diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 88e9d33..51f90f8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ meme.jpg
 toots.db
 toots.db-journal
 toots.db-wal
-__pycache__/*
+__pycache__/
 .vscode/
 .editorconfig
 .*.swp
diff --git a/functions.py b/functions.py
index c19fd6c..1921519 100755
--- a/functions.py
+++ b/functions.py
@@ -20,16 +20,17 @@ def make_sentence(output, cfg):
 		toots = c.execute("SELECT content FROM `toots` ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 10000").fetchall()
 	else:
 		toots = c.execute("SELECT content FROM `toots` WHERE cw = 0 ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 10000").fetchall()
-	toots_str = ""
-	for toot in toots: # TODO: find a more efficient way to do this
-		toots_str += "\n{}".format(toot[0])
-	model = nlt_fixed(toots_str)
-	db.close()
-	os.remove("toots-copy.db")
 
-	if toots_str.rstrip("\n") == "":
+	if len(toots) == 0:
 		output.send("Database is empty! Try running main.py.")
 		return
+	
+	model = nlt_fixed(
+		"\n".join([toot[0] for toot in toots])
+	)
+	
+	db.close()
+	os.remove("toots-copy.db")
 
 	toots_str = None
 
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index 011ef24..b9fe691 100755
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ db = sqlite3.connect("toots.db")
 db.text_factory=str
 c = db.cursor()
 c.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `toots` (sortid INTEGER UNIQUE PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, id VARCHAR NOT NULL, cw INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, userid VARCHAR NOT NULL, uri VARCHAR NOT NULL, content VARCHAR NOT NULL)")
+db.commit()
 
 tableinfo = c.execute("PRAGMA table_info(`toots`)").fetchall()
 found = False
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ if not found:
 
 	c.execute("DROP TABLE `toots`")
 	c.execute("ALTER TABLE `toots_temp` RENAME TO `toots`")
-	
+
 db.commit()
 
 def handleCtrlC(signal, frame):