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Stream Art by Meesh

One of the things that's great about streaming together with Mishenanigans (Meesh) is not only having someone to chat with during the stream, but the fun art that comes out of it! Sometimes, it's capturing moments from the stream, like these pieces from our Ocarina of Time Randomizer run via Ship of Harkinian:

Trying to run Dodongo's Cavern without a Bomb Bag when a viewer turns on Slippery Floor using Crowd Control

Digging with Dampé when suddenly, Dark Link appears! Crowd Control strikes again...

Almost abandoned the last chest in Beneath the Well, but a last-minute viewer suggestion gets me to the Bomb Bag at long last!

We're also trying out some art streaming from time to time! We just tried having Meesh streaming with me so that the art can be shared in realtime as it's being made. These were some of our test prompts...

What would Kirby look like if he absorbed a Goron?

What would Kirby look like if he absorbed... one of our dogs?

Man, do our dogs love to eat and hover around the kitchen when we're cooking

You'd think they'd get jacked with all the good stuff we feed them!

If a dog has a blaster arm and a gun, is it still a dog?

Come join us on stream, links in my description! We're chatting, answering questions, gaming, and drawing live multiple times a week (usually 2pm - 5pm Eastern) as we get more comfortable with streaming and expanding our horizons👋🏻

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So where the hell have you been, anyway?

It's been some wild years, and the ride ain't over yet. There's been so much going on, just a whirlwind of chaos, and constant change in my life. So I revisit the age-old questions of who I am, what I want, and what I want to do in this world--you know, that easy, casual stuff. I haven't necessarily answered those questions definitively (not that I think most people can answer them with finality), but I've learned a lot through my process. Hopefully, I can share some of those thoughts and insights with you.

So, what's been going on? Over the past few years, I...

got super into cooking and food

went through a divorce, and all the heartache that brings

started a company, got it going for the first few years, and handed over day-to-day operations to the team

started dating again, and found a wonderful partner...

...who then needed emergency brain surgery and had a long, difficult recovery

completed my undergrad and Master's with flying colors

radically changed my primary career of 17+ years

had my kids full-time throughout the pandemic lockdowns

got a new puppy

was working away from home for about a year

moved across the country

came out to and cut contact with my parents

It's been hard. It's been lonely. There were a lot of other heartaches and struggles in there that I can't talk about. But I needed a lot of that time and space to really learn and grow so I could untangle this insane web of chaos in my head and heart. I think I'm better for it now, but there were definitely better paths I could have taken where I didn't neglect friendships and connections.

A lot of it came from wanting to avoid difficult or confrontational conversations. Talking about getting divorced after ten years married and starting all over again is rough. I still had a lot of raw emotions around the end of that relationship, and a lot of my friends were also her friends. I assumed people would take sides, and that people not reaching out to me was a sign that they were "on her side". I figured people wouldn't want to hear from me.

There was also just so much vitriol around sexual identity and gender expression, and I never knew who was "safe" and who was not. My partner of 5+ years, whom I met in university, is a trans man. My oldest is also transmasc. My in-person friend group was full of acceptance and support, but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it publicly online, least of all because I was hiding from confrontation with my parents (very becoming for a 30-something-year-old man to hide from his parents). I watched so many people that I considered to be kind and empathetic turn into raging ideologues over transphobia and the "pronoun war".

Then, the longer I went without keeping touch with folks, the harder it became to reach out.

It essentially boils down to: I let my anxiety control me, and worried more about what other people would think than what was important to me. As a recovering people-pleaser, this is a recurring theme and a pattern I'm deliberately breaking. I've since come out to my parents and, as my criteria for an ongoing relationship with them was acceptance and respect for me, my son, and my partner, cut contact with them. I knew it was coming, and they've disowned me before. It still sucks.

But, this isn't a pity party post. Things are hard, and I still struggle, but I feel myself for the first time in my life. I have a loving, supportive, communicative relationship. I'm in a better place with my kids than I've ever been. A new direction and growth in my career. A new neighborhood and city to explore and discover. Life goes on; hope and possibilities abound.

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A Work in Progress

Every few years, I end up refreshing my online presence and trying out a new angle of approach. It's been over a decade since my last reinvention, and I've been finding myself pulling back more and more from online communities over the last five years, so I figured it was time to try something new again. Welcome to a new work in progress!

About me, abbreviated:

30s / Male / Canada

2 kids, 2 dogs, too many fleeting obsessions

Working in a successful career + entrepreneurship

Ambitious but awkward, charismatic but introverted

Chaos gremlin

Random passions and interests I might blog about:

Personal reflections

Mental health, purpose, and fulfillment

Technology and gaming

Food, cooking, and culture

Building inclusive, supportive communities

Game design and development

Healthy relationships

Project management

Cute animals and funny memes

Random things I'm learning about

Come say hello!