itsamellama | Recent Entries

I totally didn't just completely forget to post regularly to Dreamwidth again or anything! Nope, nosireebobie or however you spell it :D

... though to be fair, it's good to not pressure myself to post more often. Rather, I Think focusing on the positives of doing it rather than the Metrics of Having Done It would do be a lot of good! Which... probably applies to a lot of the things I feel like I Should Be or Wanting to Do.

(Capitalizing words is fun!)

( Printshop and stream talk )

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( Period talk under here, nothing particularly graphic though! )

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( On not knowing what goals to set, or how to even set goals )

Current Mood: thoughtful

I beat the rain to my morning walk, ha ha!

(It's... more of an early afternoon walk, really.)

So far my routine alone at home while my partner housesits at his parents' place has been:

- Wake up around 11am
- Eat breakfast (overnight oats) while watching a YouTube video
- Wash the dishes (including last night's, if I just couldn't do it)
- Take a shower + brush teeth + get dressed
- Go for a walk around the block + maybe get a treat or do a quick errand
- Report back to the office unit (which is a few doors down from our living unit, ahah), work for about an hour or two
- Make sure to have a "lunch" break! Eat for about 15 minutes, do some sort of meal prep for the remainder so Future!Mel doesn't Starve
- Work for another couple hours (2-3, sometimes 4)
- Close down the office, have dinner, make sure to wash the dishes (if energy permits)
- If I have time: do something for fun (lately, that's been shrink plastic pins/earrings!)
- TAKE SLEEP MEDS!!!
- Change into sleep clothes, Read something (lately it's been Banana Fish the manga and... oh... oh my... oh)
- Sleep!

I'm kind of going off of "intuitive eating" vibes and trying to be intuitive about my sleep too but without an alarm, I'm basically sleeping between 10-12 hours, oops. I do find myself waking up around 4am and 7am still, so... I'm going to try to set my alarm at at least 7am. With Alarmy. The app that requires me to do squats to turn it off.

The problem is... I keep waking up before it and turning it off :)))) My solution to that is to put it in Jail (which is a wire bin where our TV console it, so I can't just reach for it willy nilly at my pillow.)

Thing is, I listen to YouTube videos to lull myself to sleep (lately it's been Caddy Sleeps, Caddicarus' sleep channel), so... mmm. I'll need to figure that part out. I could keep the TV on, but the lights keep me up... maybe I'll wear an eye mask? But I feel like it's a waste of electricity... I have been thinking about eventually getting a small portable wireless speaker, maybe that could be a workaround? (Though maybe I should test if I can hear the phone well enough from the bin first, lol.)

Actually been eyeing sleep eye masks with built-in speakers a lot though because, well, I usually sleep next to my partner, and my videos keep him up :') Hmmm....

I kinda lost track of the rest of what I wanted to say so I suppose this acted like one of those morning journal 750 word brain dumps, which! Is nice! I really miss journaling regularly, I think doing that on deviantART and Livejournal so often in my teens and young adulthood kept me sane...

I've been writing long-ish letter responses to a few friends I reconnected with--over a decade since we last corresponded, yeesh! We send them through Discord, but reply like we're replying to journals or forum posts, it's kind of nice. Less pressure to respond immediately to things, I really am enjoying it so far and want to try it with my other friends too.

Yosh, I think I got most of my brain energy out, time to get that 1-2 initial hours of printshop work in! I have something to ship out by the end of the day, haha. And another one by tomorrow... I'm pretty sure I can handle it!

(That said I sure wish ADHD meds weren't continuing to be in a terrible shortage worldwide!! I sure could use those everyday and not *squints* me saving them for when I think I might need them most rather than every day, which is actually when I'd best be served by them!!! Ooooops!!!)

Current Mood: energetic

Me, freshly showered with fresh new clothes: Oh nice, it's only raining veeeeery lightly, I can go take a very short walk around the block, get myself a few treats, and then start working when I get back!

The Weather: *pours as I'm getting donuts*

Me, soaking wet at home: ... it was worth it *enjoys a donut and one of two milk teas that had a buy 1 take 1 promo, makes sure to shower AGAIN and change into dry clothes*

:D Super young me would have been bawling on the floor all upset, so I'll take my optimism being happier about having treats as a win mentally, haha.

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Waking up early continues to elude me, but I have been consistently sleeping around 1am and waking up at 11:30am. Though I notice myself waking up at 4am and 7am...? Maybe that's just my body naturally waking up during my sleep cycles...

Let's see if I succeed at 7am tomorrow then!

(Why yes, I kind of wanted to update everyone on where I've been again, which is funny because that's the LAST post I did too, but let's just dive in and act like I never stopped and maybe I'll continue to update 8D?

hi yes hello i miss you all and i really miss long-form posting!)

Current Mood: sleepy

Hi folks! I... keep thinking of dreamwidth... but forgetting to actually *post* on dreamwidth :'D;

But!! How are y'all? I'd love to catch up on my reading list but I'd love love love to hear even a snippet from y'all!!

I'll try to update later on I suppose! Right now I'm just trying to clear my head and re-do my master to-do list for the nth time. Maybe do a one-hour declutter, and then get to some printshop work.

(Did I mention I started doing art merch printing services for local artists? And wrangling with my ADHD as it gets in the way of said ability to service artists + pursue my own creative stuff + actually take care of myself and our home? My GOD time flies.)

Current Mood: hopeful

So, uh, here I am rectifying that :'D

I'll be streaming every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 3 weeks on Twitch!

Here's the link to my Twitch channel!

I'm also selling art merch with some friends at MMPride2023 this Saturday in Circuit Makati! Local moots, please feel free to say hi if you're in the area :D

After years of wanting to give it a try, I'm finally giving livestreaming a go!

I only started last week, but I've been having a lot of fun so far.

Right now, I'm streaming the good ol' PlayStation game Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and just started streaming some casual Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Mostly I just do random things while chilling with chat. Harvest Moon has been a fun ride so far, especially! I didn't realize how funny the game could be in hindsight.

For Animal Crossing, I'm thinking of doing dailies and then trying to achieve specific goals per stream, such as completing my Critterpedia, my DIY recipes, and whatnot. I'm not starting from scratch though because I do not want to delete our current island and I cannot afford nor justify getting another Switch just to start a new island. :)) But it's been nice just walking around our island or going to mystery or Kapp'n islands and just vibin'.

I usually stream between 9pm up to 12am or 2am PHT, depending on what's happening in-game. I'm planning to upload full VODS to YouTube though I'm debating if I should edit them first before uploading...

If this sounds like your kind of thing, it would mean a lot to me if you could give my Twitch channel a follow? :)

https://twitch.tv/melwithac

Also open to any game or stream suggestions. (I'm thinking of doing art streams sometime too.)

Current Mood: excited

As the title says :D Thank you again to the organizers, too, of three weeks for dreamwidth! I noticed the notification a few days ago but just now remembered to post about it, because of course I did.

I'm excited to try adding new icon slots, though I'm wondering which ones I should add or add back, ahaha. Oh, the simpler days of being gleeful about additional icon slots.

Signal boosting c/o

silveradept:

Generous donors have pulled together enough Dreamwidth points for fifty-five persons to get one month's worth of paid time. While I suspect many of you on my reading list are persons who support Dreamwidth in a financial capacity, if you're skint for a bit, or you have someone who has been wanting paid features but would like to try them before committing, feel free to direct them over to the thread. Comments are screened at the thread.

I keep checking my DW practically every day (hi, friends!), trying to be better about leaving a few comments here and there (hi, friends!!!), but I always forget to actually... post.

Welp, here's an over-a-month-later update from last time!

( The State of the Mellama )

Also, I forgot to reply to y'all again in my last post, but it's always so good to hear from everyone. ♥

Want to leave a tip? Click the tip jar below to leave a tip directly via PayPal! You don't need an account to do so. A debit card or credit card works just as well. :)

You can also leave a tip via Gumroad!

You can also support me every month via Patreon!

Thank you very much for your time!

Apparently, I had been holding on to unread and unread messages and notifications from as far back as 2016 and 2018.

*squints*

I know exactly what was going through my head: Oh, I'll keep these useful bits of advice around in case I still need them later. Or, I'll read these tips later, let me just get this thing done... and then... I forget about it.

On the bright side, most of them were comments left on my personal entries, so I can just... dig them back up whenever on the relevant entry.

I... strangely had no desire to open every tab up and peruse each one to decide if I should keep it or not, and just selected all and deleted. I hope I don't regret that, but... it's kind of a relief.

( Content notes: Minor potential ADHD habits musing. )

( Tada list )

Phew! Took a while, but I finally got a sliver of time to sit down and set up the digital edition of our zine.

( Cover art under the cut! )

The Catholic School Girl Mysteries is an adult coloring book filled with fun activities that poke fun at a shared experience among Filipina adolescents. Activities include a dating guide for keeping the night chaste, a flowchart that can help you find out if you are going to heaven or hell, and a paper doll that you can dress up based on your school's rigid dress code.

The Digital Zine Edition includes 12 pages of fun black and white illustrations that you can color in to your heart's content. Print it out and color them with crayons or colored pencils, or load them up on your digital coloring app of choice and fill away!

Sound fun? Buy a copy on Gumroad! :D

(I do still have physical copies, I am still figuring out how shipping would work locally and internationally. But it is a thing that will happen, slowly!)

Hey all! Mel here.

(I've been watching a bit too much Scott the Woz.)

I feel like I should have mounds of stuff to report, but instead have found myself just going through a series of several days of hyperproductivity and then a couple days of "Mel.exe has stopped responding and needs to close."

I want to be a lot more consistent about it. Because the weeks where I'm hyperproductive feel amazing. Like, I did that? How?

How did I use to be so productive? Why am I always sloggish and slow and hard to motivate? I think I've mentioned before that I feel like I'm doing nothing, to which when I'm asked then to write down what I've done in the past 6 months, I... have been doing things. Is it another one of those perspective lapses, where I just Can't Seem to Make Permanent and Concrete all the things I've been up to?

I know people say to live in the present, but when your Present stream of consciousness is a constant stream of "ha, ha, nothing's happening"...

Maybe I should put up an Achievement Board (a la video games) and smack a star in there for every task I finish every day. Hm. Assuming I'll not get too lazy to maintain it, ehe.

But hey, how are you all?

(I still check pretty much every day, I've just been lurking because social energy's been kind of low lately. Among other types of energy I need more of.)

So, basically what it says on the tin: on Wednesday I suddenly got a fever that lasted till Thursday, which meant that I had to miss the first day of Manila Coffee Festival unfortunately... but I recovered from the fever (though had a cough, mucus is fun times... not) and then boothed from Friday to Saturday with my friend Girl with Ribbon, and... the coffee stickers sold leagues beyond how well I thought they would? I am still kind of shocked (in a good way) about it O_O And hope I can replicate that. (Will share them soon once I have them up on some form of online shop... once I get better...!)

But along those lines my voice was already hoarse on Saturday, and I had to talk to customers all day and by the end of the day my voice was just... gone. I could only croak. Until now I can only croak and I'm a little frightened I've screwed my voice up forever. T_T I'm giving my voice lots of rest now, relegating communication to typing and showing my phone screen or jotting down notes, doing steam inhaling, gargling warm water with salt, drinking lots of water, drinking ginger lemon honey tea, and getting some extra sleep this morning... I really hope my voice comes back within a week or two (or three)... eep.

Hello friends! My essay on being a bisexual non-binary Filipina has been accepted into the ‘X Marks the Spot’ anthology!!! ✨🌈💖 But we still have about a week or so to reach the funding goal. Please spread the word and help us get these personal stories out into the world!

Click here to check out the Kickstarter page!

1. Sap is running a Kickstarter for X Marks the Spot, "an anthology of personal essays, poetry and art all by nonbinary creators about their experiences with gender." Please spread the word and support if you can :D

(Full disclosure: I submitted an essay to said anthology, though will be finding out by end of Feb if I've gotten in or not. Regardless of whether or not I get in though, as a non-binary person, I really hope we can this project funded! Am hoping to pitch in even a dollar, should we have some extra money left over near its closing date.)

2. I managed to finish that thesis novel draft and have sent it off to the publisher for review. I think my soul has left my body. But what a relief. Now to wait for feedback!

3. I attended an art and design conference over the weekend and am feeling very much inspired again to do more art. Filling the well is a thing!

4. Currently finishing a novel manuscript editing project for local client, and aiming to have it turned it by tomorrow, wooooo.

5. I want to make a million zines and comics and pins and merch and stories but Time is Limited and thus has to be budgeted wisely.

6. Speaking of budgets, I need to take care of Feb's as we're a little behind on setting it (though I've kept diligent track of our expenses so we don't go overbudget), and also I may be making marinara sauce tonight for the first time in preparation for some batch cooking I'll be doing next week. Wooooo!

7. TMI: The Blood Moon is approaching in a few days, so I am wary of my sudden productivity once more. But at least I am aware of these ups and downs and am more than prepared to deal with it when it arrives. WooooooooOOOO!!!

Current Mood: accomplished

Oh my god I just lost the entry I was writing and I was almost done! Time to whip out this icon! And let's do this again...

So it turns out I'm talkative on Dreamwidth this week! It's probably likely I'm going to be quiet again for an entire year then, haha! (I jest. I hope to stay active. It's nice to casually talk in longform for once!)

Comment "hit me up" and I'll pick three of your icons for you to talk about! Here's my next batch:

"Artistic" by yours truly: This was also part of that icon set I made a while back that I mentioned in my previous entry. I wanted a cute default icon, and the time I was more known for my art than any writing escapades, so a sketchbook and a paintbrush it is! Maybe I should update and create a typing/writing one for... well, writing. I'm quite fond of the little :9 expression and how I drew the hand in particular, haha. I am also in awe at my 2011 self for being able to cram all of this into a 1.5in x 1.5in box with ink pens and Prismacolor markers... (How, self? How?)

"Tickles!" by my partner: This was also part of the birthday video he made for me back in 2011. As the title indicates, he likes to tickle me a lot whenever I least expect it. I get my revenge more often than not :P Funnily his hair is quite long now (waaaay longer than mine), I wonder how he would draw himself these days in a cartoony style!

"MY EYES" by yours truly: This is definitely one of my favorite icons, up there with "Do Not Want" and "Sob WHY." I tend to gravitate toward icons that over-exaggerate expressions in cartoony ways :'D This one in particular I reserve for very, well, "WHY DOES THIS EXIST" content or commentary. It's more shocked and distraught than the annoyance in "Do Not Want" hahaha.

Ayt, I better get ready to go to my uni lib and get some uni things done. Like validating my I.D., checking out some books for my thesis (oy am I gonna even be able to read them), maybe getting my Wi-Fi access and my Google Drive account and my uni email fixed, idk. :'D Assuming my anxiety cooperates with me and doesn't get in the way of asking simple questions.

Comment "hit me up" and I'll pick 3 of your icons for you to comment on! As for me, these were the three chosen:

"Sob WHY" by yours truly: If there's anything you need to know about me, glancing at this icon will tell you a LOT about my absurd sense of humor. That said, if I were to animate this, it would be an unending cycle of Mels and tears crying tears... I made this as part of a set back when I was still tinkering with the idea of doing icon sheet commissions using my old Prismacolor markers and ink pens, pre-Icon Day, I think. Gosh, I think these icons are from way back in... 2011? 2012? I'm pretty sure I made them when I first moved to Dreamwidth. (I still have my old classic no-dye not-pixie-cut-short haircut in these! ... but I can still relate to them, so.)

"Jiggy" by my partner: He drew this as part of a long animated video he made for my 21st birthday! It was adorable and I still have it saved on my phone so I can look at it whenever I'm feeling sad. (It also makes me happy to know he used the WACOM Bamboo tablet I got for him as a Christmas present to make this, haha.)

SPARKLY by Tod (djinni @ Livejournal): I believe I got this during one of his Icon Days. IIRC he used sparkly colored watercolor paints on this so it would have been EVEN SPARKLIER IRL. I still really love it. :D

I've belatedly realized there is no way for me to actually create a poll without a paid account, but we press on!

I am (yet again, with a lot of sniffling and bawling and pulling of teeth) poking at my Patreon page, and my social media accounts, and wondering: where do people usually enjoy following their favorite content creators?

I figured I might as well ask here, as AFAIK some of you do follow me for my creative exploits (I am so sorry for being so inactive on sharing whatever I've been working on ever since 2015, goodness): where do you prefer to follow and/or engage with me and/or your favorite creators most?

In the past I have set up private Discord and Patreon Lens and Wordpress sketchblog stuff but... hrm. I'm not sure I'm using the most relevant channels...

I do intend to post more for-the-public previews and whatnot. It's been a bit of a challenge trying to figure out how to balance the "ooh, bonus candy!" sneak peeks for Patreon and vs what I can share publicly without making patrons feel like I'm not adding value?

*tilts head, squints at screen* One day I will get this right, hopefully.

Hello!

I'm Mel, a Filipina artist and writer. I'm an MA Creative Writing student working on her own projects at the same time. Nice to meet you!

It's a Mellama!

Recent Entries

It's the new year!

Forming sort of a routine...?

Oh yeah let's just pretend I never forgot to post again and go straight into--

Check-in!

I keep forgetting to post about my stream scheds here...

So, uh, I livestream now.

Thank you to the person who gifted me dreamwidth points!

"Would you like to try out some Dreamwidth paid features?"

Oh, dangit.

Sticky note is sticky!

Cleared out my DW inbox, finally.

Haven't done a ta-da list in a while

The Catholic School Girl Mysteries - Digital Zine Edition!

Up and Down

Quick Update: Of Lost Voices

Signal Boost: X Marks the Spot Anthology of Essays on Non-Binary Experiences

Quick Updates on the Self During Lunchbreak

Icon meme from epithalamium

Icon meme from tropicsbear

Where do you follow creatives you like?

Hello!