Good day/night cycle to you! This week has been 'one of those'. A week where games were just not cutting it. A dark and gloomy place indeed.

Streaming games on Twitch is fun but it's also bloody hard work. A lot of people look at Twitch streamers, such as me, and scoff "you're playing games and getting money for it - call that hard? Get a proper job!" which can be a bit hard to hear, for the following reasons:

A) I am not a big streamer and apart from a few kind subs and some bits my main bonus is getting occasional free games to share with my audience.

B) It is hard work to advertise yourself and try to get noticed in the crowd. It's hard work getting the stream looking half decent and then dealing with the inevitable tech issues when you are not a technically minded person.

C) I have a job as well...so I shoe-horn streaming in around that and family so all the prep and shmoozing often have to take a back-seat

All of which meant last week games were not at all appealing- I knew I was in trouble when I sat staring at my Celtic tribe being awful in a cold tundra in Civilisation V. It was time for a break from games.

The other aspect of Twitch which a lot of people don't realise is that, well, it's just like real life. There are dramas, conflict, love and fantastic creativity- all of which can be exhausting. Some day I will write a terrible memoir about Twitch to float around the ether. Honestly, it is amazing to see how some grown adults can behave behind the scenes but I guess I shouldn't be that surprised; digital life is, after-all just a reflection of IRL. Sometimes worse. It gets amplified by the wondrous echo-chamber that the internet is at times.

But then of course there are the Shiney, fantastic people. The people that make it all worth while. Those that open the curtains and make you look round and remember that the awesome stuff is still there, you'd just lost sight of it when the gloom crept in. This week, for me, that was the wonderful streamer @helloitskolo who can be found on twitch here. She is currently playing Elite:Dangerous and her appreciation of all the beauty in the game was a welcome reminder to just ENJOY the games I am playing. So Kolo, I salute you with a lovely glass of Shiraz. It is also good to welcome @DJTruthsayer back from gallivanting around the world and he has some interesting things bubbling along...watch this space... or this one!

So..onward! Enjoy your games! Have fun! Life is too short to dedicate time to arguments and self doubt. Avoid the drama-rain. See you in space. o7

#carrumba #the_sovereignty #EliteDangerous #helloitskolo #djtruthsayer