It’s https://youtube.com/@forestkanagawa?si=WuSFwnLbC2Nw86cD

Nothing too exciting. Mostly, just live streaming and gaming

Yeah, it’s the perfect podcast game. Good for just turning your brain off for a while!

I haven’t heard of this before, I’ll have to check it out!

That makes sense! I feel like I’m always a bit caught in a catch 22 because I get that sweet, sweet dopamine hit when a video does well lol.

But yeah for the most part I’m just doing what I want to, and it’s sometimes working out and sometimes not.

For a while in September, I was on track to hit 2k subscribers in a year, and then suddenly I fell off. The algorithm/viewer are a mysterious beast haha. So I’ll keep going as long as I’m having fun

I’ve been making YouTube videos/streaming in my spare time for the past year.

I feel like most of my stuff is not great, but I’ve been trying to take the approach of “doing anything is better than being a perfectionist and doing nothing”. So that’s been pretty fun. It’s cool when you do make something and can look back and say “I like that one!”

Ohh the videogame Power wash simulator is my version of this lol.

I’m curious if this is the last resemblance of democracy the United States will see.

I’m worried for the people stuck in red states, and worried this is going to spread outside America again like it did in 2016. I feel like I must live in a very different world compared to rural americans. I can’t imagine how a fascist authoritarian would be the logical choice ever.

As a Canadian I have to deal with this rise of authoritarian BS too. Whatever America does, Canadians try to emulate. I really hope we can look back at this event as a very shitty footnote in American politics that we all can have a nervous laugh at in 50 years.

I could be facing recency bias, but it certainly feels like ever since the rise of Trump, politicians have gotten a lot more bold when it comes to authoritarian/nazi like policy. We’re personally dealing with our provincial governments trying to push for privatized health care, the stripping of environmental protections, and much more.

Yeah, I don’t personally get it. We’re on a salary too, so if we’re getting our work done, that should be it.

They essentially have no idea how much work we can actually do, so they’re trying to force the efficiency out of us. But I think it causes people to drag their projects out because they just get more work the faster they go. They’re also tracking to see how long we spend on various pages/screens. So I don’t think anyone can fudge their productivity at this point even if they wanted to.

There’s no incentives to work harder as our raises dont really make up for inflation(even though we know they could! We all get to see the quarterly profits, and they’re bringing in millions more each year). so it’s this weird cycle of distrust and annoyance between the employees and our employer.

In my personal opinion, I think the logical solution would be to have a normal conversation with an employee who isn’t working as efficiently and see how the employer and employee can work together to improve things.

I know the guys at the top could retire tomorrow and never work another day in their life. I don’t understand why they don’t. Life is too short to waste away at an office

The past week has been a mixed bag!

Not really amazing, but also not the worst I guess. My work is now tracking mouse and keyboard inputs for productivity.

In other news, Youtube messed with their backend, and it might have affected the impressions I was getting on my live streams? I’m not entirely sure but impressions dropped significantly this week. I think I’m getting too caught up on numbers rather than just having fun so I gotta probably say screw it and just have fun lol.

The one thing I’ve really learned about YouTube and creation over the years is how much work and effort people put into their creations. I think when it comes to media we often just look at the thing at face value and forget the time, effort, blood sweat and tears that go into making things.

It’s made me really appreciate stuff in general which I think is really good/cool. Especially artwork in general. I found traditional artists incredibly impressive before. But now my mind is blown whenever I see cool paintings, sculptures or whatever it might be.

Sorry ima offload a thought and then get into the good stuff so skip the first two paragraphs if you want to just see the positives.

Today is one of those “if I finish my work efficiently and properly, why do I get more work? I don’t benefit from doing it faster.” days.

I’ve been doing this job for almost 6 years now. I’m not sure if I have ADHD, or if I’m just bored or what, but it’s incredibly hard to focus.

All that being said, I’m doing well! Got a 4 day week this week, so that’s always cool, and I’ve eaten a bunch of yummy food this week. The other day I got this sesame chicken rice bowl from a local food court, and I’m still thinking about it. It’s living in my head rent free lol

I also tried Takoyaki for the first time, and it’s such an interesting food. Nothing like what I expected. Very gooey, warm center with a tiny bit of octopus. I thought it would taste more fishy, but there was only the slightest hint of “sea” in it. It was mostly savory and smokey flavored. Delicious! I’ve been thinking about ramen now as it gets cooler, and I definitely want that at some point.

I’ve been streaming horror and horror adjacent games this month, and things are starting to pick up a bit more. Since the last time I posted, I grew from 100 subscribers to 220+(!?) So that’s exciting. I’m looking forward to checking out the Dead Rising Remaster soon. I love that game a lot. Such a charming and quirky game.

Theres this cool spot I like to go walking with tons of squirrels, and they are starting to get chunky as the weather gets cool. It’s always funny to see, so I’m hoping to catch their progress this weekend. I hope everyone else’s week is going well!

Oh man, that sounds exciting! Getting to see a NASA launch sounds like a cool vacation. I hope you enjoy the trip!

In college a few years ago I had a instructor who believed arthritis was made up in a person’s head.

Oh damn. Thank you! I’ll have to do this at some point…eventually lol

Like with most things… I say if you’re going to make it for your own personal use, go for it. As long as you don’t sell it, they can’t do much about it.

Yeah, it was incredibly roomy inside! Such a unique vehicle. My dad also had an old sunrunner at one point and that thing was ridiculous. It could zip around like crazy, but it was so light. If you passed a semi on the highway, it felt like you were about to blow over.

Naww you don’t sound old, that sounds awesome! That’s the best part of the internet. Unique sub sections of hobbies that are just silly fun. Some of my fondest memories are from forum posts and MMO chats and stuff!

Thank you, that’s super kind of you! I’m not sure if you’re into video games or livestreams, but that’s the majority of what I’ve been doing lately

https://youtube.com/@forestkanagawa?si=FfDHdJFCEPF86LN2

My dad used to have an FJ! Those are fun. I always thought the windshield was so funky to look out of. It felt really unique compared to other vehicles I have been in. Only thing that wasn’t fun was the back seat wasn’t super comfy for extra long road trips haha

Damn. Maybe one day I suppose. Well, the key thing is that you have a good time, regardless of how you get there!

I always love the look of older cars, but my brain says “safety safety safety” and my wallet says “empty empty empty”. So I get my kicks through Forza Horizon lol.

Got to 100 subs on YT the other day, so I’m doin pretty good! I hit my yearly goal and, in theory, should triple it for next year at the very least.

I can’t believe it’s September already, though. Time is weird. My lil brain can’t handle it lol