Just over two weeks out from my surgery I am finally speaking, and it feels great. I keep thinking of the song "Human Again" from Beauty And The Beast, and the joy of being able to communicate again is palpable. As a person who has tied so much of my identity into my voice as a singer, not being able to sing has been an emotional roller coaster. Even just my morning lip trills have been filling me with joy these last couple of days.

When we last left off Arrielle and I had just moved home my parents house. Thanks to Covid it was actually worse than that. The mandatory two week quarantine period would have been uncomfortable in any situation, but the only way to actually keep us from my family in that time involved staying in my parents room as they have an ensuite bathroom. The king bed was a huge step up from the twin we had been sharing on the ship, but it was still my parents bed.

After two days we started losing it just a little, but some of our fellow castmates from the ship had tested positive for the virus upon returning home and we knewe how important the quarantine was if we were asymptomatic carriers.. I was starting my day with Bailey's and finishing it with whiskey, and we played round after round of Civilization 5. Very quickly we realized that we needed to move our bodies, and Arrielle introduced me to the world of Yoga With Tim. We started a thirty day challenge, and daily yoga became the routine that held us together mentally and emotionally for those two weeks.

At this point we were under the assumption that we would be returning to the ship, if not on April 11th when the company had announced, by early May at the latest. We got out of quarantine on the day that the email saying April wasn't going to happen came in. Our days became monotonous, we couldn't go out and work because of my grandmother and pregnant sister, and honestly the idea of starting anything felt pointless as we were sure we would be back on the ship soon. Why start something when you knew you would have to stop?

Every day we would walk through the woods in the community where I grew up, and everyday we would be less sure about returning to the ship. Emails were coming in every few weeks pushing our return date further back, and Dr. Fauci was on TV everyday saying quite plainly that our industries return wouldn't be safe. We were losing hope for a quick return, and then the CDC put the nail in the coffin of our plans. They imposed a moratorium on cruise ships that would last through the summer, and we knew at that point that we had to make some changes.

Over the course of a single hour long walk the next few months of our lives were set in motion. Arrielle was desperate to start streaming again, and I was itching to get the podcast up and going. After years of working for others when they had need of us we realized it was time to work for ourselves, and we had an industry we'd both seperately dipped our toes into. At no point when I was making Nerdy Nightly had I ever thought it would be something I shared, it always was my own precious little baby, but much like everything else where Arrielle is concerned I couldn't imagine not sharing it with her. The fact that she was so eager to be a part of it, and was bringing ideas I never would have thought of, was really just the most joyful cherry on top.

Arrielle's streaming computer was in storage in Toronto at this point and had to be shipped over, but we didn't want to wait to get started. Our nightly routine revolved around watching episodes of Nailed It on Netflix with a cup of tea. It is a joyous show, that really soothed that anxious itch in the back of our brains. At this point in my life I had baked one single time, just weeks earlier when we made over 500 cookies to spread a little easter joy to our community. I truly had the least experience possible when Arrielle suggested we start with a nerdy baking show.

That video has, as of writing this, been viewed over 300 times. Far more than we ever thought possible. To say we were inspired by Nailed It is a bit of an understatement considering we baked something from the show to start off, but oh boy did it feel good. After months of accomplishing almost nothing with our days we had made something. It was creative, it was fun, and it was ours. Nerdy Nightly 2.0 was born, and it very quickly seemed impossible to me that i had ever done it without Arrielle.

The joy of this enterprise now is sharing it with her. Whether it's discovering something new together, or introducing the other to something they've never experienced, the joy of this partnership is endless and growing. We're even baking our own wedding cake, because our time in the kitchen is such a happy place for us. That video will be up Saturday, and I've never looked forward to making one of our videos more.

In the four months since the Emoji Cake video dropped we have recorded 18 episodes of the podcast, made 36 youtube videos with over 2,000 views, we've streamed north of 100 hours on Twitch and grown 2 separate channels, we launched a Patreon to more success than we ever thought possible, and we decided to get married. I know the quarantine has been a tough, and detrimental time for so many. There has been so much strife, and a complete disregard for black lives. There is a guilt that I feel, and I know it is because these past six months have been some of the best of my life.

The day I re-met Arrielle my entire life changed. Every day since has been better than every day before, and while my life was already beyond privileged, the love of a person like her is a layer I never knew I would experience in this life. We are so lucky to have found the community that we have, and to interact with you all in these nerdy spaces. We would not have done anything without the support of our online community, whose kindness and generosity seems to know no bounds. From the other streamers in our little squad, to our patrons, and the people who show up, comment, and roast us. We are so grateful to you all, and so unbelievably excited for what comes next.

Please join us on Twitch for a live stream of our wedding! This Sunday. 5pm est. Dress fancy. Or Don’t!

A History Of Nerdy Nightly. Part 3.