Long story short, life at the Studio/Theme park has hit a bump (the total collapse of the tourism economy) and people have lost their jobs, park hours have been slashed and the future of the Western as an American staple of cinema is in doubt. I'm lucky, my hours were cut but I have a job at least for the moment. It's funny the cycle we are in at the moment, strangely nobody had the foresight to see that high risk, variable interest rate loans were a bad idea (seriously if you did not see this coming as a Banker you may be retarded). So the American upper class crust goes into survival mode at the news and pulls money directly out of the economy, the house of cards buckles under the weight of never really being based on a solid financial ground (printing more money depreciates existing money people, you need shit to back it up). Businesses cut hours/jobs to save money, fewer people have money to spend and so goes the cycle. I suppose I need not go into the multitudes of how absolutely broken our economy has been since the inception of the 'Federal Reserve', suffice it to say I hope we are bottoming out.

I think the Dalai Lama said 'Whatever suffering there is in this world is due to want for oneself, whatever is good comes from the want for others', maybe I paraphrased but you get the idea. I could dwell on this negative spiral of how the system of Capitalism keeps Americans in debt and therefore slaves to that economy, but lets face it the adrenal gland is still too big and the frontal lobe too small at this stage of evolution for people to truly change and awake from the dream that greed and religion have woven. All I can say is that I hope that the emergence of consciousness and critical thought can withstand the current rate of destruction greed is subjecting this planet to.

All that aside I am using this as my wake-up call, acting and stunts while paying the bills has largely been a distraction from my sculpting for the last two years. I am also keenly aware of the toll this profession has taken on my body as back pain has become a permanent fixture in my consciousness. I'm also cutting back on some commission work, indy one offs do not cover their own costs in terms of time and effort. I'm not saying I'm too good for anyone's project mind you, but being extremely picky of my subjects and concentrating on my personal efforts is the only way I can continue to grow in this art. All that being said, I can't thank everyone here enough for being as supportive as you all have been. Despite the bureaucratic BS which follows any community I still find DA (IE my fellow artists) a tremendous source of inspiration and I consider it a huge privilege to grow with all of you here. Now lets get off the PC and make some art (unless you're a digital artist, in which case you should just open Photoshop, Painter etc).