BlazeHedgehog

Monthly update time! I hope you all had a good holiday. I've been getting the gears turning again myself. I'll admit: Christmas rolls around and my ability to focus on anything goes out the window. It's the holidays! Holidays are when you finally stop stressing yourself out and get to relax for a change. But I've been slowly poking at things. Let's get into it.

-- Upcoming videos: I've been slowly working my way through editing down the audio for the two videos on deck (Strange Encounters podcast part 2, Shadow Generations review), but I'll admit that I haven't been as fast about this as I should be. Editing audio is maybe the single most tedious step in producing a video and with there being SO MUCH AUDIO in these two videos, it's been a real slog.

It's about to become a much larger slog because I've both started recording VO for the NiGHTS documentary (finally!) AND that huge Sonic Adventure 2 mod finally got updated, which means "The Definitive Way to Play Sonic Adventure 2 Part 2" is back on the slate for something I need to get finished. On top of everything else! Waugh!!!

-- The Job Hunt: You may remember last month I had a prospective lead on a job at Goodwill. I've worked thrift stores before, they're fun, and the last thrift store I worked at really liked me. I thought the Goodwill job was a lock. The manager gave me the runaround for almost the entire month of December and then I didn't get the job. I've got another interview lined up with Applebees in almost exactly one week, but the last two interviews I had at Applebees were fake and they didn't actually have a job for me because the AI chat bot that handles their job applications hallucinated. We'll see...

Unfortunately even if I start right away, my first paycheck won't be until February, so I'm going to need help with rent again. That post will probably be coming in a couple days. I genuinely need your help to keep my head above water here, folks.

-- I have finally started therapy. I'm only two sessions deep, so it's not like I'm just suddenly "fixed." I will need years of therapy, possibly for the rest of my life. But my therapist has already gotten me rethinking certain perspectives in my life and I do feel a little better.

-- I have also started moving articles over from the Tumblr-based bltn.net to my Patreon in the eventual goal of making bltn.net redirect to my Patreon. I've run a poll on my personal blog about how frequently to post these archived articles, and so far "every other week" seems to be winning. The poll ends tomorrow.

blazehedgehog.tumblr.com/post/805619811862364160/n…

Starting the first Thursday in February, my Patreon will feature a "Throwback Thursday" article that is an archive of something I've written previously. The Patreon "Throwback Thursday" posts will feature some minor changes to grammar and spelling, plus a new section at the bottom where I offer modern reflection on what I wrote. They will post bi-weekly until I run out of things to post. So that means February 5th, February 19th, etc. I already have six posts scheduled up through April. Eventually I want to archive all of my writing like this, even the TSSZ stuff.

I've started a collection on Patreon where you can find these articles. It's not live yet, because none of the posts in the collection are public, but this link will start working in a couple weeks: www.patreon.com/collection/1952317

Oh and these articles will all be free to read, of course.

That should just about wrap things up. If I've missed anything or you have any questions, don't hesitate to drop a comment. I'm always willing to clear anything up!

13 hours ago | [YT] | 18

BlazeHedgehog

Folks, it's that time again. I'm $200 short on rent for January. The job at Goodwill didn't pan out and nobody else has called me back. Even small amounts matter. I need help! ko-fi.com/blazehgehg/goal?g=0

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 36

BlazeHedgehog

Here's your update on what's going on with the channel right now:

- The Shadow Generations review: Re-reading my script, I went back and inserted a new segment and recorded voice over for that, which discusses something I think the video really needed. I'm at 100% VO completion, but editing down the VO files is going to be a monumental task because, and I'm not making this up, it's almost 3 hours of audio. I had a lot of trouble getting it recorded initially, so it's going to take a lot of work to get something listenable out of it. It's also broken up into like six individual files, too.

- The Strange Encounters finale: I managed to get that completely recorded last week, but it is, again, almost three hours of audio. It's only about five minutes shorter than the Shadow Generations audio. That being said, I think there's a lot fewer flubs; it's just going to be a longer podcast. So it'll be easier to trim down and make it sound nice. I'll be getting started on that soon.

- I mentioned doing a "Very Early Access" podcast release for the canceled Sonic Forces video. I've done some work structuring that video, but I probably can't record my pieces of VO for it until some time in January.

- The job hunt: I had an interview to work at Goodwill, and it sounded like a lock. I've worked thrift stores before, they can be really fun even just doing basic shelf stocking. The manager seemed pretty positive and was already showing me the ropes. He said he'd have an answer for me "by tomorrow." That was almost four weeks ago. I've called him back twice now and it sounds like he's just dragging his feet, since he keeps saying he still has "one more interview left to do." Unfortunately it's getting close to the end of the month, so I'm going to have to raise rent money again soon, at one of the worst times of the year to raise money...

- I posted my VCR font, "Kindly Rewind", on Itch.io! You can get it for free or spend a little money on it. I might post some other resource-y kind of stuff up on there soon, too. hotdoglaser.itch.io/kindly-rewind

Still. It's the holidays. Presents from friends have arrived for me. Even though I'm going to try and do some work processing all of this audio I have, I'm also going to try and relax a little this Christmas.

If you celebrate, I hope you have a happy holidays, folks.

4 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 38

BlazeHedgehog

Big channel update video time! Want to know what's coming on the channel? Want to know what's up with me this last year? It's all in one place:

1 month ago | [YT] | 6

BlazeHedgehog

I'd put this up over here, but Youtube community posts aren't so good at formatting and stuff. If you'd like some behind the scenes insight into the Yooka-Replaylee video, I've put that up over on Patreon for free.

www.patreon.com/posts/143605459

2 months ago | [YT] | 18

BlazeHedgehog

New video review! This one was kind of a quickie. It felt weird having to reign things in to keep a shorter run time but I think I did alright.

Do you like shorter videos like this? I certainly wouldn't mind being able to turn videos around faster. Most of the videos I've made in the last 7 years have grown into increasingly large time sinks, given their length and complexity. It takes me months to put together most of my videos, whereas I put this together in a few weeks. I'm kind of shocked at myself for being able to do that.

Big thanks to Renaissance PR and Playtonic again for sending me a review code.

2 months ago | [YT] | 7

BlazeHedgehog

The first part of my one-off "Strange Encounters" podcast is available for all now, just in time for Halloween. Give it a listen. As I mentioned earlier, part two will probably hit some time in November or December, given I've been busy with other stuff. And new, completely normal videos are on the way! We'll talk more soon. But for now, try this on for size:

2 months ago | [YT] | 1

BlazeHedgehog

I was gifted the Bubsy collection so let's stream that + the Bubsy 4D demo. It's Bubsy Nite

www.twitch.tv/blazehedgehog

3 months ago | [YT] | 11

BlazeHedgehog

So I just published a new podcast, and it's very different from my usual fair. Don't worry, it's just a one-off (technically two-off). It's in early access, but it will go release publicly on October 24th. You can sign up for a membership and listen to it right now, or wait 21 days for the full public launch.

If you listen to the podcast in question, a lot of it is self explanatory, but this is podcast of... spooky stories, I guess? My mom had stories of things she saw and experienced growing up, and and they were always incredibly fascinating. So, for a lot of reasons, I wanted to preserve those stories to the best of my ability. You know me, I've always liked a good campfire story -- though as I stress, the way these were told to me, I consider this non-fiction.

I've spent so many years thinking about doing this, and looking at it, and mulling it over. It makes me nervous finally posting it. But it needs to come out. You'll see why. Is it boring? Embarrassing? We'll find out.

So. um. I'm also doing a little bit of a different cadence in this one. Softer. Quieter. I figure it sets the tone. Maybe it's too weird for my voice. Let me know if it works or not.

I'm dividing these up by topic into two episodes. Episode one now, episode two... maybe by December? In some cultures, December is a time for ghost stories, after all.

Please listen to it when it is available to you.

Oh, and: NEW VIDEOS ARE COMING SOON. I know I've been doing a lot of podcasts lately, but with my situation, that's just what's fastest to get out, but I have at least one video in the pipeline right now.

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 3

BlazeHedgehog

It's time for more SAGE roulette 2025! (with the right mic this time)

www.twitch.tv/blazehedgehog

3 months ago | [YT] | 4