03:46 pm - StratMath
Just in case anyone ever comes by here again - it is the original puzzle blog, after all - I thought I should at least mention that I have started publishing puzzles again, one a week, on my Patreon. As of this post, I have eight so far.
I suppose I should at least try to "sell" my project, loath though I am to do such things: StratMath is a community dedicated to games, mathematics, and especially where they intersect. I should mention that "games" includes both traditional games and videogames. Leveraging my seven-year experience as a Twitch streamer and lifelong experience as a game collector and a math nerd, I'm planning a YouTube channel with deep dives, game shows, strategy guides, puzzle schtuff, and the like. I'm also in the process of making my own games; a card game of my design has already been playtested and should be nearing salable form soon. Supporters gain access to a community Discord server to follow along and have their input noted; there's also a cheaper tier that just lets one read the Patreon feed, which is where the weekly puzzles go, so that might be of interest to someone reading this. (There's also my personal Discord server and my Fediverse feed for anyone interested in those.)
Back when I started this journal, I gave away prizes for solving puzzles, and the puzzles themselves were of course free. As much as I'd like to keep doing that, my situation as I'm typing this is very much the opposite from back then: I am unemployed and homeless. Thankfully, I'm not completely penniless - I'm at a hotel right now, and can easily afford a whole year's rent at a modest apartment with my savings (if I can get any prospective landlord to accept me as a tenant) - but as things currently are I'm going to find myself broke in time. I therefore hope I can be forgiven for essentially now charging money for what I once gave away. If anyone wants to personally support me, the StratMath Patreon is what I would direct well-wishers to; there's even a no-benefits tier for it. Also, spreading the word can be an ENORMOUS help, as sanity knows I'm a terrible salesman. I'm hoping that I can grow the community to the point where I can point at my patrons' offerings and be able to call it "my income" entirely non-disingenuously. (It would certainly make it easier to get a prospective landlord to accept me as a tenant.) I very much plan to earn every penny.
EDIT 2023-05-08: I do now have an apartment, but I'm still staring down a proverbial barrel at a proverbial clock that is ticking toward decidedly-non-proverbial pennilessness. Any help to slow down that clock remains as appreciated as ever. Potentially, it can even be made to tick in reverse, and should that happen, I'd be able to start giving back again.