June 2nd, 2026

It's June! Aka pride month for all of us queer siblings and our allies to celebrate. To give me something to do, I want to write a love letter, every day, to someone, to something, to some people. I have a lot of appreciation built up inside of me, I hope this will be a good exercise in letting that all out. Some of these may be personal, but others like this one may be public for you to see! And, y'know low effort-ish, since it's a daily think I don't want to spend too much time on.

For those who know me, you may know this story well, or perhaps you were part of one side of it without realizing the other. May of 2020, I was introduced to VRChat, and after a while I found my way into live music: the first event I went to, KemoClub, was my first experience with DJs. I was absolutely wonderful, I grew up deprived of electronic music, and here I was dancing with a bunch of, mostly Japanese, furries that I couldn't speak with that allowed me into their space, that allowed me to express myself, and showed me how fun partying could be. After that, I started to branch out to other VR venues, more underground shows, many were one-time popups or places I don't remember the name of. If you want to understand these places more, there's a number of documentaries people have made, a relatively short and good one is this Subcultured episide (made by one of the founders of Book Club Radio).

During the summer of '23, I found a poster in a local queer discord advertising some shows; eventually, one lined up with my work schedule for me to make it. I felt so many things that night. Walking up to this random-ass house, I was greeted by friendly queers at the door, I said I was new to the place and they gave me a rundown: here's some masks, earing protection, make sure to give money to the artists, and have fun. It gave me the same feeling of when I was walking up to venue I've felt when wondering through a VRChat world making my way to the music. The same intimate, underground feeling I got in the virtual world; I felt it there. I experienced the art that imitated life, now I saw the life that inspired the (virtual) art. Only this time it was radically more queer, more local, and only 20min away from where I lived at the time. Also what the fuck! There's chinchillas there! I didn't event know what those creatures were!

For those who don't know, I'm talking about DIY music, or DIY music venues. There's no one definition of DIY music online, but I like this one. DIY music venues can be anywhere; a barn, church, cafe, house, bar, in the woods, in a tunnel. Can music happen there? Cool, let's do it. Usually the venue or event is run by volunteers and most (or all) of the money raised by the show goes to the artists that play there. Every DIY venue I've been to seems to foster such good community within their walls (if they have them). They're the first thing I look for if I'm going to be in a new town for a night or more and want to meet people. It's usually (but not exclusively) a mix of punk, queer, and weird people.

The DIY venues I've visited in the US always leave me feeling a sense of empowerment. If this is what we can do with a house and some music, what else could we do to encourage change? There's this radically sense behind DIY, anti-consumerism, anti-fascist, anti-colonialism, whatever you call it; I have a sense that's the beating heart of DIY. The idea that keeps it going. The idea that we can build a better environment for our artists and bands. The idea that we can build a better hub for activism where we listen to music and learn about sex education. The idea that we are all in the same fight together, and we can have fun and make connections while making the change we want to see.

I love DIY music, the artists I've meet, the friends I've made, the places I've been. I love it all. I love that so many creatures came together for a DIY music fur party here in C'ville, I never would have imagined that be possible.

Oh! One last thing, if all of this sounds really cool to you and you're going to Anthrocon / live in Pittsburgh, consider checking out the Sex Room this year at The Roboto Project! It's yet to be officially announced, but follow ashleyninelives for updates (I don't have affiliation, just saw that it was going to be hosted again this year on bsky). Here's last year's poster.

I leave you with the most recent pictures of Star Baby and Napoleon I have on my phone, aren't they cute?

October 15th, 2025

This blog section has been here for a while now, I thought I should write some thoughts down to. . .
1 - Put some thoughts on some digital paper
2 - Test RSS feeds. I don't believe many use them anymore, but I re-discovered them recently and I fantasize about the idea of waking up in the morning and getting feeds from friends and other sources.

There's a concept that's been on my mind recently that I've seen others post about online in various forms since I'm looking out for it. Here is a very generalized form of it:

There is some combination of actions you can take, in your lifetime, to change the human world in such a way that the problems you have observed are completely fixed

This, of course, is extremely improbable. Likely as realistic as trying to guess the answer to a problem with a random stream of letters. Technically possible to appear, but statistically not worth dealing with. However; if we dial back the concept a bit, it may start becoming reachable.
Those actions can be something you are proficient in, and the goal could be changing your community, your town, your country.
For me, I feel those actions I could take is writing.

There is some combination of words, of which I believe I am either capable or will be capable of writing, that can aid to the changes I want to impose on this world.
This idea that has been present in my mind is simultaneously completely overwhelming or profoundly encouraging; depending on whatever state of mind I'm in.
I think there lies a great deal of power in harnessing the optimistic side of this idea, perhaps that's how "successful" people work. After all, I attribute most of my success to being blissfully ignorant or horribly optimistic. "Success" here meaning achieving my desires in a way that pleases me. I want everyone around me to achieve their desires. The tribe should be happy. The community should be supportive. The town should be a sandbox.

In any case, I leave you here with a cat picture