Hi. I’m Kat. As of right now, I could be anywhere, but I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, on Wurundjeri land. My family is from the northern coast of the South China Sea. I have a sister, a brother, and a niece. I have a cat named Essie. She was picked up by the pound at six-months old, so she is a little trauma baby who never really learned how to use soft paws until I brought her home.¹Last year (at time of writing, that’s 2022) someone said I had “shelter cat energy”, like I’d been through something traumatic but I was coming out the other side, that I was learning to feel safe now, and starting to “bloom”. Like. Wow. Okay. Huge if true. I’ll take it. Thank you!

For now,²Timestamp 22:29, Sunday 25 February 2024, 22:30 now and my bedtime alarm just started going off underneath my cat because apparently she can fall asleep on anything. let’s say this blog is part personal resource,³As in, I am personally ready to outsource my working and longterm memory, as well as my poorly-organised photo library of 200 slightly-different-but-mostly-the-same snaps of yet another tree on yet another mountain. part having-fun-outdoors⁴Or suffering! Mostly suffering!!!!!!!!!!!! blog, and a long-distance love letter⁵My loves — the nominated emergency contacts on my trip intentions form, the ones who listen to all 59 minutes of my voice memos (1 of 4), the ones who respond to each of the seventeen rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness text messages I sent to express one singular poorly-formed thought, the ones who receive news of my latest Near Death Experience with grim resignation and a polite request that I please be careful and to try not to die. to all the people who care enough to read it, and all the folks following along back home, and most of all, to the me of the future — I hope to make it there, and I’m so looking forward to meeting you.