Hello and welcome to a special announcement episode of normal gossip. I'm Kelsey McKinney and Alex is here with me. Alex, say hello.

Hello everybody.

We have missed you so much.

So much. Oh my gosh. And I think that maybe you've missed us. I can't tell from the Instagram messages, but I don't know maybe a little bit.

A little unclear. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. You know, who can know? You may notice that this is a shorter episode today than we usually have. It's not a full hour.

It's a little bit shorter than that. And that is because this is not an episode to tell gossip in. It is a special announcement episode.

Though I will say there is going to be gossip in it.

That's so true. I mean, do you think the two of us could get on mic without any gossip? That's like fundamentally opposed to our characters.

I mean, we were recording for like five minutes before we started this and all of that will be cut and lost to history.

Well, they don't need to know that.

Alex, why are we recording this episode?

We have some special announcements.

Number one, we have signed a deal with a partner.

And we'll explain what that means and who the partner is.

And also, we are coming back and we will announce our return date in this episode.

Oh my god.

It's all happening.

So we have a lot to tell you.

Yeah, I mean, I think I want to admit that it has been like very, very difficult for me to not talk about what has been going on mainly because I'm terrible at keeping secrets, which everyone knows.

And it's like, it is kind of gossipy, but like process we've been through.

Yes. And I think it's really important for us to share what we've gone through as a way to

explain to listeners how the business works behind a podcast like this, like most podcasts you listen to, not all of them, but most of them have gone through something like this.

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