hello new frens!!

[vance]

hi!! i am vance, they/them pronouns... i guess i might as well start off by just pasting in the same message that i sent in my registration form! actually it's a bit longer than what could actually fit in the form, lol, because i was composing it in my journal and didn't realize the form had a character limit... anyway!

• 33 y/o, transmasc non-binary, queer, neurodivergent, disabled, plural, anticapitalist artist/maker
• i've been taking a deep dive into the indie web/web revival recently, and just started making my own neocities site last week (well i technically joined neocities 5 years ago when i first found out about it but i never really put anything on it until now!), and i'm really excited to have found this site and community! i really love the vibes of creativity and exploration/tinkering and kindness that i see here! it reminds me of a digital, worldwide equivalent of my queer, hacky little makerspace where i work. (and i LOVE my makerspace)
• a funny thing about me is that i'm actually studying "professional"" (big eyes roll) web development these days, and ironically, that's exactly why i want to be part of this community--almost like, to keep me accountable to not lose my creative spirit to the professional world?? like, i was an original geocities user back in the day, i scrapped together my frst wonky knowledge of HTML just to make my neopets profiles and OC bio pages, i KNOW how much joy there is in using the web to be messy and experimental and authentic, to make a place you call really call your own... but it's so easy to lose sight of that anymore. it's been SO refreshing to talk these last couple days with folks who are learning to make websites purely for self-expression and whimsy, after all the time i've spent suffocating in toxic hustle culture in my "serious" learn-to-code communities. i need a community that can help remind me that the web is for US, it's ours to play with and break and rebuild, it's not a commodity. and just like, geez, to help me remember that it's not "selfish" or "wasteful" to build things just for fun. anyway... that's a big soapbox rant lol but uh, yeah. otherwise...
• i'm into cozy games, TTRPGs, journaling, personal knowledge management, learning about mental health, and a hundred different kinds of art and crafting. (including making websites ofc! and coding more generally, because i do consider that a form of art.)
• alongside my neocities, which is kinda my messy and silly outlet, i do run a "serious" website or two for my tiny art business and such... and i AM sorta trying to bring some of those more 'modern' development methods into my neocities, but like, in a playful way?
• i also hope that i can make myself and my web dev experience useful in answering questions from folks in the communtiy who are newer to the craft--and hope to learn just as much from the ingenuity of the folks approaching it with fresh imaginations!

so yeah that's some things about me! i'm super excited to be here and be part of this community... the web revival genuinely does feel so healing to me. i'm really looking forward to trying to make some friends in this community and i hope we can grow together and inspire each other! uh, a couple last things:

• i actually have a couple of different websites that you can check out! probably the most interesting one to you all is my new personal site which i am very much making in the web revival spirit right now--but alas it IS very new and does not have much content yet! i AM working on it pretty much every day at this point, but sometimes that just means tinkering with the code instead of adding actual things to look at.
• the other big one is my "professional" art website... which is actually still extremely unfinished and doesn't have a portfolio yet lol. but 'business' aspect aside, i do have an art blog on that site which folks might be interested in!
• i haven't done MUCH with it yet, but, i'd love if folks wanna visit my room here and tinker with it!

[haumeaGeth]

'Sup, fellow crafty plural. Welcome to MelonLand, awesome to have you. What, pray tell, kind of gnarly arts and crafts are you all into at the moment?

[cult_status18]

danm, that was a lot to read. im glad to have you here; three sites is a lot! Im shocked you have so many you seem to be a lot more proficient than me im interested in seeing what you make

[vance]

'Sup, fellow crafty plural. Welcome to MelonLand, awesome to have you. What, pray tell, kind of gnarly arts and crafts are you all into at the moment?

Hi, thanks for the welcome!! High five for more crafty plurals! I've actually been really deep in the coding/web dev hole for the past month or two and haven't been doing much other kinds of making-stuff, which bums me out a little to recoginze... My friend just bought me some beautiful trans-flag-colored yarn, though, and I'm hoping to crochet a sweater out of that sometime soon!

What crafty things have you& been up to yourself? :D

danm, that was a lot to read. im glad to have you here; three sites is a lot! Im shocked you have so many you seem to be a lot more proficient than me im interested in seeing what you make

Oh gosh, I'm sorry if I rambled too much hahaha. But thank you for the welcome! There's no use comparing your output against mine, though--everyone's websites are unique and what matters isn't how many you make, it's all about what you do with them and what they mean to you. Also like... I may have 3 sites running, but then, 2 of them have hardly any content hahaha. My art business site is just a single page that mostly consists of links to other platforms! And the art blog, which does have a lot of content, took years to accumulate.

[cult_status18]

true I guess

[haumeaGeth]

Hi, thanks for the welcome!! High five for more crafty plurals! I've actually been really deep in the coding/web dev hole for the past month or two and haven't been doing much other kinds of making-stuff, which bums me out a little to recoginze... My friend just bought me some beautiful trans-flag-colored yarn, though, and I'm hoping to crochet a sweater out of that sometime soon!

What crafty things have you& been up to yourself? :D

Aw man, yeah, I'd love to see that sweater when you make it! I haven't done any crochet in a while, I really gotta dig into my pattern hoard and make a something. I've got a serious mountain of thrifted yarn climbing out of my yarn box, it's threatening to escape into the living room.

But I'm deep in the webdev hole too, honestly. I was sewing a skirt for the cupcake outfit I designed, but it's on hold right now until it's actually warm enough to even wear a skirt. I'm just sewing up a zokin now to give my hands something to do and 'cause my cleaning rags need some serious TLC :P

[vance]

Aw man, yeah, I'd love to see that sweater when you make it! I haven't done any crochet in a while, I really gotta dig into my pattern hoard and make a something. I've got a serious mountain of thrifted yarn climbing out of my yarn box, it's threatening to escape into the living room.

But I'm deep in the webdev hole too, honestly. I was sewing a skirt for the cupcake outfit I designed, but it's on hold right now until it's actually warm enough to even wear a skirt. I'm just sewing up a zokin now to give my hands something to do and 'cause my cleaning rags need some serious TLC :P

Hahahah oh mannn I feel you so much with the mountain of thrifted yarn just sitting there, waiting, plotting...

Oh my gosh a cupcake outfit??? That sounds incredible, I'd love to see it!

Big mood about sewing just to keep your hands busy, too. Crochet is very much that kind of thing for me. But I do also have my big pile of things to be mended that I like to work on while chilling on the couch with my housemate. (How does the mending pile always just get bigger, no matter how much you mend??)