Vlog 20160716 (Patreon)

I forgot to record a vlog last week ;___; I'm so sorry! Post your sketch requests in the comments here and I'll get to as many as I can :D

Pokemon Go for those who are living under a rock: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-go/

***** Transcription****

Okay hello patrons it is Saturday and I'm back in Vancouver!

First things first I need to apologize... I missed last week's blog and I really don't have a good excuse... I just totally flaked on it. So what happened last week is I went up to Whistler. Trevor had a riding event that was happening and we were getting together with a bunch of friends, we were staying in a hostel in the mountains and I had everything ready to go: I brought my camera, I brought my tripod and I was supposed to record... But then as it turned out on Friday on the way up I had this splitting migraine and it didn't really abate until Sunday. And to be honest with you I spent all of Sunday playing Pokémon go because that was the very first opportunity that I had to play that game.

And it wasn't until I got back on Monday that I was looking at my my Patreon page and I was like oh no... I forgot to record the vlog! I forgot to record the vlog!! And then I spent the rest of that week just trying to find a window of time to make it happen and as it got towards Wednesday/Thursday I realized that was not happening. So I apologize again... I missed out, I accept full responsibility and I'm trying to think of a way to make it up to you guys. I haven't come up with anything. So if any $5 patrons have... maybe asketch request? Post it in the comments. Anything you guys want I will draw it for you guys. 'cause I feel awful .. But I just flaked out. It happens.

But now I'm here and back in sunny Vancouver and I'm relieved to have a day off. So thankfully this weekend I'm not going anywhere which normally would be like 'bummer, I don't have any weekend plans', but I'm really relieved.. ..I really needed a chance to gather myself, get a bit of energy. I've been feeling really drained the last couple of weeks... I think because I work I've been-- you know, I honestly don't know what it is, I'm trying to figure it out-- at work I've been managing a bunch of different projects at the same time and so I'm constantly task-switching. And then by the time I get home I'm just wiped out.

It's also been kind of a crappy summer, a lot of rain and then the second it's sunny you want to be outside, you're like really desperate to be outside. Like right now! This morning it was really grey and overcast and kinda gross and now the sun just came out! So I'm like "oh, I should go outside! Right now while I have the chance!"

And yeah the rest of my time has been occupied by Pokemon Go. Not gonna lie, I'm just like everyone else on planet earth who has access to this game, apparently... At least those of us who were in that very narrow slice of a generation who were obsessed with Pokémon when it was the hot thing. And I certainly count myself in that category. I am a Pokefreak. I got in on the ground floor: Pokémon red/blue, my starter was a bulbasaur and I still cling to that. I got a bulbasaur in Pokémon Go and it was just such an amazing feeling... It's been really fascinating watching this game unfold and you know reading the extensive number of think pieces about whether this is the birth of AR and just a shade of things to come and why this game is so popular!? And a lot of people are "no, you idiots, it's because Pokémon is a 20-year-old IP that has fostered this huge relationship with all of their players and everyone just wants the chance to experience this again in a new way" which... I agree with.

For me is all about going out and trying to catch Pokémon in the wild... it's really fun... But I'm already out of data for the month.... Totally my fault. Data is really expensive in Canada and I blew through the whole package of data for the whole month. And it's only halfway through the month! Oh man... I am so screwed it doesn't really even matter though because the servers are constantly down so... also I can't get in ony any gyms, I've been watching the gyms in my neightborhood and they are all constantly controlled by Mystic in my area (team blue). Team red is the other one that sometimes takes it over that I see more frequently. I'm team yellow, team "let's walk around and hatch eggs and unfortunately we don't ever get a chance to own a gym. [aw man... My dictation just freaked out, gonna have to go back and re-transcribe a whole bunch of sentences, that's why I was getting distracted sorry]

So yeah I'm kind of looking forward to this game evolving.There's a lot (a lot a lot a lot) of flaws in this game. It's really hard to recommend it to anyone because it only rewards grinding... Which does not really lend itself well to my life.

The app is horrible. It's constantly down. It murders your battery and sucks up all your data and it's a hazard! Walking around looking at your phone instad of looking at what you're supposed be looking at its dangerous! But I've had a good time. I've actually gone out in real life and met a few people on the street. Every single time that I go out with the intent to play Pokémon, I've met other people! That's been really exciting, and new way to experience this property and this game. And I know I've spent this entire time talking about Pokemon... but it's the apex of the cultural consciousness right now... It's kind of front of mind.

So yeah I hope that I get some time on the server to be up... To go out and play my poke man's.... And I hope my data bill isn't ridiculous this month... We'll have to wait and see.

I think that's all I have to say, I get back to work and back to drawing, back to scanning stuff. I've been so out and about so often that I haven't even had a chance to go out and scan things that I've drawn! More often than not the biggest barrier to getting my art online. It's very silly. And the other thing is my hard drive broke earlier this week... one of my hard drives on my PC.... Thankfully it wasn't the one with all my art on it, but there was other important stuff on it. (Hooray, PC maintenance). [And apparently 'replace' is a keyword... I'm still learning about dictation software] ... anyway I gotta go.

I'll see you guys later. Sorry again! Sketch requests in the comments and I'll see what I can make happen. Bye!