year in review

2024 has been…well it's been a year! i honestly can't say that this has been any worse than other years i've had? in fact maybe it's been better than some! but at some points, it also hasn't. i couldn't say that 2024 was a great or amazing year but honestly? i can confidently say it was good…despite the downsides.

this year came with the biggest change of my life. i moved! i've been living in the same small new jersey town for 18 years. the reason i had to move was actually not very fun. due to my biological father's neglect, our house went into foreclosure, and eventually, we were unable to live there anymore. even if we were to buy the house back, the mortgage was not paid at all. to be honest i don't very much understand what really happened. that's mostly because i am a 19 year old with no idea how houses or mortgages work. basically: my dad didn't pay for the house, we had to sell it, i moved. i'm an hour away from my hometown now. kind of weird but honestly? i like it here. i've made a lot of new friends already and i like my college

other than that, the biggest thing this year was me graduating high school. i'm free from 8 hour days at school and having to get up at 5am. that's actually really weird to think about. i can't believe i'm not in school anymore. well, i'm in college but you know what i mean. i always struggle to describe my years, but i try to do things like this page specifically so i can remember the most important parts! since last year i didn't have a computer, i was completely unable to make a year in review page. don't get your hopes up, i am not going to make one for 2023. i don't remember a whole year for that long. but i wanted to make this so i could continue the annual tradition!

life in 2024

new experiences/firsts

i thought i should start off my recap by going over some highlights of places i went/things i did!

well, the three big things that happened this year are as follows:

i graduated high school in june 2024

i moved to a new house with my family

i began attending conventions/markets to sell my art

these three things are probably the biggest milestones of my 2024. i found myself so happy and honestly felt freeing to graduate finally. i was never a big fan of school, much less being in probably one of the worst school districts ever. that's an exaggeration. but still. i had been struggling in this district my entire life. in kindergarten my mother applied me for a 504 (for those not in america, that is an accommodation plan for disabled students). i only finally received it in my senior year and that was mostly because of my physical disability. if that doesn't tell you how bad my school years were, i don't know what will! but i'm away now. from that school district and that town. while my reasoning for moving isn't really the best, i still find myself breathing a bit clearer every day now that i've moved

my art career has really kicked off. well, kinda. i finally started taking art a little more seriously this year. since i was in AP art, i basically had to. but it wasn't just those traditional pieces that i started taking seriously. i also started taking my merch making, print making, etc. seriously. my first vendoring experience was in april. i went to the trenton punk rock flea market spring fling and vended for a day. if i'm remembering correctly i think i made around $400? but unfortunately, none of that was sales related to my art. it was all the more flea market stuff me and my friend had (clothes, shoes, etc.). that's to be expected though! but it gave me insight on the things people liked and really gave me the push to create more. i created tons of stickers, keychains, etc. and eventually started an etsy shop! unfortunately, literally a few weeks into it, my etsy was permanently banned and i have still not got it reinstated despite time and time again asking what i did wrong. i perservered anyway, and now have a shop under bigcartel. this year i attended five markets/events in total. i think my favorite was the gaymer's art market run by saika cafe in philly. i met a lot of cool people there and networked my art! i also even was able to hand out freebies (stickers i drew!) at all of the LOONA concerts i went to this year which got more people interested in my work! this year (2025), i am planning to do a LOT more art wise. in fact, i'm handing out free stickers and prints on the yves concert in NYC this month. i'm really excited to continue my shop and am glad for these humble beginnings