I never want to book another flight ever again

The last two days, I have been busy coordinating with my mom travel plans for next year. We are planning on traveling as a family for an exciting vacation. There were many parts to the adventure. First, we needed to nail down dates. This was quite tenuous because we had to figure out lodging accommodations which would fit our needs.

Next, we had to figure out how to travel home. One would think we could just fly home, but not so fast. The flights are messy and expensive. So, instead, we are taking a detour and traveling to a different city and spending a few night there. Why? Because it is cheaper to fly to another city and stay a few nights than it is to fly directly home. So, we had to find a hotel for a few nights.

Then, we had to get flights. Most people would not think this would be very labor intensive, but it was. Not everyone is traveling at the same time or in the same class. I had to figure out which airlines flew to which cities. Then, we have luggage which needs to be accounted for. Some airlines allow luggage, and some are very strict and do not allow a carry-on item.

After spending several days researching flights and trying to use airline miles and paying cash, I finally figured out how to get almost everyone from their home to the vacation spot to the intermediate spot and back home again. At the moment, everyone has a seat and is flying on an airline. Some of the flights are refundable. So, at any time, a family member might tell me he/she does not like his/her flight and want to change it.

Filming a Fantastic Video...only to find out the audio is TERRIBLE

Yesterday, I filmed a video. I was not feeling well, and the video took a lot of energy out of me. At the end of the video, I realized, my microphone was not attached to my sweater. Instead, it was inside my sweater. I had originally clipped on my microphone, but then I unclipped it because I wanted to get a photo for my thumbnail. I do not like it when my thumbnail photo has a microphone attached to my shirt.

With that said, once I got a thumbnail photo, I began filming. I completely forgot to take the microphone from underneath my sweater and attach it to the outside of my shirt. When I got done filming I listened to the audio. The audio was TERRIBLE. I then realized the microphone was not attached to my sweater.

I tried to increase the audio in the editing program, but, it sounded as though I was talking into a tin can. There was a lot of echo and the quality was very poor.

I have decided, I need to re-film the entire video. I am very upset. I am so tired, and I do not watch to re-shoot the video, but I have to. This video means a lot to me, and I would feel terrible that a video I feel so passionate about has awful audio.

Now, I need to salvage my hair and set-up all my equipment. Hopefully, my hair looks respectable in the video, but if not, I can use a lot of videos/photos over the audio to hide my less than pleasing appearance.

Hopefully, today the video will not take me as long to film because I have already recorded it once. And if I get too tired, I may only re-do the first part of the video and use yesterday’s video with the poor audio at the end of the final video. Very few people actually watch to the end of my videos on YouTube; so if the end of the video has bad audio, not many people will notice. Watch for the new video on Sunday and find out how much of the video I was able to re-film.

End of Summer Blues

I love summer, and I always have big plans. I create a mental list of what I want to do and a general timeline for getting everything accomplished. This year, I wanted to get all my YouTube videos which would be released this summer edited and then take a week off. I imagined I would have time to work on my book, enjoy time outside and perhaps watch a movie. However, my summer did not turn out this way.

I spent a lot of my summer editing videos. All my videos took a long time to put together. On my one YouTube channel, I was posting videos from my trip to Iceland. Those videos took an ASTRONOMICAL amount of time. I feel like I did not spend that much time in the past editing travel videos, but this year, the videos came together slowly. Also, I wanted to record voice-overs for some of the tours I went on. The voice-overs added a lot of time needed to edit (and also to film) the videos.

I am happy to report, all the videos have been edited. I am sad to report, this week the final video is going to be released, which means, I need to work on next week’s video. Once again, I have no time to take a break.

On my other channel, I have finally gotten through my medical escapade of getting treatment for a fungal infection in my brain. I have one more video I plan to release about having a fungal infection. That video is slated to be released this week. Then, I have nothing planned. Perhaps I will do a video explaining how the fungal infection has affected my brain, but perhaps, I will pivot and focus on a different subject matter. Nonetheless, I have no videos completed for next week.

I do not like to be in this position. I like to have at least two weeks of videos (but preferably four weeks of videos) ready at any moment. I do this as insurance in case I become very sick or simply do not have time to film.

Here we are, at the end of summer. Not only did I not get to take a break, but I am also scrambling to produce videos.

I am trying to fortify myself and encourage myself that this is all ok. God wants me to be in this situation. I was listening to a preacher talk about a rather famous person in the religious community. The famous person had an amazing mind and had so much he wanted to accomplish. However, a series of events occurred which prevented the person from doing anything more than running between his two jobs. In the end, the person was able to break free from his work and write incredible texts which are still used to this day. 

I need to take strength and remind myself, if God wants me to accomplish something, I will be given the time, energy, and strength to do so. In the meantime, I should not be sad that I was not able to enjoy a week off this summer. Perhaps I might be able to enjoy some time off next summer.