Hi, I'm Mary-Joyce! 💗

Writer, gamer, mother, website tinkerer, and unpaid employee of several cats.

If you somehow stumbled onto this little corner of the internet, welcome to Purrgatory OS.

I spent most of my life in New York City, especially Queens, before eventually moving to the Philippines. I still miss a lot about the old internet—the days of MySpace layouts, LiveJournal, DeadJournal, and spending hours making websites just because it was fun. Building this site has been my way of reconnecting with that part of myself.

I'm a domestic abuse survivor. That chapter of my life helped shape me, but it no longer gets to define me. These days, I'm much more focused on the life I've built and the people—and cats—I love.

I'm the proud mom of an amazing 14-year-old son, who keeps me laughing, worrying, learning, and somehow still surprised every day.

I also share my life with 10 extremely spoiled cats, one Boston Terrier who firmly believes he's a cat, and three neighborhood strays who have basically adopted my porch. At this point, my house has accepted that species is more of a suggestion than a rule. If you spend enough time exploring this site, you'll quickly realize that cats have taken over my website just as thoroughly as they've taken over my house.

When I'm not dealing with cat-related chaos, you'll usually find me playing games, knitting, writing, reading, or becoming completely consumed by whatever creative project has taken over my brain that week.

I also moderate a Marvel Rivals community, which has introduced me to some genuinely wonderful people and given me another little corner of the internet to call home.

Music is almost always playing in the background while I'm doing anything. My favorite artist right now is Archer Valentine, but Nirvana will always have a permanent place in my heart. Some favorites never really leave you.

I've lived with Borderline Personality Disorder for many years. Something I'm genuinely proud of is how much more control I've gained over it during the last year or two. Through a lot of self-reflection, learning, and hard work, I feel more emotionally balanced than I have in a very long time.

I'm not perfect, and I don't expect myself to be. But I finally feel like I'm steering my own life instead of letting every emotion grab the wheel.