Upcoming absence . . . maybe

I thought I would give a heads up a little early about something that's coming up in my life that might take me away for a while.  I am scheduled to have eye surgery on April 29th and I'm probably not going to be staring at a computer for a while after that.

After meeting with a corneal specialist it has been determined that I need a new corneal transplant and while they are doing that they can also put a new lens in my eye.  Fixing 2 problems at once.  It's good news and I'm excited at the possibility of seeing out of my left eye again.  There are a couple of things that make me nervous and the closer it gets to that time I'm sure I'll get more nervous but it's manageable now.

The first thing I'm nervous about is the cost.  My last surgery was at the end of the year and I didn't have to shell out too much money before I met my out of pocket maximum for the year.  Since this is happening earlier in the year I'll have to pay more because I'm no where close to reaching that maximum.  It sucks because I had such great plans for my tax refund but I'll get through this.

The other thing that I'm worried about is actually a good thing.  I'm worried about seeing again.  I know that sounds weird but after not being able to see really anything out of the left eye for 7 months and then (hopefully) being able to see things again is going to send my brain into overload and I'm imaging I'll have a VERY bad headache for a couple of weeks while my brain adjusts to the new inputs.

I've got my next game all recorded and I'm starting to edit it.  I'll start posting that game next week as tomorrow is my last video for Lego Harry Potter (years 5-7).  I'm not going to tell you what game it is but I hope you like it as it's my favorite game of that particular genre.  I've also finished filming the whole things so I know how long it will take to post videos.  It will run from next week through most of June.

Now I'm sure you're thinking that that would give me plenty of time to film new things (or finish up filming old thing) between the date of surgery and the end of June but like I said before I probably won't want to do that due to the eye strain of staring at a computer screen or TV screen for a while.  I'll try to film some things in games I have in progress but I also have to have time to edit what I've already got done.

I think I'm going to spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do with my YouTube channel going forward.  I started the channel to force myself to finish games and it has certainly helped me to do that.  But unfortunately it's a lot of work to film, edit and post videos while working a full time job and trying to spend time doing my other hobbies. 

And there's the rub.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to do my other hobbies.  I can't remember when the last time I read a book.  I know I'm in the middle of one (The Book Thief) but with all the eye drama it's just been too hard to read at times.  I also like to cross stitch and I'm working on a large project for my dad.  I've told him that he can't die until it's finished and at the rate I'm going it's going to be another 15-20 years before it's done.  He turns 80 this year.

I guess what I'm getting at is that while I love to play games and make videos and post them to YouTube, I love to do other things as well.  I just don't have the time to everything that I use to before I started YouTube.  Every time I look at the analytics and what I want to do with my life I think it's not worth the effort any more at the expense of my other hobbies.  But then someone comments on a video, or I get a new subscriber and I feel guilty about walking away . . . especially with some games unfinished. 

It's a problems I'm going to be thinking a lot about while I'm out of commission for a month or so.  So even though videos should be going up while I'm out there might be a lag before other videos get posted once the next game is done.  If you can think of reasons to keep on posting . . . or reasons to quit let me know.

(and yes, I know I need to post a Working Girl's review of Band of Bugs and Lego Harry Potter (years 5-7)