greetings

boop. it’s spring. i’m burnt. i’m taking a break from all of my non-work responsibilities in april (all the volunteer mutual aid stuff). i took time off work in december and february respectively without opting out of the 5 other things i do and surprise! it was Not Restful! this time i’m trying it the other way around. i’m asking for folks to refrain from asking me for favors for now thru april, because i have very bad boundaries around being helpful and i will help out to my own detriment. ty for understanding <3

also last newsletter i forgot to say THANK YOU SO MUCH(!!!!!!) to everyone who sent me birthday mail!!! i think i mostly thanked everyone individually but if i missed you pls know i really, really appreciate you <3

it’s more important than ever to show up with kindness right now, when there are endless examples to the contrary at the moment. i hope you’re all hanging in there <3

new in shop

my shop is open! though i am currently taking a break from wholesales and also making buttons. i just ordered sticker versions of some of my most popular button designs because i’m not sure how long my button hiatus will last.

pictures of new items in the shop, described below.

wanderer issue 10 is in the shop! 10 years of analog oversharing! read my diary for 6 dollars if you want. i should prolly actually be paying you lol. text heavy, but with plenty of photos and some illustrations. lists, fav albums, gig and travel photos, writings on hosting masks required shows, grief over remaining covid conscious and feeling alienated from the DIY music community that used to be my home, uh writings on sex that i feel very timid about sharing, and other stuff! this zine has an accompanying playlist you can listen to :)

do diy stickers to go with the new mini zine.

severance valentine (sorry if spoilers!) the second i saw this scene, i was like wow, did they make this gay moment framed beautifully by plants just for me? so i had to draw it.

covid conscious events

i made a new non-meta covid conscious events calendar for olympia! it lists events that take covid into consideration (masks required events + events with air purifiers, whether or not clean air oly is involved). the link goes to the calendar itself, but it’s also embedded on the calendar page of cleanairoly.org and my covid safer pnw page respectively. i’ll be collecting events i see on instagram, adding detailed access info where possible. feel free to also reach out to me with events to add!

some songs

do you ever have a song just hit you in a weird place? bud tapes newest release from sunflecks did that to me. the band name looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t until i heard the line, “west side, cushing street” that i realized i was listening to my old neighbor forrest’s band. for a hot minute in 2019, their house was my favorite place to catch a show (and is coincidentally where i first met emmett from bud tapes). this song is fucking gorgeous, and the rest of the album is too (the full album just came out today!!!!).

the past few days i have been listening to 3 songs on repeat. the song above, plus two singles from the forthcoming john galm solo album, river of blood. i can’t pick one to share here, so i’m linking to both. you may know him from snowing (actually i dunno how many 2010s 90s emo revival heads read this lol. i am just a guy with a snowing tattoo). anyway, this doesn’t sound like that at all! but the guy sure can write a song.

i also got deeply into hazel’s other album this month after years of listening exclusively to toreador of love. there are a lot of winners on are you going to eat that (it was so hard to decide between this song and blank florida) but i gotta share this one because it’s so WEIRD in the best way. i love how the guitar drops out and the duel vocals come in. what a great fucking band. i wish i could’ve seen them.

last but certainly not least, hidden driver blessed us with a new song this month! it’s exciting to finally hear a recording of this one after seeing it live!! :)

tiny victories

• i’ve been getting a lot of use out of the I SAID NO! punch card i made, and i’m proud of myself for it (i have passed copies of the card onto a handful of other over-functioners, i hope it helps!)

• i just signed a greeting card illustration contract that is gonna pay me actual money! which means i can stop grinding so hard for a minute. baby’s first “real” design gig! scary but exciting.

• people have been showing up for me and checking on me wrt the burnout situation and it is extremely appreciated. my sleep schedule is monumentally fucked, but once i get a handle on that, i think i’ll be on the up & up. i’ve been in better spirits the past few days at least.

• SPRING FLOWERS ARE HAPPENING

that’s all i got for today, i’m sure i forgot to mention something important lol. take care <3