March has arrived and hopefully with it some cooler weather.
The important stuff first - the first and final drafts of the script are done. Voice recording begins shortly, then video editing not long after. The script weighs in at 30 pages and may be a little longer once I retype the changes for the final draft. It's double the 45 minute goal I set myself. I'm resigned to the reality that scripts will be as long as they need to be, and I've also recognised that I have no desire to change that.
There's been a little less time for channel work this month as I'm studying for my IRL job (aka. The Breadwinner). Study will be ongoing for a number of months so I'm carving out extra time where I can to fit in more channel work while balancing family life, the 9 to 5, and fitness. This is the reality of a 'hobbyist' Youtuber. I'd love to make it a fulltime gig, but dreams don't pay the bills and everything is a juggling act. I've learned the hard way that sacrificing sleep makes everything worse so it's all about small efficiencies and making the most of every available moment, no matter what I'm doing.
I expect the video to be finished before the end of March. There's some IRL disruptions coming soon which I have no control over and may force me to sacrifice channel time. We're moving house sometime next year and need to put our current house on the market soon. It's going to be disruptive and painful for a while (particularly because it's prolonged, we can't just rip the Band-Aid off and move). I'll keep you updated on any significant interruptions, watch this space.
What's Blondie playin'?
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 dropped early in February, and I've been playing that a bit. I did stop briefly to try the Gothic 1 Remake demo. Lots of thoughts on that. I hope that it was made from an older build...
Ambitions
It's been so busy this month that all the original ambitions are still there:
- Create a playlist for the videos my Youtube buddies create so that I can catch up on their work. A long time overdue.
- Fix Patreon alerts so that I get notified when other people I follow post something. Another long-overdue task which has slipped under the radar.
- Add recommendations to my Patreon. There are some great creators (some of you are already here ;) ) who produce great videos. Go check 'em out!
- Streamline responding to video comments. I'm not immune to doomscrolling on Twatter, that needs to stop and I need to focus on the things which matter - you lot!
Here's some personal ambitions:
- Finish the current study course.
- Remain consistent in my training for a 5 minute per kilometre run. Still a ways to go but the average time is slowly coming down.
- Reduce portion sizes at meals, increase protein and single-ingredient food intake.
Thank you all for the support, you're fantastic and I don't deserve you.
Until next month, pardners.
There's no sugar-coating this one. July was a rough month. Between a bunch of personal stuff and a busy IRL work schedule all coming at me at once, July has been a frustrating month, a month to forget. There were times I felt like throwing my hands up and giving up the Youtube gig, it felt that hopeless. Only in the last week have I wiped the plate clean and gotten back on track. They say the victories are won a step at a time, but they never tell you how to feel about the times your feet are moving yet the scenery isn't. This isn't a sob piece, but I need to get it off my chest. I have disabled Patreon payments, temporarily at least, until the Marathon 2 video is out. I swear there was an option to charge per video which is feeling a lot more fair than monthly payments at the moment, but I couldn't find it in the settings. I'll have another look soon.
Amidst the chaos of life, I had to face a hard truth: long form videos aren't as fulfilling as they once were. Am I saying anything new in them? Do they still mean ...
G'day, folks. Work on the Marathon video has begun. The playthrough is finished and the draft script is roughly 2/3 done. It's hard to say how long videos will be anymore. I've sped up my voice-over cadence which has compressed video length by around 1/3 to 1/4 but it's an ongoing refinement to find the right balance. The video won't be as long as the Marathon 1 video but I'm expecting at least an hour runtime. A lot of research goes into the Marathon videos because there's so much information out there and it takes time to review the relevant bits.
I got sick earlier in the month which wiped out a week of productivity. Because I couldn't sleep properly during the nights, I spent any and all free time sleeping that week.
What's Blondie playin'?
I finished Atomfall and its DLC this month. Fun game, though not as open and revolutionary as I was led to believe. More interactivity between characters which revolved around questlines would have been welcome. The System Shock 2 remaster came out recently, and ...
