Do I owe you money?

Welcome back

jk, we're good

Nice to come back with such way to do. It's rare!

I'm sure they remember you over 10 years ago

Good to see someone coming back trying to make amends, and not in a boisterous way.

Way to man up. Respect to you, sir.

It is nice to see such an attitude for a change.

That is very honorable.

Respect.

I hope life is better for you now

Thanks guys. I didn't leave with huge debts, open jobs or anything like that, but I remember some clients that I owed small amounts from previous jobs. I remember Gunner I owed something like $100, maybe a couple more similar "store credit" scenarios. I kept a tab on that but a one point I lost a laptop with no backups and without access to my ICQ I have no way of checking accurately.

I left abruptly and I just want to make sure I'm clear with everyone. Things have improved for me considerably, I barely even drink anymore and I made a name for myself in the mainstream corporate world. But after 10 years of the suit and tie dance, I'm shifting back to a freelance model while planning a new business printing T-shirts, tie-dyes and such. I don't know if that will apply to adult at all but I'll be taking freelance jobs while I get that off the ground so there's no reason I shouldn't reach out to every possible market, my fondness for tits and ass has not diminished any =)

But what if those people wanted to buy hundreds of BTC with that money?

wow.. 2002 year.
welcome back )

I remember his name.

I remember you too. We met at one of the conventions too. Frankly I'm surprised how many old-timers are still around.

Many years ago I met Iron somebody, can't remember the Other part. Were you friends with eroswebmaster? And if so, I hope you didn't snub him!

Lol That was me, I shared a room with Cary in Arizona for one of the conventions. Lol no, he left adult before I did and sadly I haven't heard from him since. I do remember him being bummed about the Zoe snub, I may have been with him in Vegas when that happened.

I agree!

Welcome back!!

welcome back

If I say yes will you send me some?

Actually I was in adult since about 1998 running AVS, TGPs and the usual cohort of link exchange sites before I shifted over to just design. Not sure why the GFY profile only shows 2002, I was in San Francisco renegotiating a contract with Sex.com during 9/11. Got stranded there for a week - while everyone was freaking out, Paul? and I were feasting of T-bone steaks and oysters on Gary's tab - Thanks Gary

I can send some designs your way

sorry to hear you had such awful life land upon you, a sad situation, people don´t speak out in life & alas, we probably have so many people that would help at the time. It sounds like you´ve pulled through and come out the other side, welcome back & good luck to you!


well done! top man xxxx

Good move man.

I remember the name too. Glad you got clean and things are looking up for you man. I use to go by Silent Bob Jedi when I first came to GFY but at conventions, after the 1st year, I was mostly called SBJ.

and I think you owe me $3.50 for that one thing.. jk

Yes - I actually have no idea who you are, but the answer to the question Do I owe you money? is ALWAYS yes

It's never too late for a change.
Welcome back and good luck!

Firstly, welcome back

You don't owe me money

Slightly related though - do you know how you can find out where a US bank account is geographically, if you have the account number etc....?

You'll need the routing number.

nope... but if you want to buy a service sure

Yeah your name caught my eye, I don't think we've worked together but maybe we met at one of the conventions?

Thanks everyone else for the comments.

Thanks

Would have been a cleaner sentiment as a stand alone thread..

yeah, I went to PHX Forums from 03-08 so when Sly said he knew you from PHX I thought about your name.

Good attitude.

yes, is paypal available?

We had almost a full site debt that you walked from.
Really sucked because you had always done such great work... I considered you solid.

Sorry to hear about all your misfortune and bad luck in life.

welcome back man

Hey man, just getting back from some travels. I do remember owing you some work. I'll send you a PM in the next couple of days to work something out.

I don't recall your name, is this a serious reply? I'll contact you shortly.

Stand alone? Sorry I don't follow. However, the sentiment is clean, I don't enjoy carrying debt of any kind and the burden eats at you over time. Yes, it's been a while, and perhaps I had ample opportunities to reach out sooner. I could give you a long boring explanation of why I have not - the short version I outlined in my original statement, and I'm here now.

Nice to hear there actually people who feel that way, I'm pretty much the same, don't even recall owing anyone money

sounds good, TY

Welcome back man, good on you for clearing debt regardless of how old it is.

Good job making it through hard times, and welcome back. Respect for that and for trying to make things right.

wow... it takes a lot to come back this way. Congrats, welcome back.

Ok I'm back, let's try this again. This is an attempt to clear up any debt I may have from my involvement in the adult industry up to 2006.

Shortly after I posted this message at the end of 2019 I got very ill and had to quit my job, a small agency contract at the time. A month or so later when I finally came around, Covid happened and I got caught in a galactic musical chairs situation. Between jobs I had no government financial relief, downtown Chicago all but vanished and there was no work anywhere. On top of that my ailing laptop was overheating constantly and then just died on me adding to the crisis. Eventually I pulled through doing odd jobs and saved up enough to afford a PC powerhouse last year and I'm now in a position to give this another go, return to graphic design, and square up loose ends as was my intention with this thread.

Specifically some of those loose ends involve my abrupt departure from adult biz in 2006. I noted some of those reasons in my initial post but the primary reason was a painful divorce I was going through at the time. Besides the emotional crisis and my poor attempt to mitigate that via drinking, women and drugs, the fundamental issue was a very realistic threat that my ex would hold my involvement in porn as a means to interfere with getting shared custody of my two kids. So the decision to distance myself from porn was a no-brainer and after some reflection I made the decision to make radical changes, got a full time job in mainstream design, moved across the state to isolate from the party culture I had surrounded myself in, gave up drugs, turned 50 lbs. of fat into lean muscle, etc. It took a long time to sort things out but my efforts paid off, although it took a long time to erase my past. I had used my real name in various adult forums and Google doesn't let you forget.

To be fair, I tried my best to make a clean departure from porn. As far as I recalled I didn't skip out on technically "active" projects. I had one pay site tour I was working on and with everything going on it took longer than the client expected and I issued a refund plus handed over the PSD designs that I believe Zuzana took over and finished, it was one of her first jobs I think. I had another deposit that I intended to complete but by now I had a full time job and I issued a full refund on that as well. There were a couple of clients also from the boards but had only mainstream projects and I continued working with them on and off for many years on various projects.

But there were a couple of other repeat clients that had credit with me, either because overpaying on another job or picking up a promo I offered around the time that they intended to take advantage of at a later time. I had always intended to address that but by the time I became successful in mainstream design and sorting out the divorce and the rest of it, I honestly forgot all about porn and had put it all behind me. My ex continued to be a pain in the ass and booty calls me even after all this time, although I keep rejecting her. But anyway I have identified a couple of the clients and below is a list. There may have been another $50 credit here and there but honestly I don't remember, I lost a lot of the data over the years, so if you have a claim please reply.

1. Gunner - I am already in contact with him, he has my private email and phone number and has accepted my offer of a 300% return on his investment in the form of the best design work I have ever done. I am excited to work with him again and hopefully put all this behind us. I have met him in person at a Chicago convention during all my drama and he's a super cool guy and I hope I can redeem myself.

2. Uncle D - I think he's the guy that used to run Amateur Upskirts. He had overpaid on a banner promo and it had been months between that and my departure. I have tried to locate him but seems he's not active on this board and I can't locate him.

3. Anybody else?

So what am I doing here? Well part of growing up is reflecting on your mistakes and if possible try to correct them. Sometimes that means addressing a financial situation and sometimes it's issuing an apology for emotional pain your actions might have caused, intentional or not.

But moving forward, after some time away from the digital space, I am determined to get back to the things I love and that's digital art and interaction design. And while I am primarily focused on the non-adult space as far as graphic design, these days there is nothing holding me back from adult design and porn which I also love. I understand that the "Johnny come lately" phenomenon may have a limited audience but I intend to prove myself again from the ground up if necessary by producing top quality work at competitive prices with fair terms to ensure safe transactions. I've cranked out a mini portfolio last week because I still want to keep adult/non-adult separate for obvious reasons. You can check it at the link below or I'll add to my sig if it breaks the rules. It's a work in progress and I only spent a few days on it but you get the idea.

The porn industry, and web design in general, has changed a lot in all these years and while I will consider most projects I am far more interested in a permanent situation aka "job" where I can leverage the many years of tried and tested problem solving across many industries and platforms. Many people think of graphic design as solely an artistic expression but it's really a problem solving effort - solving complex business problems in creative ways.

Anyway I accept that my leaving porn was sloppy at best and I don't expect any applause, I'm just trying to do the right thing and make a living doing the things I love. So if you have any claims I forgot or want to chime in, go for it.

Just checked your portfolio. I'd highly recommend you raise your prices. Those are 2005 prices.

Haha thanks. Wait till you see my free banner design post tomorrow =) But seriously these are promotional prices while I fill some gaps and rebuild my adult portfolio. I don't intend to be the "banner guy" but you have to start somewhere. I think it's a good way to re-introduce myself to the industry and hopefully pick up some clients or a more permanent job.