Making a Neocity Site

Heyo! Our name is Aaliyah, or otherwise known as Garbodog! Welcome to our newly remade site that feels a lot more like home than before. We plan on running this site + blog as a fun side project—posting updates on life, our projects, and even more.

Self portrait of ourselves with our blahaj wearing restro headphones with the caption "My pronouns are BITCH/HOE"

The site is still way under construction and has a lot of TLC before we can call it “good to go,” so you’ll see a lot of updates coming sooner than later. This all stems from our interest in coding and making things. We find it incredibly fulfilling to create, and coding is just one of the many mediums we enjoy. It gives us both something to make and a way to practice. Double win!

We also want to develop a game and utility programs that we’ll enjoy using ourselves and share with others. Playing games has always been a core source of joy and inspiration for us. So, making our own and sharing that joy feels like the next natural step—another creative medium to explore and blend with others.

Long term, we want to make the world better in one way or another. We're saving up to attend university and get a degree in Physics and Computer Science. We have a few schools in mind, though no final decision yet. Our exact degree path might change, but art, science, and technology will always stay at the center of our interests.

Drawing of Meow, Dandy and QT from the anime Space Dandy we drew back in highschool.

Up to this point, we've faced a lot of challenges—and somehow, we’ve climbed most of those mountains. We’ve learned how to power through and support ourselves in ways that make life easier. Mental health is important, you know! Over the years, we’ve made a lot of things and picked up meaningful little trinkets, but we’ve also lost just as much—often due to being relocated again and again. We’ve had to be okay with throwing everything away just to feel safe. It’s not ideal, but it kept us going.

We’ve created a ton of art: short comics, digital pieces, doodles, poetry—you name it. Most of it we kept private, and a lot is sadly lost. But we plan on publishing or backing up our notebooks and art so they aren’t forgotten forever. One thing we were never able to recover are the many comic ideas we had growing up. If new ones spark, though, we’ll be posting them here!

Growing up in a rough household made us very closed-off. Privacy became our top priority, and we rarely showed anyone who we were—especially family. That cost us a lot. It made it hard to trust people, make friends, or even build any real accomplishments. We weren’t even honest with ourselves. When the truth finally hit, we didn’t know how to react. It was like we were carrying the weight of ourselves and refusing to let it take shape—never letting us grow.

paper doll sitting on a arts and crafts bench looking in shock surrounded by the wreakage. An art piece we made when we were 14.

Thankfully, we’ve grown a lot. We’ve developed new skills, new interests, and found emotional maturity. We have friends—closer than family—who help us become the best version of ourselves. We don’t have to wear masks anymore. We’ve also just moved from the USA to Spain to be with our significant other and build a life together. Everyone back home thought we were crazy and said Europe was dangerous, but honestly? The new environment is so much safer and happier. Heck, we can even ride trains!

We’ve learned to embrace imperfection and appreciate our own progress. Nothing we do is going to be perfect on the first try, and we’ll definitely cringe at some stuff 1–2 years later—but honestly, those cringy moments are some of the most fun. We’ve got a few awkward things on YouTube and old art on our phone. We might re-post or un-private some of those—either on their original platforms or here—because we care more about backing up our work than hiding it now.

Right now, our priority is setting up this site and getting things in order. We've loved HTML and making websites for a long time, and now we’re brushing up on those rusty skills. The one thing we really want to improve on is JavaScript—it’s super refreshing and exhilarating! We already have a main art portfolio, but that site feels more like a professional showcase than a fun space. This one feels more like us.

Various MS Paint drawings from Jack, whom is the one of us most confident in imperfection and uses it to their advantage.

We’re also hoping to make bases for people to buy on Gumroad. We mostly draw furry art, but we might also make some Dungeons and Dragons character bases for people to match with their OCs and get custom icons. We’ve got a few sketches ready—we just need to finish the variations and outlines. Hopefully soon!

While juggling the site and creating content, we’re also learning more languages and working on life goals. Right now, we’re attending a language school in the nearby city to learn Spanish. The goal is to speak it well enough to attend university and work without a language barrier. Thankfully, adjusting back into student life has been easier than expected—it’s still a little surreal to be in a classroom again after graduating high school in 2017.

It’s a bit of a big dream, but we still want to develop games like we mentioned earlier. We’re not going full throttle into it, but we’re dedicating a day or two a week to building an RPG in Godot. We’ll definitely share our progress here! But no spoilers for today~... ok maybe one-

WIP Progress of idle animation frames for a test character in an RPG we are making.

Other than that? We just want to stay alive, be happy, make things we enjoy, and build the skills that will help us move forward. Our partner has been a huge help—so kind and supportive. We don’t know where we’d be without them. And of course, we owe so much to our friends too. Without them, we don’t think we’d have the energy or will to keep going.

This post ended up being really personal, but we hope that’s okay. There’s probably more like this coming, ha-ha. Anywho—y’all have a great day, and don’t forget to brush your teeth!

-PJ/Kuro/Lily2025-6-23