Over three weeks have passed since my last post. And the perception of time is still messed up compared to life before Covid. I’ll start with the shop I posted on my blog. I’ve done this before, but the process of setting up a store took me five hours. Through the hosting site Bluehost I had to set up woo commerce, and then the outside website Printful. Took me a while to realize through woo commerce I had to add Stripe so people could pay. My first sale was a mug, and since I didn’t add enough shipping I had to pay a buck and a quarter. Not many people will pop for a 17 dollar mug, over 20 dollar shirts, and a near 40 dollar hoodie. But I think #readskatelove is worth keeping. As far as I know it doesn’t cost extra to keep the print on demand store on my site.
I joined Substance skatepark on February 5th. This is one of only indoor spots in NYC, and it was easy to join. At $120 a month I want to make it worth it. They have regular hours of 4 to 8pm Monday through Friday, and 12 to 8pm on weekends. Members can go anytime they like. I try to get there shortly after 8 pm for a few hours. There are people there at the time and I’ve had fun. The first week I went five times, and that made me too sore. The second week I only went once. My goal is to average three to four times a week. I will progress, by how much though I don’t know. I do know over the last few winters I skated less in winter compared to summer. It gets dark here earlier, and it can get cold. I’m also seeing people I haven’t seen in a while at Substance, and it’s fun.
With my goals with skating, it takes time, and writing has taken a back seat for me. But I’ve read both of the book club selections for this month. When I get home I’m a little amped, and I’ve read myself to sleep most nights. I think reading regularly like this can only help my writing in the future. I don’t imagine I’ll pick up my memoir project again, that felt like an act of narcissism, and to write one’s memoir, you got to include people in your life, and several might not want anything to do with it. I’ll revise my novel attempt at some point, but that can wait.
I’m planning to skate more, and hopefully get clips. I already have to some degree. Instagram/facebook reels are for 90 seconds and you can add music to it. I’ve made several. I also found out youtube does a similar thing with youtube shorts, which are 60 seconds. Late Saturday night I made a youtube short and got 400 likes really quickly. A few months ago I tried facebook pro that if you get a huge amount of views, they’ll pay you. I got rid of that feature, but I do enjoy making clips. Some are below. The last one I made from private to public, but is my ‘full part,’ from 2013. That’s all for now!
