All of this to say: I'm excited to be me and revisit the first time I got a glimpse of me, all the way back in 2008. Despite all the dread teenage me held in their gut, I'm somehow still here, and doing better than ever, and I've even gotten some of that drawing mojo back.

Happy Persona Day~

I socially transitioned in March of 2022 (if I'm remembering correctly), legally transitioned at the start of 2023, and had top surgery this past autumn.

I also finally managed to get P3 protag's hair... sort of (haha).

It took the pandemic to figure out that I'm a trans fella, & part of that process involved starting the development of a project I call Tarot Town (still in dev). One of its characters was the things I liked about P3 & P5, himself a trans guy. Thruhim, I found myself.
(2020 > the character > 2021)

My 18th birthday was a shock, & I was at a loss abt having to follow thru on my college plans. Once there, I went into a femme phase for a while, which slipped away a little at a time after college.

I went to school for writing, & mostly stopped drawing for 10 yrs
(Below: 2010 > 2015 > 2017 > 2019)

Therefore, I went hard on trying to *be* him. I also made my own version of him for my own narrative settings, pictured below in 2008 drawing on the left and 2022 sketch on the right.

"Pupcat Riley" is what I'd named the P3 protag (fave font + middle name).

Because of P3's themes & how I interpreted them (& support from my bestie), I got a second lease on life. I felt empowered, & I felt *weirdly* obsessed w P3's protag. Odd, since he was pretty much a blank slate.

I recognize now that I was experiencing gender euphoria for the first time ever.

Which makes me wonder if there's a legal case to be made here that the state legislatures and (public) school boards blocking these titles are in violation of the First Amendment...