man I haven't heard anything about Vala in ages. is it still actively developed/used? how is it?

Yes, it is actively being developed.

Quite easy to make apps with it and GNOME Builder makes it really easy to package it for distribution (creates a proper flatpak environment, no need to make all the boilerplate). It's quite nice to work with, and make stuff happen. Gtk docs and awful deprecation culture (deprecate functions without any real alternative) are still a PITA though.

Vala is still being developed and used in the GNOME ecosystem. Boo, on the other hand, is pretty dead.