The Magician's Assistant

No Phone in Hand

Most people seemed to have a phone in their hand when the Great Shift happened. Instead of going into panic, they searched news sites for information. It was different for me. Sure, I did have a phone in my hand before the Great Shift like everyone else, but now there was a hot cup there instead. My brain didn’t even react for several minutes before it started to burn the tips of my fingers.

The sound of shattering ceramic distracted people from searching on their phones momentarily. Without being able to join them, I finally had to ask aloud, “What’s going on? What happened? Did everyone turn into women?”

“Obviously not,” A man said, “Though we did all switch bodies. People are freaking out about it all over the internet.”

Swapping bodies? I looked down at my hands. I didn’t just become a woman; I had become someone else; someone else’s life...

The Maid Clause

“Is this even legal?” An exhausted Chris asked a very tiring week on Exchange Island, “It feels like slavery. At least it’s only for two weeks.”

Upon landing on the Island, instead of swapping into the body of a guest, he ended up in the body of one of the resort’s maids. And instead of a relaxing vacation, he was immediately put to work.

“It’s in the contract,” His now co-worker Derek explained, “And you should’ve read it more carefully, because you will be stuck here for a lot longer than two weeks.”

“What are you talking about? That’s how long my vacation is. Then it’s time to swap back, like normal. Right?”

“The maid clause is different. It would obviously be hard to get people to work here permanently in someone else’s body, so it’s a rotation of guests in these bodies for six months at a time. You’ll actually be swapped out into a random body who will take over the roll at that point.”

“I’m no even going to get my own body back after all this? Are you serious?”

Bully

Let’s not talk about how I swapped bodies with a woman. I’ll just tell you that it wasn’t malicious, and it wasn’t my fault. As you might imagine, the woman did want her body back -- but I didn’t exactly want to give it back either.

So I made a deal.

If I could stay on the mechanical bull for thirty seconds, I could keep her body. She didn’t want to agree to this, but I was the one in control of her body, and the deal was the only way to get me out of it.

Once I got, you’d better believe I held on for dear life. It felt like I was on forever before I was finally tossed. But my actual time? 30.02 seconds.

She demanded I give it back anyway, but I told her a deal is a deal. Did I feel bad about taking her body? Sure. But I also feel like I earned it fair and square.

Time to Lump Natalie TF in with the Hypocritical Rich Bastards

I don't usually post personal updates on this site. I doubt anyone wants to read them anyway, but today is different. Today is a day when I stop feeling bad or guilty about a thing that's been gnawing at me for a while now. On a certain blog, there was a post critical of me and my use of AI. In all frankness, AI is what allowed me to turn back to captioning; it allowed me to make video content; it's given me a lot more peace with myself than I care to admit.

But within that post, there was a lot of viciousness at me and other people who choose to make TSF content with AI. In the since deleted post, there was a not-so-subtle accusation that this was all some sort money grab. As if I am flush with cash from writing TG Captions or using AI to make videos. I am still waiting for this imaginary money bin of gold to swim in.

And when she wrote the post, I did have a good month! Somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-$100, which I think mentioned in a comment but also warned it was short-lived. Sure enough, January has rolled around and we are back to a monthly loss from generating this stuff. So, yeah, I'm flush with all that NEGATIVE $100 in cash.

Every once and a while, I still visit Natalie's page. I generally like reading her insights and what she has to say. Today was just enlightening. I came across the following quotes:

Rich people just want to keep people away. [M]y investments still made me over $7,000 in unrealized gains this month...

Natalie is exactly the type of rich person she's trying to decry. She's a hypocrite of the worst kind. She's making more in A MONTH in passive income than my captions and videos make in a YEAR, and she's going to fucking guilt trip me about that? Are you kidding me? That is exactly the kind of rich-person behavior she is pretending to decry.

I certainly haven't done this for 10+ years because of the money that it brings in (or doesn't bring in, really), but I'm done feeling bad about the little bit that it does. I felt a sadness and guilt over Natalie's comments initial...maybe I should find a way to offer everything without making money? That guilt is gone. My videos and blog CAN HAVE ADS. Maybe I will even finally accept one of the sponsorships offered in my inbox? Who knows!? I'm certainly through with concerning myself with what one hypocritical rich girl says that kept me down for far too long.