Streaming absence and life update

Sure has been a while since I've posted one of these. I almost don't know where to begin.

I used to write these small pastebin updates somewhat regularly. Seems like the norms I used to have are kinda fading when it comes to my stream and the community around it. There are a few explanations for that I think, I'm gonna give the nicest sounding one a go in this pastebin and otherwise tell a bit about where my stream is heading, why my stream has been exceptionally quiet and streaming goals.

First and foremost, I've been working a lot. Now, if you've yet to catch up on what my job is, I work as a plain old, ordinary service employee on a ferry connection between the southern isles of Denmark and the very north of Germany. I've been there since February, and my contract extends to the end of August. When I got the job, it was advertised as a summer job, which is why I've been so busy as of late. I've had multiple 12 hour, 10 hour and 8 hour shifts on a daily basis, which leaves me with very little time to stream once I get home. I don't want to start streaming after 10pm, because its just so off-schedule for me to start that late.

The job has severely damaged my ability to stream, but it has been helping me save up money. If all goes well, I'll have my very own apartment in a few months, though this is assuming I get to keep my job. They have put up a few internal listnings, which I intend to apply for, and if I get it, I will be working on the ferry indefinitely. And thankfully the hours should calm down a bit after August, leaving me more time for my stream.

Now, speaking of my stream. I realise it's been quiet and far in between. Summer is always weird for me, I love the warm weather and I want to spend time in it. Denmark has, as most of Europe, experienced quite the warm summer. On days where I've been working, it's been depressing seeing the sun peak, only to just get off work once the sun sets again. On singular days off, sometimes I chose other things than streaming, because I want to experience the summer, as well as dedicate time to close friends and people around me. This means that streaming sometimes isn't first priority. However, I am planning on changing that, and get more regular streams in motion when the madness that is the busy summer season at work has calmed down.

I've always been ambitious with my stream. Always aimed to do better than the day before. I must face the hard facts though, and they tell me that my absence from streaming, general inconsistency, at times short temper and to some extent also lack of game variety, has lead to an increased downfall in not only viewers, but also subscribers and chat interaction. This pains me a lot, and seeing low numbers on my stream feels like a defeat every single time. I know why the numbers are lower than my expectations, but I simply am out of options to improve this, due to lack of time. As a result, it adds an entirely different layer of a reason why I sometimes pick something other than streaming on days off. But I want to be able to stream like that again. I wanna get back into the grind of my speedgames, get those good times, get some hype going and regain some of my former momentum. It's just been rough.

The coming future will see the following on my stream:

	- I really want to finish learning Sly 3 and do a few runs
	- After finishing with Sly 3, I really want to do Slyfecta runs. Yeah, runs. As in multiple ones.
	- I owe multiple special streams, like 1 year partner special (Which was months ago now) and a Sly quadfecta. These will be done.
	- I need to improve in Sly 1. This will entail grinding and relearning sessions, some theory crafting and brushing up on potential
      strats that I do not do in my runs
	- A few GTA: Online streams, improving in the few categories I've done with Jake.

As it stands right this second, I can't make any promises based on a consistent schedule regarding streaming. I'll do my best to pump them out as regularly as possible, but I need to figure out if I have a job after next month first. And then base my stream times around my working schedule.

To the people that are still subbed, and still show up to every stream and show their support, I wanna reach out and give a personal thank you. I often struggle with the idea of not providing content, when I have a good group of people giving me their money every month. I don't feel I pay you guys back properly for your support. So from the bottom of my dead, cold and potentially haunted heart - thank you. The support means the world and its one of the reasons why I wanna keep revisitng my stream and not let it die away slowly. It means a lot to me that people actually care still, even though I can be a grumpy old man sometimes. Genuinely appreciate you all. ♥


- Mikkel