Welcome to the Blog!

Y'know, for the very first blog post, you would expect something professional like "Hello, and welcome to my blog. Today we'll be talking about..." but if you know anything about me, and chances are you may not and this is our first chat but, I'm anything but ordinary. No, for me to start this all off, I'm going to go with something familiar...

HELLO EVERYONE, welcome to the Phantasmagoria of Plumes, a blog dedicated to... well, a lot of things really! If you're one of the people from above that this is the first time we're meeting, then let me take a second to introduce myself:

My name is Seth, and I'm (at the time of writing this) 28 years old. I'm a Systems Administrator with about 10 years worth of experience under my belt, slowly working my way to a Chief Information Security Officer's position. I'm also a Twitch Streamer, and the host of PlumesCast; a podcast dedicated to teaching life lessons through stories, bringing light to our struggles to remind everyone that despite how diverse the world is, we're truly not alone, and making you smile at least once per episode! 

Now, you're probably wondering, 'Well Seth, it's nice to meet you, but why would you lead on your age instead of your experiences?' And that's a good question! You see, I've had the pleasure (read: questionable experience,) of working with a variety of people across my career such as:

• The Old Timer - The 65+ year old who fights change with such a viscous desperation you'd think I was trying to take their actual child away from them. Also assumes that you don't know anything because "you're too green."
• The Exhausted Middle Management - The 40's through 60's, not quite where they want their career to be, but are making more than enough money that they're comfortable where they're at and don't feel like pursuing much else. Probably daydreaming of retirement as I'm typing this.
• The Broken Youth - The under 40's who are still trying to figure out where they want their life to go, how they want to achieve it, and most importantly, how can they afford it? Depending on how they're feeling that day, your day could be quiet or the loudest you've ever seen - the tea is always hot with them though. And last of all...
• The ID10Ts - You really don't know how they ended up in their situation, but man, they'll either sell you on whatever they're doing, or they'll make you wonder what the hiring manager was on and how you could get some. 

Suffice to say, I've worked with a lot of people, and I'm always looking to meet new faces - it's part of the reason that I started streaming. Typically, the only interactions I get to have at work because of my young age, outside of immediate coworkers and friends I make along the way, are with people having issues with their computers. Great for teaching myself stuff for the career and all, but TERRIBLE for the social aspect of y'know, a healthy life. So, in the middle of June 2020, I said "Y'know, I want to make people laugh through this pandemic weirdness, and I want to meet new people!" And thus, PhantasmaPlumes became a reality and I've been going (mostly) strong ever since. 

But, as I began to develop more content and I became more confident in the stuff I was doing, I realized, I didn't really get to talk life advice and tell personal stories as much as I wanted to during streams. It's kind of hard to talk about the importance of good Cyber Hygiene when you're getting destroyed by the Elite Four in Pokemon, as I'm sure you know. That's how PlumesCast, my weekly podcast, started to form within my head: it was actually a Subtember goal for 2021 - I wanted to start a new form of content that anyone who couldn't catch a stream for whatever reason could still hang out with me. But, it wouldn't stay a gaming type podcast for long - in fact, if you search PlumesCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or even Alexa, you'll find that most of the episodes are talking about mental health, well-being, so on and so forth. There's a good reason for that, let me explain.

After my Father passed of colon and liver cancer in 2016, I realized how many life questions I never had answered. I felt lost, scared; the deeper I went into that horrific thought pattern, the worse I felt like my life was going. My Mother, by this point in life, was already a drunkard living her best life down in Florida, and my Sister who would fill the crucial role my parents left was often so busy that I felt like I was bothering her with my stupid questions. It's a terrible place to find yourself in; you don't even realize that it's happening until you hit the ground, the air gets knocked out of you, and when you finally get that first breath to look around, it's all dark. Most of the time, people will give up there, accept their fate as a lost soul and march onward trying not to sink deeper - honestly, I nearly did the same. But, I had too many people who relied on me to stay down, too many friends that considered me the Dad of the group to show them my fears - I had to grow up fast once again. 

In doing so, I realized that there are countless people in that rut, filled with questions to give their lives meaning that they're too scared to ask or they don't know who to ask. That's what PlumesCast morphed to become - I wanted people to reach out and ask the questions they were too afraid to, and I wanted to answer them in a way a friend would. Looking back, I think I've done a pretty good job - we've had some serious laughs, some tears, but from those who've I talked to after them finding my humble little podcast, I know I've left a mark on their hearts. And that's why I wanted to take my content one step further. Welcome to The Phantasmagoria of Plumes.