Hello everyone! Thank you for coming by and reading - it's difficult for me to express the type of joy that I feel when to see that people actually come by, which I realize is silly, considering that I'm attempting to become a writer. I guess, if I have to put it into written words, the joy I get from knowing you all were here is like taking a test, nervous because you don't know if you studied enough or the right material, and then the test gets put in front of you and then you realize that you're going to absolute kill that exam.

Which brings me to where I'm probably going to write about on this post, which I realize is a sort of broken record from me and probably from a lot of people. But I've been finding more and more as I continue my writing journey and grow older that support is a huge component in succeeding, especially in something that is initially risky supporting and/or doesn't immediately benefit someone. Of course, when I write these words, I'm referring to any independent artist who is just beginning their journey.

And of course, as a consumer of such media, it's difficult to justify allocating whatever resource or resources may be demanded. After all, with the way systems are set up, time and money are precious commodities that many of must make proper use of in order to feel like our life was fulfilling with little waste. And I'm only talking about entertainment!

But, that's me rambling.

I guess that what I've been trying to get at, is that I hope that you all have found support in your endeavors, as well as people to support in theirs. Because with the way things are in the world, we need one another. Though, in my ideal world, we would all be be able to help each other. But, things are more complicated than that - limited resources, differences in so many things, not preferred mediums of expression, lots of stuff and all that, you know.

So, yeah. Thank you for coming here. That's how I wanted to start this off. With thanks.

But in regards to the blog - well the biggest thing on my mind recently is work. I've returned to shifts that start in the wee hours of the morning, which means that I'm either relying on sleep medicine to go to bed when the sun is out or losing sleep so that I don't feel completely dead when I start the day. The few hours I get off during my work week are usually spent cooking, cleaning, trying to stay somewhat healthy, or trying to catch up with my writing. And weekends are too short to do it all: catch up with movies or series, play games with friends, plan Dungeon and Dragons sessions, spend time with loved ones, decompress and be alone, explore things that I'd been meaning to. And doing some of those things means other things on the list won't be viable. So, the weekends are usually a balancing act. 

I'm sure that many of you have been experiencing this dilemma and that it's nothing new. But, probably for many reasons, this still plagues me. It's not something that's easily explainable, but I can definitely tell you that sometimes I feel a dread, even when the weekend is approaching, because there's so much to do. That's not to say that I'm ungrateful for the time off, but it feels like there should be more. It feels like everything other than work is slowly dwindling away and there's little that I can do about it. But, again, it feels like it shouldn't be like that. 

After all, I thought that life was more than mindless work. At least, that's what I remember being told as a kid.