#and that whole debacle is going to be included in the documentary somehow (still figuring it out but it will be)

[magentagalaxies]

16, 17, 23!

thank you will!!

16. Post a picture from the beginning of the year

january 9th, me in the first greenroom of scott's buddy cole tour (pittsburgh). i took a mirror-selfie backstage at every tour stop

17. Post a picture from the end of the year

november 25th, me onstage with scott thompson during his toronto show with the kids in the hall (i know i've already posted this photo but 1. it's the most recent pic of myself that i have and 2. isn't it kind of bizarre that i happened to wear the same outfit???)

23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

"if you make a deal with someone that needs to be fulfilled at a later date, especially for your documentary, GET THAT SHIT IN WRITING!!!!"

this obviously refers to the whole debacle i went through at college this year (scott visited my college on february 9th and i was supposed to interview him alongside another comedy professor and the comedy department told me they'd give me the footage for my documentary since that was the whole reason they got this celebrity appearance. however the professor who was leading the event treated both me and scott super shitty, and since he didn't like the way me and scott talked about gender while respectfully disagreeing he went on to fucking out me on twitter in an attempt to "cancel" scott for "misgendering" me in a separate interview even tho i go by any pronouns, dipshit. after the tour was done, i realized i'd never gotten the footage, so i checked in again and the professor told me he wasn't releasing the footage bc it "violates the college's community guidelines of respect and inclusion." after a LONG back-and-forth with the department head, they eventually released the footage to me. this whole debacle lasted 2 months and left me with some lasting trauma bc of how so many professors i looked up to were treating me like i was somehow in the wrong for being friends with someone who "disrespected my identity" (again, i've gone by "any pronouns" the entire time)

so with all that context, that advice might almost seem too small. like, you might think i'd rather say "don't trust [insert name of professor who outed me]" (bc he genuinely made me think he was a trustworthy person so that betrayal blindsided me). or maybe even go as far as to say "don't invite scott to your college" bc even tho this started as both me and scott wanting to do a nice thing for each other, it was such a shitty experience for both of us that maybe it's not worth the trouble

but aside from the fact that this event had been planned since the end of 2023, i wouldn't want to avoid it completely. as shitty as being outed by a self-serving asshole in an attempt to discredit your close friend is, and as much as i'm still reconciling with how it changed my view on whether i even want to call myself "nonbinary", i'm glad it happened. bc those problems i have with labels would exist even if someone didn't bring them to the forefront, and i've been able to grow so much as a person since i stopped worrying about being "good queer representation." and also, i have no idea where my friendship with scott would be if that hadn't happened. helping me through that shit allowed us to connect on a much deeper level (and is also the reason he let me keep his jacket lmao), i don't know if we'd be quite as close as we are without going through some of the worst shit we've been through together.

but to say i "wouldn't change a thing" is inaccurate bc that month-long email back-and-forth about whether my school promised me that footage (they fucking did) was so shitty and unnecessary. they might have still pulled the same crap even if i'd gotten it in writing, but then i'd at least have proof on my side. oh well, next time.

thanks for the ask!!

End of year ask prompt