Hey guys! Due to the whims of fate and Amazon, I got my special edition blacklight Journal 3 ahead of schedule. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but it’s really fantastic–full of new details and hidden messages, and the construction is loads better than the regular edition!
However, the way the blacklight ink works threw me off for a minute so I want everyone to be prepared for what to expect! It’s not like in the show where the images are clear as soon as you shine a uv light on them. You need to hold your light over an area with blacklight ink for about 5-10 seconds so it can absorb the light. Then move your light away and the ink will glow brightly in the dark. It’s a really great effect but it isn’t immediately visible which can be confusing at first.
it’s funny to me how different my life is today, during the blacklight journal release, than when the regular edition came out. this week I’m starting a new job, making plans for Independence Day weekend, and still trying to find my way around Portland. last year was Cipher Hunt. when I open Journal 3, it takes me back to that late July—the muggy heat of Florida, coffee runs, staying up late, falling asleep on one of the uncomfortable futons in the sitting room we had then, waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a Twitter notification. staring at my copy of Journal 3 as it sat on the corner of the coffee table, easily within reach.
Journal 3 always fills me with that same sense of wonder I felt during Cipher Hunt—and the Journal itself has it’s own magic. I wonder if the special journal will remind me of that time, or if I’ll create all new memories around it.
hey holly…………..you know what we need…………………….
another hunt
while on one hand I don’t think my nerves or my wallet could take it, I know deep down that if Hirsch ever tried to pull off another thing like Cipher Hunt I would drop everything w/o question
Several weeks ago a pet skunk came in to see me because it just wasn’t acting right. The skunk had been purchased from a breeder and had lived with the owner for five years. Although normally an indoor pet the owner had built an enclosed area in the back yard so that the skunk could be safely outdoors. When the owner first purchased the skunk it had gotten a rabies vaccine and a clean bill of health from a veterinarian but had not been in to see a vet since then.
I walked into the room and saw the owner with several blood soaked paper towels wrapped around his hand. The skunk was in a carrier on the table growling and biting at the bars. I asked him if he was ok and he said yes, the bite was very minor and it happened all the time. Slowly I approached the carrier and the skunk began screaming and biting the sides of the cage.
“Has anyone else been bitten?” I asked.
“Oh, probably my whole family. He’s never been very nice.”
Slowly I bent down to look into the carrier again and the skunk rammed the front snarling and snapping. I felt drops of saliva hitting me in the face. Gently I explained to the owner that I was extremely concerned this skunk was rabid and his entire family and anyone else that had been in contact with the skunk needed to get to a hospital immediately and get rabies post-exposure treatment. The owner was understandably upset and asked me to please look at the skunk close. Politely I refused and told him there was no way I was going to open that carrier nor expose my staff to a possibly rabid animal. After several more minutes of discussion he agreed to allow me to euthanize the skunk and have it tested for rabies but he wasn’t going to go to the hospital.
“What could happen if it is rabies?” the owner asked.
Very sternly I told him, “You’ll die. There is absolutely no treatment for rabies and the only possible outcome is death. You will die. Your family will die. Anyone who has been bitten or exposed to the saliva will die.”
“Is it expensive?”
“If you have insurance it should cover it. If you don’t, yes it can be expensive. But this is literally a matter of life or death. I understand being concerned about medical bills but the alternative is death.”
The owner said he would think about it. I sent the head off for testing and didn’t think anything more about it.
A few days later I got a phone call from the health department telling me that the skunk was positive for rabies. The phone numbers and information the client had given me, which I included on the submission form to the lab, were wrong and the department could not get in touch with the family to tell them they absolutely needed to get to the hospital. I got a little sick to my stomach thinking about the saliva that had gotten on my face and likely into my eyes as well. Luckily I had already had the pre-exposure vaccinations so would just need to get two booster vaccines and would be fine. If the family did not get medical help soon they would die of rabies. I gave the health department all of the information we had on the clients.
A few days later I got word that a man had gone to the hospital saying he had been exposed to a friend’s skunk that was diagnosed with rabies. Luckily that man was able to give the correct information to the hospital and the health department was able to get in touch with the family and they came in and were all treated for rabies exposure. I don’t think they ever really realized how close they came to dying.
There are a few lessons to take home here:
Skunks don’t make good pets. Leave them in the wild where they belong.
Rabies is not an old timey disease that people used to die from. It’s still here and vaccinating against it is still very important.
Give the proper information when you go to the vet! These people probably gave false information because owning a skunk is illegal where they live but vets aren’t interested in turning people in. We desperately needed to contact them to save their lives.
Finally, rabies is nothing to mess with. There is no treatment; there is nothing that can be done when symptoms begin. It is far better to pay for vaccines than it is a funeral.
Au in which Grunkle Stan has also 6 fingers, like the author journals, his brother. And Dipper trys to proof that Grunkle Stan is the author, without asking him directly.
No you don’t understand this would change Dipper’s entire reaction to actually meeting the author oh my g o d
the original 2000 piece puzzle from Cipher Hunt—the same one that was found by May Walker in the post office next to House of Pies and put together by the tireless GF fans who participated in Puzzle Hell—has been brought to stay with the Bill statue at Confusion Hill! the puzzle will be displayed soon for all visitors to see.
Thanks to Momo (@officialgfmayor) for being my wheels! We drove down to LA to pick it up together, and a few trips to Confusion Hill to work out the details involved in getting it displayed safely indoors (without covering a bunch of displays). (This was also part of the reason it took so long to get it to CH after we obtained it from LA, since I no longer have a car of my own we can only go on certain days that we both have off work. Also the road to CH got blocked for a bit because of rockslides lol)
And the staff at Confusion Hill are awesome and amazing and everyone needs to go there and check it out and support them! If you stop by, dont forget to ask about Bill’s treasure box! And go see the Gravity House while you are there, Alex hid a Bill drawing in there somewhere… 😉
Whenever my parrot flips out and gets angry, I say, “Hey,” in this soft, comforting voice and then talk to him gently. He calms down within seconds.
I just got frustrated enough at something that I went, “ARGH.” My parrot said, “Hey,” all softly and sweetly like a dozen times over the next minute. It made me feel better instantly.
My parrot is better at conflict de-escalation than most people.
May's Blog 