Cortisol

Disappointment

I'm working on an audiobook of a novel I wrote. I have another recording session today with voice actors who play my characters!

Philosophical ramblings to justify my existence, which according to capitalism has no value because I don’t have the ability to work.

I created an email service called https://port87.com

It’s got fancy features that help you stay organized and spam free.

I also create loads of open source software, which I use for it:

https://sveltematerialui.com - A UI library for the Svelte framework.

https://nymph.io - An object relational mapper for Node.js and the browser.

https://github.com/sciactive/nephele - A WebDAV server with encryption, deduplication, and S3 support.

I have a big sprawling scifi universe I draw pictures of. There is a lot of lore in my head for it that I really am going to write down and present now that there are so many visuals.

I’m living on an old farm with lots of junk.

So naturally I am building an 8 foot tall wind-driven kinetic sculpture of a Wendigo.

I bought a welder and a cutoff saw. All the materials are retrieved from the trash gully that every respectable high desert property must have.

It’s a form of cope and even ritual magic for me. Embody the spirit of hoarding and greed so it is vulnerable and can be imprisoned, that sort of vibe.

It will take all winter to finish it. The rebar armature is flexible and bobs in the wind. I will add sun bleached oak branches to give it flesh.

My body is a machine that turns caffeine into uptime.

Chaos and discord.

I am a senior data architect and infrastructure programmer. I build the tools and design the data persistence that folks at my company use to build solutions for clients.

I create web applications! 🎉 (AKA I’m a typical Lemmy user.)

A bunch of FOSS hardware and software. https://twystlock.com was my latest creation. My next is a suite of modular open source home automation sensors including everything from air quality to mmWave presence.

In a more "professional" FOSS sense I just presented a new federated identity management system at IIW based on ActivityPub and OpenID Connect: https://fedid.me.

I also make a lot of behind the scenes algorithms.

Seeing machines, mostly

Tools that are used to create human misery on a mass scale.

I organize electrons in ways that make fancy sand organize more electrons.

I like to create software tools for people smarter than me to create bigger and better things.

I had a professor whose ice breaker question was some version of, "what book do you want to write/planning to write?" Everyone seems to have one.

Might not be as relevant today after blogs perhaps cleared that out of peoples' systems.

As for me, I cycle through mostly craft-based hobbies. Embroidery, leather work, candle making, 3D printing. I can make candles much faster than I can burn them, so that's self-limiting. 3D printing is great to have the materials and skills for, and I'm slowly learning to design in Blender. But at the moment I only use it when I suddenly need to have a thing-a-ma-widget and remember: "hey! I've got a 3D printer. Of course I can make a valve stem cover!"

I'll probably be back to leather crafts as we head into the fall and winter.

A hopeful path towards peace for people who struggle with stress at their job.

I draw angels mostly, but I do draw fanart from time to time as well! I've uploaded progress pictures, timelapses, and files associated with my work, too!

Carbon dioxide. A metric [emphasis]-ton of dust. Other waste.

Sometimes I write small Perl programs or Bash scripts, but that's rare, and it's mostly for my own benefit or amusement; even more rarely do I share them.

Sometimes despair. Sometimes happiness. Hopefully a sense of being informed and/or entertained if not also a (weak?) sense of camaraderie by means of weird little text interactions with people online.

Duct tape and cardboard solutions to questions like "How do I get these two pieces of photography equipment to work together?"

This month I'm building Bluetooth headphones for a teen I work with, he needs them to function but his parents won't spend money on them and he keeps breaking the cheap sets he has.

I'm working with a school metal shop to make steel frames for them and I've made the cups 3d printable and easy to replace. Of he does manage to break these, it will take no skill to repair them.

A mess

35mm film with picture negatives on it

I had a shop that made flaming nipple tassels, though I just closed down until the future is more certain. I also create sideshow and fire performances. My most recent one involves a drill and my skull.

And finally, a lot of D&D content, such as an entire world setting inspired by the tarot deck

Waste that I expell in the bathroom.

I create hastily designed lumber creations that are used to organize and store things.

Every couple of years I create a world for friends to play tabletop games in for a shared experience.

Some days I get paid to create written documentation and shared understanding of complex systems used to collect and report data that someone else will hopefully analyze and use for improving the educational opportunities of children.

I love the reframing of the question.

Profit for shareholders.

Lots of poo.

A good bit actually though. I'm disabled, so no job. This means that while I'm on my ass recovering from the necessities of living like cooking and cleaning, I have a shit ton of spare time.

Part of that is spent fucking around on lemmy.

The rest is usually spent on some variety or another of writing fiction. Short stories, a few ongoing novels, that sort of thing. Here and there a poem or song will pop in my head.

Then there's a bit of panting, occasional drawing, that kind of visual art.

I've also been known to run ttrpg sessions here and there, which is its own art form in a way.

jack shit

Free RPG content, which I'd be happy to share with you:

spittingimage.itch.io

Resentment in others.

Small mutant corn plants in little containers.

I have a podcast that I create with a couple of friends. We take an ordinary object—such as a ceiling fan, or a paper clip, or a toilet brush—and we create a movie plot based on that object. The show is called Almost Plausible, and can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.

Novels and short stories. Also very large children, carved wooden staffs, and random pieces of art.

Various 3d printed items, Last week I sewed some dust covers for my HOTAS peripherals, scripts to help manage my media library, nonsense comments on Lemmy.

As a welder, I create a ton of shit. Today, I created a new handle for a lathe, cut off the old one, and bolted on my part so the lathe functions (mostly).

I have a comic that I work on if I got the time and energy (I usually don't).

I also DM and I make stories and maps for my table

It's a byproduct of our society to ask what value your work does rather than you as a person. A better question would be "what stuff are you interested in?" I bet taking that spin will actually make people stop and think a second not only because it's not the normal question, but people have lots of interests and now they'll have to pick one that they want to share.

Burritos

maybe systems. my work tends to be getting one or more systems to do something a business wants.

I create useless applications for daily use. Now im working on an organizer that reads my work ins and outs to control my work hours and eventually cash in free days due to excess working hours.

Currently? Walnut ink.

Worldbuilding and video games! :(

programs, music and baby

Shitty code

Legos

It's been a while but I was learning to songwrite and record a few years ago. Been focusing on education lately so not as much time for it these days.

Listen to Carried Away by bootydharma on https://on.soundcloud.com/eceja

For the last year and a half I've been writing and drawing a fluffy, sapphic comic based on a very unserious British science-fiction show about a time travelling alien in a blue box (4 chapters so far). It's on AO3.

Has anyone asked OP what they create? What do you create, OP?

Resin dice, novels, 3D prints, paintings, video games, wooden furniture, RPG scenarios. I have way too many hobbies and maybe two hours per week to work on them, so in reality I create very little. But making something physical is incredibly helpful for keeping the worst of my depression at bay.

Memes

Ive always hated that question. Its usually asked to determine social status.