Table of contents:

I. Music Studio Postponed

II. Poverty Hot Tub & New Jeep Tracks

III. Jamuary Event & Studio Equipment

IV. A Throwback To My Oakland Apartment

V. Outro

Yo Tom Fulp, up the photo limit on blogs so I can always include silly drawings for the table of contents >:C

I. Music Studio Postponed

Snow has finally arrived on the mountain which means the work we've been doing on the music studio will be postponed until next spring. We managed to wrap the building and put some of the siding over the windows and walls; the structure should be safe covered in snow. Would have been nice if we had the money and time to finish the studio this winter, especially with Jamuary starting up in a few days but we still don't have insulation up or a heat source installed. If anyone is interested in the DIY studio build, read a few of my older blogs. Here's a couple pictures of the wrap job we did and some of the siding from before the snow fell.

II. Poverty Hot Tub & New Jeep Tracks

I'd take a picture of the studio build right now with a little more of the siding up but I don't feel like trudging through the snow to get it. This is a tough time of year because our roads get shut down and closed. We have to plan and prepare so that we can manage the next five to six months while covered in snow with zero road maintenance. We got two new toys to help manage our time with the snow, specifically tracks for our Jeep and a ghetto DIY hot tub.

The hot tub is just a recycled container we used last year to raise our baby hens in. Additionally we used a copper coil, some hosing, a pump, and a burn barrel. We popped a bottle of champagne open for Christmas and sat in it under the stars. Was very relaxing, water was nice and hot, stars were clear and beautiful. We get some really nice views of the milky way on the mountain, the nearest light polluting town being about an hour away and no neighbors. Half of the reason we moved to the mountains was for Tom to pursue his hobby in astrophotography. Some of the nebula photos he took in Tennessee are in an older blog which also includes some of our studio build progress. Go check that blog out. I also recently used a few of his nebula photos for the secret santa event. I was given CMYK Space Lady an OC by simoonmander. Made a tiny gif using some cheap effects and free software. Simoonmander is relatively new to Newgrounds so go give him some love, scout him, and go make friends :3

(For some reason the animation doesn't always work, go visit the art portal page for those high def nebulas)

III. Jamuary Event & Studio Equipment

For any musicians or composers that love an arbitrary challenge, Droid is hosting the Jamuary Song-A-Day-Challenge starting on January first and ending on the thirty first. Last year I turned my 30 tracks into an album around the theme Don't Give Up Until It's Over. I also hosted a Winterfest panel that month called Music Is For Everyone, themed around beat boxing and music appreciation for the musically uninitiated. I've been sharing music this last year with my fiance, teaching him what little I know while watching him digest music theory in his own time.

He's using Ubisoft's Rock Smith pictured above. It's essentially a guitar hero rip that plugs in your own instruments and slowly builds your chops with regimented lessons and practices. Please ignore the mess in our house photos. Tom's office is a project we haven't even started so his paper work eventually becomes one with the house floor. Eventually we'll build Tom an office above our shipping containers but that's a DIY project that will take some serious time and effort. With a wedding to plan for next year, I'm not sure how long it will take us to build a functioning heated second story office over these two containers:

Since we don't have kids running around we can spend spare money on hobbies and DIY construction projects. Tom got really interested in PRS guitars last year, hence all the new instruments. Though I played some bass & guitar in highschool, I'm not a pro with string instruments and prefer my place behind drums. I had to sell my childhood drum kit in my early 20s to pursue a life across the United States but have been getting back into it thanks to a recently acquired Alesis e-drum. Would love to incorporate the new instruments and toys into a few projects for Jamuary next month, let's see if I can get some music videos produced :3

IV. A Throwback To My Oakland Apartment

I'm sorry if these blog posts seem to show off luxuries. I've had some tough solo years, recently went into my old blogs and deleted a post about a drive by shooting I watched from an Oakland apartment I was renting at the time. It just felt weird reading about that time of my life through the veneer of artsy pessimism and fancy words. The apartment was my sanctuary in a very poor neighborhood. Though that year was incredibly tough (and the work that paid my bills legally questionable) I'll always have a somewhat fond memory of this space:

Ignore the heater's proximity to the bed, they were pushed closer for the picture. I was assaulted outside my door once by a kid named Tino, had to rely on a martial arts background to defend my property. There is a whole story surrounding the beef that led up to it involving a piano, a meth lab, and some train hopping but I'd rather keep blog writings positive and happy. Street violence and poverty are fascinatingly American issues that get glossed over because so many of us become indifferent to the suffering that others experience or are born into. The advice I often give others is to focus on keeping a roof over your head and know where your next meal is coming from. My time in Oakland taught me what it was like to be hungry and to be paranoid of every stranger you walk past on the street. It feels a lot better to be on the mountain, away from humans and sharing a house with this guy:

I'm in a good space. Feeling a little domesticated at the moment but after all the challenges life threw at me in my 20s it just feels all the better to have something idyllic and peaceful right now. There were more photos I'd love to share but I've hit the limit again...

V. Outro

I really wish they'd up the number of pictures you can include in blogs just a little bit. I love to include stupid drawings for the table of contents but that will get glossed over today in favor of the photos I chose to exhibit. Eventually more images will get shared in future installments but I'm going to keep this blog up for a little while as a strong reminder that life was good for me in 2022. Remember to hit some of the hyperlinks I provided above, check out some of the content I've uploaded to youtube, and support my adventures via purchasing some terrible music I've previously uploaded to BandCamp. Go listen to the podcast LD-W made featuring the 2022 Audio Deathmatch finalists. I provided some super dumb voice samples having helped a little in the judging process. Massive shoutout to Zechnition for winning it with his unique stylings and hyper melodic sounds.

Cheers and happy New Years Newgrounds. Go kill it in 2023 :D