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How misdiagnosis, pickles, and LARPing changed my life.
With never-before-seen photos of Az's LARP origins.
In 2014, I went to see a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, California. I had just decided to take a break from art school, which was scary, and I was having anxiety. I wanted to take acting lessons, which really weren’t helped by the anxiety.
That psychiatrist prescribed me an anti-psychotic.
If you’re thinking, “Wow, that seems extreme,” you’d be right. You may also be thinking “If you have no form of psychosis, that doesn’t seem good.”
And you’d be right again.
That psychiatrist prescribed me an anti-psychotic.
If you’re thinking, “Wow, that seems extreme,” you’d be right. You may also be thinking “If you have no form of psychosis, that doesn’t seem good.”
And you’d be right again.
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Trystan's illustration for the first episode of The Last Threshold
When my partner (Lou) and I were evicted from our Montréal rental home in December 2025, we thought we were going to be out on the streets. While each fighting life-threatening infections. We didn’t know how we were going to survive.
After a two-year battle to get necessary repairs to the rental for defects causing toxic mold, the local housing tribunal allowed our absentee landlord to evict us instead, without ever hearing our case. This was also a battle against language exclusion, discrimination and non-functioning infrastructure— and it cost us both our health and our livelihoods as remote workers.
After this harrowing two years, fighting not only that landlord but moving immigration goalposts and dental malpractice, the creative work I’ve built a life around became impossible. The nexus of the mold issue was in the basement, which had been my studio office. (We chose the house entirely because of that space, by the way.) If that didn’t keep me from working, the severe infection from defective dental work spreading to my face certainly did.
I couldn’t make videos about crafts without a workspace, or characters and stories while fighting facial infections, so with no other option, Lou and I began to record what we were going through. We pivoted, hoping to at least raise awareness around the unnecessary hardships imposed on us.
That may sound like its own saga, (and you can certainly watch the ongoing docu-series that chronicles it below: The Last Threshold) but it’s actually where our story begins.
After a two-year battle to get necessary repairs to the rental for defects causing toxic mold, the local housing tribunal allowed our absentee landlord to evict us instead, without ever hearing our case. This was also a battle against language exclusion, discrimination and non-functioning infrastructure— and it cost us both our health and our livelihoods as remote workers.
After this harrowing two years, fighting not only that landlord but moving immigration goalposts and dental malpractice, the creative work I’ve built a life around became impossible. The nexus of the mold issue was in the basement, which had been my studio office. (We chose the house entirely because of that space, by the way.) If that didn’t keep me from working, the severe infection from defective dental work spreading to my face certainly did.
I couldn’t make videos about crafts without a workspace, or characters and stories while fighting facial infections, so with no other option, Lou and I began to record what we were going through. We pivoted, hoping to at least raise awareness around the unnecessary hardships imposed on us.
That may sound like its own saga, (and you can certainly watch the ongoing docu-series that chronicles it below: The Last Threshold) but it’s actually where our story begins.
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Faux wax-sealed parchment envelopes that actually close. No wax, glue or even parchment required. Just your printer and some scissors. Find the free printable template and instructions below.
From wizard schools to Austenian estates, a wax-sealed parchment envelope is a pretty integral part of the vibe. Though, as fun as authentic sealing wax is, I think we can all agree that not everyone has that kind of time. Or money. Or burn tolerance. (Just because I dedicate a corner of every living space to traditional letter-writing... )
If you're making party invitations or props for a roleplaying game, you probably have about a hundred other jobs to do as well, and it quickly adds up.
So I wanted to develop something that feels right, looks good, and that anyone can make quickly.
If you're making party invitations or props for a roleplaying game, you probably have about a hundred other jobs to do as well, and it quickly adds up.
So I wanted to develop something that feels right, looks good, and that anyone can make quickly.
Just print pages 2-3 of the following PDF (double sided*) cut out the square, and follow the instructions on page 1.
Totally free to use- and if you do, tag us so I can see what cool things you do with it! Or better yet, post it on the forum.
*If you don't care about what the inside looks like, strictly speaking you don't actually need to print double sided. But I wouldn't sacrifice that extra layer of authenticity unless I really, really had to.
Totally free to use- and if you do, tag us so I can see what cool things you do with it! Or better yet, post it on the forum.
*If you don't care about what the inside looks like, strictly speaking you don't actually need to print double sided. But I wouldn't sacrifice that extra layer of authenticity unless I really, really had to.
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