Stupidity Meets My Patience

It's the 11th of August 2026, and things are not great!

I fell down the house stairs not once, but twice (in February, and again after 2 1/2 months in May 2026).  It was embarrassing, and worse the second time.  I'm not exactly sure how either one happened.  I rode my arms down the second time and yelled in pain.  it wasn't my finest hour.

I went through a healing bit, but the pain got much, much worse. Pain put me in the Emergency Room 4 times in June and July of this year. It was BAD!

Currently things are getting slowly better, after a visit to a Doctor (mine was on vacation) and a trip to a Orthopedic surgeon (who gave me a shot in the shoulder, saying I was all better now ... even though that wasn't the truth). 

After many consults and visits and calls to people who know things, did I start the process of moving forward with knowledge and time.  I actually know now what to expect and can deal with the issues properly as they happen. I AM healing and AM slowly seeing progress.  I am going to start physical therapy in a couple weeks, and am starting the slowly ween myself from the prescription pain meds the doctors gave me.

Am I still feeling pain?  Absolutely yes!

Is the pain getting more and more tolerable?  Yes.

Will it go away soon?  Probably not, but I keep trying to move forward.

More soon ... I hope.
  

What Comes Next (June 17th, 2026)

    So, it's the middle of Summer 2026.  What is the plan? What's the scoop?  What does a 56-year-old man do with his spare time now?

    Well, now I have a place and supplies to start some new projects like cosplay armor, 3D printing projects, Pepakura and general paper modelling, and many others projects I've wanted to do over the years. My only wish is that I could know what to start with.  Because there are literally hundreds of ideas and things to do.

    I have so many ideas for things to create and work on. I still have a couple unfinished cosplay armor sets for Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.

    In addition, the FCP Studio has been open and running for a while now.  So on top of the cosplay and other things that are in the planning stage, I am working in and out of the new workspace.  There were a lot of plans and stuff going to happen as soon as the studio opened, but things have slowed down considerably. We are doing a Kings of the Fools podcast every other Friday, but as of this posting we haven't done much else.  We planned on doing more podcasts, a streaming radio station, recording and composing of music, playing some D&D, and more.  But we have yet to see more than the return of a few episodes of the podcast.

    All in all, I'm still moving forward with the studio and other personal projects and responsibilities.  It's been a long road building the studio, keeping the house up and running, and all the other things everyone does to keep life moving.  Not to mention all the other things you need to do concentrate on life, health and motivation.  But here we are, moving forward and keeping on keeping on. 

    We will see what the days, weeks, months, years, (etc.) will bring. We all move on.

 

What happens now? (May 9th, 2026)

 The studio is all but complete, things are finding a home, and I'm getting a a little done every day.  The only thing is that my health isn't great.

 I find my health wavering every day.  I have good days, and bad days.  The end-of-winter basement flooding and snow build-up was pretty bad this year.  Last year was an almost 3 week ice storm, and this year was the water table and ground ice fiasco.  We have a lot to do to get the house repaired and ready for things for next year and beyond, with the basement and roof and the rest.  And that's just the house!

 With that taking the forefront, I also have to find time to finish the studio and a drainage ditch for the house.  Luckily, the studio is almost there and I am planning some things for this year.

 With podcasts in the works and other things coming, I am get excited for a busy summer and fall for this year.  We will see what the summer holds.

 More to come!

 

FCP Studio is Finished! (June 4th, 2025)

Not finished as in ca-putz, but completed! 

As of June 1st, the main construction and finishing work to the studio itself is complete. All that needs to be done is some trimming of the doors and baseboards, but the main office area is done.

We've begun the process of setting up the studio and common area currently. We have also begun completing the storage room and workshop as well. Besides these following pictures, we plan on updating when and setup is done and will start planning for more productive updates.

Check back for more information. 

Needful things...

What I've learned from building a studio as a disabled man:  

It's been almost 4 years now since we started construction on the studio. This is a project that I have been trying to get built for the last 35 years almost. I've tried several times in the past to make it a reality, but just never quite got there. I've currently come the closest I've ever come to having, completing, and preparing to set up the studio I've always wanted.  

A place for me to be able to express myself artistically. A place where I can go to be creative, inventive, and crafty. My own personal sanctuary. Every time I've tried before I've had very little opportunity or space to be able to try to realize this dream. A place where all my stuff was set up and ready to go, at a moment's notice. A place where all my things - musical, artistic and the like - would have a home. Not sitting in boxes in a basement, or in bags thrown in the corner. Everything would have its place. Everything would be there just waiting for me to pick it up and create.  

This wouldn't normally be an impossible or probable dream, accept for the fact that I've been disabled since I was in my late 20s to early 30s. At least officially. I've always been hindered physically since birth. Construction is a very physical activity. For someone like myself, who is limited in most areas of building and construction at the scale that I've been having try and do over the last less than 4 years, is not an easy task to say the least. It's not even really a realistic task for me. But taking my time over the last 4 years and with the help of family and friends, I'm happy to say that the studio is just about finished. All that's left is some painting and set up, and then we're ready to go.  

Unfortunately, in the last few weeks we found that there are water leaks in the walls of one side of the building. They're fairly significant leaks. And though we have a plan, there's not much I can do about it until the snow melts. So I am again having to wait to complete this process that started in March of 2021.  

When it comes to the building of the studio, disappointment and frustration with its painfully slow pace of completion has become all too familiar. However, my wife has helped me realize that whether or not the studio takes 4 days, 4 weeks, or 4 years, it will be completed. And that even though I'm almost 55 years old now, I should never let go of my dreams. Age is just a number, and you should always strive for something that inspires you ... that helps you get to a place you need, a situation of importance to you, and/or a sense of personal accomplishment, no matter what.  

So that being said, we wait until the snow leaves, we fix the problem, and we finish the job. 

Finish the job…that's a strange concept for me when it comes to this. I've tried several times through the years to try to accomplish what I'm doing now with the studio. But every time I've tried in the past, things seem to fall apart and it never gets completed or even started. Which makes this time special. Because, again with the help of the people of my life and forced patience, I'm just about to have what I've always wanted. My place for my happiness.  

Needless to say when it is completed, I will be posting all over the Internet and screaming it into the hills to let ALL know that it's finally here. Finally, after a long last.

 

 

Not-so-Happy New Year, 2025

So, here we are. A new year, a new day. The hope of 

promise and good fortune. Well, we'll see.

Let me start by saying that we didn't quite make our goal.

That goal was to have the office ready to start moving 

into sometime on or after the 30th of December 2024. 

Although we were able to get all the construction done, 

we were only able to get about 1/3 of the painting done. 

This is mostly in part due to the fact that I got sick on the

19th of December, and as of the date of this posting 

(December 6th, 2025), I'm hoping that I am on the mend 

now. I've been pretty sick for 2 weeks and 4 days. It'll still 

take me some time to get well enough to get back out 

there. I spent 3 and a half days bedridden sick, starting 

new year's eve then straight through the first three days 

of the new year.

So the goal now is to get well enough and strong enough 

to go out and finish the painting. We were able to get 

most of the sidewalls done, but now I have to get the tall 

endwells done and the ceiling done. And when that's all 

done we need to paint the floor one more time. And then 

we can start moving things in and setting things up. In 

the long run, it's not a huge setback. But it's extremely 

disappointing, nonetheless. 

I hope to have an update soon about the finishing of the 

painting and the consequent beginnings of setting up the 

studio. I've posted a couple pictures of what we did get 

done so far. Talk to you all soon.

Studio Construction Update

Since the middle of 2021, we've been in the process of converting an old mechanic's garage into a studio and office.  It will serve as the headquarters of Flaming Cabbage Productions; a group/company I, and a couple friends, founded in 1989.

This studio has been a passion project for a long time now, almost as long as FCP has existence.  As a matter of fact, there's been a couple of attempts to build the studio in the past. Both failed for various reasons. The third attempt has gotten as much farther than we were ever able to get before. I guess third time's a charm.  

 We have in the last three plus years gotten about 90% of the construction done. We're currently waiting to get help to put in the ceiling, after which we just need to fill gaps, trim and paint, and then start setting up the studio. 

The studio itself is going serve as a place to be able to do all the things FCP has done over the years; video and film production, graphic design, audio and music production, podcasting and streaming radio, website design, gaming, and much more. The building will also house a workshop for doing woodworking, electronics, cosplay, and other related projects. Besides these, they'll be many things will be utilizing the studio to accomplish. It'll be a place for creativity.

The deadline to get the ceiling in and the final touch is done was set to be the first day of summer June 20th of this year. As of the creation of this blog, we have about 14 days to go. It's unlikely will be able to get everything done before the deadline, but we're still pushing to see if we can get it done on or sometime shortly after the deadline. The point is is to get the construction completed so that we can just start setting things up to get ready to start the process of creativity, artistic expression, and pretty much whatever else tickles our fancy ... so to speak. 

We've been making updates on the Facebook page as we can. But updates are few and far between. The goal is to make a few updates as we finish with the construction and move into the setup and utilization of the studio itself. That's when the fun begins! That's when a year's Long dream comes true. Something I really desperately want to have in my life. A place for all my nerdiness and creativity to find a home. A place where all my stuff will be on display that I can just grab and play as the inspiration hits me. No more living out of boxes, no more waiting for me to be able to start tackling my dreams finally.

It's going to be amazing and it's going to be cathartic. And when everything's up and running, I can't wait to start doing some real updates and producing some content. 

Keep checking back, and maybe send me some good thoughts and well wishes. And if you read this up until now, thanks for taking the time.