Hello and welcome!

This is just a little update to let folks know what the Smokey Bloo Durgan is up to these days. Folks on FA might find this handy since I don't really post there anymore, but this will be a cross-platform post on multiple sites, so bare with me if the wording sounds odd given the context of wherever it is you're reading this.

First off - WORK
God I hate work. It's just terrible. I get paid a pittance to get yelled at on the phone by random strangers looking for a hole to shout into like King Midas' barber. I am that hole and they must shout into me. KING MIDAS HAS ASS'S EARS KING MIDAS HAS ASS'S EARS (try saying that five times fast, and thank you Steven Fry for putting that little ear worm in my head all those years ago, it has not left since). It's very unfulfilling. It's very frustrating. The only room for advancement is into a position where I would get yelled at EVEN MORE than I currently do. No thank you. I already have enough issues with stress, blood pressure, and confrontation as it is. I don't need to dive even deeper into it.

I've been trying very hard to find another job, but the market sucks. Especially for someone as generally unskilled as I am. I didn't really specialize in anything in college, and I didn't exactly do just especially well. I was decidedly average. My five years of experience in my current job is doing nothing for me except trying to push me deeper into a wretched industry that I want nothing to do with, yet can't escape no matter where I go or what I do. We have just come to accept this industry as part of our daily lives, even though we all hate it. There are only two ways that this industry will ever die away: the apocalypse, or a future like Star Trek. I don't see either really coming anytime soon.

In any case, the job search has been extremely demoralizing and depressing. I intend to keep an eye out, but I've decided that if I want to make an escape burn out of this decaying orbit around a black hole that threatens to suck all the joy out of my life, I need to supply the fuel and course calculations myself... if you'll forgive all of the rocketry metaphors. To that end, I've been putting several irons in the fire: my writing, voice recording, podcasting, streaming, and even attempting to learn woodworking. More on those as we go along.

Second - WRITING
I've been keeping up a pretty decent pace lately. My Patreon has proven to be a good motivation for that. I've been going to a local MakerSpace several days a week and just spending my time there doing nothing but writing. And it struck me that instead of only squeezing two or three hours a visit, two or three visits a week into my life, it would be really nice if I could just do this full time. Just go to MakerSpace and write as my main job. I could write all day long, change between projects, edit, proof, collaborate with other writers or even artists if any were interested, and other things like that. But alas, I do not make enough money on my writing for that to be viable at this time. It's certainly a desirable goal to shoot for, though.

I'm looking to expand what I write about. No that doesn't mean I'm going to start writing about stuff that was previously a "No, will never write about that, I'm just not comfortable with it". What I mean is I'm hoping to put together something I could write and sell publicly. Porn does okay, but clean stuff you can market pretty much anywhere, and that would give me a stream of income. Not much of one, but some. On top of the little trickle my Patreon is throwing at me, that would be a nice little buffer against unforeseen expenditures... like work on the car, or having a mole removed, both of which happened recently and hit me in the wallet pretty hard. So yeah, getting a stream of income that trickles in without me needing to constantly throw content at it all the time would be very nice. It would free me up to work on other projects.

Don't worry, that doesn't mean I would stop writing altogether. It just means I would fold it into a schedule that would allow me to participate in other things that could contribute to the aforementioned streams of income.

Third - VOICE RECORDING
I've been needing very badly to carve out some time and record a script I have written. It's been sitting on my hard drive, ready and waiting for me to go forward with it. Unfortunately, this is something that will take a fairly lengthy time to record. And then again a fairly lengthy time to edit. On top of that, I need sound effects, foley work. Now that part I think I've figured out a workaround for; the most ghetto, cheap, hilariously bad workaround you could imagine. It could doom the project or endear it to anyone who listens to it. I don't know. But I'm willing to try it.

I'm also looking at starting back up with a little series a friend of mine started a long time ago. We wrote and recorded two episodes of it back in the mid 2000's or so, then the project it was part of fell by the wayside. Now though, I'm interested in reviving it. It was a blast to write and record and everyone who's listened to the first two 'episodes' thought it was hilarious. I want to bring it back, and likely I would need to re-record those first two episodes to bring it more in line with my voice abilities now. Something to think about.

I'd like to somehow break my way into professional voice acting, but that requires you to A) know someone in the industry and/or B) have a body of work at your disposal to offer as an example of your ability, a portfolio. I have neither at the moment. I would like to change that. Which is why I've been doing the recordings I've been doing over the last two years or so. It's been getting me practice for writing, recording, editing, mastering, hell just getting the mic stand where it needs to be. I'm learning little by little, and that's helping me do more and do better.

Fourth - PODCASTING
There are those of you who know that I'm a regular contributor on the furry podcast Fur What It's Worth (go listen by the way). I produce a segment that's all about space news. I've been a fan of the space program and of astronomy for as long as I can remember. I didn't really start getting serious about it until within the last couple of years. Now, I'm hip deep in it and I'm sinking even further. What do I mean? I've started a new monthly podcast called "Committed To Launch" which covers the stories I talk about in my short segments for Fur What It's Worth. I dive deeper into those stories since four or five minutes just isn't enough time. I also cover stories I didn't have time to go over. I'm still feeling out the format, trying to solidify how I want it to flow, but I'm enjoying it so far. While I don't expect this to become a raging success, I would like to see it gain a healthy following. If enough people listen, I may start up a second Patreon just for the podcast. That way, if you aren't comfortable supporting me through my stories (since those can be rather saucy), and you like space, then you can support me there instead.

I'd like to somehow bring in guests at some point in the future, though I have no clue how to make that work yet. I'm still very much in the infancy of this show. Only one episode is available at the moment but more are on the way. I hope you check it out. It's on iTunes, Google Play, you can download from the website committedtolaunch.com and even follow the official show twitter @LaunchCommit. Tweet at me questions about space you'd like answered, or stories you'd like to hear more about. I might read it on the air!

Fifth - STREAMING
Now, this is where I've been hitting a bit of a stumbling block. There for a while, every weekend, I streamed an hour of Kerbal Space Program. It was going okay. I managed four or five episodes before things started to go downhill. Framerate dropped to one frame every thirty seconds or so, even when I recorded locally. I couldn't even post a pre-recorded episode. All the things that I've looked at have suggested that I just don't have a powerful enough rig to stream something like KSP. So, while I would like to get back into that, it will very likely require a custom built gaming rig, which I can't really afford just yet. Maybe if my Patreon (patreons?) grows a little bit more, I'll get just a little closer to pulling that off.

Until then, I suppose I could stream things like... emulated SNES games and less resource heavy games from Steam like the Shantea series (I've bought a couple but haven't played them yet... I've got a lot of games that are unfinished that I need to just plow on through, Undertale anyone?). I may even try to stream events surrounding writing or space news. I don't know, I'm still pondering over it. Let me know what you think of those ideas.

Sixth - WOODWORKING
As I mentioned, I've been visiting MakerSpace lately, which is a great organization. If you want to make a thing, they can help you make it, no matter what it is. They cover all sorts of things from sewing to laser cutting parts for your custom built rally car the space collaborates to maintain. I like to go there just to find a quiet spot to sit and write for a few hours. Of course, I do like that I can take a course in woodworking in their woodshop. They can teach you CNC routing or how to work on a lathe if you can get into the small classes. I'm interested in learning more there so I can use what woodworking equipment I got from my grandfather's old shop. I want to be able to make things. Physically make things. Who knows, maybe I could eventually parlay that into a segment of my multi-headed monster I'm trying to train up into a free-form career. I certainly wouldn't mind.

You guys would like custom carved furry-themed items wouldn't you? I can't say I'd be able to pull that kind of thing off anytime soon, but hey, it's a direction to aim, right?

In conclusion:
So that's all the stuff that's happening with me. I'm still trying to find my way, but I'm doing better mentally than I was this time a year ago. I'm hoping this upward trend continues. I'm always looking for additional support. If you like what I do, let me know, maybe think about contributing to my Patreon. If you can't contribute, a signal boost would be fantastic. Every little bit helps.

Until next time, keep looking up space fans.