#PastebinMonday 02/05/2024 When Warming Up Slows You Down Edition

'Sup, doods.

I could use a little pick-me-up right now--and it has nothing to do with a certain purple dragon. (Any color and they had to choose black...) The weekly trap I have stumbled into for my survival has me pretty much working for the weekend and not being able to focus on extracurriculars during the week. I've said several times now that if I'm not streaming, I'm not doing and, well, as I write this, my throat is still recovering from the cold I spent three days this past week fighting off. I thought I had done enough to power through multiple streams this week, but Friday's show made it clear that I needed rest. Doods, I have been all kinds of thrown off from my routine all weekend and I feel like I've let my precious free time slip away from me, though this time I have a generally accepted excuse. I mean, I was ready to run to urgent care if my fever was still persisting through yesterday. I still feel like I could've done more with my time than I did this week.

I did, however, launch the Tetris Attack tournament signups! There are big plans for the League of Puzzle Speedrunners in 2024 and I pray that I maintain enough mental discipline this week to continue preparing the broadcast of the tournament. The prospects of the Super Puzzle Fighter tournament happening any time soon are not looking good. Not enough people are interested, it seems. I'd like to do a test run of this layout I've been working on, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate a little extra time to prepare.

I'd also like to make up for some lost training time if I can. Still pulling off an 8:02 V-Hard after so much time away feels great, at least. (Oh yeah, I need to edit that Easy – V-Hard PB down soon and make some clips of it.) Here's what doesn't feel great:

My body warmed up and I slowed down. I hate that human bodies do this. If science takes volunteers for turning people into cyborgs, put me on the list, doods.

Today's (permanent) extra streaming goals (actual priority is in constant flux):

Goal #5: make a universal LPS broadcast layout that can be quickly adapted to multiple games. I have not been able to power through this, but it will definitely be done by the time I need it.
Goal #6: script and record footage for my Puzzle League tutorial series. I have some scripts left to touch up before feeling comfortable with moving on to recording gameplay. Then I will need to record my talking points and edit it all together. Getting everything ready to edit was the big thing I was hoping to get done before the next Tetris Attack tournament, but I really don't know where all the time went.
Goal #7: clean up my own stream layout. Most of the framework necessary for a semi-proper stream is done now thanks to streaming the process. Next objective is to make my just chatting scene.
Goal #8: release the Puzzle League tutorial series YouTube shorts once a day until they're all done. I really do think I need to time the release of the series with a ramping up of my streaming schedule so that I can take advantage of whatever there is to gain from releasing the shorts.

This week's schedule:

Friday @ 9pm-1am EST – Friday Night Salt Mines – Hoping for a Longer Tetris Attack Speedrun Session, Dood!
Saturday @ 3pm-9pm EST – Live Stream Construction – Kinda Hard to Just Chat Without a Just Chatting Scene, Dood
Sunday @ 3pm-8pm EST – Live Stream Construction – (Is This When I Unveil All the New Ways to Support Me, Dood?)

In case you missed the video schedule I posted before, it's almost done:

(all releases at 7pm EST)

2/5 (TODAY) - The Marathon Sprint for 50K! (Or: You Can Finish This Speedrun with 2Chains) [Pokémon Puzzle League]
2/8 - A Time Barrier Defeated (Or: Why Speedrun Leaderboards Are NOT The End All) [Pokémon Puzzle League]


That’s my life story for the week. Later, doods!

--Cards