Emancipation, in a small yet significant way...

It's been almost a year since my last disgruntled post, and a lot had changed since then.

As very few of you know, my situation at the Big Bad Corporation got so bad that I decided to throw the towel in. No wait, that sounds like I gave up. I didn't give up - I chose emancipation, rather. Around August last year I decided that enough was enough, and I took a great big risk. This was along the lines of the plans that I spoke about in my last post - it just happened sooner than I expected, and with no safety net.

I started my own company. It's called 1337 Media, and it (read as I, because I don't have employees yet) specialises in custom publishing and internet publishing. The cutom stuff pays the bills. Hopefully the internet publishing will take over on that front some day soon, because that's really where I want to be. I am also supplementing the company's income by doing quite a bit of freelance journalism.

I said emancipation before and some of you - of those few who have read or might read my blog - may think that it was an exaggeration, or a joke. It's neither. I truly feel free now. I have the discipline to do my work from home, on my own terms. It's fantastic. My stress levels are at an all time low... even the stress related eczema that plagues my hands since the early 90s has completely cleared up. Sure, there are worries, but they are things that I have a modicum of control over. I feel as though I have become the captain of my own destiny (as much as the powers that be allow for that) and I feel like I am on top of the world.

Three days ago, my second website went live. The first, called Headshot SA (found at www.headshotsa.com) is a video gaming website designed for the South African market and, in all fairness, it's doing as well as can be expected. The second site, though, is cruising. Called Audiophile SA (www.audiophilesa.com) it deals with music- ALL music - and has seen a surprising response from both the industry and internet users at large. It is doing really well, considering that it is still in its early stages, and I forsee great things for its future. A third site has already gone into early planning stages, but more about that later.

So there you have it. I didn't disappear. I didn't die (although at times I wished I would.) Nope. I evolved. I changed. I grew. And all for the better.

I will try to do this more often again - I will try to do it at least once a week. My time constraints are very different now and if I want to spend time on the internet during working hours, my boss doesn't really mind.

Oh, yeah, the new avatar. I thought it appropriate. I have found my smile again. I also thought a change in the look and feel, as well as the name of my blog, was appropriate.