🔉Listen to this post on orribu.co!

Heya there!

How is it the end of March already? Dang, I feel like I just got used to writing "3/whatever" for the date...what the heck?!

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🎻This month, I wanted to start doing more things with my hands.

After making little Perler bead fruits last month (which—heck, I gotta make more of those, they’re fun), I realized that I’d been missing out on something very important. It’s really hard to put to words exactly what it is, but when I was out and about one day I discovered a music shop that sold…string instruments!!!

I played violin when I was in middle school and had a great time. I wish I remembered my violin instructor’s name, but she was a little intense if I recall correctly. Admittedly, right, I was a little undiagnosed ADHD child who kept going “ah dang ah heck ah shucks” and stuff when I messed up. Hell, I still do. But I liked her! I liked playing the violin (later changed to viola)!

But yeah. I rented a violin after taking my first music lesson in [redacted] years. And—here’s where that feeling that’s hard to put into words comes in—it felt like waves of calm and joy were washing over my brain. My head, usually full of screaming and static, was buzzing. But it wasn’t the usual “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THERE ARE LIKE WASPS OR SOMETHING” buzzing, it was like…a half smile and a nod as you sigh with relief buzzing.

It was nice. 💚

I’m sitting here after having a rough start to my day, glancing back at my violin case and going, “Oh yeah. Maybe this’ll chill me out. Bring back that much-needed relief.”

I actually look forward to opening that case and practicing and going to those lessons!

Have you ever played an instrument before? What instrument would you like to try?

Feel free to respond to this email and tell me! I'm so curious! :D

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🍓🌸Spring has Sprung!🌸🍓

A new (ACHOO—! Augh, sorry) season is upon us! With that comes more daylight, more delight, more pretty flowers and fruit and—HI-CHOO!

This season also brings something cool and exciting:

Commissions!

That’s right, after a very long hiatus from doing client work, I’ve reopened commissions! At first, I’d opened slots on Ko-Fi, but after learning about their rather lax stance on generative AI imagery and its place on their platform, I’m on the fence about jumping ship. So with all that being said, I’ve decided to open commissions! Right now I’ve got them open on VGen, but if you’re not a fan of that site and/or want more flexibility, I’m currently working on a way to order commissions directly from my site as well.

If you’re interested or just want to help by spreading the word, head over to VGen to place an order, or copy the link and share it around! I’ve worked with everyone from casual gamers, animation enthusiasts, and comic fans to streamers, indie game devs, and GMs.

I’m SUPER excited to get back in the ring!

Click here to check out my VGen!

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😮‍💨Streaming Hiatus

Early this month, I announced that I’d be taking a break from streaming. It’s not for any crazy reason, just that I’ve noticed I’ve been getting sicker and having to cancel or cut them short. I’ve also noticed that I’ve come away from them a lot more anxious lately.

With all that being said, I’ll be taking a hiatus from streaming while I try to get the business backend going and rethink my approach to streaming. I want to be at my 100% and have fun while I’m streaming, and with surgery and all that stuff coming up, it’s hard to say when I’ll be back for sure.

In the meantime, I’ll still be posting on Bluesky (and hopefully Youtube soon), and I’m hoping to get a few more things like a Discord community up and running. I DO have a Discord community, but it’s for TwistedFates, which…

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✨Hey, Have You Heard of TwistedFates?✨

It’s a sci-fi/fantasy story about an eldritch being trying to remake the universes in Its image and—wait—it’s about a lot of people with varying degrees of unhinged-ness fighting against a sentient virus that wants to infect everything that moves (and everything that doesn’t). My current project, TwistedFates:LUCAS, is a visual novel prequel to the real story of TwistedFates, following the mad, sugar-with-coffee chugging, lazy gunslinger Luke back when he was friend-shaped. If that sounds like something you’re interested in, I’ve got a link to the game for you to save to your collection on Itch.io!

Check out TwistedFates:LUCAS on Itch.io!

I’m also building a Discord community for people who enjoy it! It’s still very much a work in progress, BUT if you want to join in, learn more about TwistedFates, and hang out with some other nerds, join the StarGazers here!

TwistedFates will be something I blurb about from time to time since it’s my (main) passion project, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

🍓Thanks for reading, and don't forget to tell me about instruments! Yeah! :D🍊