I. 1k Followers, 20 Years (skip this section if you hate reading)

Time flies, my account is almost 20 years old.

The overwhelming majority of that 1k do not use this website anymore. It's a meaningless number that conveys the time I've spent here more than any sort of popularity. There were a lot of people I loved working with over the years. Some of those relationships led to great experiences, embarrassing experiences, and strange experiences but my life is richer for all those relationships.

Almost a decade ago I met my husband through a roommate & friend of his that also used Newgrounds. It feels weird when you can sort of connect the dots and trace the love of your life all the way back to Love Hina sim date RPG but Newgrounds is a very special reoccurring vein in my life and I lovingly laugh at all the weird shit here. The name Quarl was truthfully inspired from a young fascination towards the FF VIII character Squall. Was probably 6th grade, 11 or 12 years old, 2000/2001. I had the original PS1 disc set but the final disc never worked, scratched technology. It kind of makes sense that I never got to see the game's ending in which Squall starts to grow a heart and becomes a better friend and lover. To me he was always "edgy-no-feelings-guy." That scratched disc arguably stunted the growth of my empathy by unintentionally introducing me to a bad role model. Fuck that emotionally stunted stoicism, learning how to convey deep feelings was the real plot of FF VIII. Creativity is an extension of your feelings: the deeper your emotional intelligence the better your work can get, the more criticism you can take, the more love you can convey.

Used the name first on Gaia, an old forum site that gave you "gold" for every post. Quarrel was already taken but no one ever asked why it was misspelled. For a long time "Quarl" was always an option for online games which is no longer the case. I am not the one true Quarl. Could have changed my name many times over the years but stuck with the name because I'm still just some dumb idiot moving through life in a transient manner. There are many young people here that remind me of my own youth. Those kids are angry, optimistic, hungry, hypocritical, existential... but more importantly they have so much potential. I love to see doppelgangers bloom into their own styles and elements, there is beauty in evolution and growth.

Feel free to share why you've picked your names if they mean something, I love posterity.

II. Homecoming, Bleak-Creep

Love this girl, always a pleasure to get to work with Garden. Her talent is enormous but more so I'm always impressed with how easily she deals with phobic reviews. I get to see every notification from the project and I'm mildly bothered by those that lack empathy for the creative process or the characters in the story but there's always a louder and bigger positive reaction from the community, giving hope.

The OST was a fun flurry of back and forth creative activity. I got to see an early version of the toon and tried to match the vibe. Garden likes her stories to be hopeful, or to convey hope. I had a melody on a harpsichord patch, not very hopeful i.m.o. but she liked it when I sent it too her for inspection. Her response took the soundtrack in the direction that it went in and as usual I'm happy to expand my comfort zone to include work other than obscure dance genres. I've asked her to again illustrate my next EP cover, more on that in section IV. New Upcoming EP.

Go experience Homecoming, an interactive story by Bleak-Creep and of course, the OST:

III. New Cat, New Chapter

The circle of life continues, we got a new kitty to give our other cat a play buddy. I had one raw moment where it felt like the finality of replacing our old cat was too much but at the very least, the new one will live the fullest life we can give her. She's a cuddly little thing, spent the first night crawling all over us, trying to lick my armpits. Here's to a weird new cat chapter...

IV. New Upcoming EP

I have enough songs to produce another typical Quarl EP and will be working on improving that material before posting it on Bandcamp. This means that I will be disabling free downloads for certain tracks, mostly the new ones. You can always pirate the improved upon WAV files from Bandcamp if you want to. I'm not going to go after people that want to listen to my music, just get the meta data in place so you have all the important details. I'm not putting "Hey Look, A Bank" on the EP, Geometry Dash owns that now. That song got so much attention because of GD, so just take it. Not disabling the mp3 download but you'll never get a remastered WAV to pirate from Bandcamp, I'm so fucking evil. MWAHAHAHAHAA!!! I'M SUCH A DISSAPOINTMENT >:D

V. Won't Make Pico Day, Please Go For Me

It probably seems weird to include a section about not being able to make Pico Day in Jersey but I just wanted to recommend that people in the North East area of the US should attend. Getting the chance to surround yourself with a bunch of equally weird creative power houses is inspiring. Every creative social event I attend, I try to talk to everyone. If someone is acting a little distant, open them up and find out what makes them tick. Be nice if you meet people that travelled, international or not. Ask about projects and interests, bring a sketch pad to share ideas and to make friends. There are a lot of names I recognized on the confirmed guest list, the potential creative power of the 2024 Jersey meet-up is real. I'm drooling at the guest list right now, please go for me and make positive memories. I've reposted the details towards the bottom of this post.

^ Rucklo & Quarl Pico Day 2016 ◠‿◠

VI. Art Inspired Music Contest

I'll be judging again this year, hopefully I'll have the chutzpah to review everything. If you make music and you love the art on Newgrounds, pick a piece that inspires you and write the most complimentary song you can. All the details are on Random-Storykeeper's blog, here's a quick link to the deets.

VII. Talking To Myself

Tossed this strip together for moments on Discord because it often feels like I'm talking to myself.

The wait to get a response on social media can sometimes feel lonely. The feeling is similar when blogging but the blog content is more for myself than anyone else anyways. It's a personal moment, scribbling ideas into the blog is a way to organize life experiences. I encourage creatives of all types to blog, if only for your own mental well being or a sense of progress. We're more than just webpages with weird content on them, we're people. We have feelings and dreams. As creative people it often feels like you're waiting for someone else to open a door for you but the experience doesn't have to feel lonely all the time. There are so many people on Newgrounds that share your visions, every post is a chance to reach out and touch the consciousness of a kindred spirit. I've talked to a lot of people that don't make content, they play into the numbers that give us popularity boners. Sometimes they drop kind reviews, sometimes they suck, but they constitute web traffic and just knowing someone has experienced our creations can be a high.

I feel that the goal of everyone that makes an account should be to contribute creative things, if you can't: leave reviews or blog. Tell artists that you like their work when you can to keep them going. Be part of the community regardless of how intimidating it can be. One last reminder:

PICO DAY NJ 2024 | NEWGROUNDS MEETUP

FRIDAY, MAY 17TH

3pm - 11pm @ Williams Center

15 Sylvan St, Rutherford, NJ 07070

For more info, BrandyBuizel has all the deets.

(A quick edit to the post, here's an old drawing Yendor did :)

tldr: drop a sleepy emoji if you hate reading.