You are my favorite person, I appreciate you! :D

Seriously, thank you for supporting. I've worked with softsynths all my adult life, mainly Reason for production and arranging, Ableton for live shows. One of my bandmates is a gearhead, we've tried all kinds of his hardware including modular stuff, and it was just a learning curve that I was not really interested in. My music production time is really limited (One of my bandmates and his wife just adopted 2 kids out of foster care, and my other bandmate is a full time teacher), I only get about 4 hours a week to actually collaborate with them. Every time we've tried writing and creating with hardware, it just left us with getting nothing done during our once a week session. We stick with the softsynths we know and keep the train moving forward. So the balance struggle there is, do we take several sessions off to try something new? Or do we keep creating and being productive. Its tough.

Yah! It is. I cook often, but its not really a hobby for me. I just like good food and I don't like spending money eating out.

Thanks! I have a tour scheduled next week for a trade school for their electrician program. I'm not 100% sure if I have an interest in it, but it has the traits I am looking for. Being useful, having a purpose, working with my hands, etc. I will see how I feel after the tour.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried doing a terrarium last year and was just entirely unsuccessful. Had a fungus issue, cleaned it all out, tried again, had a fungus problem. I put it on the back burner and figured I would try again in the future. Shrug.

Both kind of. I mean, that's the dream right? Finding something you find interesting and gives you purpose and then being able to make a living wage doing it. Its interesting you mentioned being an electrician. I have a tour scheduled next week at a local trade school to explore being an electrician. Do you have any suggestion on questions I should ask during my tour?

Thank you for the kind words. I will look into the SDS test.

WOW! That's really neat, I've never considered something like that. Sounds really cool.

Thats super cool. I didn't think it would really be a thing around here. I will look into it. Thanks!

All great suggestions. I was gifted a secondhand resin printer a while ago. I don't have any post processing stuff or anything so haven't really delved into it.

Currently I am sitting on the board of directors for a new non-profit. Been trying to get it off the ground and have done some good in the form of utility relief for families in need. Its a lot though and while I am keeping at it, its not really scratching my itch to find new purpose.

I'm already on the board of directors for a non-profit on a volunteer only basis. I have a passion for charity, but its pretty slow going sometimes. Its kind of lost its luster like everything else.

Heh, unfortunately no. I was born and raised in Ft Lauderdale, but now reside in Missouri... so no where near water, lol.

That's really cool. I've considered welding, seems really neat. Good luck, build something awesome!

Yeah, when I was younger, I could always see myself as a teacher. The truth is, its not enough money and being more of a "jack of all trades" type, I don't have any expertise in anything to be able to teach someone else effectively. At least that's how it feels to me.

Honestly, that's really beautiful. I can tell you have a lot of passion for your hobby. I am going to look into this and subscribe to the youtube channels you listed. Thank you!

Yeah, I've got a ton of music published, its all on Spotify/iTunes/etc. The name of my band is Giant Monsters on the Horizon. Been doing music for a long while. https://open.spotify.com/artist/4HmglWNfF7jAYQxbEjv9Xt?si=wKM8b_rATrSgx5WV7ITDdw

I appreciate what you are doing and am glad you found something that you enjoy. I've tried to contribute music to game development before, and each time the project ended up falling apart and the game never finished. I even wrote a score for an independent film once... then covid hit, funding fell through, and the movie was left in post production hell. I've released a ton of stuff on my own, but as a big ol video game nerd, I would love to breach that medium.

I know that feeling. You and I are on a mission to find what gives us purpose and happiness. I hope you find it, friend.

I've never been particularly talented at visual arts like drawing and painting, my artistic talents mostly come in music. Which I've been doing for a long time and burnt out on. I do know you can develop a talent like drawing with enough time and effort, so its not totally out of the question.

That sounds really cool and challenging. I am going to look into it. Thanks!

Definitely something I've considered. From my decades of working in front of computers, I would love to do something with my hands. I've looked at trade schools in my area and weighed some options.