I've built a few guitars (from scratch), a few synthesizers and amps (from kits), and some guitar pedals (from scratch but using existing designs). I spend as much time as I can working on music, and do freelance jobs as much as possible (editing and mastering for Blackstone Audio last year, music researcher for Rovi for 7 years before that). Because of a series of tax scandals and mergers most of Blackstone's east coast freelancers were cut off this year, so right now I work part time at "the 9th most beautiful library in the world" and live off a dwindling savings for as long as I can manage it, because I haven't been this productive in a decade and the longer I can go without working full time the more productive I get. Lately I've started getting more interested in live video and am just beginning to learn
VVVV. It's pretty easy to understand so far because it largely follows the Max/MSP interface paradigm, which is really straightforward, but it's still a lot of stuff to learn and practice with. I give it maybe a year of work before I'd expect to start developing any real voice in it.
Socially I just do the usual stuff, hang out with people, spend a weekend with my family every month or two. Most of my friends are musicians and artists so its kind of the same stuff I do on my own a lot of the time. Most of the friends I made since I mved here left the state about a year ago so my circle's smaller than usual but I've been so involved with my own projects this year that I've been kind of slow about going out and socializing with people I don't already know. Now that fall's here and the weather isn't unbearable anymore that should change.
/lj
