iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 3m

Perfect timing for me as a person learning to draw and selecting medieval weird guys.

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 5h

Gonna watch this show 1670 because Netflix used to always tell me to watch it then I got rid of Netflix In that time, I picked up some Polish because sometimes my IG algo thinks I speak that language and have given in and just might learn some more Polish.

120

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 6h

I know I read a lot so this might sound silly to some but I wish I was a fast reader so I could read even more. Ppl think I'm a fast reader cause I just read a lot. It will take me like an hour or two to read 50-100 pages. Sometimes the font and spacing is big enough that I can read more.

110

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I just think there should be some weird team up of Cathy Ames, Amy Dunne, and Debbie Jellinsky.

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Well Ayla is doing weird things again.

030

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I got an ARC for one of the books I was most excited about for this year and it finally comes out this month and I just need to know other people's thoughts already. 😭

001

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I learned recently my grandma follows me on Threads, which is hella weird because she knows way more about my life than anyone else in my family. So that's...neat.

121

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Reading about how all these different English translations are in conversations with one another makes me want to hear their poetry as some kind of Fugue.

030

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Sometimes, I'm like "My life can't get weirder" but then it does.

030

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Going to focus on Medieval bunnies first. There's so many fun ones and I think it'll be a fun way to start learning to draw again. Also gonna kick off October with some Medieval horror.

The medieval weird guy drawings next to Mere by Danielle Giles

131

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Poor Ayla is having a rough day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her.

030

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sapphic ANNA KARENINA w/ 13 GOING ON 30 spin Kitty is ready to make a series of compromises to find happiness but a magic meteorite whisks her into the future, giving her the chance to fix her life. 🚀Retrofuturism 💜Chaotic Bi FMC 👀Fake Dating 🌌Space Walk Date 🫣Frenemy Drama #DVPit #A #SF #R #LGBT

200

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

SAPPHIC 13 GOING ON 30 x ANNA KARENINA Kitty wakes up in the future to learn she's miserable despite living her dream in outer space. She tries to fix her life by winning back the ex who left her for a married woman, only to realize he wasn't the one she was ever interested in. #DVPit #A #SF #R

200

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

GOOD LUCK BABE x FOR ALL MANKIND A magical meteorite whisks Kitty into a future where her miserable self lives in space. Turns out it was the end of her life when her boyfriend ran off w/ a married woman. Clearly, she's here to win him back & for no other mysterious reason. #DVPit #A #SF #R #LGBT

100

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

ANNA KARENINA reimagined with a 13 GOING ON 30 twist Kitty is ready to make a series of compromises to find happiness, but when a magic meteorite whisks her into the future, she has a chance to fix her life. 🚀Space Age 💜Chaotic Bi FMC 🧡Sapphic 🌌Space Walk Date 👀2nd Chance #DVPit #A #SF #R #LGBT

710

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'll be on later and randomly throughout the day to support pitches. It feels right that I'm pitching my retrofuturistic space age idea while running an astrophysics seminar today (but that also means I'll be very busy).

1130

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

13 GOING ON 30 x ANNA KARENINA Kitty somehow wakes up in the future to learn she's miserable despite living her dream in outer space. She tries to fix her life by winning her ex back from the woman who stole him only to realize he wasn't the one she was interested in. #DVPit #A #SF #R #LGBT

1200

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Picked up a little new sketchbook and am gonna start poorly drawing weird Medieval people as I continue to spiral into depression and chaos. My first attempt as I wait for a book I ordered about art. It's been worse than I thought so far 😅

My bad attempt to copy the first random medieval art that I found that I thought would be easy and wasn't.

291

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Me now: What if I wrote a very sapphic Tina Belcher inspired character into the cursed dystopian idea that haunts my brain that's also very Fight Club.

040

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm cursed by this one dystopian idea that comes and goes in my mind without ever fully forming.

020

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm at a stage where I'm so depressed/overwhelmed by everything that I might cancel most plans so I can sit in my apartment and find a relaxing hobby, which might be drawing weird Medieval guys. I glanced at this picture today for a book and attempted to see if it's doable to learn and I think so.

A weird medieval guy from the famous viking chess set

A weird medieval guy from the famous viking chess set, but it's a bad sketch in a work notebook with pink pen.

A weird medieval guy from the famous viking chess set, but it's the real thing from a photo I took while in Edinburgh, Scotland.

041

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My cat ripped off another sensor for her glucose monitor and I have no idea what to do at this point because I've spent so much money already trying to save her life.

120

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Late to joining the #DVParty as I still mull over joining, so just in case! Day 1 - Mood Board for a queer Retrofuturistic Space Age reimagining of Anna Karenina w/ a 13 Going on 30 twist, it follows Kitty who accidentally lands 10 years in the future thinking maybe she can win Alexei Vronsky back.

A collage featuring images from the 1950s-1960s cut out from old news papers with the occasional splash of color featuring women in 1960s Space Age fashion clothes.

3171

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I am super late to this due to the unfortunate chaos it's been with Ayla being severely sick but I might try to still join and catch up with all the fun party posts.

000

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Eddie Spaghetti keeps destroying any step I take to unpacking, which isn't helping the over due unpacking thanks to the emergencies that have happened since I moved in. So anyway, things aren't going great.

Eddie Spaghetti is a black cat who is a little blurry and standing with his mouth open with a lot of boxes in the background

120

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We have been reading lots, but just haven't posted about all the neat books so far this month (I'm hoping to add at least one more before September ends).

Eddie Spaghetti's & Ari's September Reads but Eddie Spaghetti is crossed out in red and says Ayla's.

The background is a creepy forest were Godzilla Hello Kitty stands in the far background of arching tree. Then it's with me in the bottom left corner wearing a "Let's go lesbians shirt" saying: "Guys, it’s Sapphic September! What if we accidentally don’t read any sapphic books?"

Then to the right is Eddie a little black cat looking up from the corner and Ayla a calico in a blue, white and green sweater touching his head saying: "Don’t worry. I’ll take over reading for this month."

110

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Haven't been here in a hot sec becuase life has been very hard and busy with everything going on with Ayla. She's still pretty sick but now she has a flannel! I've mainly been posting to threads and forgetting to crosspost.

ayla is a calico wearing an orange and black flannel

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Finally started to work on essays for this one fellowship and my brain sure is blank. Life has delayed my work for this, so I hope it first impact my application at all. They're only selecting 6 writers so 🤞

030

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Ayla is still in serious condition & we could use some help, if you can. She is stable now after being admitted to the ICU last night but they're not 100% sure what is going on. Between all the tests & stay, I'm not too sure what to do for our next steps financially. Thank you in advance! 😔

Ayla is a calico cat in a hospital bed while two characters from scrubs are present along with me and Eddie Spaghetti a black cat.

The top says: We need some help with Ayla's hospital bills

Underneath it says: Venmo @ari_odinson

Then it shows Dr. Cox saying: Ms. Ayla Achilles Amidala Odinson, you are still very sick and it looks like we need to run more tests on your liver, gall bladder and pancreas.

The top says: We need some help with Ayla's hospital bills.

Then at the bottom are a series of images of Ayla a calico cat.

The middle explains: On August 15, Ayla was admitted into the ICU at Penn Vet due to Diabetic Ketosis. Our original estimate was $7,000-$9,000, which was already a challenge.

While Ayla is now stable, she is still struggling. Tests came back and it looks like she might have some kind of infection in her kidney, liver, and. or pancreas.

She will also need to stay there for 3-5 days and right now we are not sure if we can cover these costs or what to do about her help.

Any help would mean a lot to us. Thank you!

011

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Ayla is currently at the hospital. She was admitted last night and was stable enough to leave the ICU today. There's a lot more tests to run because it's not looking good and they're not sure what's wrong with her yet. 😔

Ayla is a calico cat sitting in a hospital crate.

020

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Now I'm just a guy who is like "What if I abandon happy hour for hot pot?"

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Maybe a person telling me that they didn't know to turn off all the lights during a closing procedure was a bigger red flag than I realized.

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I know Ashley Herring Blake is supposed to be one of those Romance greats, but her greatness is currently making me feel bad. I'm 140 pages into Dream On, Romana Riley and am super enjoying it while also being like hmmmmmm...maybe I need to approach some scenes in my WIPs a little differently.

130

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

I managed to hand write a few pages today for this Sapphic Persuasion Retelling that is of course very As Told By Ginger x Persuasion and I hope everyone is ready for my super Lilith Fair inspired mood playlist to get me through the tough times of potentially writing this idea.

130

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I wish my heart was less obnoxious and normal about life. That'd be so hot.

000

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Well, I've been trying to read for a few hours but the shoulder pain is way too great again, so time to just be sad.

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I had dreams again about my Sapphic Persuasion Retelling idea then my cats woke me up for food. I keep putting this off because I wrote one retelling but feel like maybe I'll just give in and work on this one. It'll also revolve around asexuality a lot more with the notes I jotted down.

120

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Well, that was a nice almost 2,000 words that I just wrote but I'm taking a break to think a little more about this idea. Also, I just wanted to read yet I'm glad I got those words down and some bullet points on the immediate scenes to follow.

130

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Oh snap, it's been 26 days since I last binge drank, which is so hilarious because I wasn't even trying. I swear it's the new place and also the pain meds I was on for a hot second.

020

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I'm just gonna think about the Philly Book Crawl all month as I slowly put my unread books back onto my shelves.

Eddie Spaghetti's & Ari's August Reads.

There is a flower background then me in a FIFA Croatian scarf saying: "It’s Philly Book Crawl Month so you know what that means?"

Ayla a calico is lying and sleeping in the middle

Eddie Spaghetti a little black cat is peering around the corner all wide eyed and says: "We bully all the unread books by buying newer prettier ones."

100

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

My unhinged Sunday morning ideas as I continue to debate if I should change the names of characters in AK Retelling and went "What if I just named them all after Clueless characters?" That's worse than me wondering how to name Kostya Levin after myself since he's named after Tolstoy.

020

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Plug in Baby has been playing on loop in my head since the Muse concert, but I miss the days of being able to hear New Born live (it really is the perfect piano + guitar song for a live audience 🥲) Oh yeah, we finally went to see Muse again & it was lovely. Decent mix of all albums but Showbiz.

000

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I fear this re-interest in the overall Medieval theory and the many topics that come with it will somehow still turn into a new writing project and personally, I'm not ready for that. The inspiration levels are at a 0 and I miss Lil Noir Murder Mystery, but those gears sure are chugging along.

111

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Me: Oh no why do I have another migraine?! Also Me: Oh yeah, I forgot to take my meds since I moved for that. Whoops! I did turn off all the lights and watched a storm with Eddie Spaghetti now that we can see the world.

Eddie Spaghetti is a black cat on a window sill looking out a window

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I'm one step closer to finally scheduling my landlord to do a walk-through of my old apartment but the stress of it all is taking a toll and I want it all to be over with.

010

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I always feel so special because I've had the chance to meet Emily Wilson multiple times and feel like my reinterest in ancient literature was rekindled by her and I'm so happy about that. It's so wild I also went to the release event for her translation of The Odyssey and also The Iliad.

120

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Finally donated the last of the books I set aside for Books Through Bars today! If you're unfamiliar with them, check them out and look into a local place to donate books because everyone deserves to read. www.booksthroughbars.org

booksthroughbars.org

Books Through Bars Philadelphia

Books Through Bars sends free books to incarcerated people in the mid-east United States. We are a volunteer-run nonprofit based in Philadelphia, PA.

000

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I've been thinking about this local fellowship I saw but it's focus is women writers and it did say non-binary writers could join who relate to being a woman, but I've thought a lot about it and also looked up the author running it and it looks like a great opportunity but not for me personally.

100

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Messaged someone else about reading because we talked at a time I was too busy and without the one reader, I'm a little less busy to exchange chapters. 🤞 I'm trying to be more selective because my analytical brain that trusts everyone has gotten some weird feedback that I need to just move on from.

100

R. E. McManus @earthkids.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Casually mentioning my great grandma who was in the Olympics for fencing back in the day. I know I talked to her a lot while she was still alive but I wish I spoke to her more cause sometimes I was scared to talk to her due to family politics but she always let me talk about my history obsessions.

020