00:00:08
thank
00:00:09
you that's the most important thing I
00:00:12
have to say right now if there's nothing
00:00:14
else you take away from this video then
00:00:17
please take my
00:00:19
gratitude you the people who followed me
00:00:21
through my days at lineus Media Group
00:00:23
and you the people who found me only
00:00:25
afterwards or even you the people who
00:00:28
have no idea who the heck I am or you
00:00:31
know hate my guts for one reason or
00:00:34
another thank you all it's because of
00:00:37
you that I reached the heights that I
00:00:40
did and it's because of you that I'm
00:00:44
here in front of the camera again if you
00:00:47
just want to know what that means for
00:00:48
this channel head to this Tim stamp but
00:00:52
if you want to know more about what I
00:00:54
mean
00:00:56
well when I first started this career in
00:01:00
content creation I didn't have any Grand
00:01:03
Ambitions I didn't expect to ever be on
00:01:06
camera I didn't expect certain people to
00:01:08
like me even if I was and I certainly
00:01:11
didn't expect to have
00:01:13
fans like my my biggest goal was to make
00:01:17
content that made people as excited
00:01:18
about tech as I am and I was willing to
00:01:21
move cross country to reach the largest
00:01:24
audience I could I wanted to share the
00:01:27
knowledge that I've gained throughout
00:01:28
the years and Hope hopefully to help
00:01:30
people through darker times the way that
00:01:33
YouTube helped me through mine a decade
00:01:36
ago honestly the first thing that went
00:01:39
through my mind when I left
00:01:42
lmg the first thing that I cried about
00:01:47
was the realization
00:01:49
that I might not be able to do that
00:01:52
anymore the whole reason I came here in
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the first
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place think is before leaving I could
00:02:01
still do that even without being on
00:02:04
camera when I came out as Trans in 2023
00:02:07
I kind of expected that to be the end of
00:02:10
my on camera appearances and you know
00:02:12
for the most part it was and I was fine
00:02:16
with that I stuck with writing because
00:02:18
you know even if I didn't host I was
00:02:21
still making the content I was still
00:02:23
able to work on cool things and you know
00:02:25
share them with the class that was all
00:02:28
that mattered to me
00:02:30
being on camera was never the goal was
00:02:34
never the
00:02:35
point but even now I get so many
00:02:39
mentions and
00:02:41
messages asking when I'll be back on
00:02:44
camera I get notes from people saying
00:02:46
that they look up to
00:02:48
me that they miss
00:02:52
me somewhere along the
00:02:54
line I started to realize
00:02:58
that far from the negative response that
00:03:01
I had
00:03:03
expected people legitimately wanted to
00:03:06
see me
00:03:08
so that leaves me with a strange
00:03:11
question that I honestly wasn't
00:03:15
comfortable with
00:03:16
answering at what point does being the
00:03:20
center of attention go from the heights
00:03:23
of hubris to the less selfish
00:03:27
option you know the funny thing about
00:03:30
hubris is that you often won't realize
00:03:33
that you have it until it's clear that
00:03:36
you're not quite as good as you think
00:03:37
you are and well maybe it's the same in
00:03:42
Reverse I've personally followed the
00:03:44
Dunning Krueger curve on several topics
00:03:47
including PC repair and you know I've
00:03:50
consistently been shown that there's
00:03:51
still far more to learn that I knew
00:03:53
there's always something more to learn
00:03:56
it's why I know there's plenty more for
00:03:58
me to learn about myself and well far
00:04:01
more to learn about being in the public
00:04:03
eye like I was at
00:04:07
lmg and now that I'm putting myself out
00:04:09
there
00:04:12
again it's also why I won't ever claim
00:04:14
to be an expert at
00:04:16
anything not even my favorite video
00:04:18
games like can I play that on Maniac no
00:04:22
like sure part of it's a self-esteem
00:04:24
thing yeah
00:04:27
but I also don't ever want to return to
00:04:29
a position where I think I know
00:04:31
everything
00:04:32
and you know just get arrogant about it
00:04:36
what I'd much rather do is is learn more
00:04:38
and share what I've learned take Apple
00:04:42
products for example like up until 2011
00:04:45
or
00:04:46
2012 I hated them on
00:04:49
principle I thought Macs were stupid I
00:04:51
thought iPods were an overpriced knockup
00:04:54
of existing Tech that everyone thought
00:04:56
was Apple's invention for some reason
00:04:59
even the word podcast annoyed me because
00:05:01
we already had words for
00:05:03
that but what I hated was also what I
00:05:08
didn't
00:05:10
understand what Apple brought to the
00:05:12
table wasn't new and revolutionary it
00:05:14
didn't have to be but rather what it was
00:05:17
was Tech that was packaged in a way that
00:05:21
made it accessible to people who weren't
00:05:24
you know snorting lines of tech like I
00:05:26
was what I saw was a watering down of a
00:05:30
passion of mine and I hated
00:05:33
that a lot
00:05:36
but thing is where did that leave me in
00:05:41
my Tech Career I had no idea what to do
00:05:44
when someone brought me a Mac to fix or
00:05:46
set up I look like a complete idiot and
00:05:49
that's because I
00:05:51
was for as much as I thought I knew
00:05:54
there was always someone else who was
00:05:56
way more advanced like computer repair
00:05:58
it wasn't until I was in in a high
00:06:00
school work placement that I even
00:06:01
installed a CPU for the first time not
00:06:03
until my first job till I built a
00:06:04
computer from scratch for the first time
00:06:06
and Linux like when I was dabbling with
00:06:09
Mand Drake or whatever back in the day
00:06:11
at least one classmate of mine was
00:06:12
already setting up servers and
00:06:14
networking and like red hat and later a
00:06:17
coworker was daily driving it even back
00:06:20
when wine couldn't at all pull off the
00:06:22
latest games like sure I was always the
00:06:25
person that my friends and family turned
00:06:27
to for Tech help
00:06:29
but I wasn't ever an expert like if
00:06:32
you've ever wondered how someone can put
00:06:35
proficient with Microsoft Office on a
00:06:37
resume and then turn out to have no idea
00:06:39
how to do even mildly interesting things
00:06:41
with formatting or
00:06:42
formulas like that's kind of where I was
00:06:45
at and frankly that's still where I'm at
00:06:48
with office like over time I slowly
00:06:51
started to realize how little I really
00:06:54
knew in the Years leading up to working
00:06:56
in lmg I had a lot of time to evaluate
00:07:00
that for reasons I'm still grappling
00:07:03
with and won't get into today I tied a
00:07:06
lot of my worth to my usefulness and
00:07:11
expertise and let me tell you I suffered
00:07:14
for
00:07:16
that since then I've gotten familiar
00:07:19
enough with all of the above basically
00:07:22
to be what I consider to be useful and
00:07:25
you know I think that one of my real
00:07:27
strengths has always been in taking
00:07:29
complex things and breaking them down
00:07:31
into simpler terms I think that's
00:07:34
probably where my reputation for being
00:07:35
an expert comes from it's also why I
00:07:37
don't want to claim to be an expert
00:07:39
because really I'm not what I am is an
00:07:43
Enthusiast with a drive to learn I'm
00:07:46
someone who wants to share a passion
00:07:48
with the world someone who wants to show
00:07:50
others the cool shiny things that make
00:07:52
their eyes light up and activates all
00:07:54
the good neurons most of my knowledge
00:07:57
comes from just casually reading and
00:07:59
messing around with stuff and it's the
00:08:01
kind of thing I want to encourage people
00:08:02
to do so many people tell me that they
00:08:05
could never do whatever it is that I do
00:08:08
it's too
00:08:09
complicated but the reality is as much
00:08:12
as people put me up on a pedestal as
00:08:14
some tech deity there's nothing special
00:08:17
about
00:08:18
me I'm not a comp sign major he A+ is
00:08:22
the highest certification that I have
00:08:25
and that's kind of text bottom floor
00:08:27
there's a whole host of stuff that I
00:08:28
have absolutely no idea about including
00:08:30
stuff that those same people are good at
00:08:33
and here's the thing like as far as I'm
00:08:36
concerned they can totally do what I do
00:08:38
and for that matter you can totally do
00:08:42
what I do and I think that's what I want
00:08:45
this project to be about I want to spark
00:08:48
wonder and excitement and open the door
00:08:50
so you can follow me down the rabbit
00:08:52
holes I fall into and hey if you do
00:08:55
that's great welcome to the party if not
00:08:58
then well maybe you'll still get a kick
00:08:59
out of some of the things that I dig up
00:09:01
whether it's bleeding edge Tech or retro
00:09:04
time or something else entirely I mean I
00:09:07
do think about the Roman Empire a lot
00:09:09
but it is important to remember that it
00:09:12
is just me here I don't have the support
00:09:16
staff that I did at lus Media Group I'm
00:09:19
choosing my own topics I'm writing my
00:09:20
own scripts I'm shooting my own videos
00:09:22
editing my own videos and half of those
00:09:25
things
00:09:26
are not something that I've got much
00:09:28
experience
00:09:30
with I mean heck I've tried three times
00:09:35
now to shoot this exact video because I
00:09:38
kept messing up like the lighting or the
00:09:41
framing
00:09:43
or even just the delivery it's a huge
00:09:46
learning process for me and that's the
00:09:50
reality that comes with going solo to
00:09:52
say nothing of things like no longer
00:09:54
having access to test equipment and the
00:09:57
uncertain income that last part worries
00:10:00
me the most though um I've been exposed
00:10:02
to a lot of camera work in editing an
00:10:04
lmg and i' absorbed a fair chunk of it
00:10:06
through
00:10:07
osis but the business side that's a
00:10:11
black box to me so here's how I think
00:10:15
this is going to work you probably
00:10:17
noticed this video is monetized why well
00:10:21
aside from being able to pay rent this
00:10:23
month which I definitely do want to do
00:10:27
uh I want to get a feel for how feasible
00:10:29
it is for me to go without using things
00:10:31
like mid rolles that disrupt the flow of
00:10:33
a the Sega Genesis has blast processing
00:10:37
Super Nintendo doesn't I'm also looking
00:10:40
to figure out if I can do all of this
00:10:43
without sponsorships like I mean if
00:10:45
sponsorships came my way I might
00:10:47
consider them but I like to be very
00:10:50
careful about who I sign with i' want to
00:10:53
use my own voice rather than simply like
00:10:56
paring talking points you know like VP
00:10:59
sponsorships they're common on YouTube
00:11:02
but I'd like to actually educate people
00:11:05
on how to use them and I need to have
00:11:08
used the product or service before I'm
00:11:09
not going to say anything that I
00:11:11
disagree with and that's something that
00:11:12
I'm going to take directly from lmg but
00:11:16
some channels don't have
00:11:19
sponsorships and if I can do this
00:11:21
without them I
00:11:24
will but the only way to do that is with
00:11:27
direct support from well regular viewers
00:11:29
out there like you and that
00:11:34
is that is a difficult topic for
00:11:37
me
00:11:38
like I wanted to establish myself on my
00:11:41
own merits before taking people's money
00:11:43
for basically just work that I did at
00:11:46
lmg for those of you who sent super
00:11:48
thanks when I got monetization for the
00:11:50
channel and accidentally retroactively
00:11:52
enabled
00:11:53
them well thank you
00:11:57
genuinely you have no idea how much that
00:12:01
support means to me morally but at the
00:12:05
same time people have also legitimately
00:12:08
asked do I have a patreon that they can
00:12:11
send money to to support me
00:12:16
and
00:12:18
I I don't know it's it's something that
00:12:22
is just so completely out there for me
00:12:24
because I
00:12:25
don't see my own worth in the same way
00:12:28
that a lot of people seem
00:12:30
to kind of blows my mind here's the
00:12:34
compromise I can commit to only so much
00:12:37
right now so I'm going to launch a
00:12:40
patreon so you can support me if you
00:12:42
want but think of it more like a tip jar
00:12:45
I can offer some of the standard stuff
00:12:46
like videos a day early names in videos
00:12:48
a Discord server maybe some behind the
00:12:50
scenes stuff or updates on what I'm
00:12:52
working on but I can't really do much
00:12:53
else for that right now if that sounds
00:12:56
good to you though you can find the link
00:12:59
in the description but please don't feel
00:13:03
like you need
00:13:04
to I'm still going to be making the
00:13:06
videos and to start with I'm aiming for
00:13:08
a bi-weekly schedule to accommodate for
00:13:11
let's call it
00:13:12
training and I'm planning to start with
00:13:15
useful Tech tips and Tech quickie style
00:13:16
content to cut my editing teeth on like
00:13:19
for example did you know that Bluetooth
00:13:20
audio doesn't have to suck on PC or that
00:13:23
it matters which USB ports you use aside
00:13:26
from just whether they're 3.0 or
00:13:27
whatever or have you ever wondered why a
00:13:30
10,000 milliamp battery Bank looks like
00:13:32
this but laptops only usually go up to
00:13:34
like 2,800 milliamp
00:13:36
hours I'm also looking the documents and
00:13:38
things that I've been having to learn
00:13:40
over the past few months and there will
00:13:42
probably be a project or two thrown in
00:13:43
there too like I had to get my
00:13:45
workstation back up to date Hardware
00:13:47
wise and uh well I mean it was like 2018
00:13:51
Hardware not terrible but not really up
00:13:53
to Snuff and I can go into the decisions
00:13:56
that I made during the process of
00:13:57
acquiring that new hardware the problem
00:13:59
is I still haven't built it yet this is
00:14:01
actually still my old workstation I um
00:14:05
really need to get on that but I just
00:14:08
won't be able to do things like review
00:14:10
amd's upcoming ryzen 9 9950 X 3D or the
00:14:14
Nvidia 5000 series Blackwell gpus that
00:14:17
are basically launching now like that
00:14:20
doesn't mean that I don't have opinions
00:14:21
on Tech or anything to be clear but you
00:14:24
know anything that I say about nextg
00:14:26
CPUs or gpus or whatever that should be
00:14:29
taken as the opinion that it is informed
00:14:32
or
00:14:33
not as for a uh certain other elephant
00:14:37
in the room if you've seen the only
00:14:39
other video on this channel then you'd
00:14:41
know that I'm
00:14:42
transgender now I don't intend to make
00:14:44
the channel about that don't worry but I
00:14:48
do hope that that puts me into a unique
00:14:50
position of being an inviting figure for
00:14:53
every one of every persuasion and like
00:14:56
to that end I'm not going to hide it and
00:14:58
not going to hi hide my gay little
00:14:59
screwdriver either I just wanted to get
00:15:02
that out of the way because while I am
00:15:04
going to keep being who I am I don't
00:15:07
care to get into the things like fan
00:15:09
Wars I don't want to get into politics
00:15:11
or drama YouTube or to be compared to
00:15:14
other creators like positively or
00:15:16
negatively I want to stand on my own I
00:15:20
want the community that Sprouts up
00:15:22
around my content to be open and
00:15:25
accommodating without gatekeeping or
00:15:28
unnecessary snark at least that's how I
00:15:31
feel today and in some ways it's how I
00:15:36
felt for years now like I want to prove
00:15:39
that you can be successful without
00:15:41
clickbait without hot takes without
00:15:44
flashy spectacle and hopefully without
00:15:47
stupid YouTube thumbnail faces I don't
00:15:49
ever want to do another one of
00:15:52
those like no shade to the people who
00:15:54
are playing the game I get it
00:15:57
but I want to prove that the stuff that
00:15:59
I like the stuff that I'm interested
00:16:04
in people are just as interested in it
00:16:07
as I
00:16:08
am after all isn't that kind of what
00:16:10
YouTube's supposed to be
00:16:12
about
00:16:14
so come and learn with me remove the
00:16:19
blocks saying you can't do it open your
00:16:22
mind and become an expert like me the
00:16:26
way that I did you'll be able to find me
00:16:28
on YouTube Blue Sky Twitter threads and
00:16:31
fediverse to start with and I'll do my
00:16:34
best to cross poost everything so
00:16:36
nobody's left
00:16:37
out and I guess that's it that's
00:16:41
everything I needed to say I'm looking
00:16:44
forward
00:16:45
to getting back to
00:16:48
it in the meantime take care of
00:16:51
yourselves and
00:16:53
well let's do great things
00:16:59
okay I really hope that's it this time