A brief update on me 12-8-2021

I get that it is currently the Holiday Season, and people are zipping around between work, mandatory "Holiday Parties," shopping before what good stuff is out there is gone, etc.  Everyone is busy.  I'm busy cutting brush, burning what can be burnt, recording video, editing, and writing.  I also have the fact that my living room is a flurry of boxes, some flat, some box shaped, some packed and ready to move seven or so hours away to my soon to be ex's apartment.  The split is amicable to the point of "who's keeping..." and responses being along the line of "I just assumed..."  So I have that as an upside to all of this.  My house is very sureal right now, as if Salvadore Dahli wrote the current script we are following.

Go Fund Me is appearing to be a bit of a mess.  "Do this and that and no problems with non-matching names."  Uh huh, I call bologna.  I have now uploaded documents twice and I am supposed to hear from a represenative in 2 to 3 business days. 🙄  On top of that its balance is still $0.00 so is it even worth using?  They keep sending me "share this on Facebook, useres who do gain more donations," again I call bolagna.  I don't have one, I trust that company less than I trust a politician who says "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

Patreon the friend of YouTubers everywhere,  nothing acquired there, but I'm not sure completely how it works yet.  From what it appears it will take a bit of time to see results on that one.

My own donation page has been my best source so far, but I'm holding at $325 between Cash App and Venmo.  So I guess that's what I need to promote.  The upside is 100% of the funds make it to me, and until I hit the $20,000 mark everything goes straight into the shop.

I have secured a tractor to use!  I have to pay to get it here is all but that's way cheaper than a rental.

I have a lead on some older woodworking tools, but nothing definitive yet--stay tuned for updates!

To get going I need $4,000, that gets me the roll off dumpsters and a new roof from the walls up.  It does not get me anything else just those.

I am still actively looking for a "normal" job I've had one place tell me I'm too old, and two others "oh, you're from long-term care" conversations ended soon after.

What does the shop mean to me?

Well for starters I've had to refuse three seperate comissions this Summer as I had no space to build them.  Between them I could have kept my bills paid for three or four months.

The shop is a new life for me.  To be my own boss.  I won't have to worry about being slow on a bad arthrites day.  If I'm moving a bit slow in a morning I can't be late.  I have more flex to work on my writing--I have several novels in states of incompletion--and on my cooking videos too.  I will need several pieces of furniture, and I can make them from the shop and my 100 year old Singer in the living room.

Basically like most people who dream of working from home the shop and channel means freedom.  For me it has one added bonus that I can be me and not have to reup the act of being a guy and dieing inside a little more each day.

https://www.mauraalwyen.com/help-support-maura