❤

Hi Mayla, I think we've known each other loosely for a while. I've bought CWs from your shop, but I haven't commissioned anything. I hope you're having a nice Lumi and a good holiday season. I'm eager to see what 2021 has to bring.

waves hi

Do you have a link to the new contest please lovely xx

Hello , I've followed your shop for quite a while and joined in on your contests. I also started playing on Neopets. My granddaughters use to come from school for lunch every day and got me playing with them. Then my sister had me switch over to Subeta when the grands lost interest. Now the little girls are all grown up and do adult things and I'm here still playing at 82 years old. I lost my husband of 61 years a year ago. My Subeta family have come to mean a lot to me in the 11 years that I've been playing. I love making HAs.

Hello! I'm a pretty reclusive potato, as I get overwhelmed with group conversations easily, but I'll give this a shot! Please forgive me if I shrivel up. You're always welcome to sMail me though, as I find those much more relaxing to keep conversation in! I prefer to be called Mels, and I am okay with the pronouns she/her or they/them. I live with my husband, who is literally my best friend. I'd like to get a pet in the future but it hasn't been in the cards. I'm an artist mostly, but I'm also someone who has a violent need to collect things, and that is why I stuck with Subeta all these years. (I also migrated from Neopets. Unfortunately I struggle with dexterity issues, so playing flash games 24/7 wasn't working for me at all.)

Since it's almost New Years, and this is the Reflection Pool I will add that despite 2020 being an absolute dumpster fire, some good did come from it. I've learned a lot about myself and how to take care of my mental state better by proxy. I've decided that 2021 doesn't get to pick how I feel, because I'm going to strong arm the year into being a good year whether it likes it or not. :)

I'm she/her/hers. Many people onsite know my real name, but I generally try to keep it offsite as much as possible. I've been Zabrie my entire time on Subeta and was Zabrie for most of my time on Neopets as well.

According to my profile I've been on Subeta for 13 years, 9 months, 2 weeks, 5 days. Though I didn't start actively playing until a few months later when Neopets really jumped the shark.

I got into CWs about 5 years ago. I, too, am happy with the new CW system and am considering buying some new designs. I've been on a design buying hiatus for most of the year.

I'm a worldbuilder/character creator. The primary world I have made is called the Shining Empire (which anyone who is a member of my ping group already knows). It's a world that has similar cultures to Earth. The Shining Empire began in my world's version of North Africa/Middle East without Islam, and eventually spread throughout the entire world. It is ruled by the Shining Emperor (male only primogeniture) who has absolute power, however he generally let's the regions have quite a bit of self-governance.

My avatar at the time of writing this is an example of what the Shining Empress may look like.

I am a refugee from Neopets as well. Subeta is unlike any other pet site I have ever been a part of, and I can't ever see myself leaving it. Here's hoping that 2021 will be better for all of us.

- 😘 Thank you for sticking with me all these years!

- It's nice to officially meet you! We have crossed paths here and there, but never spoken for any extended time. Your HA is absolutely beautiful! I'm eager as well to see what 2021 brings!

- Nice to see you again! I love seeing how helpful you are with adding stickers to people's albums. :) I totally forgot to add a link to my contest in my post. 🙊 I've done that now, and I'm adding it here for you as well!

- It is so nice to meet you! Playing with your granddaughters sounds like such a lovely memory. :) I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. You must have had an incredible life together. hugs

- Reclusive potatoes unite! I get easily overwhelmed by group conversations also. I tend to poof a lot. 😆 I'm so happy to hear about your accomplishments this year. Learning about yourself can be a difficult road to travel, but so worth it. It's also neverending. I love your attitude and approach to the upcoming new year! <3

- I've known you for a long time too, but I've never really heard much about your Shining Empire! :o I love the entire concept! Do you have any stories written or anything? I would love to hear more!

- So nice to meet you! I have honestly thought of leaving Subeta many times, but I just can never quit! It just keeps calling me back! ;) I'm wishing you all the best for 2021!

I think this is the most I've "talked" to anyone on site all year.... lol

Thank you for sharing more about yourself in this space! <3 Although we've been friends for a couple years now, a lot of the things that you shared in your first post are things that just haven't come up in conversation before, so it's really nice to get to know more about you. :)

Since you talked about your background, I'll go ahead and share some of my background, too! ^^

I also first joined Subeta in 2007, and it was because one of my guild friends on Neopets told me about it and encouraged me to join. I was active for the first year or two after joining...but after that, I became inactive because during that time, I was getting more into my majors in college. So basically, I got caught up in RL stuff.

From 2008/2009 to December 2017, I only logged in once or twice a year to maintain my username, which had been my real first name at the time. But in 2016/2017, I completely forgot to log in at least once to maintain my username. Because of that, it got taken by someone else. (My real first name is a pretty common and popular name, so I wasn't surprised, lol.)

Then in December 2017, I felt a huge nostalgia for virtual pet sites, so I returned to Subeta and became active again. My username was some random username, so I changed it right away. First I changed it to "melyvarium," which is a made-up word that I came up with for my "species' name" for an assignment in one of my high school science classes. Then I found out that my real middle name was available, so I changed my username to that: Reiko.

Shortly after returning, I learned about CWs (which were totally not around back in 2007/2008, lol). I quickly fell in love with CWs, such that not only did I start buying them, but I also became interested in releasing them myself. A couple months in, I was fortunate enough to purchase my first CW design from ! From there, I became involved in the CW community, and it's where I find myself the most active on site. (Not saying that I'm very active, but it's definitely where I spend most of my time when I'm on here.)

I would say that I'm a very shy and introverted person. I find it very challenging to connect with people, especially in large groups. (Hence I rarely engage in any of the Discord channels that I'm in because there's so many people in all of them.) I'm always worried about what people think about me and how people see me, so it's really difficult for me to get close and comfortable in general. That being said, I love talking in small circles and one-on-one. I can really talk a lot when I feel comfortable enough in the space that I'm in...like, look at this wall of text I just typed, lol.

I could probably go on and on, but then my post will become an essay, so I'll stop there, lol. XD

I often feel like if I don't have something exciting or interesting to reply back, then it's not worth replying and so I don't OTL it's a terrible habit I'm trying to work on. Thank you ❤️. I'm super hopeful. This past year, I know there wasn't a lot I could have done differently than I did, but I still wish it had gone differently. That's made me realize I cannot wait for things to go my way all the time.

Hi! I'm SillyCat (she/her), I've apparently been on Subeta for 12 years, 9 months, 4 days and like , am an easily overwhelmed reclusive potato :) I found through her Morostide help forum post and found that she, as well as all the folks who joined in to help, were so nice that I ended up joining the ping group. I have trouble getting started with convos as well as staying involved in them so that is why I have a rather low forum post count.

I'm married with a stepdaughter and we own a ferret named Poppy. We had 8 but 2019 was a terrible year :( I've been employed at my job for 20 years in January, I love to work I do and am starting the process to study for my PMP and CAPM certs so I can do better.

In my spare time I too like to read but it takes a back burner to everything else. Although I did just get a new book from my Reddit Secret Santa so I may have to shift some things around :) I LOOOOOOVE sci-fi - books, movies, tv shows, games. I tend to stick RPGs or MMORPGs and my favorites are almost all things Final Fantasy or Fable. For books my favorite is the House Of Night series by P.C. and Kristen Cast. TV, right now I am watching Stargate SG-1 and Lost (I watched it when it 1st came out but my husband never did so here we go again lol). We just finished His Dark Materials Season 2 (7 episodes a season is ridiculous, they need to get on that ish) and when I'm done with Stargate I'll be watching the next season of The Expanse.

I hope everyone had a good holiday, whether it was Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa or something else and I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

- It's so nice to slowly get to learn more about each other, even when we've known each other for several years already. I remember when you first ventured into the CW releasing world! I can't believe we've both been at this for that long! I also think it's interesting how many of us don't feel that conversations are our strong points.

- You are totally motivating me to take control of the things I can! I have let so much go in the past several months, and it's really taking a toll on my mental health. I know exactly what to do to help myself, but it's that motivational factor that has been lacking for me. It would be great to check in on eachother periodically, if you're up for it! Kind of an accountability partner ;)

- I know you from our event help threads! It's nice to see you here! You are totally speaking my language with the shows you're watching! I was bummed that season two of "His Dark Materials" was so short. I purposely read the books over the past year in preparation. It was interesting to see what they did with it, but I feel like they could have done even more if they had made the season longer. I'm hoping season 3 makes up for it! And "The Expanse"! We have to get Amazon Prime again just for that. We're waiting for the current season to finish so we can just binge it. 😆

That sounds like a really good idea actually! I suppose I should tell you a few things I am trying to keep on track of next year.

1. Balancing personal art and commissions (I cannot just do only one or the other lol)
2. Keeping up with my working out. Goal isn't to lose weight, it's to be able to not feel like shit in the morning star eyes
3. Reach out to my sister, instead of making her always reach out to me. (I am struggling to rebuild a relationship that was entirely destroyed and is extremely fragile and temperamental atm.)

((You do not need to share anything if you don't want, but I know I will go "yes everything is good" if no one knows what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm a horrible liar.))

- Balancing things is so challenging, isn't it? I really struggle with that and setting boundaries with other people, so that should probably be something that I try to improve next year. How to go about that is where I'm not sure, but it'll come to me. ;)

I also need to keep up with the working out! My husband notices a significant difference in my temperment between "workout-me" and "non-workout-me". "Workout-me" is definitely a much nicer person.

Relationships are tricky too, and it sounds like yours with your sister is one of those. I truly hope for the best for you both!

I'll come up with some more things over the next few days that people could help hold me accountable with. I need to do some soul-searching and journaling first.

Hi. Been on Subeta for a long time. I am in my thirties and disabled. Have a pet bunny, Loki. Mostly don't talk.

Setting boundaries can be hard, especially with people. I think that's a really good goal to have, because it can really, truly benefit relationships.

I get super whiny when I don't do my work out stuff, because I hurt a lot. I feel like I was doing alright until they put me on this medication, and now I am constantly in pain. =/ I can't stop taking the medicine, so I have to keep trying to get the pain to release. Which isn't a terrible compromise but like... I took Christmas day off because it was a holiday? Huge regret.

My relationship with all of my family is... super difficult. I don't think I can explain in too much detail, but the concept of it is that my siblings and I suffered a lot of mental abuse as children, which was purposefully driving us apart so we couldn't support each other during the abuse. Now that that person has passed away, we're trying to reconnect but it's hard to because everyone seems to want 'past' me, which was basically me when I was comatose from depression and couldn't feel anything going on around me. Obviously I don't want to live like that anymore, so they have to kind of... relearn who I am now that I'm managing my depression and only one of my sisters has been trying to. =/

- Hi there! I had so much fun being your Secret Santa this year in The Galaxy Crew's traditional gift exchange! It was fun to look through your wearable and minion wishes! :)

- What kind of workouts are you doing? Stretching, cardio, high intensity intervals? I'm always curious what other people are doing. I do a lot of yoga, but I feel like I need to try something else. I have a streaming workout service, and I'm leaning toward a dance program or a HIIT program. I dislike sweating, so that's a thing... 😆

Things with your family definitely sound complicated. It sounds like taking things slowly is the way to go. hugs

My workouts are a combination of stretching and yoga. I started out about... half a year ago? With some really light stretches. I've been building up endurance and adding new things to my routine every few weeks. I've also been increasing time intervals and stuff. What I'd really love to do is go swimming but. This year is just. So fun. =/ Swimming is probably my favorite exercising activity though. It's low impact on my joints and also I get to be a mermaid so yep.

Things are going super slow because we cannot meet in person. She has some high risk family on her husband's side and unfortunately, my husband's mother thinks the pandemic is a joke and we've seen her out without a mask and shit (after months of her saying she was being safe, we find out she's a liar and we've both been exposed to her. FUN.) My sister is... pretty anti-technology so while I may talk to her once or twice a week, it means the conversation is super slow.

I really do need to read the books! I will take books over movie or tv adaptations any day. I love "watching" my own version of the book in my head :) That and movies or tv series just never do the books justice. I have like 7 seasons left for Stargate SG1 so hopefully by the time I'm done with that all of the new season of The Expanse is out to binge :) Did you happen to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when you had your Prime account?

- I'm so sorry for the loss of your husband. I just wanted to tell you how awesome that is that you, at a young age of 82, are playing on Subeta ♥