Monthly Recaps 2026-
What's this?
After I decided to stop using Spotify that I was using to make monthly playlists from 2022 to 2026, I opted to create a new form of general recap I could track on my site with a broader scope of what I found most memorable or signature for a given month of my life including not just music but also things I've made, media, experiences, events, & more.
Contents
May 2026
RAT MONTH! Narrowly focused on Rat Exploits in the lead up to Rat Lore Con 2026, the first Rat Lore Con as the anniversary of the Rat emergence.
Hits
- Released the RAT LORE site featuring Lore info & two new releases of Rat Hack (a Rat themed hack of The Quiet Year) & the first issue of Rat Criticism introducing literary theory concepts.
- Finished revamping the Mythoslain main cast lineup & designed intro layouts modeled after Hiveswap troll calls to include in their profiles.
- Posted a near daily Rat Lore post on RatLoreDaily ahead of the awaited Rat Lore Con on the 30th.
- Started & later dropped a Disco Elysium style Rat Lore visual novel, but learned helpful refreshers about Ren'py that will be useful later.
- Formatted Mythoslain's prologue into a physical zine format with all the same images & needed adaptational changes.
- Designed fanart stickers for the characters depicted in my fictional tastes zine for a possible revamp, manging to finish The Fury (Slay the Princess), Snowman (Homestuck), Ianthe (The Locked Tomb), & Anna Angel (Pathologic). I also finally finished my Clara Pathologic sticker after ages.
- Made a bunch of other drawings/artworks I'm proud of experimenting with different styles & color, even trying to figure out lighting.
Media
Non-comprehensive, just some things worth noting from the month:
Readings: 'Mythologies' by Roland Barthes & 'The One Hand and the Six Fingers' by Ram V & Dan Watters (also read a lot of assorted theory essays)
Gamnes: 'Darkest Dungeon,' 'Slay the Princess,' & 'Fear & Hunger 2: Termina'
Music: 'You Are the Apple' - Lady Lamb, 'Restless Eye' - Skippocalyptic, & 'Rough Untitled' - Mars Argo
Other: Listened to a lot of Fear & Hunger videos while drawing & other long form classics to reduce interruption. Also tried to listen to more OSTs as background tracks while writing, namely those for Spore, Pathologic, Fear & Hunter, Slay the Princess, & others depending on how stressed I wanted to be.
What Else?
My health issues remain a mystery, but I managed to make it through at a slower pace to get a decent amount of work done, even if my priorities have been a bit haphazard & required me to drop or devalue some projects. I'm taking steps towards finding ways to reduce back & hand pain from drawing, which is at least something I can manage more meaningfully than whatever else is going on. I've reached a new tier of satisfaction & shock with my art wherein I can't believe what I'm capable of now, more than able to solve problems that would have been an exhausting enigma to a past me on top of requiring fewer references to draw things!
April 2026
Unexpected zine challenge month of some strangeness & health scares, but ultimately a fulfilling tribute to my self this time last year that was going through it.
Hits
- Did a daily zine challenge (April Zines take 2) where I put out zines on 28 days for a total of 29 zines & if you include a podcast zine I made 30 whole zines for the month!
- Tabled at both an amazing zine & poetry market at Deviant Libation in Tampa as well as teh April Goblin Market.
- Released side whenever podcast 'Jamphage Jailers' with my regular co-host.
- Celebrated another 4/13 (which was also my podcast anniversary proper) at a local event drawing for other fans.
- Honored the anniversary of the day I got the proper idea to make my comic Mythoslain when I got my Homestuck tattoo last 4/20.
- Made a 9' worm for my dear friend AM's bug birthday party, a Komaeda cosplay in 2 hours for their birthday dinner the next day, & some silly DIY photocards.
- Revisited old projects & made zines about them, including my dark fantasy experimental novel series, Deaths' Defiance, & a visual novel concept, Gnarled Holiday.
- Started revamping official lineup art for the Mythoslains & making the site more mobile friendly.
Media
Non-comprehensive, just some things worth noting from the month:
Readings: '17776' by Jon Bois, 'Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?' by Mark Fisher, & 'Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives,and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form' by Anna Anthropy.
Podcasts: 'Our Wars Have Ended' first episode by the amazing people behind I Am in Eskew & The Silt Verses (Jon & Muna).
Music: 'Drown Me!' - Junie & TheHutFriends & 'Gallery Piece' - of Montreal
Other: Listened to longform & tier ranking Danganronpa videos, playthroughs if the game 'Dead Signal,' & analyses of the game 'Immortality.'
What Else?
Despite the issues with my body crashing randomly, I had a great time making a bunch of zines I feel proud of & working on assorted projects. I put out the longest (page count) update for Mythoslain so far which shook up some styles for good effect, continued my work on the style shift for the comic, made 4 zines about other characters from the comic (+ other zines connected to Mythoslain), got to hang out with some new art/zine world friends, experienced the highs & lows of waifu gambling, didn't have a health crash immediately after Goblin Market, read more theory, met people who identified themselves as fans of my work, & generally made it out okay! I still need to keep working on a way to pracice self-care more efficiently & figure out what's going on in that body of mine, but I'm feeling optimistic.