It's Been a Minute
(Originally published September 6, 2023)
I haven't done any of my own writing in quite some time. This year has been chaotic. I personally have lost my job and my long-term girlfriend. It's been a year of a lot of change. I've also picked up a new day job, thankfully, and have continued to do what I can to work towards my personal goals, as well as my goals for Depressive Hacks R&D.
For those who are new, welcome to my blog. You may have seen me write about various topics on other platforms. I love the work I do and I love being able to write about web3, crypto, investing, and all types of topics that interest me. People want to publish certain topics and create certain types of long-form content. This written content is what I specialize in. When I have things I want to discuss that don't necessarily fit the mold of published content by external parties, I'll write a blog here about it. I don't do much editing because I hate it. I just let the words flow. Welcome to the unfiltered fun.
It's no secret that markets are down unless you're watching home prices like a hawk. Seemingly, every other asset class has taken a bath this year. My stock portfolio, which is publicly accessible on this website, has been as flat as early explorers thought the Earth was back in the day. My crypto portfolio has really nose-dived and I've really only been putting money into Bitcoin and Ethereum. I've added additional NFTs to my diversified collection and have found a multitude of new communities to network in, hang with, and enjoy. That has really been the highlight of 2023 in terms of my investments.
I've also continued to slowly work on projects that align with my long-term goals for Depressive Hacks R&D. If you are unfamiliar with how this got started, check out this blog post: https://blog.depressivehacks.com/2022/10/welcome-what-are-we-doing-here.html. If you are looking for the most recent update, please read here before continuing: https://blog.depressivehacks.com/2023/04/dh-r-whats-being-worked-on-now-where.html.
My biggest focus over the past few months has been to work on things behind the scenes for Birdie Golf. OpenSea delisted the collection earlier this year, which caused a lot of headaches for myself and the founder of the project. Luckily, we think that things are looking up and we are excited to finish the year with some cool updates we've been toying with as the bear market has raged on.
I have put Publishing NFT collections on the back burner. I did do a drop for a photographer earlier this year, but the lack of demand was difficult and the way things are going right now, it's not a good time to be launching collections. I don't necessarily think that there's a need to never launch anything again, but I've never been in this to create dozens of my own NFTs.
Yondar continues to be a focus and figuring out how to put this amazing product in front of event coordinators is still a top priority. Marketing is such an underrated part of starting a business. This is magnified when you realize that many companies shell out thousands of dollars to get noticed and get off the ground. If you're not a fully funded operation that's looking to catch its big break, how do you take off without finding thousands to drop into social media advertising? This is a concept I've been playing with and continue to try to use across various projects.
I have also been in talks with Bugatti Group to become an ambassador for their travel bags. With high-quality gear that's available in a variety of styles, I look forward to seeing where this new venture with Bugatti Group takes me. More information will become available as the details are ironed out as to what I will be making available, but I was too excited to not mention it in this blog post.
I am currently trying to figure out how to go about getting a new car, as mine decided to tap out, while student loan payments are rapidly approaching restarting next month. These additional monthly expenses will surely reduce my investment totals. My hope is to pivot back towards stocks a bit as the year winds down. I don't plan on dropping any significant funds into anything, but priorities change. Priority number one is to get used to the new loan payments and try to pay extra on them every month to reduce the interest and lifespan of the loan. I can't achieve my dreams if I'm buried in debt. This becomes more and more clear every day.
For now, stay tuned. I've really taken a lot of the summer to myself to try to focus on my own well-being with such a roller coaster of a year. I continue to speak weekly with my therapist and try to discuss how I feel and why. Some weeks it feels better than others. It's a process, just like fixing your finances or getting a new job. I've often felt like just being in therapy is enough and the accomplishment of being there makes me feel good. I'm learning that digging into some topics and really trying to open up on deep-level discussion is so important. It's not that I don't talk to my therapist, but even people who self-reflect a lot don't want to dig into the jowls of their existence every week. Everyone has something that makes their eyes twinge when they look at themselves in the mirror.
I will continue to do what I can and bring updates, thoughts, and writing to anyone who wants it whenever I can. I hope for a blissful rest of your week for you and wish you nothing but the best. Until the next time.