2025 State of the Channel Address: “From the Ashes”
What happened to ‘onward and upward?’ What happened to ‘new videos every month or so?’ What happened to Daniel?
Well, strap in, because the answer is a strange and sad one: this year I was the victim of a severe environmental poisoning incident in the place I was living. Symptoms set in rapidly in late February (as I was finishing up production on the SpaceChem video), and it took another three months of substantially worsening before we figured out the cause. Might’ve never figured it out if not for the fact that eventually my wife began developing symptoms as well. After leaving the contaminated property, her symptoms were gone within a couple months . . . but my far worse condition has taken seven months to mostly resolve. All told, it has been 10 straight months of hell, and I am still not at 100%.
Suffice it to say that, in my quiet absence from releasing videos this year, I went through the hardest and most horrific experience of my life by an extreme margin. All but a small sliver of this year was taken from me, and replaced with a previously unimaginable depth of pain and misery. From mid-March to mid-July, I couldn’t watch films or play games . . . let alone write about them or produce videos. Things came back sluggishly after that. Recovery has not been a linear climb. I’ve fought for every iota of progress through a painful regimen of physical and mental rehabilitation.
In August (despite being far from well) I was finally able to slowly resume the paused production on the Half-Life video. A fact that may be of interest to some of you is that, because of the abrupt beginning and long duration of this experience, there is a moment in the ‘Matter and Form’ section of “Half-Lively” where about five months pass between me saying one sentence and me saying the next.
I went into 2024 with the best of intentions and the greatest of optimism for this channel. You may think I would like to avoid repeating that mistake for 2025. After all, the degree to which my plans for 2024 were violently demolished can not be overstated. But my plans for 2025 are, if anything, more ambitious still. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll still be working as methodically (read: slowly) as ever. Nevertheless, I have a discrete set of high-priority goals for this channel—including several huge, as-yet-unstarted analysis projects that I deeply desire to complete. I don’t need to finish them all in the year ahead, but my experiences since February have made me realize that if I don’t make a concerted effort to finish them as soon as I can—I may never complete them. Things will start modestly, with a string of simpler review-style videos in the immediate future. But in the background I’ll be beginning the first of those big new projects in earnest, to the degree my symptoms allow.
I didn’t get to properly celebrate when this channel reached 20,000 subscribers in June. I was never sure whether I wanted to make a big deal of 20,000 or 25,000. Well, that decision was made for me. If/when I reach 25,000 this year, expect an unusual video and a big announcement.
Thank you for your patience. I’m grateful to have survived, and to be back among you all. I’ve missed you. Happy New Year . . .
The Gemsbok
2025 State of the Channel Address: “From the Ashes”
What happened to ‘onward and upward?’ What happened to ‘new videos every month or so?’ What happened to Daniel?
Well, strap in, because the answer is a strange and sad one: this year I was the victim of a severe environmental poisoning incident in the place I was living. Symptoms set in rapidly in late February (as I was finishing up production on the SpaceChem video), and it took another three months of substantially worsening before we figured out the cause. Might’ve never figured it out if not for the fact that eventually my wife began developing symptoms as well. After leaving the contaminated property, her symptoms were gone within a couple months . . . but my far worse condition has taken seven months to mostly resolve. All told, it has been 10 straight months of hell, and I am still not at 100%.
Suffice it to say that, in my quiet absence from releasing videos this year, I went through the hardest and most horrific experience of my life by an extreme margin. All but a small sliver of this year was taken from me, and replaced with a previously unimaginable depth of pain and misery. From mid-March to mid-July, I couldn’t watch films or play games . . . let alone write about them or produce videos. Things came back sluggishly after that. Recovery has not been a linear climb. I’ve fought for every iota of progress through a painful regimen of physical and mental rehabilitation.
In August (despite being far from well) I was finally able to slowly resume the paused production on the Half-Life video. A fact that may be of interest to some of you is that, because of the abrupt beginning and long duration of this experience, there is a moment in the ‘Matter and Form’ section of “Half-Lively” where about five months pass between me saying one sentence and me saying the next.
I went into 2024 with the best of intentions and the greatest of optimism for this channel. You may think I would like to avoid repeating that mistake for 2025. After all, the degree to which my plans for 2024 were violently demolished can not be overstated. But my plans for 2025 are, if anything, more ambitious still. Don’t get me wrong: I’ll still be working as methodically (read: slowly) as ever. Nevertheless, I have a discrete set of high-priority goals for this channel—including several huge, as-yet-unstarted analysis projects that I deeply desire to complete. I don’t need to finish them all in the year ahead, but my experiences since February have made me realize that if I don’t make a concerted effort to finish them as soon as I can—I may never complete them. Things will start modestly, with a string of simpler review-style videos in the immediate future. But in the background I’ll be beginning the first of those big new projects in earnest, to the degree my symptoms allow.
I didn’t get to properly celebrate when this channel reached 20,000 subscribers in June. I was never sure whether I wanted to make a big deal of 20,000 or 25,000. Well, that decision was made for me. If/when I reach 25,000 this year, expect an unusual video and a big announcement.
Thank you for your patience. I’m grateful to have survived, and to be back among you all. I’ve missed you. Happy New Year . . .
Sincerely,
Daniel
11 months ago | [YT] | 195