Hello

Hello!

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted. I haven’t died or fallen off the face of the planet yet. I’ve just been crazy busy with life stuff and life looks a lot different than it did just a few months ago. I’m still working my retail job — which has granted me both full-time hours and the opportunity to learn some new skills — and I’ve more recently begun classes at the new school online! Let me tell you all about it!

As you might recall from my previous post, I only started working in retail back toward the end of July and early August. When they hired me, I was a touch concerned because I was only considered part-time and wouldn’t receive insurance benefits because of it. I don’t know if it’s because I’m doing a great job or if they just really needed another full-time person because it didn’t take long before I was offered full-time. It couldn’t be better timing either since I’ve been out of my diabetes medicine for quite some time now and really need to get back in to see my doctor and get everything refilled and back on track. On top of that, this past week they asked if I would be interested in learning how to work at the customer service desk, which I agreed to do. I’m sort of apprehensively learning how to do this role because it requires a lot more responsibility and multitasking, both of which make me nervous. Yesterday alone I processed a few dozen money transfers for customers that required counting out a lot more cash than I’m used to and math has never been my strong suit either. I don’t know if it’s something that I’m going to want to do the entire time I’m working there, but it’s a cool new set of skills to know in case I’m needed as a backup or to fill in for someone.

Starting school at the University of Kansas online has been interesting as well. I started my semester with a public speaking course that, in retrospect, I feel like I should have taken later in my time as a student because I really was not prepared to write and execute the speeches that were required of me. My sister has said a dozen times that she wants to actually see the speeches that I recorded for the class to post in the online portal, but those aren’t going public anytime soon. They are, what the kids these days call, “cringe.” It’s kind of surprising because I’ve spent plenty of time talking comfortably on camera while I was live-streaming on Twitch but doing more structured talks for a formal class made for a much more rigid and generally uncomfortable experience. I was hoping the class would make me feel more comfortable giving live speeches and presentations but I don’t think I was successful in that area because I was still nervous each and every time. Thankfully, the eight-week class wrapped up just last week, so I’m moving on to more interesting topics (mostly art history!) these next eight weeks.

I haven’t had a lot of free time beyond the scope of work and school, unfortunately, so my live-streaming and content creation has been placed on the back burner. Honestly, I don’t even know if that pot is cooking on the stove anymore. I made an announcement on social media not too long ago that I wasn’t pursuing a Twitch partnership anymore and that any live streams as a whole would probably be few and far between. It’s kind of sad because I really enjoy spending my time chatting with folks, playing games, building a community, participating in sponsorships, etc. but partnership was never within my reach and I just don’t have the time to try and devote to it anymore. I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish what I did with Twitch though, including reaching affiliate level and making a little pocket change here and there. And I don’t know, maybe a stream or a TikTok video will pop up here or there when I’m feeling the itch for it again, but I think for the time being, the ship has sailed on my live video content. I barely have time to play video games for my own personal enjoyment anymore, much less as a backdrop for content!

All of this being said, I’m pretty much just living life as it comes. The holidays are right around the corner, so I’ll probably be hunkering down and trying to survive my first Black Friday and beyond in the retail world. Keep me in your thoughts and pray that I don’t get trampled to death or whatever other horror stories you hear about people in stores on those days. I know I’ll probably just be feeling better once I know I’ve survived it all!

Until next time…