Let's see. Hmm... Nope. No gray hairs on me yet. WAIT! What's THIS!? Oh. It's a pine needle. Nevermind.

Fear not about whining on the subject of money and doing something you enjoy. It is good to hear that other people are in the same boat. I guess this is the thing we struggle with at this age... that is, the age between 3 and death. How can I get paid AND sit around and watch cartoons at the same time? Hmm. A noble question that deserves a noble answer. When I find a pretty smart nobleman, I'll get back to you on that. ;-)

Good luck, dude. It is a hard circumstance to face. So far I've chosen making money...albeit not a lot, and I have had mixed results.

Mike. Go to film school. Go. Morgage your first-born child. Let Birdie support you by doing cat-food commercials (I bet they need large-size models for those, too ;-) ). Seriously. At the very least it'll let you put off those student-loan payments a little longer...

Right there with ya, brother. Right there with ya.

Radioshack is hiring down here, and FSU has a film school. :-P

I feel a pang of sympathy as I sit here and read your blog while "working" as a temp. The real problem occurs when the stuff that makes you feel less lost starts to make you feel lost. Then you're out of both money AND meaning. At least you have meaning.

I hope you can find a solution to your funk soon. I know how much it sucks 'cause I'm right there with you. Feel free to whine as much as you like.

Well Mike, coming from someone who is trying to "make it" it really does help to "fake it." If you catch my idiom reference.

Doing the film stuff you and Shawn are doing for the studio is an excellent step. Every step like that you take makes it easier to take the next one.

I made a huge step taking on OPi8.com. In fact, looking back it was probably a fool's leap. Had I known what I was really getting into, I would have never thought I could do it. The time, effort, and frustration involved can be crippling, but when it works, it's like a high and I'm always feenin' to get that feelin' again.

I don't have time to run OPi8.com (which includes not only the site itself, but I'm getting a comic anthology published, getting t-shirts printed, and organizing a legitimate Not-for-profit corp), raise a family, enter a novel contest, write RPG material, develop original comics, and also work with my friends on their websites/bands/social needs. I do it anyway, because I need to.

The time makes itself. The strength of my desire makes it so. I never had this sort of motivation before, but that one step of picking up that website caused everything to snowball.

And to be honest, if it weren't for friends like you and Shawn and Gary, the need to have something to give Dee, Gabriel and the Unnamed, and the support of the people I'm working with and for, I couldn't do it. I have a feeling that enthusiasm and motivation are infectious, viral.

It all comes down to one mantra: "Get the shit done."