On Taking a Small Break from Streaming
I think part of the reason that I was afraid to take a break from streaming was because it’d make me want more time off. Then I took that break two weeks ago…and now I’m going to be taking a month off. 😅
This week’s streams will be the last (scheduled) Intelligame streams for August. But it’s for good reason. Or two good reasons, rather!
This edition of the newsletter is going to be a little more self-indulgent than others in the past, so bear with me a bit. More essays will be coming in the future…there’s certainly plenty to talk about.
But in the meantime: 2 reasons I’m taking a small break from streaming.
Reason 1: Rest makes a difference.
Two weeks ago I took a week off from stream, maybe the first time I’d taken this kind of break. It was a break to do…nothing.
Like, honest. I did almost NO work two weeks ago. And for those of you who may not understand the workaholism streak in me, know that I struggled a bit to not just pop open some emails or edit some videos.
But after a little bit, it got easier. I spent time doing things I’d been intending to do, but hadn’t made the time for. I picked local blackberries. I played solo board games. I started playing 1000xRESIST (and genuinely think it’s one of the most breathtaking games I’ve played in ages).
One thing I realized: the days felt longer. Streaming is a wonderful experience: a live opportunity to share games and deep discussion with a community of people who CARE. It’s truly amazing. It also can take energy in ways that are hard to notice when you’re right in the middle of it.
Streaming hits my ADHD in a way that makes it easy to stream for hours at a time and forget about eating, drinking, or recognizing how many Extrovert Points I might be spending over the course of 4-6 hours. By the end of stream, I usually take a break with full intention to come back and do more work…and then just struggle to make it happen until VERY late or until a deadline is looming.
I simply have less energy, less focus than I’d like to by the end of a stream day. Instead of continuing to promise myself (and you) that I’ll simply “do better,” I need to recognize my strengths and lean into them.
I love stream, but there’s other work I want to do as well. I want to write more, I want to get back to podcasting, I’d love to get into video essays. But I can’t do those things with a drained battery, not the way I want to. Certainly not consistently, which is a struggle for me even when my battery is full (shoutout to the ADHD again).
So yeah, a bit of this is about slowing down a bit to see what happens. I want to take a look at streaming and how I can make it more sustainable for me personally, how I can get it to work alongside the other projects I want to make happen…and how I can spend some time *not* working, too.
all of that said tho….there’s also this.
Reason 2: TOP SECRET PROJECT
😅😅😅
Hear me out, I’m serious about the rest and reconfiguration…but also there’s something I’m working on that I need to go heads-down on for a bit. I don’t have much to tell you right now, other than that I’m putting something together with the wonderful Kimchica, aka Jenny Windom, that I think people in this community will genuinely love.
Jenny and I have teamed up for multiple projects over the years for Intelligame, Kimchica’s Cafe, and a range of other places. She’s an amazing educator, producer, content creator, and one of the few jacks-of-all-trades that is somehow a master of them all too. Her email-based game club, Geeks and Grounds, helps players explore amazing games with thoughtful discussion and more.
Most of all though, Jenny is just…Jenny, a close friend who really understands the power not just of what games are, but what they can be… and how they shape who WE all are.
We’ll have more to reveal in September. In the meantime though, I need to take a bit of time to focus in…which is why this is the last week for streams this month.
Honestly? I’m EXCITED about this, maybe more excited than any other idea we’ve worked on in the past.
And when we come back with the reveal, I hope you are too.
So, when are the last streams?
Three streams this week: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All starting at 9a PT on Twitch!
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Wednesday: Majora’s Mask: Water Temple Redux and Farewell
- We’ve been playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask on stream, and our last stream ended with…much frustration when the game froze at the end of an already-infuriating dungeon, wiping the day’s progress. We’ll go back and clear the dungeon, then say farewell to our time with the Ocarina of Time successor.
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Thursday: Variety Thursday ft. FloatingFast!
- The wonderful Gautam Srikishan, musical composer for NPR’s Poetry Unbound as well as for a number of Intelligame video essays, will be here in-person for Variety Thursday! We’ll play some games while talking about some of his work and games he’s enjoyed this year.
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Friday: AMAA, then Bye for Now!
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To wrap up the week, we’re going to do an AMAA: Ask Me Almost Anything! We’ll hang out and chat while I answer your questions about games, life, other media, whatever. Feel free to reply to this email with your questions if you’d like them answered on stream!
- (No, I won’t tell you what the secret project is or give you hints, lol)
Honestly, thinking about taking the time off stream makes me a little sad…but I’m also excited thinking about what’s to come.
Thank you so much to all of you, you’ve helped make this possible: your pledges on Patreon and Ko-Fi, your time spent watching the streams, maybe even joining in discussions…just being here, being part of the community.
Intelligame is coming up on 9 years in September…and I think the best are yet to come. 🖤💛
See you this week…and then see you in September.
-Josh