Update

	v TL;DR at the bottom v

	Alright so it's been about 10 days since I posted that I was taking a hiatus, but tbh the fact that I already took a few month hiatus earlier this year and streaming is still a good source of income for me, and something I'm still super passionate about, makes me want to come back to it sooner than later. HEAR ME OUT FIRST. So my plan is, since I have a lot of free time to work with right now, I'm going to use streaming as a reward for doing something productive during the day. For example, if I take a walk, I can now allow myself to stream later. If I spend a bit of time drawing, I'll allow myself to stream. If I apply for a few jobs, I'll allow myself to stream. Etc. etc. If I don't do something good and productive that day, I won't be streaming, so my schedule would be more sporadic I guess depending on when or if I did *good productive life thing* earlier that day or not. In general with streaming, cutting off a source of income entirely when I've already done that earlier this year just doesn't seem like a good thing for me, and I want to keep streaming in the meantime, not only because it makes me money but also it's just a passion of mine and something I still want to pursue. Just I'll be doing it in moderation since I need to be focusing a lot more of my efforts on IRL too. A part of the process is also trying to not be so hard on myself for not completely sticking with this too, and that's something I'll be working on too, since I'm not perfect and have had problems with this in the past.

	Tbh in the last 10 days, I've just kinda felt bored whenever I've had free time, and it's made me miss streaming because it was at the very least a productive way to spend my time. I've noticed I've been spending more time in bed and on twitter this week so far, and that's the opposite effect I was hoping to have with this hiatus. I have been going to more Smash locals tho, which has kept me out of the house and given me more social interaction, which I'm honestly grateful for. That's been a good and healthy way for me to spend free time, especially since it keeps me away from my parents for longer. My hope is that with this change, I help better myself while not cutting off something I care about entirely, so it's an overall healthier process for me all around. If it doesn't work out, then we go back to how I was doing things before. A friend of mine also suggested I try to schedule things out more throughout the week and keep myself to that, so I spend some days working on IRL, and some days I stream and work on applying for jobs, some days I just draw, etc. I think I want to fall back on that if things don't work out well for me with this system I'm trying.

	In general, I think my mindset as a whole has shifted in the last little bit to where I know I don't want to be streaming as often as I am and that it's not good for me to be focusing as much on it. That was the biggest thing I was hoping would change with the break I took, and I'm very glad it did! I'm going to stay disciplined and keep this up in the meantime, and I'm really appreciate it if someone checked up on me whenever I do stream and just ask something like "Hey what did you do today?". That should really help me keep myself on the right track.

	I will say I've been a lot more conscious of what I eat lately as a whole, which is at the very least progress. Been consuming a lot more vegetables more than anything else, but I do need to keep track of calorie counts. I already didn't eat stuff like candy or sweets often, and I haven't drank soda regularly since high school. For the most part it's about cutting out a lot of carbs from my diet right now, which I'm working on. I eat a lot of pasta and bread especially, so the less of that I eat, the better. Still need to work on brushing, but it's something I've been keeping in the back of my mind lately, rather than off my mind. I'll come around on that soon enough. Just wished I liked toothpaste a bit more. That's the main thing putting me off :| But yeah I have been working on art lately, just not posting atm. I've mostly just been redrawing frames from cartoons I've seen before as practice, but I'm sure there are better ways at getting good at art. I should probably just like draw more things from memory or without a reference, even if it isn't perfect looking. Expressions especially are my weakpoint rn, and I want to get better at them. I'll get there! Just need more practice is all!

	So what will I be streaming? Well right now I don't think I want to focus on Metroid Dread runs just because there's so many new things being found in it atm and that's going to take me a little bit to actually catch up with that game. I know it's only been a week and a half, but like I have a new route and a few new tricks I need to learn before I can even do that again, so I'm going to wait. I also recently got my N64 and Everdrive back (my former roommates accidentally took it while moving out. Happens lol), and I've been playing games on there lately. For fun, I've been trying to run Bust-A-Move '99 on it, which has been a VERY interesting experience since I've never run a puzzle game before, but I've been enjoying it (when the game cooperates at least). Might stream some of that while I'm still on this kick. In the meantime, I have a few marathons coming up, so I think I'll focus on preparing for those. I'm running Metroid Fusion 100% in Fast Pace for Headspace on TGH's channel in a week, so I kinda want to focus on that a bit, plus I want to do more randos for that game. I'm closing out FastestFurs Fall Festival with Metroid Prime Hunters (for the Nintendo DS) the week after too, so I'll be doing that before then. I got Fusion hundo and Amazing Mirror into Power Up With Pride in early December too, so I might incorporate KatAM into the lineup some time before then too. I've also been thinking about how I have unfinished business with Kirby Super Star Ultra 100%. I never got sub 2 earlier this year in that because I got burnt out after grinding it for a few months, so I want to work on that, but not for a bit. If it gets into AGDQ tho... 👀👀👀

	I also want to incorporate more casual stuff into streams again. I have a huge backlog of games, and I think streaming is going to be the best way to get through them, even if it's not the best thing for my channel at times. There are some bangers I need to play for the first time still, like Hollow Knight, Golden Sun, PMD Explorers of Sky, Twilight Princess, or Skyward Sword, and I'll let the good people know ahead of time when I'll be playing those games (Join my Discord. I have a role I ping whenever I stream anything casual on my channel, just saying 👀 discord.gg/shasta). There's also a lot of goofy and fun stuff I really want to show you all on DS, like I played Elite Beat Agents for the first time back in June and y'all really need to see that game, TRUUUUUUST ME! Plus I got both the Tingle games recently too, including a cart with the English translation of the 2nd game too. Basically I got lots of plans for fun casual content, and it's going to be great. I hope you all join me for this <3

	But yeah at the end of the day, if I'm not doing something productive IRL with my time, I won't be doing any of the fun stuff above, so yeah. Going to keep disciplining the heck out of myself so I can reward myself with streaming. I think this is going to be best for me right now while I'm still looking for work especially. Thanks for reading <3



	TL;DR: Going to be streaming again, but only as a reward for doing something productive with my time. My mindset is overall healthier, but IMO cutting off a source of income while I'm trying to look for work is not good for me, especially with my passion for streaming still very much being there. If what I'm doing doesn't work, I have backup plans in place to hopefully better help myself and keep IRL as the main focus. Stream schedule will be all over the place depending on if/when I do *insert productive thing here*, but I think it'll be good for me. I'll still be speedrunning mainly, but I also really want to focus on casual games to get through my ever-growing backlog too. I'm growing healthier habits and working on art still, but that'll all take time. I'm proud of my progress and will continue to do more! :>