Hello again. Lately I've been trying to figure where I'll be headed in life. A foolish pursuit I'm sure. Having been out of work since September, you would think I would be leaping at every job opportunity that became available. Well...

I've started part time at a nearby Goodwill store, and now have even more respect for those who work at donation centers, it's pretty heavy work for very little pay, and I haven't even done a weekend yet. Saturday and Sunday promise to be hellish, but these are the major dropoff days for most donors. And holidays are upon us, so the volume will be quite high. Can't wait...

Now until I was let go I was a lab tech for the last 13 years or so, and not uncomfortable doing the corporate routine. I used that money to fund films and other art projects, so it's not as if I've been unfulfilled artistically. I just never got nearly as much done as I wished. Ah well, I've never been good with "time management", God do I hate that phrase. So you would think that I now have all this free time, I would get up off my duff and commit to the life of a starving artist, or at least a subsistence artist. Hmm...

That hasn't quite kicked in yet. Why, you may ask (or not)? Some internal blockage? Money troubles? Time management? A bit of all three? They have some bearing, but in the end I will say that I've never been in a position to fend for myself, as a hustler, as a go-getter, as an individual. That will have to change, and like all changes that occur I have my own fears and trepidations about "that". But I will see those through, and will overcome, and will grow.

In the very short time I've become active in the furry community I have seen a lot of true individuals, creatures of all shapes and colors who haven't let life stop them from their pursuit of their own dreams, the fulfillment of their identities. With all of these examples to follow, I need not fear that this is unattainable. On the contrary, if we are all to survive the hard times we live in, and the harder times that are yet to come, we must look within ourselves for our strength. And when we do not see that strength, we only have to look to each other and gain our strength from within this strange and fantastic community.

In strangeness we find comfort, in fantasy we find freedom.
Humbly,
Max C