november is a special month to me. apples, light layers, rediscovering my favorite teas. although daylight savings hit us hard (i don’t think i’ll ever get used to darkness at 4 pm), i’m somehow faring better than i have most years.
mercury was in retrograde for most of november and wow - it was retrograding. me and maxito played pokemon stadium (first time for me since i was a child), enjoyed the chinese garden, went to a couple shows (one was bad, the other was amazing), and celebrated our two year anniversary (!!!). emotionally, it was a very sweet month.
i also got my first big art commission/UGC brand deal and worked my ass off for the last two weeks of november bc i had two deadlines on december 1st: 2 brand videos PLUS z-mail to make and send out!!! i distinctly remember a moment in the shower where i thought, “this is exactly what finals week used to feel like,” except this felt kinda good…
november highlights
✿ portland zine symposium (that was fun)
✿ gogo penguin show - jazz fusion, soooo good live
✿ kirby air riders!!
✿ rock estate sale + gem show all in one day
✿ thanksgiving - very chill this year
can we save this 65 year old mall? 🌹
last year i made a trip to lloyd center for the first time in (most likely) a decade, maybe even more. it was a surreal experience - lloyd center used to be one of the most popular malls of my childhood. no matter what day you went, it’d be absolutely packed with shoppers, life, music, good smells, and of course, an amazing view of the iconic ice rink. i have great memories of roaming those halls, but particularly of the ice rink where i’d manipulate all my friends into ice skating whenever i could.
these days, most of the storefronts are shuttered ghosts of their past, old signs still hanging; tenuous reminders left of the glory days. but like a dandelion growing through cracks in the sidewalk, life perseveres.
the once corporate mall now houses independent small businesses: a local book store, an arcade, second hand pet supply store, photo studio, magic shop, and of course, virtua gallery (my favorite) - and so much more.
it’s a funny mishmash of community, but incredibly genuine and homegrown. as i’ve spent more and more time in this new version of lloyd center, i realized something. this place is a true third space. on any given day you’ll find club meetings in the food court (zine club, beyblade club, yoyo meetups, boardgamers, etc.), ice skaters, an unexpected number of shoppers, regular mall walkers, and even a weekly retro mall walking group.
is this not the definition of community? something so desperately sought after in the year 2025?
unbeknownst to all who brushed off lloyd center for years believing it was dead (me included), the mall is breathing and very much alive - and there’s so much life left in her.
(the rest of this piece will be published later this week - i realized i want it to live on its own!!)
november downloads
✿ my UGC brand deal from this month rhymes with unolingo and may or may not have involved a little green owl. i felted it in one sitting. six hours straight. something about that experience was extremely surreal - i had been mentally preparing for a few days, as if starting at the wrong time (too early, too late) would jinx my performance. for six hours, i looped the same two albums on youtube, putting me in a mental void. sweat started emerging on my forehead around hour five, and by hour six i could barely form a thought. even though i appeared the same when i was finished felting, i emerged a changed person. i wish i could articulate what i learned but i’m pretty sure at this point that no one would understand except maybe other artists…
✿ making zines every month for z-mail club is soooo much fun!! one unexpected side effect has been getting extremely familiar with my collage material. i thrifted a few old magazines from scrap [donation based craft store] to make my zines, and it’s interesting to see what pages become useful for one zine and completely passed over for another. perhaps one day, every single scrap of my old magazines will be repurposed into a zine?!
✿ i haven’t really bought new clothes in years and i’m fighting the urge to do a complete overhaul… i’ve bought some new pieces here and there, but i stopped passively online shopping for the past few years (this used to be a problem for me lol). i think i want to start revitalizing my closet again and having fun wearing clothes i really like. maybe this also means i’ll go outside more bc i’ve been such a homebody since the pandemic.
✿ favorite new trader joe’s discovery: winter wake up tea (i’m a sucker for cinnamony orange peely teas)
wishing u torched marshmallows, gingerbread muffins, and 85% dark chocolate from peru…
-best regards from the ether 🌀