okay here we go so selkies uh if you don't know look like gray seals they are in scotland ireland uh northern uk i think they are a play on like mermaids and what have you but the myth is that selkies have to shed their coats

 to go like bathe in some special area so they come on land and when they don't have their coats on they're like these beautiful gorgeous ephemeral looking women and so they all go to this special place and they shed their skins their seal skins and

 and men be doing what men do steal their selkie coats and if they steal their selkie coats then the woman selkie is forced to marry said thieving dude um which sucks and bastards and it's just i think another fucking way to patriarchy being controlling um

 Of being like, yeah, you should be happy to lead these miserable existences. And be happy for what we give you. Otherwise we're going to steal your ship. And you have to get married. And that's your one true way to be happy. And it's like, no, they just want to go back to the ocean, my guy. Like Nessie. Like Nessie. Just let Nessie back. She's just been trying to free Willy this whole time.

 it's like oh poor Ness um but yeah there's like different variations of this myth around like they come on land during midsummer to and that's when they shed their skins and people steal their coats um but yeah I yeah I'm salty yep mmhmm

 Good stuff. It is good stuff. I mean, you know, men touching women and then keeping them forever is not good stuff. No, that sucks. Yeah. And also, definitely happens. Oh no, I touched you first. Now you're mine. Yup, you showed me your ankle one time. Clearly we're married. Sigh.

 Gross. All right. Well, I don't have any other cryptids. I don't either. Some of these were my last ones. That I researched. But there are lots of other ones. Oh, hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands. So many local myths and legends. Yeah. Yeah.

 i know i think because we had i had some other ones written down but they're not cryptids they're like myths so maybe we do an episode about that if people want to hear it let us know if you want to hear that i mean i love medusa oh me too and sphinxes i'm a big fan of sphinxes yeah and medusa so all right not to give too much away um neva

 What? What? What do you want? What? What? Oh my god. We're like doing this podcast. Neva, what's like bringing you joy this week? Oh man. What is bringing me joy this week?

 I was not prepared for this part. Oh, no! Do you have one in mind while I think? Sure. Okay, Maria, what's bringing you joy this week?

 Okay. Well, I don't know if it's this week so much as it's like the anticipation of school being over. Are you still? You're not in summer yet? What? No. Connecticut goes until like mid-June. Oh, my God. You've told me that. Barf. Everyone here is out. Yeah. No, no, no, no. So my last day isn't until June 13th. And so I'm like...

 trying to get through the next two weeks without you know completely wanting to die and there's this like all this restructuring happening in our district and teachers like have to pack up all of their personal stuff and remove it from classrooms and tons of people are moving and so it's like way more than just the typical end of the year like destroy your stuff away right so like everything has to come out of every drawer everything has to be packed away everything has to be

 brought home it's just it's so much work which does not sound like a thing that's bringing me joy but thinking about the end of school is bringing me joy and the fact that I get to

 work with some truly awesome people including my partner and one of my besties um but like a lot of the people in my school and in my department are like so so wonderful and so even though we've been doing this horrible hard thing there's been a real like community attitude about it um

 And that's been really nice. And that's brought me a lot of joy of like, we're all just kind of helping each other. All right. Do you need boxes? I can run up and do this. And what do you need in your classes? And let me help you with that thing. And I really love that. That's awesome. Yeah. Makes me happy. Okay. I thought about mine. Do you have one now? I have one now.

 Um, okay. So, uh, when we got home from Madison, um, we then had like a three day weekend, um, because of whatever holiday was last Monday. Was it Memorial Day? Um, and so over that three day weekend, I finally pulled everything out of my art room and I got tables and

 And I got shelving. And things are not organized yet. But that is the next step. And I hope I'll be able to do that today. So that it can then be a functioning workspace. Because...

 I have ideas for things that I want to fucking do, and I can't fucking do it until it is a functional workspace. And right now I'm just like, I wish I could just snap my fingers and it's done. But I have to do the work. Yeah. That's a lot. But it has made progress, and that makes me very happy.

 that's awesome i saw some of the pictures on various social media things i was like oh wow yeah because you posted like a time-lapse video of you clearing out the room and i was like oh my god

 I was like, she's doing it. She's doing it. I'm doing it. Oh, okay. Can I have a bonus one? Yeah, of course. So months ago, so we live in a split level house. And so when you come in the front door, there's stairs that go down, there's stairs that go up. And so that leaves like big ass windows.

 walls and these stairways, right? Yep. And so like months ago, Avery was like, I want to make this a gallery wall. I'm like, okay, cool. I love this plan. And so we've been like collecting artwork and like when we were, when I was at comic con, I got like 10 new art prints. And so last, no, it was Monday. It took like five or six hours and,

 And some scary ladder over stairs work. But we have like a gallery wall up and room for much more. That's awesome. So yeah. It does look beautiful. I saw pictures of that too.

 Our podcast is legitimately cursed today. Well, you'll have some editing work, I guess. Oh, my God. Will I ever? Get ready, folks. Because by the time this episode comes out, it's going to be September. You're earning your producer credit today. I really am. Holy shit. Oh, my God. It's more the editor one. Yikes. It's going to take a while to piece all the...

 piece all the pieces piece all the pieces cut out all the stuff oh it's all good well all right um do you want to pull a card i i can i feel like i've done it the last like three times i definitely did it last time you definitely did last time all right i have a deck right here okay all

 So I have this deck called Women of Myth, which I really like. Oh, perfect. I know, right? Yeah. And possibly a precursor.

 to our next episode who knows we haven't decided what our next episode is if you if you think that we are that organized then you haven't been listening very long no because we're not did that one just fall out it did okay whoa okay so the card that fell out is

 Perchta? She's a monster, also known as the Punisher. Ooh. And she's got this, like, creepy face with, like, a dagger and...

 oh my god she's rad looking perchta the monster overworked perfectionist and punishment coming from the oral traditions of bavaria and austria perchta is a yule demon who rewards the most domesticated homes with silver but tortures and kills wayward women and children good god

 um her purchase appearance is asking you to evaluate the ways in which you punish yourself for not meeting unattainable and exacting standards of perfection whose standards are these could you let go of them

 So basically, the episode doesn't have to be perfect, Maria. Yep. Wow. Yikes. That's... Well, okay then. Yeah. We had so many weird little... Glitches and fuck-ups today. Right? I mean, recordings, starting and stopping. That's what we needed to hear. That was what we needed to hear. Thank you, Perchta. I will not try to make it perfect. I will just try to make it done.

 Oh, gosh. That's been my thesis writing motto. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be done. Guess what? I haven't started it yet. Yeah. Whatever. It just needs to be done.

 well thank you everyone for listening I hope this isn't a hot mess this episode it doesn't have to be perfect it doesn't have to be perfect but we love you guys thank you for listening and you can find us anywhere podcasts are found download share and send the link to your friends and tell them to listen too right and trick your dog into listening

 Thank you.