FEB 26, 2023

Hello, been a bit since I updated.. and by a bit I mean a few months.

It's snowing tonight, something rare at this time of year, which reminded me that the last time I updated my site in general was around Christmastime. I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday season and that 2023 is off to a good start.

It has been good, at least for me - I'm connecting more with other people around me and within the place where I live so I don't feel like I'm being hunted for sport every time I go into the kitchen. Something definitely welcome. My art motivation has vastly improved in the past few weeks as well! I also read through Lucky's cool story web he made for Somnia machine and it DID SOMETHING TO ME I love seeing what my friends are making and the worlds in their minds it's so cool. Been a good art and connection time all around. :)

I've been playing a lot of Splatoon 3 the past few weeks or so, I wish the internet here was better so I wouldn't disconnect so often. At some point I also bought Splatoon 2 and played through Octo Expansion - the recent splat3 dlc announcements have me SUPER excited. Side Order looks so intriguing... in related Gaming's News I also got my roommate to play BOTW the other night and it reminded me of just how much I love that game. The brain effects never stop. I also never really get to sit and watch people play games that are special to me so it was really fun. So so so so so excited for TOTK... I already preordered it!

My birthday is also soon... March 2nd! I can't believe it's already coming up again. Here is hoping that another year will grant me some wisdom, in some way or another...

Hope that everyone is doing good, and I hope you have a lovely week.
- Kite

NOV 27, 2022

Hello everyone! Checking back in for a November update.

After a solid few weeks of dealing with some pretty serious derealization, burnout and such, I seem to have found my stride again! I have potential plans for a zine in mind - both for class and for myself. It's going to be focused on natural observations and news from the valley, art and the self. Stay tuned.

Speaking of several of those things, I went home for Thanksgiving. It went perfectly alright, and it was nice to see family again. What really drew me in, though, was seeing how much things have changed in just a short time since I last visited. Fall has really set in - admittedly a little delayed - but the weather has a satisfying bite to it and I now lose feeling in my fingers with the window open. This is something that my friends have called me insane for liking, but for me it reminds me of the comfort of winter.

There's a creek 40 minutes out from home that me and my brother first came across in late September. Wanting to see if the salmon were still spawning, we drove out again the other day. No salmon, disappointingly, however I was shocked by how much the creek had changed in just two months. It had gone from rocky ground and some sparse water to a full-fledged river, almost. There wasn't anywhere to stand, and the water went right up to where the path down had used to be.

Pilchuck Creek in late September

Pilchuck Creek in late November

The movement of water is always so captivating, and I didn't know anything could change like this in such a short time. Where did the water come from? Where is it going? Such questions are important with the wonderings of the world.

In other news, it's time for my week-and-a-half Pokemon Scarlet Review!!!

I have been playing Pokemon Scarlet almost nonstop since it came out, and I really like it. There is, of course a lot of stuff that feels broken, or weird, or clunky, and those criticisms are totally fair and you can read all about those things on any site where people like to complain, along with the elephant in the room of Gamefreak being extremely overworked and in a time crunch. However, there's also so much in this game that really stood out to me in really cool ways. Not spoiling things, of course, but it's really inspired and I love so many of the characters and the story gets so batshit crazy toward the end and I think it's really cool. I love the main rival Nemona for being insanely ADHD and a battle freak she is very cool to me. Also Geeta sparkle heart emoji. Smiles serenely.
It's really cool to see Pokemon existing in and interacting with their environment as well, and it works really well for the open world environment. I paused by a pondside tree and watched a group of Dratini and Vaporeon swim around in the water. This immersion coupled with the way this game gets weird as fuck with evolution really sold it for me. The Pokemon are cool, the characters are cool, the story is cool, the environments are cool!! This one is definitely a favorite of mine, and I really hope it can get the attention and fixes it deserves.

New Legendary Pokemon Chien-Pao (and Hatterene)

Here's some more pictures from Friday's drive. 3:2 continues to be my favorite aspect ratio.

Please enjoy a song. "Rose Hip November" by Vashti Bunyan

Autumn comes and goes and makes way for Winter. Wishing for a rewarding season for all, no matter what you are doing. I hope to write back soon. Stay warm, stay healthy, and stay inspired.

- Kite

OCT 29, 2022

Hello again! It's been a while. I didn't mean to abandon my site for like a month, but I've been busy- I'm here again and that's what matters :)

College has been a very interesting time and I can't articulate all of what I'm going through properly, but I've gotten to experience so many new and unique things. It's been really cool to get out of the valley... while beautiful, it was time for a change. I have to adjust back to the school grind, of course, which is taking some effort while also having to balance adult life... but other than that I've been having a great time. My roommates and classmates are very cool and have really helped my experience here.

I've been having a pretty alright time with creative flow and wonder outside of the random bouts of depression and apathy I find myself in occasionally. It's nice to see new things, have new experiences and see how they influence my work. Outside influences and perspectives have been adding a new level to the things I think about in my art, more direct perspective than I've experienced before anyways. I'm able to talk about things with others, especially in a very natural and wide community of especially queer creatives. It's much different from the old cishet white art lady culture I'm used to.

Fall has finally arrived... a very strained September and October left me feeling uneasy. The grass remained fried by the overbearing sun and the ground was so dry until Thursday the 20th of October. It rained hard for several days after that, returning the forest to a state that feels correct, and has continued sporadically through this week. The wind has returned, and the skies are grey.

I went home over the last weekend to see the culmination of the harvest season as well as to have time to rest. It was really weird to be a visitor in my own home, but I soon adjusted back, and got to see the beauty of the valley in sudden autumn. One detail I learned was that because of the horrific hot weather, the growth of corn had been stunted, and I got to see this in action when we went to the pumpkin patch. The corn maze was maybe only four feet tall. There, I picked up a very ugly pumpkin that was greyish green. Along with some of my favorite cider and very expensive organic wildflower honey, I brought the pumpkin back with me to college and it sits on a post outside our apartment window. I've seen people looking at it, confused. I think it represents this fall season perfectly.

I really hope that you all have had a lovely autumn so far!

SEP 23-24, 2022

Hello!! I've been super busy but I finally made it to college!!
I'm very very overwhelmed but at the same time I'm feeling strangely comfortable and happy. This place has such a specific and weird energy to it that I'm not used to - at ALL. People are exceptionally friendly and eccentric, and nobody knows each other here. Everyone wants to learn and grow and be weird and that makes me very happy. I feel I am in good company.

On the other hand it has been a LOT harder to articulate what I want to do... explaining myself as wanting to connect art and science was a lot easier when I went to a school where absolutely nobody else wanted to do that. EVERYONE wants to do that here. It'll take some adjusting of course but I believe I can find my path here among the trees.

Also realized I left my Panera lemonade in my mom's car the other day when I was moving in and I forgot about it. I could have had lemonade instead of living on sprite for 24 hours. Damn it -_-

P.S. by the way my wisdom teeth healed completely fine without any pain at all and I'm still confused????

SEP 02, 2022

Been a while! I got my wisdom teeth out a few days ago. I was pretty fucking worried about it because of various experiences friends have had, but it insanely went really well. They didn't even put me under and popped those bitches out in like 10 minutes. I was so confused that I did completely fine throughout the procedure??? Plus they let me keep my teeth, so that's also very cool. And I've been feeling perfectly fine too, and have been as productive as I usually am. The inability to eat a ton of food I like is torturous, however. I made a fuck ton of chicken and rice the night before and now I can't eat it...

Been driving at night with my brother. We've been leaving at the very end of sunset, which is always my favorite time of night. The sky is mostly a deep blue, with the remnants of orange and pink still visible over the trees. The moon has also been beautiful the last few nights, and I've found myself paying more attention to its phases than ever before. My brother and I both really connect to music, and we've been listening to Radiohead... not only is it AMAZING night driving music, but it also has a big nostalgia factor for both of us (thank you, Dad). This has also been very nice because it's nice to remind myself that I can earnestly enjoy music without feeling like I have to defend myself or make fun of myself for it.

Our drives have taken us through winding country roads in the desolate fields, and into the forests and mountainsides. Something about night driving in the forest is especially magical. Here we had our first near collision with a young deer that appeared on the road. However, my brother was able to stop and avoid it so it could pass safely and so we could avoid totaling the beloved 2002 Honda CR-V. We only saw about five cars on the whole drive as well. It's always so quiet out there, and it reminds me that I am not as stuck as I think I am.

On a final note, autumn is approaching. It's cooled down at night (which I am incredibly grateful for), and the mornings are cool and foggy with that brisk smell I treasure every year. The air feels less dry, and the leaves have even started to change already. I wonder how my perception of autumn will change with the new world I will be dropped into in twenty days...

AUG 10, 2022

The end of summer is approaching faster than it ever has before. It's especially strange, this time I'm more than ready to leave this town and fly. Something I can't quite place is making me feel an emotion I don't know. My brain tells me that nothing will be the same, but when have I ever fully grasped what "the same" is?

... I'm not quite sure, but I think the flow of time comes to change things, and all I can do is follow her gracefully.

With the limited time I have before I leave this place, I have been trying to enjoy my local surroundings as much as I can. I feel eternally grateful for the forests, islands, fields and mountains that surround us here. I've had enough of my pessimism, This world truly can be beautiful. My younger brother has been happy to drive around the backroads as I stick my head out the window like a dog. The wind in my hair always feels nice, and listening to good music is also nice. Today, after many days of facing obstacles from the heatwave, we got lunch and went to our usual park, and found ourselves in a strange thunderstorm.

The rain was heavy and very refreshing. I hope the plants and animals were happy about it. I hope the rabbit I have seen there recently was happy. I hope all the deer that live there were happy.

In other news, my long-standing playlist with a certain obscene name has finally outgrown itself... onto a new one. Rest in peace to the beautiful Hentai Milf Quiz III, and hello to the brand new Dear Friend, I'm Lonesome. May you serve us well. Much more space for my returning Beatles interest, as well as Nick Drake and Donovan. Elliott Smith continues to be ever present.

Featured: Celeste - Donovan

I hope that the coming months will be kind to me, and kind to you as well.

AUG 02, 2022

My 3DS arrived after being trapped in Lithuania for a long time. I've been playing Pokemon X for the first time. People say it's pretty easy and I agree, but it's also nice to just relax in a game once in a while so I've really been liking it! I like the roller skates and a lot of the music. I've also been playing New Leaf for the first time not emulated, which has also been nice. Today I also picked up Tomodachi Life. I love my weird little mii and his brain thoughts of cactus...

Another small note is that it is so goddamn relieving to not be on mainstream internet as much anymore so I don't have to look at a thousand terrible gamer opinions.

In addition, last night with some friends I went on a Geocities deep dive through the wonderful site of Gifcities on the Internet Archive. Both to explore the old web in all its glory and to take inspiration for my own site. I can't help but wonder where the people who made these sites in the early 2000s are now... In addition, something about 2000s Pagan / Wiccan websites always validate me more than anything else out there. Magic is real!!!

Some Of My Recent Favorite Geocities Finds

Gold Pokemon Gym 2002 Absolutely incredible Gold&Silver era Pokemon site.

Sex Majick - The Awakening of Women Nice Wiccan website and a lovely read.

Dragon Caves - Guardian Dragons - Dragon's Lair? - Three fuckin awesome dragon sites.

Burning Buds HELLOOOOOO WORLD possibly one of the best stoner sites I've seen. My god.

P.S. Maybe soon I'll start on a page that's just a collection of insanely good graphics I've found, because there's a lot. Especially lots of naked fairy women and dragons / wizards with orbs.

JUL 21, 2022

Notes: A mild Trader Joe's brie with a side of 40mg Prozac and a Women's One-A-Day vitamin. Paired with a light Mott's apple juice. Presented on legitimate antique china and IKEA glassware.