Omg, so cute! I want a ginger kitty! QnQ

@Kitalpha Hart: I had a really awful ex between when my husband now and I dated in our late teens/early 20's and got back together in our late 30's.

... he didn't care about my boundaries or health or safety at all and felt his needs were more important than permission. It was very subversive and healing from that is also part of why I have been MIA here so long. I am honestly still recovering, but am at least married to the love of my life, who is going at my pace and is wonderful in every way. I hope you are ok, it can be super hard to find the right partner when you are on the ace spectrum. I personally am demi, but I do have a friend who worked it out where he is married to his ace partner who is romantic and dates other folks for other needs with her content, and they have something that works and functions on good and open communication. Dunno if you will want to try any time again soon, but there are also some other folks out there with low or no interest in the horizontal mambo.

That 10-hour shift sounds horrible... we had something like that instated, 4 days that were each a 10-hour shift and 3 days off... but I personally found I was completely dead two out of the 3 days so it was actually less helpful than a normal schedule lol. I feel your pain ;3; combined with any kind of commute and you literally have no time to unwind during the work week... oof

Is there a way to point out the hypocrisy of the schedule being imposed at a certain level and not another without getting punished?

That's amazing you are publishing on Tapas! I have a serial I want to do, but am still at the beginning phases of planning and whatnot <3 Not 100% sure which platform I'll roll with. I have gotten conflicting input about Tapas as an option. would love to chat and get your 2 cents sometime. <3

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@memorial: *is tackled and hugs* eeee x3 <3

So glad you are getting help. Having something like bipolar can be like being on a rollercoaster, and it's chemicals and stuff that do need to be treated chemically. I had something sorta along those lines years ago, so I am glad you are getting the help you need to feel better. <3

That's awesome that you are pursuing work that is fulfilling and also have a stable baseline. That is the best way to do it so you ensure stability in your life. <3 I kinda missed that step a few times simply because my health was so rotten at a few points I couldn't maintain a normal day job successfully ;3; I am so proud you are doing well where I always failed! <3

Oh! I hear rats are super charming, sweet and loyal, like little mini doggies <3 I am glad you have furry companions, I don't think I'd be here now if it weren't for my cats.

Our situation is slowly correcting. It seems slower than I can bear sometimes... but at the same time, I was doing that deep, hard inner work... so, it makes sense that it was challenging, and it feels like I crammed 10-15 years of learning nd processing into like... 2-3 years max. I had a lot of inner and outer conflict and stuff to work through, inner being my own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and outer being things from outside myself, factors like finances and whatnot that could fall apart and be impacted by my poor inner situation, and visa versa. Now that I worked through my inner stuff so it is stable, the rest of the world is calming down and I am getting it into a kind of order for the first time since my serious illness/issues kicked off at age 15. I am off that smorgasbord of meds I was on before and can handle my day-to-day with some light therapy, self-care and the love and support of my husband and my cats <3

It does take a lot of time to recover financially from something like that, but I think we're going to be ok and maybe even thrive. I hope so anyway. We have a lot of big dreams that have been on hold a very long time. :)

I am retooling the cat/kat character a bit and plan to debut as a VTuber later this year <3 if y'all are interested in checking it out I would love to share that with ya or maybe even connect on Discord. I do want to come here again, but I defiantly want to avoid falling out of contact with y'all. Thank goodness I bookmarked this new domain when the old URL still used to point to it :o

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@Moi: I am so sorry you lost your furbaby of so many years, that is always hard no matter what... *hugs*

I hope your dad feels better, we had a string of scares about my dad's health a few years ago, and thank god we happened to have moved right before it happened to a really good medical area and he's grooving along pretty well for having dementia. They actually did a study on him because they noticed the deterioration has seriously slowed a bit unexpectedly. I think a big part of it is the time he spends reading and on his music-related hobby. It gives him something to work towards and focus on and I think it's been really helpful for him as a kind of therapy. <3

Oh my goodness, such cute kitties! Yes, be sure to fix mama kitty once it's viable with the current batch being weened... because cats are awesome, but they have a pretty weird culture when it comes to coupling... <-< it's honestly pretty traumatic for the little ladies, so best fix her as soon as it is possible.

I would actually love to chat to you about some of the stuff I am working on to prep for the Vtuber debut. If you aren't busy and are down I can maybe exchange some items on here for a very specific scope of work I need help with that I am 99% sure is within your wheelhouse (bubble lettering and chibi art). I do need to be careful with my IRL dollars, unfortunately, and there are a few things I gotta figure out pretty quickly so I don't push the debut out another year.

The idea of seeing if you may be interested came to me late last night and I've been mulling it over. Let me know if you are down to chat about what the scope is. I think we're still friends on FB (I messaged you about Sailor Moon's Saban Moon iteration releasing recently), but we can also connect on Discord if that is something you use more regularly. I know I do! <3

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@memoriam regarding ginger kitties: Orange cats are amazing. 9 out of 10 are male statistically, but they are the color variant the most likely to develop urinal issues. Don't be discouraged though, they are amazing, sweet, and perfect. I wouldn't be here today without my Oliver, and my mom and I always have a soft spot for orange cat. There's some things I can advise you to avoid and minimize the urinary issue in case you do pursue getting an orange kitty at some point <3

Katherdante wrote:@memorial: *is tackled and hugs* eeee x3 <3

So glad you are getting help. Having something like bipolar can be like being on a rollercoaster, and it's chemicals and stuff that do need to be treated chemically. I had something sorta along those lines years ago, so I am glad you are getting the help you need to feel better. <3

That's awesome that you are pursuing work that is fulfilling and also have a stable baseline. That is the best way to do it so you ensure stability in your life. <3 I kinda missed that step a few times simply because my health was so rotten at a few points I couldn't maintain a normal day job successfully ;3; I am so proud you are doing well where I always failed! <3

Oh! I hear rats are super charming, sweet and loyal, like little mini doggies <3 I am glad you have furry companions, I don't think I'd be here now if it weren't for my cats.

Our situation is slowly correcting. It seems slower than I can bear sometimes... but at the same time, I was doing that deep, hard inner work... so, it makes sense that it was challenging, and it feels like I crammed 10-15 years of learning nd processing into like... 2-3 years max. I had a lot of inner and outer conflict and stuff to work through, inner being my own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and outer being things from outside myself, factors like finances and whatnot that could fall apart and be impacted by my poor inner situation, and visa versa. Now that I worked through my inner stuff so it is stable, the rest of the world is calming down and I am getting it into a kind of order for the first time since my serious illness/issues kicked off at age 15. I am off that smorgasbord of meds I was on before and can handle my day-to-day with some light therapy, self-care and the love and support of my husband and my cats <3

It does take a lot of time to recover financially from something like that, but I think we're going to be ok and maybe even thrive. I hope so anyway. We have a lot of big dreams that have been on hold a very long time. :)

I am retooling the cat/kat character a bit and plan to debut as a VTuber later this year <3 if y'all are interested in checking it out I would love to share that with ya or maybe even connect on Discord. I do want to come here again, but I defiantly want to avoid falling out of contact with y'all. Thank goodness I bookmarked this new domain when the old URL still used to point to it :o

Yes, I'm also in therapy besides the meds, and I love my therapist, she's the best. We connected immediately. She even let me pay less for the sessions until I recover financially from my reckless decisions.

Well, I did something stupid though. I left a perfectly good job to start the business but I was in a very bad mental state, so it wasn't going as fast as I hoped. I was in separation with Ash at the time as well. So it was already hard enough. Major depressive episode. 2/10, would not recommend, lol. Anyways, I didn't register as unemployed (I would get financial support for some time, social insurance and my meds would be cheaper), so spent all of my savings and now everything merged together: the editing business actually picking up, breaking up with Ash, getting a part-time job to support myself in the slightest (which I should've done earlier, but okay...).

Pets are great for mental health (and physical, too, but that depends on the pet I guess). I really wanted to start a family soon, but after Ash and I broke up, I didn't want to spiral down into depression again, so right as I got the news that I got the job, I went and bought my ratties XD I just couldn't hold up anymore, I knew I needed some critters to care for. It pulls you together when a life (or three) depends on you.

I hope your recuperation picks up its pace and you'll be thriving in no time Wow! That's truly major shadow work you've been doing! Congratulations! It must've been so overwhelming, though, I know *hugs* I've had a similar situation that I briefly described above. It's not fun when everything falls apart, inside and out.

And, yes, please, share your platform! I would love to support you!

Katherdante wrote:@Kitalpha Hart: I had a really awful ex between when my husband now and I dated in our late teens/early 20's and got back together in our late 30's.

... he didn't care about my boundaries or health or safety at all and felt his needs were more important than permission. It was very subversive and healing from that is also part of why I have been MIA here so long. I am honestly still recovering, but am at least married to the love of my life, who is going at my pace and is wonderful in every way. I hope you are ok, it can be super hard to find the right partner when you are on the ace spectrum. I personally am demi, but I do have a friend who worked it out where he is married to his ace partner who is romantic and dates other folks for other needs with her content, and they have something that works and functions on good and open communication. Dunno if you will want to try any time again soon, but there are also some other folks out there with low or no interest in the horizontal mambo.

Keep in mind that neither of us are sure when we went from hanging out to dating ahahahahahahahaha
Also, the one QC woman we have knew him at a previous job and he used to be a lot worse. Uptight, hornier, and somehow gravitating to women who made RBF look pleasant
We broke up because for me, no sex is a hard boundary and he doesn't want to cross it, so for him, being friends is better

That 10-hour shift sounds horrible... we had something like that instated, 4 days that were each a 10-hour shift and 3 days off... but I personally found I was completely dead two out of the 3 days so it was actually less helpful than a normal schedule lol. I feel your pain ;3; combined with any kind of commute and you literally have no time to unwind during the work week... oof

Ah, the week i had to come in two hours early was hard. A week of twelves, thankfully this was after the changeover to 10s but by Thursday I was slogging. And then there was a Friday mandate where me and one other had a 12 but that went two hours later so I got extra sleep in ahahahaha
But I think I adjusted easier than you. The hardest two weeks were the week that it changed over and then the week after they gave us all a(n unpaid) week off

Is there a way to point out the hypocrisy of the schedule being imposed at a certain level and not another without getting punished?

Dunno, but this happened back in May. Back when we had three shifts, the computer system had been hacked and on Thursday my lead told me that he was bored because 90% of his job is on the computer, so I'm assuming that on Friday he's basically doing paperwork all day. Maybe a hand packing job or two if needed, or a bit of cleaning/organizing if shipping/receiving brings stuff in

That's amazing you are publishing on Tapas! I have a serial I want to do, but am still at the beginning phases of planning and whatnot <3 Not 100% sure which platform I'll roll with. I have gotten conflicting input about Tapas as an option. would love to chat and get your 2 cents sometime. <3

I'd have it on webtoons too but I couldn't figure out how to upload comics on there
Tapas does have an app, but you do have to be on a browser to upload
They do recommend a tablet if mobile
https://m.tapas.io/KitalphaHart my profile, the one comic I have is on hiatus, I'll probably revive it next year
I have heard about some sort of take your comic's rights thing, but from what I've seen (and understand), this was a long time ago, under different people and name, but I haven't seen or heard anything about it

@memoriam: I am so glad you have a good therapist. That is so important!

When your in a rough mental state and having financial issues it can be rough to gear up your own business. I have found myself in that catch 22 before. It is best to scale it while covering your bases with a baseline, and once you are past a certain point you can let the other go if it stabilizes. :)

Pets are amazing for mental health, agreed!

Yes, lots of shadow work. :)
It was like I was 12 feet underground and now I am above ground again. It's like night and day and starting to reflect in my life in other ways, which is great. <3

I just remind myself that tacos can fall apart and people love them anyway. XD It'll be ok. Some things just take longer to do than you wish, but as long as you keep making progress day by day things can compound and positive change can take hold.

Thank you for the positivity and support! This is the main spot I am planning to upload as my primary platform. :)

https://www.youtube.com/@catadoodles

((updated link now that handles have rolled out on YT))

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@Moi: I think fur babies are always kind of there... little paw prints on our hearts for sure ;3; I still miss animals I had years and years ago. They are all so special and sweet with their own personalities and things. I know some people when they lose a pet have trouble taking on a new one, but for me I feel like I am rescuing them as much as they are me. Sometimes it feels fated, like with Fox. I don't think he would have made it if I hadn't made it clear I would take him so my co worker would go scoop him up. He had been abandoned by his mom and though the other kittens were healthy he looked like he was a day away from keeling over. He bounced back and I can't imagine not having him with me now. I know it may happen one day, but I treasure the time we have together. <3

I hope your dad heals from the surgeries well. Sometimes those things can take time. Dad was super touch and go for a few years, he's carefully stabilized and monitored now after a lot of work.

Toffee is such an adorable name! Do you have names for the kittens yet? :)

You can reach out on FB to discuss, I of course want to respect your time, energy etc. I can give you some of the details, and you can let me know if you are interested in some or all of it. I can also maybe post a thread about it here. Please don't stress over it though. I just remembered you were specialized in Chibis and things, I defiantly don't want you to feel pressured.

Edit: I did go ahead and put some details on an art request thread to open it up a bit. If it sounds of interest you can respond in the thread regarding :)



@Kitalpha Hart: I am glad you guys stayed friends, that is healthy to realize that you have different needs, desires, etc., and amicably separate. :)
It shows maturity for sure.

I'm glad you were able to adjust! I had a really rough time with it because I lived further away than everyone else ;3;

That's actually smart to have a focus day for admin work with nothing else running, that means it is probably getting knocked out more efficiently. :)

I subscribed on tapas so I can keep an eye on your projects :D
Good to know that the issues tapas used to have were prior. I did vaguely remember it used to have a different name and structure. So that's good to know. <3

We do hang out, from my aroace pov not much changed in that aspect

Oh, yeah, it's about a 20 minute commute for me. The one supervisor is over an hour

Pfft. I describe my lead as a scatterbrain variant dumbass and people who have worked with/under him all laugh and agree. So effiency is debatable
Also, the other lead is constantly paging him and eating up a lot of his time on other stuff (basically she thinks she's a supervisor and acts like one and it must have caused a clash because he does NOT like her and the two straight up argue a lot) so who knows

Yeeeeee thank you

They're prior that I'm aware of, it used to be Tapastic but some people say stuff hasn't changed with the change. I haven't had any problems tho, so I'm not concerned
Well, barring the pornbot problem that happened, but that was resolved after a few days. That was a wild site wide problem

@Kitalpha Hart:

*hugs* sorry in the delay on reading your message and responding. I hope you had a great holiday! It was so nice to check in late last year and chat with everyone. :)

Things went to the worst-case scenario around my birthday (nov 21st) last year, and we're still navigating that. We're safe, together, and figuring it out. So, don't worry about us. Just wish us luck. Feels like we are playing this life on hard mode for sure, but I have been developing inner resources and strength and honing myself in ways I hadn't gotten to before.

Rising to a crisis and challenges like this wasn't what I could do before, so I am glad I am stronger for it at least. :)

It's nice to come back here from time to time. There are not many places I can go that physically feel like 'home' at this point. So it's nice to have this corner of the internet to peek in when I have time and capacity.

I hope my financial condition changes soon so I can support Firn's beautiful work again directly in the future. <3


@Moi: You never have to ask permission. You may always draw any of my ocs. :)

If you want to draw the upcoming VTuber version of catadoodles I can make sure you have her up-to-date references. The character has two official styles of chibi (the simplified works better for animations, the detailed version is the rigged 2D avatar).

I think I may have sent them to you on messages previously, but if you need anything else from me besides permission, let me know. I am happy to give you sneak peeks of how the content is coming together for later. I need to be careful about posting if publically pre-debut, though.

*hugs*

I sent nan a preview on Discord and she said 'i've been blessed with cuteness'. :D
So I think we're on the right track! <3

Y'all have known the character a long time and drawn her many times, so you are the resident experts hehe. :3

The #1 thing is to have fun, and you know me... I love art so much. I will never say no to seeing y'all's creative work if you want to have some fun with it. <3