Or at least that’s what it sounded like to me when the orthodontist said I’d be getting “Power Chains” on my braces. It turns out they’re a bit less exciting than the name suggests. Power chains are just rubber bands that connect brackets together and speed up movement. So yeah, far less exciting.
Today I got my braces adjusted. Traditionally they refer to it as “tightening”, but I don’t think that’s really what happens. This time the orthodontist got a bit aggressive, at least in my opinion. Today’s festivities included:
Using a handheld power sander, the doc sanded between my 4 front teeth. Basically he made my teeth smaller and smoother so they would move easier and faster. The disturbing part was that he had to change “sandpaper” halfway through because the first piece got clogged. WITH MY TOOTH ENAMEL.
The wire which is the “tightening” part of the process was replaced with “the big wire” — I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I do know the wire crammed into my brackets was much bigger than the last few. I’m pretty sure that means it will hurt more.
Thanks to one of my molars being a crown, I only have an “anchor” on one side of my mouth. On the side with no anchor, they used an even larger wire to sorta brace my rearmost bracketed tooth against the tooth next to it. This was because the force of “the big wire” along with the power chain has the potential to make my molar twist…
And then of course the power chain. That’s the green thing in the photo above. (No, that isn’t spinach, sheesh…) Normally each bracket has its own tiny little rubber band holding the wire in place. The power band accomplishes the same thing, but also aggressively pulls the teeth toward each other I guess? Honestly that part is a bit confusing for me.
Did I mention he SANDED MY TEETH?!? That’s messed up.
Anyway, my mouth is a little sore. I expect tomorrow, and the next few days, my teeth will all hurt. That’s pretty normal. But for some reason the bulk of “the big wire” along with the power chain has changed the way my braces fit (or don’t fit) inside my lips. I’ve had my braces catch my lip several times today, making me feel a bit like a largemouth bass getting hooked in the lip.
I don’t think it’s going to be fun to pick wax out of this new monstrosity in my mouth. But as we learned earlier this week, my brace-wearing experience is very wax forward.
Wax on. Wax off. Also, I’m not sure how to get a bandaid to stick to a bloody lip. Sigh.
It’s been almost 4 months since I got braces. So far, it takes longer than almost 4 months for me to adjust to braces. I wish that weren’t the case. It’s not the case for most folks. But like all the other ways I’m a super special, unique little snowflake — this way is really dumb.
It’s not that my teeth hurt. That only happens the first few days after adjustments, and honestly the pain from that is mild at the worst. It’s not even braces cutting into my lips. I don’t have a problem with sharp wires poking my cheeks. Heck the few times a wire did get squirrelly, I went back to the orthodontist and they were able to clip/bend it immediately.
Nope, for me, the issue is my tongue. It just can’t seem to leave the sharp brackets alone. I can either consciously think about not fiddling with my braces all day long, or I can do things like “my job”, or “living life.” Ironically, the reason I GOT braces in the first place is because at night my tongue would play with my incorrectly healed tooth and flay itself open while I slept. Cutting itself and rubbing itself raw on the sharp braces during the day seems like a lateral move at best.
Garfield and I both appreciate a good grimace. Mine is waxier than his, however.
Thankfully, wax seems to help. Most folks put a bit of wax here or there to cover up sharp wires or to cover the brackets where they’ve cut into their lip or cheek. But not me. I use 2 full “bars” of wax and line the entirety of my bracketed mouth with a layer of smooth, wonderful wax. The only problem is that it’s not really possible to eat anything with wax covering all of your braces. It falls off, and you get a very waxy meal. So every time I need to eat, I peel off the wax. And then after I eat, I brush my teeth to clean the unbelievable amount of food out of my braces, and then “rewax” myself.
The orthodontist assured me applying wax doesn’t hurt anything. I don’t think he realizes just how much and how often I apply wax, but hey, it’s either that or pry the brackets off in a fit of rage some afternoon. Also, while the office does offer free wax to their clients, I can’t bring myself to fill my pockets with orthodontic wax every time I drive by. It would be like the naughty kids at the saddest halloween candy bowl ever.
I’ve raved about my Lectric XP eBike for a while now. While I haven’t used it this summer (until today, he foreshadows forebodingly), last year I put hundreds of miles on it. The thing is, an eBike, or a, “pedal assist” bike, makes riding a bike fun again.
Remember when you were 12 years old, and you could ride your bike all day? Nothing was too far, and while hills meant standing up and pedaling hard, it was just a minor annoyance. As an adult, a pedal-assist bike is a lot like that. With the fancy pedal bikes I’ve had over the years (as an adult), I never wanted to actually go anywhere far. Because I’d have to pedal back home. And it’s impossible to know when you’re exactly, “half worn out.” So to avoid getting stranded somewhere miles from home, I just never went very far at all. Or, let’s be honest, I just never rode my bicycle. But my Lectric brand eBike changed all that. The battery has about a 20 mile range, and with the cargo rack on the back, I could carry my battery charger and limp to an outlet somewhere if I went further than my range anxiety suggested. Heck, I actually bought a second, larger battery so I could take it with me on that cargo rack, and run my first battery totally dry without any worries about getting stranded.
Today, my battery did not die. But I felt like I might…
My family lives in Petoskey, Michigan. It’s a small town overlooking Little Traverse Bay. We live a few blocks out of the small downtown area, and if you squint really hard through trees after the leaves fall off in autumn, you can see the water from our house. But we’re WAY up on the hill which forms the town. That’s a bummer during the winter, because sometimes the roads get icy and it’s difficult to make it up the hill to our house. Basically, I’m saying town is down a very steep hill, and our house is up that same hill if you’re coming from town. And tonight, I took my bike to town.
In fact, I went all the way to the waterfront, and down several miles of bike path along the shore of Lake Michigan. It was beautiful. Using pedal assist, the eBike will easily zoom along at 20MPH, regardless of how hard to pedal. So I was just leisurely pedaling and cruising with the cool breeze whipping through my green hair. Then, I met a new friend. His name was E007.
It’s supposed to fold in half like this…
Error 007 is a bit of a jerk. I didn’t know anything about him when he first showed up to my bike ride, but googling him shows that he tends to appear when there is a, “motor fault” on your eBike. Unfortunately, the few recommendations on getting rid of my buddy E007 involved taking apart the “guts” of the bike and making sure it was all plugged in. I did take it all apart (seriously, having a Swiss Army Knife with a Phillips screwdriver is AWESOME), but everything was indeed plugged in.
So I was stuck with no assist on my pedal-assist bike. Which brings me to the little bit of information that hasn’t been relevant until now. The Lectric XP eBike weighs as much as an aircraft carrier. And while technically it does function as a pedal-only bike, that word “technically” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Imagine putting pedals on a Sherman Tank. The only resemblance to riding a bike as a 12yr old is if the 12yr old were having one of those nightmares where you feel like you’re running through pudding.
Also, gentle reader, perhaps the part of the story where I described the elevation difference between my house and the waterfront might make a bit more sense now too. I had to pedal that monster ALL THE WAY HOME.
“But Shawn, just call someone to come pick you up!”
Alas, everyone in my family was gone. That’s why I took a solo bike ride. I was alone, and everyone was at work or home with their own families. So yes, I put the electronics back together, and E007 and me pedaled.
An hour later, and I’m home. Every part of me hurts. There may have been times during the ride when I feared my quadriceps might actually burst into flame, but thanks to the constant dripping of sweat from my head and torso, any potential fires were smothered before igniting.
I don’t like eBikes anymore. At least not today. And yet, in the back of my mind I can still feel the joy of zipping along the lakeshore at 20MPH, with the wind trying to tug off my pink baseball cap. Today could have been a lot worse.
While my life has been one long string of weirdly-deep obsessions which fizzle out after I gain some level of mastery, only in the past few years have I realized why such things happen. As with so many of my weird quirks, hyper focusing on one weird hobby or passion after another is a pretty common trait of ADHD. Ayup. What is now super obvious was just a weird personal quirk people either found endearing or annoying. I still have no idea how no one ever realized I had ADHD. I tick almost every single box when it comes to symptoms. ANYWAY, what was I talking about? (ha, see what I did there?)
My latest obsession is fishing. I blame my friend Josh. He moved out to Kansas a few years ago, so I rarely get to see him. But about a month ago, he came into town for personal business, and messaged me to see if I wanted to go fishing while he was in town. I hadn’t been fishing in years, but honestly I was just so glad he didn’t ask if I wanted to go *golfing* or something equally horrible, I jumped on the opportunity. Plus, my newest son-in-law is a fisherman, and it would give us a chance to bond while I introduced him to one of my closest friends.
My son-in-law, Niel, caught a few of these.
They both caught a few Cisco (Lake Herring), which are actually making a comeback in Lake Michigan. I, on the other hand, caught a tiny 3 inch long Goby, which is an invasive species. As it turns out, I’m just not a great fisherman. But more on that in a bit.
When I knew Josh was coming to town in order to go fishing, I knew that was my chance to upgrade my fishing gear. I had a couple fishing poles, but they were very old, and I wasn’t sure if they were even in working order. So like any good hyper-focused ADHDer, I researched for DAYS about what sort of fishing pole and reel I should get, along with the different types of fishing line.
(You didn’t know there were different types of fishing line? Oh you poor soul, perhaps you should stop reading and go research monofilament vs fluorocarbon vs braided line. Then followup with a deep dive on how to properly load your reel with backing line, followed by braid, with a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader, depending on the length and action of your rod. What does action mean, you ask? See, fishing rods have both power and action, which are also affected by the length of the rod itself… wait, what were we talking about?)
-Shawn’s brain derailing the conversation
This monster was my catch that day. The photo is actual size. If you’re reading this on your phone…
So yeah. I got a brand new light power, fast action, 7′ long Lew’s MACH I fishing rod with a matching reel. Honestly, I hadn’t yet gone down the road of researching fishing line when I bought the rod/reel combo, so I just filled it with standard 6lb test fluorocarbon fishing line. I bought an assortment of fishing lures, not really knowing what we were going to fish for, and thought that would be the end of it.
But as my foreshadowing about the nuances of fishing line has already given away, that afternoon of fishing was not the end of it. Oh no. My poor showing when we fished sparked a sort of *need* in me to figure out how to be a fisherman. Fishing, as it turns out, is actually really really complex. There is SO MUCH to learn, and it’s the sort of physical activity that doesn’t require traditional sportsball-type skills. (Unless maybe it does, and that’s why I’m not very good at it… hmm.)
Sadly, this isn’t even close to all the tackle storage boxes I’ve printed. This just all that fit in frame…
Since that fishing trip a month or so ago, I’ve purchased several more fishing rods. I also dug out my old equipment from years ago, and the stuff that was still viable has been cleaned and sorted. I have watched hours and hours of YouTube videos about fishing in different situations, using different lures. I’ve used my 3D printer to print out multiple styles of fishing tackle holders, including inserts designed for Altoid tins for pocket sized travel packs of lures. I’ve mapped every body of water in my area that has shore-accessible fishing, and tried multiple apps designed for knowing the best places and times to fish. And I’ve attempted to fish in most of the places I’ve been able to find, including roadside bridges on tiny creeks using ultralite fishing equipment.
Yeah. I’m deep, DEEP into an ADHD hobby spiral, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be out of it any time soon. That said, it’s been pretty frustrating, and I have zero desire to go ice fishing in the cold. It’s likely this new obsession will pass with the season, and when the snow flies I’ll be well into another quirky pastime like gelato making or blindfolded martial arts. While I’m still in this obsession, however, here are a few things I’ve learned:
Even though I live in Northern Michigan, surrounded by more freshwater than most places in the world, there are a frustrating lack of places one can fish from shore.
Fishing with live bait doesn’t really appeal to me. I think the idea of using a lure feels more sporty, and the vast array of lures makes for so much to learn about each type and their use cases.
I also just catch and release. I don’t want to clean and eat fish I catch. I much prefer to let them go. That’s just me though, I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to eat what they catch.
Based on how often Donna will come with me while I fish, only to sit in a camp chair and read a book, it’s proof that I married SO VERY WELL. Seriously, I don’t know how she puts up with me.
Catching occasional fish, even tiny fish, makes the whole experience enjoyable. If you get skunked 3 or 4 outings in a row, it can get really frustrating. Yes, the fishing is still fun, but never catching a fish is just an emotional kick in the crotch.
Fishing is HARD. Well, that’s not true. CATCHING FISH is hard. So maybe, “FISHING WELL” is the thing that is difficult.
Honestly, as obsessions go, there are plenty of worse options than fishing. Getting outside is something I don’t do often enough, so that alone is probably healthy for me. I sorta hope I do keep interest in the hobby. It’s fun, and if I actually get better at it, I could potentially make it fun for others too. There are few things I enjoy more than helping other people succeed, so if I’m eventually that guy who can kickstart a healthy hobby for someone else? Well it might be one more way I take advantage of ADHD, instead of suffering from it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to look up gelato recipes…
There are so many weird quirks that come with ADHD. Mind you, I was only diagnosed with ADHD a couple years ago. And while it explains so many oddities about me, some personality traits which I always attributed to being eccentric end up being pretty common for ADHDers.
That both annoys and fascinates me.
It’s annoying, because I hate that almost every aspect of why I am the way I am tends to have roots in the way my brain is wired. I mean yeah, I guess it makes sense that, “how your brain works” sorta defines you, but still, I feel like my skull meat should have come with an owner’s manual.
One strangeness I recently discovered is my propensity to prefer knowing how a movie or TV show ends before watching it. Yes, I’d rather know all the spoilers. No, it doesn’t make the watching less enjoyable. Quite the opposite in fact.
Many people can relate to at least part of the issue. If you won’t watch a movie because you know the dog dies, you sorta understand the sentiment. Even if the dog dying is central to the plot of the movie, for many folks, it’s not worth the emotional trauma. (Honestly, https://www.doesthedogdie.com is a godsend, I can’t recommend it enough)
Now imagine seemingly mundane aspects of a movie carried that same emotional trauma for you. Like if the inevitable conflict in the second act is from a spouse cheating. Or from a middle-schooler getting bullied. Or from a character experiencing heartbreak. Or from a misunderstanding causing an animated snowman to feel unwelcome. Imagine every second act of a movie was as mentally debilitating as John Wick’s puppy crawling across the floor to be near him. That’s usually what it’s like inside my head. So I want to know what happens in advance. Sometimes it means I don’t want to watch the thing at all. But often, knowing what happens somehow reduces the anxiety over the situation to the point where I can enjoy the journey.
If this doesn’t resonate with you, that’s OK. If it seems a bit immature to struggle with emotions over such trivial things, hey, I agree. But one of the wonderful, terrible things about the way ADHD brains work is they tend to have extreme emotions, and very little ability to manage them.
It really annoys me when my idiosyncrasies are just bullet points in the, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting Your Brain to Function Normally” book of ADHD. But also, it’s sometimes nice to understand why you’re that weird half-melted snowflake who can only wear certain shirts because over-sensitivity to textiles is part of your neural norm. (I wish I were kidding, but that’s another post altogether…)
If you’re anything like me, well first off, I’m so, so sorry. But if you’re like me you appreciate sparkling water, especially now that it comes in a plethora of delicious artificial flavors. I’m not a snob, either. I like the LaCroix, the Bubly, StoreBrandica — it’s all delicious.
But, it’s also a bit spendy. It hurts me every time I spend $6.99 for a pack of (8) 12oz cans of water. Yes, they are usually painted in pretty colors, and come with pre-dissolved carbon dioxide and 3 drops of chemical flavoring; but it still feels like I’m paying a lot for something so very simple. (If you add the 10 cents per can for the Michigan deposit, it’s even worse, because I’m nowhere near responsible enough to take my empties back to the store. Seriously, if you’re a Boy Scout troop or a Little League team doing a fundraiser, stop at our house. We have 537 bags of empty cans piled in the back room.)
So anyway, in an attempt to Hackzor The Planet, I bought a Soda Stream machine (The “Source” if it matters, but I think they’re all exactly the same thing, I’m not sure why they have so many models. THEY DO ONE THING.) I figured if I could make my OWN bubbly water, I might be able to find flavors and stick it to man! Actually, I don’t know if a man owns LaCroix and/or Bubly. But saying, “stick it to the person” seems less revolutionary and more pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. But yeah, I bought a Soda Stream machine and a set of (3) reusable bottles. Because I love the planet. Of course those bottles are made of plastic, so maybe I hate the planet and just want to save money? I dunno, it failed anyway (he foreshadows like a BOSS).
I tried to find “flavor drops” that would make my homemade bubble water taste like something other than salty fizz. (Also why does carbonated water taste salty? There’s no salt… There’s carbonic acid, but why does that taste like salt? Shouldn’t it taste… acid-y? Or carbonic-y?)
So, flavor drops. The only thing I could find was some co-branded thick goo from the Bubly company, which you add a surprisingly large amount of to your freshly carboned water. It’s supposed to be just like the cans you buy at the store, and with the cost of those little bottles of goo, it certainly should taste like Bubly, because it costs just as much. Also, they only come in the lamest of flavors. And I didn’t want Bubly, I wanted something different. And cheaper.
Then I found these Capella brand drops, which come in a crazy variety of flavors. They seem perfect, so I bought a LOT of them. If you go directly to their website (instead of that Amazon affiliate link), they have even more flavors. Some sound better than they taste, and some taste exactly like you’d expect. My favorites are the gummy bear flavor and the Swedish Fish flavor. (I think they’re called something similar to the brand name, but not exactly so they don’t get sued — but that Swedish Fish flavor is pretty gnarly to drink in bubbly water.)
Unfortunately, every flavor adds a sort of “waxy” flavor to the water. Waxy might not be the right word, but they don’t seem to have the same sort of delicious flavor that store-bought cans have. I know they’re artificial, but the store brand flavors seem more “real” somehow.
And that’s when Hank Green ruined my bunny slippers.
I’m a fan of John & Hank Green. That’s no secret. Anyone in Nerdfighteria worth their salt is familiar with the podcast they do together, “Dear Hank & John.” I’m even a $5 Patreon supporter, so I get a *bonus* podcast every time they record an episode. Totally worth the price on the tin. Anyway, during one of the episodes, Hank was talking about how he also enjoys LaCroix-ish things. Like me, he has tried to make his own concoctions from home. (OMG we’re so alike, we should totally be BFFs… just sayin) During one of the episodes, Hank said that he adds some orange juice concentrate to his SodaStreamed tap water. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that fruit juice of any kind is just sugar water, and it’s not, “good for you” in any significant way. But still, it sounded like a pretty great idea.
And so I bought some orange juice concentrate. And I did it with aforethought, y’all. I got pulp-free, because while Fizzy Floaters might be a great band name, chunky bubble water sounds pretty gross. I also bought the kind that comes in a plastic container. Not because I hate the planet (although we established above that maybe I do…), but because I didn’t want the cardboard to get weird and soggy. Anyway, I put the plastic, pulp-free concentrate container in the fridge so that it would be pourable. The next day, along with my cup of coffee, I decided to prepare an all-natural carbonated bottle of slightly orange-y water. Unfortunately, Hank did not specify how much concentrate he adds to how much water — but I thought this was a, “less is more” kind of situation. I didn’t want carbonated orange juice, I wanted carbonated water with a refreshing hint of citrus. So after making a bottle of plain bubble water, I slowly poured a tiny bit of the concentrate into the bottle.
Now, I’m not sure if you know how science works. I thought I did. And Hank is “The Science One” when it comes to the Green brothers. But in some sort of Mark Rober inspired reaction, my innocent bottle of sparkling water turned into a fountain of citrus and shame that makes Mentos and Diet Coke look about as exciting as those weird ash-snake firework things that come in the cheap 4th of July fireworks packs. The explosion that took place on my counter hit the kitchen ceiling. Much like an untethered rocket ship, the bottle of fury fueled by some sort of zero-point energy launched its frothy exhaust into my pouring hand, which shot the mostly full container of concentrate against the side wall of the kitchen. It had enough force behind it that it bounced off the wall, and came back (still about half full) to hit me square in the chest and get further accelerated by the now spinning bottle of fury on the counter.
Further experimentation should be done, because I think the OJ concentrate combine with the freshly carbonated water created some sort of Jesus-level loaves and fish situation. That single 20oz bottle of water somehow left about 5 inches of angry standing water in our entire kitchen. The rest of the orange juice concentrate dumped directly on my slippers and my cup of coffee somehow poured itself *into* one of my slippers during the 7 seconds of chaos.
So yeah. That’s how Hank Green ruined my bunny slippers. And I have no idea if his Molotov Cocktail of Doom actually tastes good, because all of the ingredients were now a permanent part of my kitchen decor.
The moral of the story? Um… I dunno. Stock up on LaCroix when it goes on sale?
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When I started this “be a professional creator full time” adventure at the start of 2022, I got lots of advice. And as a quick recap for those who don’t know about my “Big Year” (sans birds), which is honestly most of you, because I didn’t really shout about it from the mountain tops, here’s the deal:
For the past decade plus, I’ve been a trainer for CBT Nuggets. Many of my videos are still in their catalog, and most people would have no idea I’m not working there anymore. I’m currently a full time sysadmin managing a bunch of Linux systems in various datacenters around the western US. But a couple things made me want to do more than just my DayJob.
The pandemic proved that jobs are not a sure thing. So many folks were laid off, or lost their jobs entirely, it was a scary wakeup call. A single income stream, even a really good stream, is scary if it might disappear.
I really really miss making training videos.
I really really miss writing for Linux Journal.
My kids are grown now, so I have a little more time on my hands.
My kids are grown now, and they’re currently trying to survive in an economy where surviving, much less thriving, is difficult. I want to set an example on how to diversify income.
Anyway, for those reasons and probably more, I decided to go “all in” for the entire 2022 calendar year. I still have a DayJob, so this means lots of after-work work. But again, it’s a good time in my life for that sort of thing. I’m not missing anyone’s basketball games, etc. As of right now, I’m about a third of the way through the year, and I’ve learned a few things.
There’s no Right Way, but Lots of Wrong Ways
My biggest focus thus far has been with YouTube. Yes, a 46 year old man becoming a “YouTuber” seems like a sad sort of midlife crisis, but I actually have a lot of experience making videos. And I’m a bit of a camera whore (I really like being on camera/mic). So YouTube actually makes a lot of sense. But oh my goodness are there nuances with the platform. For example:
You Must be Genuine
I think I do OK with this one. I’m not good at being fake. But… I’m a fairly weird dude, so maybe I should strive to be genuinely Ryan Reynolds… but Ryan Reynolds already does that, so y’all are stuck with me. Seriously though, I think people assume that unless they’re super charismatic, they’re too boring. That’s honestly just not the case. I’m a pretty boring guy. But when I’m passionate or excited about something, that’s when I light up. And everyone is like that about something. I tend to get excited about a LOT of things (more on that later), but the common adage to, “write what you know” works for YouTube as well. When you’re excited about something, that passion is contagious.
You Must be Unique
This is really a carryover from the previous point. If you’re genuine, you’re unique. Because no one else is like you. When I started taking YouTube seriously, it was tempting to emulate other successful people on the platform. There is some value to seeing what works and doesn’t work but it’s important to only emulate what they do, and not who they are. It’s hard to be genuine or unique if you’re trying to be just like someone else.
Those two “rules” are the most important, at least I think so. Look, I’m not a professional at YouTube, and this isn’t an article on how to be a YouTuber, but I think without following those two ideals, it’s impossible to be happy as a content creator. The next points are important to be a financially successful YouTuber though. And I like them much less. 🙂
You Must be Specific
This is the whole idea of “niching down” on a subject. The narrower you focus your content, the more people you draw in. This seems backward, because a broader array of topics would capture the interests of more people. You know, a bigger net catches more fish. But since there are an almost infinite number of YouTube channels, people tend to gravitate toward the ones where every video hits their sweet spot. If you branch out, the number of people your particular eclectic tastes match will dwindle quickly.
For example, a few of my passions are Linux, A/V equipment, Birdwatching, Renewable Energy, and Kool-Aid. Any one of those subjects might resonate with people. But if I made a YouTube channel with all those topics? Very few people would subscribe, because while they might like one or two of those subjects, they’d get annoyed by videos popping up in their feed on the less desirable topics. So, they look for a channel that has videos on their specific likes, and subscribe to multiple channels. So a person with my particular tastes would subscribe to a Linux channel, a birdwatching channel, a few A/V review channels, and an 80’s retro beverage channel.
That’s difficult for me. Because while I intellectually understand why having a specific niche is vital for YouTube success, it feels very limiting. And honestly, I get bored. Even if it’s one of my passions, if I don’t feed the other beasts in my head, they get restless. And that is sorta where the point of this whole post is going. Because the last “rule” of YouTube is…
You Must be Consistent
Oddly enough, posting videos every day isn’t 7 times better than posting once a week. Sure, you get marginally more views, but more importantly than number of videos you produce is the consistency with which you produce them. But honestly, even this is extremely flexible.
The consistency you MUST strive for is having consistently good content. Releasing regularly is also good, but not as important as having consistently good quality videos. And look, what “good quality” means is very much up for debate and evolution. For example, most people agree that having music in videos keeps people watching. But… I generally don’t, because it feels contrived for my style. I just talk into a camera, demo stuff, and try to teach complicated topics in a way that makes them easy to understand. A soundtrack seems to detract from that, so at least for now, I don’t add music.
Bonus Must: Audio
This isn’t YouTube specific, but just a tip for anyone making video. People will look past questionable video quality (to a point), but audio quality is king. If you’re going to spend money, spend it on a microphone first.
So What’s My Point?
I started the year making lots of videos in pretty short order. That was partly due to me really missing the training process. But also, I wanted to have a backlog of videos in place that new viewers could “binge” and get a taste for my style. So I worked hard to get a full “Linux Essentials” course created, making multiple videos a week, and publishing them in rapid succession. But that came at a cost.
At a mere 2 months in, I started to feel some burnout. This is not because I don’t enjoy teaching, or because videos aren’t interesting. It’s because some of those YouTube rules above are really oppressive. I understand my YouTube channel needs to be mostly Linux focused. But as a person, *I* can’t be all Linux focused all the time. So while the idea of doing one thing and doing it well is good advice, when it comes to creativity, it doesn’t always work. My inability to be disingenuous works against me here. If I’m genuinely miserable doing one thing, that one thing I’m doing will be a miserable version of the thing.
I Need More Irons, and More Fire
Toward the beginning of my “Big Year”, I tried to follow the standard advice of not having too many irons in the fire. If I do lots of things, it spreads my time and talent thin, so everything will be mediocre at best. And even reading that last sentence, it makes sense. But human meat sacks don’t always follow logical rules. I’m starting to discover that if I don’t put lots of irons in lots of fires, my one big fire will burn out. I know that is stretching the metaphor hard, but basically, I can’t focus all my energy on one thing or that thing suffers.
So as I enter the second trimester of the year, I’ve decided that I need to do more things. Even if I do those things a little less regularly, the things should end up being better in general. This rekindling of my blog is a prime example. I miss writing regularly, and the best way to scratch that itch is to write. Where better to write than in my own personal blog, where the only rules are ones I make up? I’m doing other things too, and will probably write about them here eventually, but off the top of my head:
Reading this blog as a “blogcast”, which is a word I made up. I think. It’s like a podcast, but is just me reading these words out loud.
My point is, rules are important, but they should always be examined and revised. Plus, the definition of success varies for the individual. I hope this “Big Year” of mine proves to be the start in a life long pursuit of passions and revenue streams. But if at the end of 2022 I discover that I really don’t like the whole “be a creator” thing? That’s valuable too. I’d rather be absolutely certain I don’t like something, than forever wonder what could have been.
Learn everything. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind.
It’s a funny trope in sitcoms. One person is in love with another person, and so they confess their love, only to be given a “Thank You” in reply. We cringe. We hurt for the confessor, and we feel bad for the one not in love. We are also impressed by the thanker, because it would have been easier to lie and say they too were in love, letting FutureThem deal with the fallout.
But it’s awkward. That is undeniable.
Thankfully, I found my person over 25 years ago. I love her, she loves me (and I’m really lucky she does, because I can be a LOT, y’all). But if we take that situation down a notch, I suspect there are many more mismatches. ESPECIALLY when introverts like myself are in play. Let me elaborate…
There are probably 5 people who I consider my very best friends. Then maybe a dozen who are way more than acquaintances, and I consider close friends. The next group in my expanding circle of indifference (is it a circle of indifference if the ones I care about the most are in the middle? Maybe it’s my circle of fading “difference”? But “difference” does not feel like the opposite of indifference, so maybe I’m using terrible words here. And because some of my friends read my blogs via translator to their native language, I have NO idea what this will imply because now I’m confused in English. And English is the only language I’m moderately confident with…)
I’ve decided to abandon the notion of an expanding circle, and I’ve decided to abandon that entire paragraph. My new geometric metaphor will be a pyramid. OK, in my head it’s actually a triangle, but since it will be stacks of friends, I’m not sure how they’d stand in a two dimensional stack, but I also don’t have NEARLY enough friends for a pyramid of people. But basically there are five or so people on the tippy top of my FriendAngleMid. Beneath them, are probably a dozen people who are close friends. These people I’m usually very comfortable around. Being with them doesn’t drain me emotionally. (Well, if I were with ALL of them at once, it would be horrible, and I’d be hiding in the bathroom texting my 5 cake-topper friends about how miserable I was at this stupid party I should have never thrown for my cat…)
Anyway. The next layer (we’re doing cake now, please keep up) is larger, and actually sort of fluid (not like we’re changing metaphors again, I mean they aren’t a solid group of people I could list). These are the people I don’t think about on a daily basis, but when I am near them, or interact with them, it’s enjoyable and I’m glad they’re in my life. Honestly, this is a large group. But because my brain is kind of a jerk, I couldn’t possibly name them all, because here’s the thing — when I’m with people in this group, they BECOME part of the dozen or so top-cake-layer friends. It’s weird, but this group of people is really really great. And I enjoy being with them and talking to them at least as much as my top layer friends. In fact, because I’m not with them often, in the moment, they’re pretty much temporary cake toppers. And not “pretend” cake toppers, but actual, bonafide Smurf figurines on top of my friend cake, celebrating our time together.
This is not the direction I thought this blog post was going. (I’m very happy with the cake metaphor though, we’re keeping that. Even though I’m more of an ice cream person. OH, and sprinkles would be perfect for the topper metaphor, except I want way more than 5 sprinkles… So we’re sticking with cake. Maybe Donna can be the ice cream. Because she’s like the ice cream, my favorite part — PLUS sprinkles, which makes ice cream even better. Yes. Donna is the ice cream, and she is COVERED in sprinkles.)
NOTE: This is why when I write professionally, I have an editor. Jill — I’m so sorry this is going to press. And I know you’re not technically my editor anymore, but you’re the only editor I’ve ever had, so when I think of an editor, it’s always you. Don’t get creeped out, I CLEARLY never think of editing. (Except I do, and I miss working with you, and OMG we should totally play on top of the cake metaphor soon.)
So, anyway most of the people I consider my friends are in that huge group of people that most people would call acquaintances. But I don’t consider them that, because I really, truly do love the people in that huge group. And in the moments I get to interact with them, I’m fully engaged, and fully real, and wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world. It takes emotional energy to spend time with these people, but it’s energy well spent. It’s like the reason I keep as much energy available as possible, because exhaustion from spending time with people you love is the BEST type of exhaustion.
It’s those people that make me both happy and sad in equal measures. I want them to be in my top cake layer, but I don’t interact with them often enough for me to feel comfortable leaning on them. They don’t know me well enough (very likely my fault) to lean on me when things get difficult. I WOULD totally be there if/when they need me, and I’m pretty sure they would be there for me — but again, I’m so bad at letting my guard down, that most people I consider friends don’t fully know me, and in turn, I don’t fully know them. And maybe that’s just how things work. We can’t have 1000 besties. Yet, to say these people are “less good” friends is just not true. Friendship is weird, and I’m not terribly good at it anyway. So perhaps I don’t really have any friends, and I just have human interactions, sorta. But I’m just gonna stick to my cake metaphor and say that the bottom layers of my friendship cake has a LOT of wonderfully sweet layers.
Oh, acquaintances. For me, these are people I tolerate, and I’m friend-LY with, but they’re the people with which I’d probably talk about the weather. (And not awesome weather conversations, just generic crap) These people are the raisins in our cake. They’re not like finding an eggshell in the batter, but you avoid them if you can.
And I’ll close with what I was going to write about in the first place. For introverts like myself, especially those of us who spend most of our time interacting online — it’s almost certain that my cake-topper friends, and my top-layer friends have no idea where they reside on my friendship cake. And I am very unlikely to be on the cake top of many people, or honestly even in their top layer. And that’s OK. Relationships don’t have be built on equal significance. People have different amounts of energy they can invest, and as long as the friendships work for both parties, it’s usually OK. Sometimes there is pain when we discover we don’t live on each other’s cakes at the same layer, but since everyone’s cake is different, direct comparisons don’t even make sense.
My only request is that you not pretend your raisins are sprinkles. Don’t lead raisins on. Be kind to them, but don’t make empty promises about how much we should “totally get together and make raisin bread soon”. It really hurts to discover you’re a raisin when you thought you were a cake topper.
Now I’m hungry. But not for raisins. They’re gross.
PS: Please don’t tell me where I live on your cake. Plus, out of context, that’s a really weird thing to tell someone. And I won’t tell you where you live on my cake either. But unless you’re a raisin, whenever we interact, you’re playing on top of the cake anyway. 🙂
A while back I posted a poll on Twitter about which Star Trek technology would be the most significant. Usually when I bring the topic up in conversation, people jokingly say the Holodeck, and then say, “But seriously, warp drive is the most significant tech.” I generally argue that the replicator is the most overlooked tech in Star Trek, because its invention would solve world hunger, put manufacturing centuries ahead, and make scarcity a thing of the past. I was pleasantly surprised to see that on Twitter, most folks think along the same lines.
But, I want to elaborate a bit on the items, because sometimes I have more than 280 characters of thought on a topic. 🙂
Holodeck
The holodeck got little love on Twitter, and I understand. It seems the most frivolous of the items listed. In reality, the Holodeck is the one we’re probably the closest to actually having. It’s basically VR to the Nth degree. There are obvious differences, what with actual physical interactions and all, but VR is like a poor man’s Holodeck, and we can try it out today.
The use cases for an actual Holodeck are pretty incredible though, to be honest. The show generally stresses its usage as a vacation simulation, which would be important on interstellar trips. But the training, learning, physical fitness, and full immersion would make life better in so many ways.
That said, I think we all know, most Holodeck use cases would devolve into sexual deviance pretty quickly. Maybe that’s good, maybe that’s bad, I’m not here to judge. The takeaway though is that a Holodeck could do more than just entertain us. It could level the playing field for everyone such that privilege of wealth and/or location wouldn’t matter as much.
Transporter
There was some discussion on Twitter about whether the transporter was its own tech, or whether the replicator and the transporter were really the same thing, since the technologies are closely related. But since I was specifically referring to the transporter as a “mover of objects and people”, that’s what I’ll focus on here.
Quite frankly, the transporter tech creeps me out the most. The notion of converting mass into energy and then that energy back into mass seems fine for chairs and pepperoni pizzas, but for a living thing — it’s oogy. This is a trope in the Star Trek universe of course, what if people are “recreated” twice. What if the “pattern degrades” in the buffer. But I’m more concerned about what makes a person a person. When an object (or lifeform) is converted into the stream of energy, their existence is nothing more than a record of what they used to be. If you then rebuild them into that same record, are they the same person? Is there a spark of life that is more than matter/energy? Is there a soul?
Deep stuff, I know. But the transporter has always bothered me in Star Trek. And while I don’t want to get into a big philosophical debate about souls and the meat they may or may not inhabit — if the transporter idea for living things doesn’t creep you out, I’m a little worried about you.
Warp Drive
Arguably the most exciting Trek tech, it’s oddly the one that would probably affect humanity the least. Well, at least initially. With things like hunger, inequality, and scarcity eliminated, Warp Drive would allow for exploration without the sole purpose of exploitation. That would be amazing. But as a “first” tech? Yeah, I’ll pass. I don’t want to solve our energy problems by drilling for oil on a remote planet. That’s just putting the cart before the horse.
Obviously cool tech from a scientific standpoint. And not outside of the realm of “maybe someday something like what it sorta implies” — so I’m not anti-WarpDrive. I’m just not in the, “We need Warp Drive first” camp.
I already talked about the replicator, and why I think that would be the most important and civilization changing tech. But something that didn’t even make my list has gotten me thinking a lot lately…
Universal Translator
This is probably the most practical tech from a, “could we ever actually do it” standpoint. Not with the whiz-bang features of learning and deciphering an unknown language in near real-time, but as a way for people to communicate with each other regardless of their native tongue. Language barriers are more than just inconvenient. When we can’t communicate readily with someone, it changes how we see them. Being self aware enough to realize that our differences are insignificant when compared to our similarities helps — but when we can’t communicate, relationships break down.
When someone doesn’t speak our language fluently, we perceive them as less intelligent (even if we don’t speak THEIR language AT ALL). When we can’t express our intentions to each other clearly, it creates a mental us/them separation that bleeds into every other aspect of our relationship. When we can’t understand each other, we can easily dehumanize each other. And that road leads to the darkest of darkness. If we can’t communicate with people, we can’t get to know them. And if we don’t know people who are unlike us, it limits who WE are as a part of humanity.
There’s a much larger topic about diversity, inclusivity, and expanding our views of “us” — but this was just a post about Star Trek technology. So I’ll save the other stuff for another episode. 🙂
I’m 43. I have to think really hard every time someone asks, because after car insurance getting cheaper at 25, there really aren’t any milestones to look forward to in life. Oh, you thought a blog post about burpees would be motivational? Yeah, no refunds, sorry. (Not sorry)
I’m 43, I’m about 5’11”, and I weigh about 220lbs. I’m officially obese, but don’t worry, I, “carry my weight well.” I’m pretty sure that just means I’m so unattractive, no one notices I’m *also* fat. But here’s the deal, I really want to wear the Reptar shirt my friend Josh gave me, but it’s too tight.
Oh, you were hoping for an inspiring weight loss journey involving health and self-discovery? Yeah, no. I like wearing absurd DadShirts, and a couple of my best ones are too tight. I’ve come to the realization that no amount of exercise will bring back my hair, and my bald option looks far more like Uncle Fester than The Rock. I want to wear my pink button up shirt with cartoon dinosaurs on it. That’s my main motivation. Again, no refunds, you’ve read this far, you should realize there’s little hope for a talk about lifestyle choices.
Huh. Not giving a crap. I guess that’s another milestone worth looking forward to. I have no idea at what age that gem is attained, but it’s sub-43. Maybe that’s the question to Life, the Universe, and Everything, and last year I stopped giving a crap. Cool.
But back to burpees. Back, heh, get it? Yeah, my back hurts. I don’t know for sure, but I think when you find yourself googling “spine pain burpee”, you’ve achieved peak fitness shame. Why would I choose to attempt burpees? Because I’m lazy. No really.
I wanted to find the best way to get serious exercise while doing the least possible exercise. Burpees are reported to engage like, every muscle in your body, count as cardio and strength, and can be done anywhere. (I don’t actually recommend parking lots, especially if you have a mouse-clicking job like me, my baby-soft finger sausages get bruises on carpet…) Plus, a co-worker (Michael Aliotti) recently set the world record for most burpees in 12 hours. He did 7,295. I kid you not. So I figured if I did burpees, I’d have the same chiseled, eternally-25 body he has. Lol, actually no, I never thought that. But I thought if I did enough burpees, I might be able to button my men’s size large Reptar shirt.
Why does a pink Reptar shirt come in men’s size large? Shut up, when you’re 42 you’ll understand what things are cool.
ANYWAY, I knew that starting with 7,295 burpees would probably go poorly for me. So I decided to do 100 burpees. That seems like a nice, round number. It’s also a fairly common number of burpees for super-fit people who could totally wear Reptar shirts can do. BUT. I’m not an idiot, so I searched for an online “plan” for getting to 100 burpees. Eventually. I found a 30-day schedule somewhere online, and decided I could ramp up to 100 burpees in a month and not die. (Yes yes, you see where this is going. I’d never done a burpee, and well, let’s just say they’re not as satisfying as their assumed namesake, burping.)
Day 1 on the schedule calls for 8 burpees. 8. The OCD part of my brain (ie, the part inside my skull, the whole stupid thing) was really annoyed by it being 8 and not 10. But whatever. Day 2 is 11, and that’s somehow worse, so I’ll just do 8 and shut up. If you’re expecting me to say I tried the first burpee, and questioned life or something, well no. 8 burpees were surprisingly easy.
Don’t get me wrong. When I do a burpee, it looks like I’ve dropped my keys, fallen over trying to pick them up, and then eventually stand up and celebrate the retrieval of my keys with a sad 2″ hop. Nevertheless, I did 8 burpees in a row, forgetting to breathe until about burpee 4, and apart from a small twinge in my spine, everything went well. I actually thought perhaps I should do more burpees. Possibly 100 on the first day, because really, my heart was pumping, but I wasn’t out of breath or anything. Oddly, the same OCD that was annoyed by “8” burpees on day 1 wouldn’t let me change the schedule. So I stopped.
That was before work on Wednesday. By lunch on Wednesday, I was pretty sure I’d severed my spine and secretly replaced all my cervical discs with shark teeth. It literally felt like if I went into a plank position, I might break directly in half. I considered going to the doctor, but thankfully I’m over 42, so I don’t give a crap anymore. Also, the doctor would assuredly tell me that I needed to rest. I figure since I’ve been resting for the past 20 years or so, I have a bit of rest built up, and I should be fine.
Then dinnertime came. I don’t think I ate dinner, but not because I thought fasting would improve my health or anything. No, I didn’t eat dinner, because I couldn’t lean forward enough to point my face at the table. My stomach muscles DID apparently decide to rest, and refused to do simple things like help me lean forward. They made this refusal clear by stabbing themselves with extra shark teeth they found laying around my spine area. It’s not really a big deal though, because my arms wouldn’t have been able to lift the plastic fork all the way to my mouth anyway. So I fasted. Slowly.
If you’re thinking I gave up, well, you’re right. On life. On ever being able to move again. I gave up my belief that Michael Aliotti is human. But I did *not* give up on the 100 burpee schedule, because again, OCD. The next morning, I did 11 burpees. Sort of. See, Wednesday evening after not-dinner, I googled ways to adjust burpees for people with jellyfish spines. It turns out you can “walk back” to a plank position instead of jumping (or thrusting, or whatever crazy crossfit term is correct for jumping into a push-up position). And then you can either walk back to a squatting position, or “explode” back from the plank position. The term “explode” seemed to indicate what my back would do, but nevertheless, I did jump back after walking into the plank position. And I did it 11 times.
This time, I WAS out of breath. I’m not sure how it happened, because while carefully walking back into plank position, I paid very close attention to not snapping in two, and I didn’t realize I was huffing and puffing. But I did all 11 SadBurpees, and I called it good.
Look, day 2 hurt. I won’t give you details. If you want an object lesson, just like, drop bricks on yourself in your various tender parts. It kinda felt like that.
Today is day 3. Oh, again, you were looking for a motivational blog post about how the destination was worth the journey and crap like that? I just want to wear a Reptar shirt. I don’t care about existential bliss. Also, this morning I did 14 burpees. I didn’t walk them back, because my spine felt strong. (LOL LOL, no it didn’t, nothing on me feels strong, except my cynicism muscle.) I did regular burpees because I’m lazy, and the walk-back thing took longer than normal. It’s been about 20 minutes, and I won’t lie, my back hurts. Today it just regular-hurts though, not “I think I’ve severed my spinal cord” hurts. We’ll see what lunchtime brings. But tomorrow is a “rest day”, so I figured if I had to schedule a rest day, I should expect it to be a day of hospitalization and regret. But that’s tomorrow.
So what’s the point of this post? I have no idea. I’m in my recliner, questioning my life choices, and my laptop was within reach. I probably won’t blog about my 100 burpee schedule again, because I suspect tomorrow’s day of rest might be a biblical rest metaphor, and I’m going to die sometime this evening around dinner. Nevertheless, if you see me around town in a super awesome Reptar shirt, you’ll know the burpees worked. Or that I gave up and found an XL somewhere online.
