Blog: A clogged sink & a new video (09/11/21 - 09/15/21)

Note: I've adjusted my schedule. I am now taking Thursdays and Fridays off. These are the same days my wife takes off, so now we can enjoy our weekend together!

Saturday, September 11th - Writing the new script

Lots of new Patron sign-ups! Hello and welcome to all you new folks. I spent my morning shipping out your rewards! After lunch, I sat down and wrote the Mario character names script. Last week, I outlined everything, so the writing process was fairly straightforward. Outlining is so important when writing these scripts. Like they say: Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.

This type of episode allows me to be a little more relaxed with my writing. I'm not exactly telling a story. I'm just sharing information in a (hopefully) entertaining way. It took me all day, but I managed to knock out a rough draft! Tomorrow, Kristin & I will sit down and edit the script. Then it is on to narration! I think I'll be on camera for this episode. It's a relaxed, fun episode, so I like to be more involved with this type of video. 

Sunday, September 12th - Editing session & new thumbnails!

Kristin & I sat down and edited the script, so we are ready for filming tomorrow! We didn't have to make too many adjustments. 

I'm also in the process of updating all of my thumbnails. I finally found something that works well with YouTube's weird overlays. Overall, it is pretty similar to what I have been using. But the text is now up above. It also allows me to do some cool 3D effects (like with the Mario 3 box). 

Special thanks to Kate Willaert for her design help. She also has a fantastic YouTube channel, so check it out!

Monday, September 13th - Filming Day!

Happy filming day. Today we recorded the narration on camera. I haven't done this since...February? So I had to knock off the cobwebs!

Sometimes I'm asked why I'm not on camera more often. It's a couple of reasons. The first is I'm just not comfortable doing it. I have generalized anxiety, so it's a pretty stressful time when I record. I stumble over words, worry about how I look, and stress over the lighting and sound. The second reason is that it depends on the topic. For the longer form documentaries, I don't think I need to be in them. I prefer to stay back as just the narrator. But for shorter, fun videos, I think it makes sense to be on camera. 

Today was a mess! I struggled to get the glare out of my glasses from the lights. It's challenging because I have limited space for the lights and really big glasses. It's a terrible combination.

Then, I got halfway through the script before realizing I left my dehumidifier on, which wouldn't sound great on the microphone. So I had to start over. It took all afternoon, but we got it done! I'll start editing the video tomorrow. I don't imagine it will take long, maybe one week?

Tuesday, September 14th - The Mystery of the Clogged Sink

Today, I woke up to a funky smell. Real funky. I went down to the kitchen and noticed the sink was backed up. Uh oh! I ran the garbage disposal, which emptied one side of the sink....and filled up the other side! I won't show you photos. The water was gross.

So clearly, something was clogged. So I took a peek under the sink, and this was the pipe setup. 

My first thought was that the p-traps were clogged. The p-traps are those pipes that look like the letter U (why not call it a u-trap?) P-traps are used to prevent sewer gas from coming back into the house. Water sits on the bottom of the traps, creating a seal to prevent gas from coming up. 

I took those out, but there was no clog. So the stoppage was in the main drain line. I removed all the piping and, sure enough, I found the clog. What was inside?

Carrot peels!

Yesterday, Kristin peeled a ton of carrots and put them in the garbage disposal. I googled it and, apparently, this is a big no-no. The peels are too small and thin to get shredded by the disposal, so they can clog pipes. Lesson learned!

I was able to remove the clog and put everything back together. It took me all morning, but at least I didn't have to call a plumber. 

In the afternoon, I recorded a new episode of the Video Game History Hour podcast! We discussed the U-Force video in detail. In addition, I talked about some history I didn't mention in the video, so look out for that podcast in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, the sink situation didn't allow me to edit anything today. So hopefully, tomorrow I don't run into any fun surprises!

Wednesday, September 15th - Another fun surprise

Well, I ran into another fun surprise: My audio that I recorded the other day sounds horrible. It sounds like I'm in an old television set. So I had to re-record all of my narration. A pain in the butt, but it had to be done.

After I spent the morning fixing that issue, I started editing the video.  I finally got to use these Mario figurines that I picked up earlier this year! I'm going to use them in some b-roll for the video. Toad looks oddly terrifying. 

Editing should go pretty quickly on this video. I imagine I'll be posting a preview next week. See you next time!

- Norm