Blogging is Back!
It has been a minute since the last time that I have sat down at my computer and actually written something that is long-form, on my website, and vented about things that are going on in my life and things that I just want to write about but don’t always feel like talking about. The reason that I like to write a lot more than I like to talk is that I don’t always have the best way with words when I am speaking. I am a decent speaker, but with writing, I can craft what it is that I want to say in a way where if I were just speaking, I would start to get sidetracked when I said something that sparked another idea, and I would go on tangents.
Sometimes tagents are fine, and for my YouTube videos that I do those tagents are more appropriate for that platform. I don’t really have a script for my YouTube videos; all I have is a main idea with maybe some points written down that I want to make sure that I talk about in those videos, but for the most part, those videos are unscripted and just me thinking of things to talk about on the fly.
Enough of all of that, though, becuase I talk about that a little too much, but I think it is worth reiterating here since I am just getting back to doing my blogging. It has been over a year since my last blog post, so let me fill you in a little about what I have been up to and what I have got going on in the future.
Life Update:
So what has been happening in my life has been interesting. When I say interesting, I don’t mean that in a good way all the time, either. As a matter of fact, a lot of it has been a learning experience, and I have recently been getting back to my baseline of being happy and content with my life again. I didn’t get life, but it was a rough patch for sure, and I am glad to finally just starting to come out of it on the other side.
One of the most traumatic things that happened in my life was losing someone that I was very close to, especially for the last few years of their life, and that had helped me throughout my life. I am not going to say who it was or how they passed away becuase I would like to keep that on a need-to-know basis with the people that matter to that situation, but it did affect me in a way that I did not think it would. Both in a good and a negative way.
The good of the situation was in my opening of my eyes more, having a new appreciation for life and how precious life really is. The average lifespan in the United States, where I live, is a little over 78 years. For the black community, which I am a part of, a black man’s average lifespan is almost 68 years. I am now 32 years old, so I am close to that halfway point in my life, and I want to be sure that the last half of my life is better than the first half of my life. The motivation, confidence boost, and the courage that also came from me going through the loss are something that I am forever grateful for.
The bad of the situation is the love that I have for the person not being able to be received by them, no longer being able to have them to talk to, and not being able to make more memories with them. All I have left of the person now is memories, pictures, and reminiscing about them. Is it enough? Of course not; however, I am going to hold onto and cherish that I am able to have those things that I do have from them, no matter how insignificant I may think that they are.
Another thing that happened to me was becoming homeless. I have been homeless a few different times throughout my life, and I am grateful that I have been able to make it out of that homelessness every time now. The thing that I liked about being homeless was the freedom that came with it, the determination that it gave me to not be another statistic on a sheet of paper, and the courage to live my dream of being able to live the creative life that I am now trying to build for myself. The bad was, of course, not eating every day, not having a safe place to sleep at night, and just being out in the elements. The character building that occurred during that time, though, is something that I need to be sure that I do not forget because it is what will continue to build me and allow me to make it into the next phase of my life.
I ended up finding a job at a convenience store and have been working there for almost 3 months now. I was also able to sleep on my sister’s couch for a couple of months, until just recently I decided that I was able to move out on my own and found an extended stay hotel where I am able to have my own space until I find my own apartment.
When I was homeless, I was still doing the artwork that you may or may not have seen from me online becuase that is what kept me sane and allowed me to get all of my creative ambitions out into the world.
What Comes Next?
What comes next for me is finding a routine of being creative and continuing to make money with a regular job. Since I got my computer from my storage unit now, I am going to be doing more creative stuff, and hopefully, it will be of higher quality now. All of my creative stuff that I was doing before was just on my iPhone and my iPad. They are powerful devices, but they are not a full computer just yet, so I had to find some workarounds for stuff that I wanted to do.
This blog that I am writing now is not something that I was able to do because, for some reason, the iPad doesn’t like the framework of my Squarespace website. More advanced video editing is now possible, music production, and more of the artwork that I have been doing for almost 2 years now. One day, I hope to livestream on YouTube, but I don’t think that is something that I am going to do just yet.
Another big thing that I need to get is a car, so that is something that I am working on now for sure. It doesn’t have to be a fancy car; a Honda or Toyota will do just fine. I just need it to get places, and so that if I want to switch jobs in the future, I can do so without too much of a hassle in getting there.
That is all for now. I don’t know how often I am going to be blogging, but it is definitely something that I want to do more of and will be doing more of in the future, so be on the lookout for it.