In awe

A new year is a new beginning. Yes Day 1.

I will eventually reset my blog to Day 1 maybe some day. Actually to those who didn’t know I have done so like 5 or 6 times already — not for this blog here but on 5-6 previous journals usually after about 500 ish days, I started to lose track and would restart. It is kind of my thing to see how long I can keep it up. It is not important to my readers to know.

My new year has been quiet. Last year, … I don’t remember what I did. Usually, I think I go hiking or do a new year day race. I did not race this year. I slept in. Also usually on new year, I sign up for races. There were many races usually open after new year. I did not do so this year. Today I checked. Many races already had a waiting list — like the Rim to River 100 miler, which I kind of want to redo it, had over 100 people on its waiting list! If there is a race you really want to do, you have to set an alarm and sign up the moment the open. I am not one of those who like to be on a waiting list.

Compare to last year, this year I did not have much momey on hand. Not that I did not do well, I did. I think I made more money than I ever did! The S&P had a whooping 27% increase — too bad I got in only at the end of the summer, so I got about half of that windfall. This is like closing your eyes and randomly throwing a dart and it hit the bulleye. I know, not the best way to do with your money. That is how I feel about the stock market. I opened another retirement account after watching a Youtuber talked about it (Graham Stephan). I also increased my contribution to my work retirement plan, so I have very little liquid cash on hand at the moment. So I am too poor to sign up for races.

This brought me to topic I want to share. Nothing important like my running. In fact I celebrated Christmas and New Year by watching youtube and twitch. Youtube has been around for a long time and it has changed over the year. At one point, it was a best place to watch movies, but now they really has shut off all the illegal uploads. At one point it was my go to place for music and that too has been no good now since they want people to pay for their youtube music.

What youtube for me now is live content and video premiers. Live content can be VOD (video on demand) from a streamer. I mean it is unedited videos – first hand POV video (point of view). Yes it is just as much as a time sink as any other media.

Over this pademic I have grown to enjoy a dozen or so streamers. I wish I could list all of them here. I mostly enjoy artists – the art kind and also musicians. I started watching I believe in spring 2020. As now another year passed, many of the original people I followed had moved onto some other things.

Many have returned back to their real world job. Streaming cannot support them full time. Only a few made it to the top. For many, it was not worth it. Still there are many small time streamers, and they do it because they enjoy in what they are doing.

What I am trying to get at is life moves on. In a sense I am happy for them but it is also a lost to their “community” they established when they are no longer there.

One of the streamers I watched, Technoblade, a youtuber, and considered as one of the best minecraft players, brought me sad news. Over the new years eve, he finally reached 10 million subscribers on his channel. It was a goal he set when he was 13 — that he wanted to be a youtuber and to reach 10 mil viewers/subscribers. That was a good news, but I also learned just a few days prior (though the news was out since end of summer) that he was diagnosed with cancer. They almost amputated his right arm during fall. He had not upload much. He still made a joke that he would not able to clap his hands when he reached 10 million. He did. Not sure now how his future in gaming be like. He is indeed entertaining just by listening to him talking, so he might be switching to something new in the future.

I could go on and on how I got plugged into these communities. I don’t know much about them except their user id or their stream name, yet I felt connected to them with the stories of their life they shared to their viewers. Each of them are different, yet special.

It reminds me I am not too different. In a sense, I am doing something similar. I am telling my story. I have my angle. I hope though I will be around for a while. Happy new year to all.