zone-rats

[zone-rats]

hey. haha. happy 2019. this may be harder to write than i thought it would be.

first, just to make it explicitly clear: zone-rats is over. finished. discontinued. forever. and it’s…. sad. but necessary.

i started this blog in november of 2016, shortly after i first got obsessed with danger days and the killjoys universe. it was something that i needed to do, i needed to get my ideas and my take on the killjoys out there into the world. i would have exploded if i hadn’t. this blog (although it’s so much more than that; i like to think of it as a multimedia experience when i’m feeling particularly pretentious) is a labor of love. i loved it. i loved the characters. i loved all of you who read it. it was a piece of art that made me very happy. but it always was going to end, and i knew this from the instant i decided to undertake this project. i didn’t want it to just fizzle out, i didn’t want for the posts to suddenly stop without warning, without any sort of closure for anyone. so i swore to myself that zone-rats would end before 2019 (technically i’m a little late to that; it officially ended january 3rd. whoops). nothing lasts forever, and nothing should last forever. i wanted it to be as good for as long as it could be, and then give it a decisive and meaningful ending before i either became too busy for it, or lost my passion for it, or both. i can only hope that i achieved that.

over the twenty-six months that i’ve run this blog, so much has happened. i survived the worst year of my life. my first relationship began and ended. i started college. i’ve made so many important friends. i’ve done crazy things to my hair. i’ve taken up guitar. i got a therapist, and started taking medication, which has had a massive positive impact on my mental health– and so many more things. and all the while, zone-rats has been a part of what i do. ending it feels like cutting off a limb. but it’s time. because after all, who wants to live forever?

i have to keep moving forward. who knows what’s coming next– what i’m going to do after this chapter of my artistic career comes to a close? not me, that’s for sure. but that’s okay. i’ve made something of which i am proud. onwards and upwards.

i want to thank everyone who liked zone-rats, whether they’ve been here since the very beginning or only discovered it yesterday (sorry). knowing that this project meant something to people is… one of the best feelings in the world. zone-rats meant a lot to me too. all i’ve ever wanted is to create things that impact people. thank you, thank you, thank you. this is as much your baby as it is mine: your prompts and questions directed practically everything i ended up sharing on here (even though there were so, so many bad asks. you guys really wanted to see party naked, huh).

i more specifically want to thank: mac, for being my best friend, my partner in grime, my ramen buddy, for naming an art show after this blog, for letting me stay in your house. nat, the craziest writer i know, for being the number one zone-rats fan and saying so many nice things to me. arden, for all your lovely tags and for engaging in a dodgeball-like battle of gifts, where we threw writing and art at each other, respectively. steph, for all the explosions. keep burning both ends. mitch, for being here since the beginning. ten van winkle, for creating the party poison askblog that i loved so much i felt compelled to make one of my own or i would die. everyone who was in the killjoys fandom in 2016/2017: you welcomed me and my ideas and my art, and i had so, so, so much fun with it. also special thanks to literally everyone else who ran a killjoys askblog. you guys fucking ruled. let’s add another defunct killjoys blog to the pyre, huh? uh, i dunno, i guess i might as well thank gerard way and everyone else involved in creating danger days for letting me have this giant sandbox to play around in. i mean, he’s never going to read this, but why not? i am thankful for him!

ah, and last, but certainly, certainly not least– thanks, party poison. i hope you’ll be noodling around in your own little private corner of my brain for as long as i fucking live. it’s been so fun having you along for the ride. love you all. love you all so much.

before i go, here’s a reminder that you can still contact me on my main blog. and here’s a killjoys-inspired playlist that i listened to every single time i drew a response for this blog.

signing off,

katz

[zone-rats]

https://rhinofest.com/new-page-1/

[zone-rats]

art is the weapon against life as a symptom defend yourself.

and kick some motherfuckers in the teeth for me.

[zone-rats]

throw another body on the fire. throw another friend on the emotional baggage pile. killjoys never die as long as there’s someone to remember them. 

[zone-rats]

None of us were born in this desert. But we all made the choice to come here, no matter the cost. 

I recommend you shut your mouth before you lose any teeth. 

[zone-rats]

i don’t keep a diary anymore. 

[zone-rats]

I BELIEVE I’VE MADE MY THOUGHTS VERY CLEAR. 

[zone-rats]

[zone-rats]

pulled some crazy stunt years ago. he’s lucky pony and dj found him before he died of dehydration, or, worse, got to the belt. 

[zone-rats]

SHUT UP KOBES!!! I’M CUTE AS FUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zone-rats]

[zone-rats]

next time on

[zone-rats]

These violent delights have violent ends.

[zone-rats]

We’re all someone’s enemy. 

[zone-rats]

or we get our asses beat in general. it’s not all fun and games out here, you know.

[zone-rats]

PUT IT BACK

[zone-rats]

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--

It gives a lovely light!