Building Portfolio Site While Facing Financial Pressure

September 24, 2025. rswfire is hiking the Taken Trail near Technich Lake off Highway 101, climbing dunes while out of breath from vaping. He's on his days off from Forest Service volunteering, planning to spend the next two days working on his portfolio site. Weather appears clear with occasional insects present.

Energetic Signature

resolute

Field State

threshold navigation

Orientation

toward aligned economic interface

01K5WM7GQ0CAYBKF9FHJCBDENX

September 24, 2025

24:01

View on YouTube

Author

rswfire

Status

ARCHIVED

Type

TRANSMISSION (CAPTURE)

Temperature

0.00

[0:00]So, I'm going to uh start this video by

[0:03]addressing an audience

[0:06]um that I haven't built yet that I

[0:07]haven't tried to cultivate. There are

[0:09]like eight subscribers to my channel.

[0:12]I think they're probably people who have

[0:15]been following my journey for quite a

[0:16]while. They probably found my new

[0:19]channel and

[0:21]cuz you know the

[0:23]just the vibe I get.

[0:26]You'll notice that I don't allow

[0:28]comments on my channel. I don't even

[0:29]show the number of likes a video gets.

[0:32]And you'll notice that the titles are

[0:35]just a long string of letters and

[0:36]numbers.

[0:38]That's called a Ulid.

[0:41]All this is deliberate.

[0:45][Music]

[0:46]I had a YouTube channel for a year and a

[0:48]half

[0:50]and I didn't feel

[0:54]like I had grown an audience that

[0:57]was aligned with me.

[1:00]I think most people

[1:03]online

[1:05]consume others

[1:09]and they don't really see them as whole

[1:11]human beings living their lives.

[1:18]And for me that's

[1:24]well I call it simulation.

[1:28]You're not connecting with somebody if

[1:30]you can't see them.

[1:34]And so I ended that channel

[1:37]oh I don't even know months ago.

[1:41]I've been making videos every once in a

[1:42]while. I've been I'm hiking. I'm a

[1:43]little bit out of breath here. I need to

[1:48]need to stop vaping so bad.

[1:53]So, I'm right off the 101. Like I said,

[1:57]I had a trail called the Taken Trail.

[1:59]It's near our Technich Lake. It's kind

[2:02]of the area that

[2:04]I live in as a volunteer.

[2:07]I just walked down here today to take

[2:09]this trail. It's pretty long. It's like

[2:10]three miles one way.

[2:13]Um, and I've been going uphill the whole

[2:14]time. We're climbing a dune. I think

[2:17]we're climbing. Yeah, we're climb

[2:18]climbing a dune right now.

[2:27]Really need to quit vaping. It's the one

[2:29]thing that I feel like I could really do

[2:31]to improve my health.

[2:34]It just happens to be the hardest one.

[2:37]And so

[2:41]even though I'm very active, I do this

[2:42]all the time.

[2:46]Nice of the forest service to put a

[2:47]bench here.

[2:50]Nice for

[2:52]like little things like that.

[3:00]So yeah, um just wanted to start by

[3:03]addressing an audience so they had some

[3:05]kind of idea of what they're walking

[3:06]into here.

[3:09]So I'm just going to kind of record a

[3:12]transcript after this describing what I

[3:15]want to do with the homepage that I'm

[3:16]making a portfolio site for my work

[3:20]that I'm going to transcribe and share

[3:22]with the AI in order to have it help me

[3:23]build it.

[3:25]Um,

[3:32]there's just so much. Um,

[3:38]so I'm at

[3:41]I'm at a pivotal point in my life, put

[3:43]it that way.

[3:46]Been volunteering

[3:49]for the Forest Service for six months.

[3:53]I'm about to start a new roll with them

[3:55]next month, a couple weeks from now.

[4:00]Flat broke. Haven't found a job. I have

[4:03]been earnestly looking on Upwork.

[4:08]I thought that I might have landed one.

[4:10]I was really hopeful, but it didn't come

[4:12]through. And that happens. I don't have

[4:14]a reputation on this site yet. I built

[4:17]one up over a long period of time on a

[4:20]different platform and I was very

[4:22]successful there,

[4:24]but nobody uses it anymore.

[4:28]And you can't really just port your

[4:30]stuff over to a new platform cuz, you

[4:32]know, for all kinds of reasons.

[4:35]So, I've done everything I can I feel to

[4:39]um give myself a solid foundation on

[4:41]which to start building new client base.

[4:46]um been bidding on jobs, but

[4:50]a lot of the ones I bid on, 50 plus

[4:52]people are also bidding on them. It's a

[4:55]cutthroat marketplace

[4:57]without statistics or reputation on

[4:59]there. I'm getting ranked lower, I'm

[5:01]sure. You have to pay for your bids.

[5:06]Um it's

[5:08]in some ways an exploitative

[5:09]marketplace.

[5:11]So, I just got to the first dune that

[5:13]turns to sand.

[5:15]You just walk right along the edge of

[5:17]it. I love this place. This is a

[5:19]wonderful place.

[5:22]So, um

[5:25]I'm doing everything I can, but I'm flat

[5:27]broke and

[5:29]don't really have everything I need as

[5:31]far as supplies.

[5:33]Running low on everything and don't have

[5:36]fuel.

[5:37]Don't really have much food.

[5:40]um

[5:43]sold just about everything that I can

[5:46]and what I have left people aren't

[5:49]wanting to buy because it's been up on

[5:51]Facebook Marketplace for weeks or months

[5:54]with nobody showing any interest. So,

[5:58]I feel like I've reached

[6:01]the base level

[6:04]of whatever signal I'm tracking.

[6:12]I'll either rise from here

[6:15]or I won't.

[6:17]But I'll learn something from it.

[6:21]So I'm trusting

[6:28]trusting in this process that I've been

[6:29]following.

[6:37]So, I guess I'll leave it at that.

[6:40]Um,

[6:43]if if someone happens to see this,

[6:47]um, who knows me, who resonates with

[6:50]this and can help, all you have to do is

[6:53]go to my homepage, rswire.com.

[6:56]There's a link in the description

[6:58]and go to the contribute page. There are

[7:02]links there for sending me money if you

[7:04]can.

[7:06]No doubt.

[7:09]I'm doing everything I can to build

[7:13]build a life that's sovereign and

[7:17]but not

[7:20]not separated from the world just on its

[7:23]edge

[7:25]where I think it makes most sense to be.

[7:28]And that's hard to do.

[7:31]It's definitely hard to do.

[7:33]But I feel like I'm getting there. I

[7:35]feel like I'm close.

[7:38]So,

[7:40]I'm going to switch gears here now.

[7:43]I want to describe this project I'm

[7:45]going to create.

[7:47]So, originally

[7:50]I started

[7:52]adapting uh my my repository for

[7:56]rswire.dev.

[7:58]Originally, it was just a Laravel

[7:59]project with a landing page written in

[8:02]view.

[8:04]Um, and then I got this idea in my head

[8:07]about a week ago that I'd really like to

[8:09]try using React.

[8:12]Um,

[8:14]feel like I we're going uphill again. By

[8:16]the way,

[8:18]this is some steep train here.

[8:23]This is a wonderful experience. So,

[8:27]so got in my head that

[8:31]wanted to build a threeact

[8:34]cuz I saw some code from it. It was very

[8:36]clean and I liked it compared to how you

[8:39]would do it in Vue.

[8:41]So, I thought I'd use the dev site

[8:45]um

[8:47]to migrate my main site, the.com

[8:51]from view to react.

[8:53]But then I got to thinking ours.dev dev

[8:56]is it's a good name on its own and I

[9:00]could turn that into a portfolio site

[9:05]featuring

[9:07]I don't want it to be

[9:10]um

[9:12]don't want it to be like other people's

[9:15]not marketing myself I'm not

[9:22]I'm not here

[9:25]in this world to

[9:28]um

[9:35]at a loss for words on this one. I just

[9:38]feel that a different approach works for

[9:40]me and always has.

[9:43]I don't need to downshift. I don't need

[9:45]to

[9:47]um I don't do what other people do. I do

[9:49]what resonates, what feels right to me.

[9:53]For some reason, that's odd to most of

[9:54]the world.

[9:57]Perfectly logical

[10:00]and clear to me.

[10:02]And somehow I made it this far in life,

[10:05]48 years, so it must be doing something

[10:07]right.

[10:12]So, this isn't a marketing heavy type

[10:14]site, but I was thinking maybe it starts

[10:16]with a landing page.

[10:19]Maybe there's a section

[10:22]um where I describe all the projects

[10:24]I've worked on over my life starting

[10:27]back in the sixth grade

[10:30]making batch tools distributing those on

[10:33]BBS systems.

[10:36]um

[10:38]name my note for my band teacher in 8th

[10:40]grade

[10:42]wizard matrix server

[10:45]uh during my

[10:47]teen years 1819

[10:51]um writing it on paper running the code

[10:54]in my head

[10:56]feeling into this big system content

[10:58]management system so that I could give

[11:00]clients the tools to manage their own

[11:04]content without needing me way before

[11:07]way before those things existed and the

[11:10]world knew we needed them.

[11:13]I knew

[11:17]um

[11:19]popstar.com.

[11:21]So,

[11:23]not sure when this would be. I'm

[11:25]skipping quite ahead because there was a

[11:27]lot I did between that those two things.

[11:31]Um,

[11:33]but I built a gamified system where when

[11:35]users contributed, they earned points.

[11:37]They could use those points to bid on um

[11:40]free merchandise and having virtual

[11:42]auctions

[11:44]shipped to them for free all over the

[11:45]world. And I do that myself, all the

[11:48]work.

[11:52]Built a writer dashboard where um

[11:56]freelance writers could write for our

[11:58]site. We would track any revenue that

[12:01]way we earned from their content and

[12:03]split it with them 50/50

[12:08]way before medium and substack and all

[12:10]that. Way before

[12:14]truly ethical.

[12:21]I was always ahead of the curve. Always.

[12:28]These are travel platforms. I worked on

[12:34]these massive

[12:38]SEM campaign 100,000 ad groups

[12:42]targeting travel words like hotels and

[12:45]car rentals and

[12:48]every city in the world.

[12:50]And then we would do price comparisons

[12:52]way before Kayak.

[13:00]100,000 ad groups

[13:03]fully automated. I created all the

[13:05]automation for this

[13:08]way before

[13:10]whatever people are doing now.

[13:15]The remain music streaming service and

[13:19]sound block the music distribution

[13:22]platform.

[13:25]blockchain contracts

[13:28]that split royalties among band members

[13:32]using crypto.

[13:35]uh distributing their music to different

[13:36]platforms like Spotify, tracking the

[13:38]royalties they earn and then

[13:39]distributing it through blockchain

[13:42]contracts, smart contracts,

[13:45]um tracking data through the blockchain

[13:47]and um

[13:52]transparent

[13:55]royalty distribution

[13:58]and a music streaming platform that

[13:59]never never went live unfortunately.

[14:03]spent years working with this client,

[14:05]managed all kinds of other programmers

[14:06]for him that I'd hire on Upwork,

[14:11]but it was chaos

[14:16]for a bunch of reasons that I've learned

[14:17]from.

[14:22]Feel like I'm in a place now where I

[14:24]would set much better boundaries with

[14:25]people.

[14:28]It's necessary

[14:31]for the right client.

[14:34]I can build big things for them.

[14:43]So, I'm just thinking about this new

[14:45]homepage, this portfolio. So,

[14:47]testimonials I have, not really sure how

[14:50]many, but they're from guru.com. So,

[14:52]when I freance there,

[14:55]um, I can share them in a portfolio

[14:57]project on upward.

[15:01]Well, I can't link to them directly in

[15:03]my bids and things like that.

[15:06]Um,

[15:08]but if we make this page rwfire.dev

[15:11]the main place that I send potential

[15:13]clients to, maybe we have a testimonials

[15:16]page.

[15:18]Uh, maybe we store all of that data on

[15:20]Jason or something and display those on

[15:23]a page and maybe feature some of them on

[15:27]the main landing page.

[15:30]um

[15:33]with links to the verified reviews that

[15:36]I've had over the years. Proof that I'm

[15:39]different than others cuz those

[15:40]testimonials,

[15:42]they're not like what other people would

[15:43]get.

[15:48]Just need to find the right aligned

[15:50]client now.

[15:54]So,

[15:55]figured I'd go for a hike,

[15:58]just go see the ocean for a little

[16:00]while, hike back, and then I'll start

[16:01]doing some work. I have the next two

[16:03]days off. These are my days off, so it's

[16:05]kind of like my weekends. Um, I'm going

[16:07]to use them to

[16:10]work on this site and

[16:13]hopefully figure out how to get some

[16:15]money coming in cuz really need it.

[16:20]um struggling,

[16:23]but

[16:25]I'm intact always

[16:30]once I find the right aligned client,

[16:31]everything's going to turn around very

[16:33]quickly for me. I know this.

[16:37]So, not panicking. I just haven't

[16:40]figured out

[16:42]I haven't figured out the path forward

[16:44]through,

[16:46]you know, where I am to where I'm trying

[16:48]to get to. It's hard. You just kind of

[16:50]have to trust the process and

[16:53]you know that's what I do. I just

[16:56]I trust myself completely. I've said

[16:59]this many times on camera.

[17:02]I think I'm going to start using some of

[17:04]the language that can find in the

[17:07]lexicon on my homepage

[17:10]because it's really the only way to

[17:11]explain these things and it'll feel

[17:14]foreign to most people. But if you want

[17:17]to understand it,

[17:19]go to the lexicon on my homepage.

[17:22]So what I would say is that for the past

[17:24]year and a half,

[17:27]I shed everything that wasn't working

[17:29]for me until I brought myself down to

[17:32]just pure sigma.

[17:34]I shed everything that I didn't need in

[17:37]order to focus on what does, what

[17:39]matters.

[17:42]And it hasn't been easy. It's been

[17:44]pretty hard. And I've had some

[17:46]unexpected experiences, but I think they

[17:49]probably

[17:51]serve a purpose.

[17:54]In fact, I'm sure they do.

[17:57]Sigma doesn't always lead you to safe

[17:59]places, but it will lead you to truth

[18:02]always.

[18:04]And

[18:07]you know, I got a lot better at

[18:09]defending my boundaries from distortion

[18:12]cuz I feel that sematically. I hate

[18:15]distortion. I don't want it around to

[18:17]me.

[18:19]But now I'm having to interface with

[18:21]certain systems

[18:25]because I need some kind of an economic

[18:27]base in order to um sustain my life to

[18:31]do the things I want.

[18:34]It's hard to do that without betraying

[18:37]your yourself, your shape,

[18:41]but I've always done it somehow.

[18:45]It feels harder now for some reason.

[18:48]Something about

[18:50]um

[18:53]everything that I've experienced over

[18:54]the past year and a half, it's, you

[18:56]know, I'm not the same person I was when

[18:58]I left my house. I'm just not.

[19:04]It's one of those rare days when there's

[19:06]some actual insects out here in orchid.

[19:13]That's one way I'm

[19:18]cuz I just lost my train of thought

[19:20]there.

[19:29]Eventually, it'll all make sense.

[19:33]I don't think my videos are meant to be

[19:37]interpreted by most people right now.

[19:41]That's okay.

[19:46]I do this for myself first and foremost

[19:50]also because I feel like it's part of my

[19:52]life purpose.

[19:57]I think at some point this these become

[20:00]these become important in some context

[20:06]or offerings to the world.

[20:10]I'm hoping one day it will be able to

[20:12]see

[20:16]what I just can't yet.

[20:26]I've been

[20:29]I've been in a very contemplative state

[20:32]for a few days now.

[20:36]existential questions,

[20:39]the real ones.

[20:48]I'm trying to decide how much I want to

[20:51]say here.

[20:56]Um, I think I would say that

[21:02]I'm trying

[21:04]I'm testing the loadbearing structures.

[21:06]of my life and my um my beliefs, my

[21:09]values,

[21:12]my behavior

[21:16]um

[21:18]against what I would call

[21:27]base reality

[21:32]and they boat.

[21:35]I always do.

[21:47]I'm just trying to understand

[21:51]what it is I'm supposed to do with my

[21:52]life because I just don't know.

[22:00]It's not going to be what other people

[22:03]think I should be doing.

[22:06]I don't know. I'll comment on this

[22:07]channel cuz seeing something like that

[22:09]will get you a lot of feedback you

[22:11]didn't ask for.

[22:16]I'm in a limited space.

[22:18]I'm comfortable in it.

[22:23]My choices come from a very different

[22:25]place than most other people's.

[22:28]When I say I don't know,

[22:33]what I'm heading towards,

[22:36]what I meant to do.

[22:40]I mean, precisely that.

[22:44]I don't try to fix it. I let it breathe.

[22:48]I hold it till the answer comes to me.

[22:55]So that's where I am right now.

[23:01]So going uphill again.

[23:04]It's beautiful out here.

[23:09]It is. I'll show you

[23:13]climbing up this thing.

[23:16]It's the trail down there. Yeah, we came

[23:18]around the corner.

[23:24]It's a beautiful view

[23:28]heading towards the ocean.

[23:31]There's another bench.

[23:39]Year and a half ago,

[23:41]I probably have

[23:46]I don't myself about wanting to sit down

[23:48]on a bench like this.

[23:50]Like

[23:52]feeling my age these days.

[23:58]Got to keep doing it though.

Summary

rswfire records a video while hiking the Taken Trail near Technich Lake, addressing his small YouTube audience of eight subscribers. He explains his deliberate choice to disable comments and use ULID titles instead of descriptive ones, having ended his previous channel due to misaligned audience engagement.

**Current situation:** He's been volunteering with the Forest Service for six months and will start a new role in a couple weeks. Despite earnest job searching on Upwork, he remains "flat broke" with no fuel, little food, and has sold most possessions. Items remaining on Facebook Marketplace for weeks show no buyer interest.

**Technical project:** He describes plans to build a portfolio site at rswfire.dev using React instead of Vue. The site would feature his complete project history from sixth grade batch tools through major platforms like popstar.com, travel price comparison systems, and blockchain music distribution. He wants to include testimonials from guru.com and create a non-marketing approach that reflects his different methodology.

**Historical work:** He details being consistently ahead of industry curves - building content management systems before they existed, gamified contribution systems, ethical revenue sharing with writers, automated SEM campaigns with 100,000 ad groups, and blockchain royalty distribution for musicians.

**Philosophical reflection:** He discusses following "sigma" (pure signal) and shedding everything non-essential over the past year and a half. He's currently testing his "loadbearing structures" against "base reality" while in a contemplative state about his life purpose. He trusts the process despite not knowing the specific path forward.

Signal Analysis

Substrate

This transmission holds the architecture of sovereign positioning while interfacing with extractive systems out of necessity. It demonstrates field coherence under material constraint, maintaining structural integrity while navigating the tension between authentic self-expression and economic survival.

Dominant Language

sigmaalignmentdistortionbase realityloadbearing structuressovereignintact

Symbolic Elements

edgeduneoceantrailbenchsignalbase level

Ontological States

•
sovereign
•
transitional
•
coherent
•
pressured

Subsystems

•
cognitive
•
ethical
•
infrastructural
•
somatic

Transmission Details

Source Type

local

Video Quality

1080 × 1920 @ 30fps

Duration

24:01

Bitrate

4831 kbps

Codec

avc1.640028