Player 2 Saved The Princess

For the past year, I have traversed the treacherous path of the professional creative. In the midst of an early quarantine breakdown, video games and knitting held together the shattered pieces of my eternally overachieving soul. With no job or general purpose in life, my self-image crashed full speed into a wall. I realized that I had centred my entire self-worth around my value as an employee.

That settled it, I was hired!

The first step to regaining my self-worth was locating a new prime directive. With a tentative dream of being a full-time artist, I took the plunge and launched the Creative Chimera business adventure. I wanted the name of my business to reflect the eclectic, and vaguely chaotic, diversity of my creative passions. In Greek mythology, Chimeras are hailed as fire-breathing female monsters with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. The more flexible definition would be that a Chimera is a culmination of life forces, fused into a single glorious concoction!

A friend had recently introduced me to the streaming platform, Twitch. There is basically a category for everyone, offering exactly the flexibility I craved! The prospect of being paid to embrace my inner nerd was a revelation. As I pondered a starting point, my social anxiety kicked into overdrive. I was nervous just answering my own phone, how could I open myself up to dozens or even hundreds of live viewers!? After a stern self talking-to, I came to one conclusion. Screw it! If I'm going to lounge around playing games all day anyhow, what do I have to lose?

Previous experience with the humans of the internet left me cautiously optimistic, at best, about my future as a female solo gamer. I expected a lot of flak about my gender and general in-game prowess, but I never envisioned the response that greeted me. Like any orchard, Twitch has proffered a few bad seeds, however, the community as a whole is outstanding! My lack of technical knowledge was met with understanding and incredible advice as I made the leap from console to PC gaming. The Fallout (game series by Bethesda) community welcomed me with open arms, freely embracing my slightly erratic personality. I had finally found my people!

Shortly after my grand launch into streaming, a surprise guest entered the playing field.

The call came in around 11 pm on a calm August eve. A slightly panicked friend was desperately seeking a loving home to relocate a two-year-old pug. He was scheduled to move into his new home with the friend's ex (the owner) that night but had been effectively abandoned by her instead. With my friend unable to care for his furry boy anymore the stakes were quickly raising.

I’ve never been one to deny a friend in need, especially if that friend is fuzzy! I quickly loaded into my car and raced off to pick up my newest little companion. I was unsure how the little guy would take to me after being moved around so I steeled my heart for initial rejection.

To my utter surprise, he took to me almost instantly, curling up in my lap and wrapping his little piggy tail right around my heart. We have been inseparable since the moment he jingled into my life. His name is Binks (yes, like Jar Jar) and he is now the greatest love of my life.

He gets me up in the morning and keeps me motivated to press forward when the world weighs too heavily on my shoulders. Caring for him and creating the amazing new bond we share helped to heal my aching heart and gave my life a new purpose.

Within my first month, Binks became a regular partner on my stream, snatching up hearts and completely stealing the show! His “fans” return each week to gaze upon his smiling jowls and offer praise to “Lord Binks”. He has even begun taking over my YouTube channel! With our dynamic duo assembled, the world is ours for the taking. I wouldn’t trade my time with him for anything this universe has to offer.