May Update: Things Aren't Great, To Be Perfectly Honest
Added 2021-06-05 19:10:57 +0000 UTCHey team,
Not all of my news is bad. None of it's good.
The last two weeks have been a major relapse in sciatica symptoms. I seem to be through the worst of it and am somewhat functional again, but, seeing as we don't know what caused the relapse, we're very hesitant to resume any of my normal life activities. The relapse was enough to convince my insurance to get me an MRI, and we have officially confirmed it's a herniated disc, and next up is a spine assessment to determine whether or not I need surgery.
All this for sitting in a car seems quite excessive.
Given that I officially have no idea how long this is going to last, I am finally calling in the cavalry. Here's where things stand:
- A friend and fellow YouTuber has agreed to edit my UC Merced talk for me. I've sent her everything it requires and it should be a fairly simple task. In my ideal world I would release the final CO-VID before putting an Alt-Right Playbook Endnote online, so I might show it to you and then sit on it for a bit.
- Another friend and fellow YouTuber has agreed to edit a couple of other videos for me. I looked over my list of potential topics and picked a couple ideas I had about some movies that I know this YouTuber is a fan of, and so they could probably do an edit without too much guidance from me. This is much more involved so it's a paid gig, not a favor, but I trust them a lot. Those scripts haven't been written, however, so I don't know how long they'll take.
- I still have that collaboration I've been teasing planned, and we're now targeting the end of the summer, and having two people should help work around my infirmities.
- Finally, I have installed Premiere on my laptop and gotten a cooling tray to perch it on and will - pain allowing - experiment with editing while lying prone on a futon mattress. This is how I will attempt to edit the final CO-VID.
The thing I really want to get back to is Alt-Right Playbook, obvs, so I'm having to consider hiring an animator. This is tricky, because those are a lot of work, and I frankly don't get paid enough for the hundreds of hours I put into them, so paying someone what they deserve might leave me with not very much. Maybe I'll run a small Indiegogo to raise the animator's salary, I dunno.
Point is: I am only partially functional for the foreseeable future and I'm starting to work around that rather than waiting for it to get better.
Thanks for your patience, and for (mostly) not bailing on me.
-I
Comments
Take as long as you need, but if you do run an indigo campaign or whatever I’ll support it
Florence
2021-06-11 15:32:14 +0000 UTCI mean, in a normal society, sick leave would be fully covered whatever your job and employment conditions, so I don't mind my money going to that.
Salomé Cheysson
2021-06-10 17:39:40 +0000 UTCEchoing what everyone said. Please take care of yourself. Know that the work you have out there is doing a lot of good as it is. I've been preaching the Alt-Right playbook for a year now to anyone who will listen. I'm happy to support however long this takes. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think it is one of the most important series on youtube.
gay of reckoning
2021-06-09 21:43:04 +0000 UTCIan, please take car of yourself and don’t stress to much. I don’t speak for everyone but I know I speak for most when I say we would rather you take some time to heal and get better then work yourself to the ground.
OliveTree
2021-06-08 07:22:00 +0000 UTCTake care of yourself.
Sean
2021-06-08 05:30:58 +0000 UTCDo what you need to do. I support you for the important content, not a timeline.
Zardogs! Zardogs!
2021-06-07 18:50:18 +0000 UTCYou are worth more than your productivity. :)
Kait Hatch
2021-06-07 15:12:12 +0000 UTCAs a member of the permanent-pain club, I actually went and upped my pledge. My partner is on a government paycheck and this feels like the world's most elaborate way to try and cobble together temporary disability payments for someone, but it's what we got.
Kass Fireborn
2021-06-06 14:04:49 +0000 UTCi will help you fund your crowdfunding campaign. this shit is important to me and you do great work
Steve O'Brien
2021-06-06 09:54:44 +0000 UTCPlease don't feel like you have to spend your energy on anything other than getting well, you are first of all a person who deserves their health and we are willing to stay with you and continue supporting you through these hard times. Please don't rush work at the expense of health, no matter how important we all know that work is. Don't be afraid to rely on others, whether it's work or patronage/indiegogo — in a perfect world, everybody would be contributing to keep each other afloat without expecting anything in return.
Gabi Ghita
2021-06-06 09:33:24 +0000 UTChey ian. thanks for the update, and i’m sorry things have gotten worse/not progressed with your injuries. i know that a backer like me telling you to take it easy and not push yourself is easier and said than done when you’re racking up medical bills and losing some backers (and yes i did read your tweets about this lol). that said, i do hope you can do that a little bit still, and i hope these collaboration arrangements help you to make some work progress while you’re continuing to heal/deal with this shit. let us know if there’s anything else we can do (i’d be happy to chip in some money for an animator for instance!) and i hope you can make some small steps through work and toward healing!
Will Bower
2021-06-05 22:37:55 +0000 UTCAs a fellow content creator who has been struggling with an undiagnosed disease for the past three years, I completely understand how frustrating it is to have something like this forced on you. Although my patronage isn't very much, I just wanted you to that I will stay, no matter how long this takes.
SpeckObst
2021-06-05 21:38:29 +0000 UTCTake care and don't push yourself to hard - not for this.
2021-06-05 21:12:58 +0000 UTCtake care & get well soon!
Jan Martinek
2021-06-05 21:06:16 +0000 UTCI'm also happy to chip in to a fundraiser for work you want to contract while you're dealing with this, but I also fully support you just taking your time and getting back to good health before putting anything out if that's what you end up doing. It's all good :) Godspeed on the recovery!
SiberianHussy
2021-06-05 20:53:33 +0000 UTCJust chiming in to say I'd definitely contribute to an indiegogo or whatever to help pay for an animator's salary. Best wishes for your recovery!
Alec Simone
2021-06-05 20:14:39 +0000 UTCYeah, I mean you're not a replaceable good, you're a person who's work we like to see. That means we're willing to wait and we support you, not just the content you create. All that said, certainly pulling for a good recovery (for your own sake in addition to our vested interest), but stuff like this just takes the time it's going to take.
JinxedJoker
2021-06-05 20:06:39 +0000 UTCI don’t want to say anything that would minimize your struggles but I can say I support you for the quality of your content, a quality that requires you to be healthy! So if we have to wait, we have to wait. I have struggled with chronic illness for the better part of a decade; people fail to understand how pain isn’t just physically difficult, it’s also mentally draining. I’m happy you have some support systems you can lean on
The Mad Jay Woman
2021-06-05 19:51:21 +0000 UTCThanks! This has been a bit of a test run for what collaborating more might look like. I definitely have projects in mind that would require a team. Small moves!
Ian Danskin
2021-06-05 19:33:56 +0000 UTCDid they finally figure out what was wrong? I'm so curious!
Ian Danskin
2021-06-05 19:32:47 +0000 UTCShit, that's rough. My mom had this a few years ago and need surgeries. She had a case that baffled her neurosurgeon. It was a long, rough road, but she eventually recovered and is doing much better now. I hope the same happens for you without the complications.
Nathan Saritzky
2021-06-05 19:31:02 +0000 UTCI hope the favors and sub-contracting go well. It'd be cool if you could get to a level of funding that would allow you to utilize options like that on the regular, because that sounds like it would help you meet more of your ambitious goals and cover more of the things on your list that you've wanted to do. If there was a campaign to do so and push your studio via those means, I'd certainly help support/promote that. Though getting to a stable (if not back to normal) place with your back certainly comes top priority! Rest well, and I wish you relief soon.
JinxedJoker
2021-06-05 19:30:49 +0000 UTCI'll put out a call on Twitter for animators soon, but if you wanna get a leg up on the pile shoot your demo reel/portfolio/whatever you've got to innuendostudiosian@gmail.com! And thanks!
Ian Danskin
2021-06-05 19:26:40 +0000 UTCMate, you wouldn't be getting my money if I didn't want you to have. Take care of yourself first and foremost, get back to us only when you're comfortable. Best wishes from the UK!
Jake Hadley
2021-06-05 19:24:56 +0000 UTCHey I don’t do much animating anymore but I was literally an animation major at Rutgers Your work is really important so hit me up if you want
2021-06-05 19:24:39 +0000 UTCBack pain stuff can be really intense and I really hope you feel better. I am here for the duration but I know from experience how frustrating the pain can be. Please take it easy on yourself, as much as you can!
Ali
2021-06-05 19:14:41 +0000 UTCGood to hear things are moving in the right direction at least, take care of yourself and get well soon!
Maxli Catenby
2021-06-05 19:13:28 +0000 UTC
