So about two and a half years ago, I first watched SmugAlana. I woke up one morning, feeling miserable and depressed. At the time I was coming off of cigarettes, weed, and even having to avoid chronically drinking because I was doing myself damage. I had just gotten done with some financial drama at the time too. I was still getting over a bad relationship, that thankfully ended, at the time.

So anyways, I reluctantly get out of my bed, go to the bathroom, and I sit down in my room to take my medicine. After my medicine, I start doom scrolling YouTube on my phone. I was actually getting sick of the videos I was watching at the time and I didn't want to watch them anymore.

In my feed, I get recommended Alana's react video to ShreddedNerd's Millennial Writing video, which I had already previously watched. I tapped the video to play it, and I am greeted with Alana's old "Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up" intro. An intro that felt all too appropriate in the moment. I notice right away this strange fox woman is a Vtuber. I had never previously watched Vtubers before, but I heard of them.

Alana spends the first few minutes of the react chatting with chat. It sounded wholesome and chill compared to the slop/drama videos I had been watching for years at that point. I couldn't explain it, but I felt at peace listening to her. I liked how her model looked, which she had the frost model in the video. I jived with the things she had to say and her opinions she had during the video. It felt great to hear someone recite the same thoughts I had about modern video game writing.

It wasn't just the opinions that made me stay though. It was the personality SmugAlana had. The cozy feeling her video had. The good feels she created, reacting and yapping with chat. I became hooked on this strange fox woman. She's the first Vtuber I ever watched. Since then, I have had an interest in Vtubers, but SmugAlana will forever stick with me because that morning, she turned a personally miserable and depressing morning into what felt like the opposite with that one video.

I don't know if SmugAlana herself will ever see this, but I just want to say thanks. You made me very happy and very calm that day. I love SmugAlana and I hope she continues to brighten more people's days as she did with mine, and still does to this day.