Long time no post!! Quick update on.... well, life.
After being laid off, I took the blacksmithing course March '17, but had to request a refund for the welding course to pay some bills.
In May of 2017, a couple months after my last post, I started working as a stagehand at Deer Creek (formerly Verizon Wireless, then Klipsch, now Ruoff) Music Center in Noblesville, IN. The production company contracted by the venue was happy with my progress and added me to their corporate A/V tech rotation. Both roles have given me a plethora of hands on--pun very much intended--experience and exposure to building sets and stages, rigging, cabling, audio, lighting, etc., etc. I'm *way* more confident in myself and particularly my skillset(s) than I was when I was laid off from my desk job in Feb 2017.
In September of 2017 a co-worker had an idea for some t-shirts but didn't know how to execute it. Since I have a graphic design background and a bit of print experience having helped a friend of a friend in his shop for a few months in 2017, I told him I could make the shirts happen! I turned that into a hobby then, in April 2019, made it a legitimate business (
www.iriemane.com)... though it's far from sustaining me, financially.
I met someone in May 2018, everything was great and she was on board with the skoolie idea initially, but late in 2019 she decided it wasn't for her. We split just before Covid broke out late Feb. 2020. Covid also blew up the stagehand/rigging path I was on, but things are trending in the right direction ::knock on wood::... set to start working full time again in mid-March.
Still have the dream, but I'm back to where I was in 2014 when I initially decided this was what I wanted to do... paying off debt. I'm much more prepared and pick up bits and pieces when I find them. Biggest score has been a Magic Chef 9.2 cu. ft. Bottom Freezer Refrigerator in Stainless for about $300 (discounted after damage during shipment)!