May Round-Up '26
May was, in a word: overwhelming. What's funny is that I actually don't remember much of it until I look at the plethora of pictures I took on my phone... which reflect so many memories of delicious food shared with loved ones, pleasant events and festivals, the beauty of my natural surroundings, and art that friends made or sent to me because they thought of me. So even despite the intense heartache that continues to consume me, I find things to take happiness in. Read on to share the bits of joy that I found this month - perhaps it'll lead you to something you'll enjoy, too!
These are the little pieces of my life that keep me holding on.
Alix's Daily Life
I traveled all over Salt Lake City to indulge in delectable treats, explore an assortment of charming shops, and delve into events celebrating an assortment of interests such as fairies and cryptids, spooky vibes, creatives of all varieties, and even a live band playing the bg music of Mario Kart 8 while an audience played the game. I'm grateful that it seems like there's always something new to check out here, since having something to look forward to has been immensely helpful for me with everything I've been going through.
My roommates and I celebrated special days with much deliciousness, and also... just because! Who NEEDS a reason to enjoy tasty food?? Here are some of the many foods that I made (or enjoyed, in the Digimon soda's case) this month. Something I don't have pics of was getting a gigantic bundle of avocados for a dollar and making some banger guacamole for Cinco de Mayo, or my cookies that I finally got the chance to make fresh for my roomies.
Something that's not-so great is that this past Friday I got a new crown on one of my teeth... so I'm currently in some pain as I heal from that. Thankfully, though, it seems like it fixed the problem I was having prior, and it didn't cost a bajillion dollars like the dentist I used to go to!! Apparently getting dental benefits is actually new for my current insurance, so I feel like I got super lucky that it covered what it did - I consider that a big win, even despite the pain!
pic unrelated, but also look how cute this little bird is
This month I lost someone who had impacted my life from a young age: Rest in Peace to my dear friend Katie's mother, Ellen Rock, who I love very much. She was a huge creative force growing up that I admired greatly, and I learned so much about nature from her, especially about horses which were a favorite of hers. You'll be missed dearly.
Creative Projects
I made the art for my friend Event Horizon's latest song, With Me This Night! This was the first full piece of artwork I'd made since moving to SLC. Evernight from Honkai Star Rail is the featured character, the inspiration behind this dark trance track, and I drew her doing her special move. I like the glowy jellyfish-like creatures, and had fun capturing the moodiness of Evernight's attack with glowy effects!
I didn't post it publicly, but I made a special video for my mom for Mother's Day! Echo and Cin accompanied me to find lovely shots of many, many flowers, as well as some of the city's surroundings. It makes for a wonderful time capsule of springtime in Salt Lake City, and has been fun to share with my family as a little glimpse of what I see around me since none of them have ever been here before. It felt so nice to edit video again; I'm hoping to do more of that soon!
I've been enjoying going to my local library to make button pins for myself and my roomies, as well as for a couple local friends. I haven't made more than one for myself due to being so drained lately, but I'm hoping to make more, as well as possibly some other physical print projects... Here's a pin design of Kipo from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts that I whipped up for Cin!
Twitch Streams
I had some fun streams this month, quite a few of them being Poke-riffic! I completed my challenge of drawing every Pokemon of the original 151 to celebrate 30 years of Pokemon, with the finale being a whopping 6-hour long stream to finish 62 'mons. I finished up PokePark Wii, which I now treasure immensely, and am about halfway through PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond... which I'm loving EVEN MORE!! I'm very excited to finish PokePark 2 up at the beginning of next month, I'm thoroughly entertained by its writing and it's such a treat to have a wider variety of Pokemon to play as (ALSO VICTINI IS THERE!!!).
Some screenshots from PokePark 1 and 2, and the ad for my finale stream of drawing every Pokemon
I also had a ball sharing some lesser-loved SEGA Genesis games, playing through the entirety of the enchanting hidden gem Crystal's Pony Tale, blasted through the shoot 'em up Space Harrier 2 (it was difficult with my wrist hurting), and agonized my audience with the wily ways of Family Feud (we DID end up winning the final game)! I'd love to share more Genesis games in the future; I love the console so much and want to start growing my collection again!
I'm going to try to do an art request stream for my viewers once a month, likely toward the end of the month. I got some incredibly fun, silly requests this past doodle stream, which filled my stream with an abundance of laughter as a result. Thank you to everyone who got a doodle, I loved drawing for you!! I hope I can bring even more cuteness to life soon!
here's one of the colorful doodles I did recently: Sparxie from Honkai Star Rail as a bunny, for my friend Event Horizon!
Video Games
On a night where my body was bullying me, my roomie Echo shared one of their big favorite short story games: The Beginner's Guide. Known well as being made by one of the two creators behind The Stanley Parable, it plays as an intimate look at one of their friends' collection of unfinished games. I truly enjoyed the way the story was told, and how as you traverse these small projects you're left with clues to a bigger picture. Very haunting. I would love to explore presenting a story in this way someday myself, and highly recommend it to those who haven't played it before.
The following night, my body still wracked with pain, my other roomie Cin shared one of their big favorite short story games: What Remains of Edith Finch. I think I'd started the beginning of this game awhile back but didn't explore more than a few minutes, so my expectations for what this game was were blown away when I actually got to watch the story unfold. I'm personally a huge fan of interconnected stories, and this one is especially beautifully told! Another recommendation from me if you've never experienced it, as long as you're okay going into something with tragedy at its heart.
To thank my roomies for sharing some of their favorite short games, I took the opportunity to share one of mine: Parappa the Rapper 2! This is my favorite of the Parappa games, and I especially adore its music: disco, funk, and RnB vibes make for a soundtrack which gets stuck in my head often. Compared to the heartrending, gorgeous tales that my roommates shared with me, this game's story dives way into silliness, which Cin described as "absolutely beautiful." I'm so glad they both enjoyed it!!
Speaking of big faves, I shared the original PS1 iteration of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile with Cin and Echo! Their reactions were "where has this been all my life??" I love every version of the game for different reasons, but the visual design of this version in particular is my absolute favorite, and it brought me great joy to watch it unfold for the first time for my friends. Later that same week, my lovely friend Valeria did a stream of Klonoa Wii where she did every challenge room during the post-game's reverse mode, and had me on voice chat just for funsies. That was immensely fun; thank you for having me Vale!!
How Fish Is Made is short, free to play, and a big curiosity (WARNING for potentially disturbing/gross imagery for those who might click the link). My takeaway was much more hopeful than Echo's was, but I'd be curious to know how others view it. What will your choice be?
Another short freebie game that utterly delighted me was watching my roomies play through ENA: Dream BBQ!! This is the kind of game that makes me want to IMMEDIATELY create. I loved the animated short series (which I watched when I first moved out here, highly recommend seeing those before playing the game), and was inspired by how dreamlike everything is. The character designs alone motivate me to get weirder with what I make, and I love the hodgepodge of ideas each background presents. The mixed media approach to the game is also massively cool!! I've only seen one ending and already want to replay to see more...
Media Experienced
Hoppers was a lot more amusing than I expected, and also surprisingly unhinged - just how I like my media! Pixar's animation dazzled as usual, I loved how fluffy-soft the beavers in particular were. I appreciate that the protagonist was an adult sticking up for her beliefs with no lack of conviction, and it was good to see a show of emotion that wasn't just swept to the side. I tried to keep my expectations low going in, which I think helped me enjoy the movie even more all around.
What Ravens Do is a documentary Cin randomly put on as we were hanging out one night, and it was surprisingly lovely (click to watch). The sounds and sights made me miss Los Angeles immensely - the neighborhood I moved away from had a large community of ravens, and it felt cozy hearing their assortment of calls again after a few months. The documentary follows a couple different raven families over a handful of years, and getting insight into what those birds' body language and vocalizations mean delighted me to discover.
After previously being a bit disappointed in and dropping its manga, I gave the anime for In the Clear Moonlit Dusk a try since it finished airing. Honestly? It was just as "meh" to me... It's a romance featuring a girl called "The Prince" at her school due to her handsome face and gentlemanly demeanor, meeting with another "prince" and for the first time ever being treated femininely. The dude was weirdly possessive and superficial about his reasons for liking her though??? And like so many romance shows, there's a lot that would've been fixed if they'd just communicate with each other. SHEESH.
Dorohedoro Season 2 ended with many more mysteries than answers, as well as one last gyoza party shared between me and my roomies. The 3D animations were greatly improved from the first season, far more expressive and integrated even more perfectly into the 2D world. I'm hoping it doesn't take another 6 years to see the conclusion!!
I've been blessed the great honor of sharing one of my favorite shows ever, Oban Star Racers, with my roomies (click to watch)! I hadn't gotten the chance to see my blu-ray copy of the series yet, and have been relishing how pretty it looks. We're a little over halfway through and they're enjoying the storytelling, characters, and inspired designs of everything. I'll never get tired of watching this series, and forever highly recommend it to everyone!
I had gotten a signed copy of K. O'Neill's A Song for You and I at one of my local book shops, and I'm very pleased that I did - I loved this story!! K.'s art style has always delighted me; the gentle colors, delicate penmanship, and fantasy creatures K. creates makes this the kind of art that I adore poring over for hours. I'd say the writing of this story in particular is also one of K.'s strongest. Highly recommended to check out this graphic novel!
The heartfelt If You'll Have Me by Eunnie gave me so many warm fuzzies!! The art is soft and reminiscent of a shoujo manga in such an endearing way, to where in my opinion it makes the sweet story shine even brighter. If you'd like a touch of cute romance in your graphic novel collection, this is an excellent addition.
June's Almost Here
Things are still tumultuously difficult each day, but I'm going to dance and smile and continue loving as loudly as I can no matter what life throws at me. There are so many things in May that I had wanted to do, but for many reasons, wasn't able to... one of which was launching my VGEN. I would really like to change that this upcoming month.
I'm also going to be immensely busy with an assortment of things, from watching upcoming video game presentations, to attending some more local events, to hopefully getting some personal projects off the ground at last.
Thank you for sticking with me, and for reading all of this. I wish you all the best as we journey onward together. May this June be filled with goodness for all of us!!
