Cold Update

Blog

As I sit here I am freezing cold. The fact that just a couple of days ago it was hot and now it’s cold, that’s pretty wild. We went from sweaty weather to sweater weather real quick, and my clothing choices have not quite caught up to the changes yet either. I’m in a damn tank top over here. I’m up writing this in the early morn, colder than I’ve been in a long while, because I literally didn’t possess the energy to go on after editing a video late into the night last night (and I won’t have any time to write this for the rest of the day today). So I’m here, colder and more exhausted than I’ve been for some time, just writing whatever comes to mind since I had nothing specifically planned to write about. But hey, that’s the beauty of life or some shit.

Can we talk about how cold it is right now, though, for real? It’s legitimately 48 degrees outside right now, which for some reason translates to it being even colder indoors for me. I am not nearly equipped enough to fight this fight; I should be cozied up with multiple layers and hunkered down, but ain’t nobody got time for that because I’ve got to write this blog, finish uploading my video, and then get ready to fly over to work in just a couple of hours. I really feel so spent right now, it’s hard to be motivated during these times.

Naturally this is going to be a shorter blog, so I guess I’ll take this time to give another update on where my head is at exactly. The past few weeks I’ve really just had this overarching feeling of “I need to get out of here.” Not just in the sense that I’m unhappy with where I’m at in life, which I’ve established before on these blogs, but more-so in the sense that I just have this feeling of not wanting to be cooped up for too long. Not so much in the freezing cold like this, but in the nice weather we’ve had for the past few weeks I’ve definitely taken the opportunity just to go outside at random points, whether it be at night or in the day. A lot of the time it tends to be at night that I get this urge to go outside and at least get some fresh air because me being cooped up in a small room for too long tends to not be a fun combo lately.

I haven’t been all that shy about the fact that I am a bit of an emotional wreck these days. I mean, this past week in particular hasn’t been particularly bad comparatively, but it’s something I continue to deal with. Mostly what I mean by “emotional wreck” is that in general I tend to get emotional over things far more easily than I used to. I could be in a fine mood one minute but then something often largely insignificant could happen that just wrecks my mood for a period of time. And on top of that, I just feel sad in general way more than I’d like to (or should). This is all stuff I’ll have to continue to work on, but I would like to at least note that I am incredibly grateful for my support base of friends and family during these times as well. Not only do I have a good group of friends that are consistently there for me in general, but this past week especially, since I have frustratingly been without a car, they have all been giving me rides at crucial times when I otherwise would have been screwed. I feel bad because this past week I have been like a bum trying to hitch a ride every day, and I’m so out of the way for most people so it’s a real inconvenience, but they have been there for me nonetheless so I am definitely grateful for that.

That being said, it’s frustrating being without a car. It feels like just another setback for me which I really can’t afford right now. The thing is, I have no need or interest in a nice car, I just need one that functions. As long as I can get from one place to another with some amount of safety, that’s all I care about. And yet, my 2003 Toyota Solara isn’t doing too hot for me now and I’m not sure where to go from here. I hate depending on people and being an inconvenience, but that’s just where I’m at until I can figure something out unfortunately. But of course that’s just a minor distraction in the grand scheme of things. I have so much about my life that I still want/need to change in order to better myself and get myself in a happier place, and I need to get started on that pronto.

Videos I Posted This Week:

Survivor: Palau Ep. 1 Reaction (Sassy Splash) – Tarqaron

Things I Enjoyed This Week:

Dua Lipa: Complete Edition – Dua Lipa (Album)

Survivor 41 is here!

Television (Zach), Videos

I love this new Pentatonix song (Midnight In Tokyo)

Music (Zach), Pentatonix, Reactions, Videos

The beauty of So Hyang’s stage presence (Arirang Alone)

Music (Zach), So Hyang, Videos

Things That I Love

Blog

I can’t concentrate enough to write anything very deep or complex so I figured I would do a fun leel exercise of positivity. I’m literally just going to name a bunch of things that I love.

Pizza
Playing basketball
Throwing a frisbee
Having philosophical discussions
My friends
My fam
Making YouTube videos
Watching YouTube videos
Making people laugh
Nice weather
Board games
Watching movies
Watching good TV
Road trips with good company
Playing video games
Listening to music
Passionate people
Discovering new talent
Having meaningful conversations
Piggies
Laughing
Iced tea
Relaxing in a pool
Eating chicken
Chicken tendies
Chicken nuggies
Halloween vibes
Life simulation games
Fresh air
Watching and making fun of awful movies
Yogurt
Christmastime
Being a part of teams/communities
Coming up with creative and fun ideas
Learning more about people
Kind people
Empathetic people
S’mores
Love
Knowledge
Learning about different cultures
History
Stress-free days
Heartfelt human moments
Art that moves you
Dreams

This was an interesting little exercise, actually. It’s nice to think in a more positive way, whether it be meaningful, thoughtful things like spending time with people you love or stupid, mindless things like chicken tendies. It’s also interesting to see the different ways my mind thought about this exercise, as I just kind of wrote what came to mind in the order that it came. So I essentially started with thinking about pizza and ended with thinking about dreams. This is definitely something I could do a follow-up to in the future as well, whenever I don’t feel like I can devote my full attention to a more detailed blog. And since I specifically left off specific things like specific music artists, video games, movies, shows, etc., I could always do something with that in the future as well (otherwise I would have been listing hundreds of specific movies and artists that I love).

Hopefully you got something out of this little blurb. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be all that deep, I guess.

Videos I Posted This Week:

Appreciating Pentatonix’s video for A Little Space ft. ATEEZ

Things I Enjoyed This Week:

Pentatonix – The Lucky Ones Deluxe (Album)

LISA is an icon (LALISA reaction)

Music (Zach), Videos

If you ever feel like you have no one to talk to…

Videos

Appreciating Pentatonix’s video for A Little Space ft. ATEEZ

Music (Zach), Pentatonix, Videos

Making An Impact

Blog

I was on the phone with a dear friend of mine the other day and we got to talking about the idea of “making an impact” or “making a mark” on the world, and what we “get” out of doing certain things with our life/career choices. Is it important or helpful to think about things in these terms, or should we just be focusing on what we as individuals enjoy? To what extent, if any, should the impact of your work on others have any bearing on the work that you do? These were the kinds of questions we were throwing around, and I don’t know if there’s necessarily a concrete answer to any of them, but they’re interesting to think about.

I find myself having a hard time relating to people actively pursuing certain careers which, through my eyes, don’t seem to have much impact on the world at large or which don’t allow you to make your own mark, so to speak. Like, I get that certain careers are simply more profitable and that’s that, but what really motivates you then? I’d just really like to get inside the heads of some people to understand their perspective and their motivations that come with that. As a creative, most 9-5 jobs just seem really draining and unrewarding to me. For certain jobs, like medical professionals, it is clear to me how you could get satisfaction out of that work and feel motivated to do what you do. But for most other 9-5s, it’s really hard for me to wrap my head around. But I understand that not everyone has any interest in being an “artist,” so I’d really just like to be able to understand from that angle. Maybe this whole line of thinking is rooted in a belief that I have more to offer the world than what I can do in a 9-5 job. Heck, I don’t know. But I know the typical 9-5 lifestyle is not for me.

My friend would go on to contest that we should not be concerned or waste too much energy worrying about having an impact on the world but rather that we should just be motivated by doing what we want to do. Not to worry about what others think, just to do what we love for ourselves. And I largely agree with this mentality and the sentiment of it. My only qualm with this idea is that I believe we, as artists, inherently want to have an audience and to make an impact on others as a result. In that sense I would argue that all artists are motivated in one way or another by trying to leave their mark and as a result their individual love of their art wouldn’t be able to exist without someone being there to consume it in the first place. While it’s true that over the years I have put out countless things that little to no people seemed to care about, ultimately I love to entertain and to share my opinions so the things I create always feel more validated when people respond or care about them in some way. So while I do put out a lot of videos even though I know they probably won’t get many views in comparison to others, it’s still that idea that someone, somewhere, got something out of them, that is a big motivating factor. Even this blog was mostly started for myself, but I obviously could have kept everything private if I really didn’t care for anyone to read what I have to say. As an artist or a creative it is always so much more rewarding when you hear that what you create is appreciated on some level, even if you feel compelled to create it for your own sanity as well.

Hopefully all these thoughts were coherent and made sense in the way I presented them. Obviously all of these thoughts are formed through the prism of myself as someone who is entrenched in the creative arts side of things so my beliefs are limited in that regard, but hopefully you can understand where I’m coming from. If you have anything to add on the topics of “rewarding” careers or making an impact on the world, don’t hesitate to reach out because I genuinely would like to understand more perspectives and hear additional opinions.

As always I’m dealing with my depression one day at a time, but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking during my extended time away from work and I am motivated to make some change happen in my life. Thanks to everyone who continues to be there for me, and to this friend in particular for having this conversation with me and giving me the idea for this week’s blog. Much love to you and yours.