what are we doing right now?

last updated: october 16th, 2024!

to start off, we recently turned 25 on the 3rd of september!

a lot of the things are the same, though - we are still unemployed... but, we are making progress towards doing what we love full-time! we just started volunteering at an art gallery, so hopefully we'll be able to get a job there soon. we also joined an artists' collective in our city, and will be part of an exhibition in november. what's really exciting, though, is that we applied for a residency at a creative centre in ireland in hopes of co-creating a performance piece with a new friend. hopefully, we get accepted!

we do a lot of performance poetry nowadays. like, a lot. we go to 3-5 different open mic nights a month, and we were even doing poetry in a play we helped write as part of a 48 hour challenge that finished on the 8th of september!

of course, since we perform so frequently, we also write pretty often. lately, the muse ariadne writing club has been a source of a lot of the inspiration. we also paint very often! acrylic and palette knife is the best!

we have also been buidling our photography skills by going to a photography club for lgbt+ young adults every week. we go to some art groups too, and volunteer at an art group for autistic adults. that happens twice a month, and it's pretty chill.

since it's october, we're doing our own personal annual art challenge, makethingstober, which is exactly what it sounds like: a challenge to make something for every day of the month.

in general, when it comes to creativity, we'd like to try to fuse our disciplines into mixed media projects. we have a lot of ideas and a lot of directions we could take things, so we can't let the wealth of choice give us decision paralysis as we work towards actualising the plans we have in mind.

to be honest, a lot of what we do is stuff we consider "work-related" and "productive", and we have an unhealthy complex about staying on that grindset. so we've been trying to allow ourselves to unwind sometimes, and just enjoy life. we do genuinely enjoy working, but there needs to be a balance, and when we find ourselves getting extremely stressed out about the idea of not working, we know we should be kinder to ourselves.

our wonderful girlfriend and her system have helped a lot in that regard. hanging out with her is really chill and comforting and just plain fun, and the way she loves us helps us love ourselves more. we started dating on the 5th of may this year, and everything feels just right - like wonderful and healing magic.

okay, but what about media and hobbies? well, we really like to read books, and are doing amazing on our goal of reading 36 new books this year (so far we have 26/36). we mostly read translated (usually japanese) contemporary fiction. our goal to watch 24 new movies this year is failing miserably, though, as we only have 9... but we are determined to get there!

so, in conclusion, things are pretty great, everything considered! we're the happiest we've been since age 14, and though joblessness looms overhead, life is fun and full of art and love and friendship.

learn more about now pages here!