Blog Archives
How’s Life Been
A few months back, it became very clear to me I was the best employee at my small, local job. I had a decision to make. Go all in on work and focus on it, try to get a raise, and distance myself from co-workers. Or, keep living a life where YouTube and the blog are just kinda durdling about as well as work. I chose to really hone in on work. What a journey it has been. I ended up getting a $2 raise, thus becoming the highest paid employee there. Mission accomplished. But it was a real grinding task. It compromised a lot of my mental and physical health. That’s because there was stuff going on in the background.
Namely, the company is doing poorly financially. As an employee and not an owner, it’s tough to say how rough. It’s a ma and pa store that never figured out all the financial parts of the business. And the economy is all over the place right now (more on this later). But this has made me go “All this hard work, just to get to here?”. It’s got me questioning a lot.
Next, my Brother-in-Law passed away essentially two months ago. He was battling poor health, but we still didn’t expect it when it finally did happen. Jessica took that week off to recover. When the following Monday came around, she was informed that the company she worked for was going out of business. She was out of a job 2 days later. A business in the same industry swooped up and let Jessica apply for one of their positions. We thought, “Oh, what a blessing.” Well, two months later, and she still has not started. I’ll leave the personal shots out of it, but let’s just say it isn’t Jessica’s fault she hasn’t started working yet.
Losing a family member, losing a source of income, and losing a creative outlet have taken its toll on us. Yet, it has certainly given me prospective.
For those of you who don’t know. I work 12-9pm and part of my job is actually live streaming online sales. I go live and interact with our audience for 3 hours (6pm-9pm), making sells to our viewers. Now, with a daughter who is a year and half old, it was getting hard to get home around 10pm and say “Yeah, I want to go live for a few more hours” when I’d rather see my family. These are more factors that have led me to not being active on here.
I want to come back. I want to hone in on my skills outside of work, such as editing and writing. So, I want to start incorporating these hobbies back into my life in a healthy way. Where I don’t get burned out or feel like it is dragging me away from my family.
So just know I’m working on several blog post such as: a new Manga Monday, The Games I’ve Played Recently, Ranking My Favorite Alolan forms (that’ll probably become a series of sorts), and Ranking the next Super Mario 64 course.
So those are what I have in mind. Please follow the blog and stay tuned for more content!
Thank you for reading! Have a great day!
A Creative Pitfall.
Hey guys! I love blogging on here. But every since I had my daughter that has gotten tougher. When we had our daughter, we went to a single income household. That didn’t make life easy for the first few months adjusting to that new lifestyle. At the same time, my job reduced its staff almost in half. We lost 3 retail employees and a warehouse employee. What did this mean for me? The guy who handled our online inventory? Suddenly, I had to pick up shifts downstairs on the retail floor. I had to cover lunch breaks. On the warehouse side of things, I was still putting on the same amount of inventory. Only now, we had one less pair of hands to pull and ship. So, a few days out of the week, I would have to go over to the warehouse to assist them. Basically, I went from 1 single focused job to being split into 3 different departments.
As Covid has shriveled up people’s disposable income, we’ve had to get creative with how we sell items and generate extra income. This meant turning to Whatnot to sell comics. I now stream 4 days a week for us on top of the other 3 departments I help out in. Trust me, I actually thrive here, and it’s not too much of a burden to juggle all these things. However, when I get home, I just want to focus on family. I still play games, watch shows, and read Mangas and Comics. The main difference now is that I don’t always feel like writing and scripting in-depth blogs about the matters. My recording setup has also become clunky at best. All this cuts into setting time aside for blogs and YouTube videos.
Lastly, I’m trying to switch from a consumer to a saver. This means I don’t want to be forking over money to keep up with the latest items to do reviews and such. A lot of my free time is going into looking into personal finances. I also realize I need a paying side hustle/side job. I fought that idea for a while because it felt counterintuitive. If I start putting all this time into a side hustle, that’s time away from my family. Which would be the antithesis of what I’m trying to accomplish. However, I’ve given so much of myself to my current job. I have more questions than answers about it’s long-term future. I want a more diverse skill set than the one I have here at work.
Long story short, I want to start blogging again- but as a hobby. I tried really hard to monetize it. To help justify it. I tried to pump out quality content while being pulled in a lot of different directions. It got to a point where the posts I was just putting out there were subpar and short. It may take me a while to find the balance of enjoying the content I’m making again without it feeling like a second job.
Here’s to hoping something productive will come out of this. If not, this will always be my little corner of the internet to vent and document my life.
Thanks for reading. Having a great day!
Thinking Out Loud
I was going to start tracking my investing journey today on the blog or show off some comics I got today. However, when I got home I played Pokemon Emerald. Now I need to walk my dogs and get ready for bed so all those thoughts will have to wait until later. Got big things going on tomorrow though!
December 1st is Upon Us
I’m sure as most of the frequent readers can tell, my posting has slowed way down. Again this comes down to having not read or watched anything lately (though I am watching Mandalorian!). Work has a large part to do with that. Even today, I’m working 12-9. Though now that school is over, Jessica and I are rearranging the house and cleaning up in preparations for the holiday. We know were getting a new mattress and dresser so it is time to readjust. When we get home and clean a little, we are typically tired and ready for bed. God willing, we will be done in a week or so and back on the Youtube and Blog grind. I have done a few things with my free time I will post about in the coming days. They just are not Manga or Anime related. We are also bracing for maybe an even crazier 2021 and trying to make sure all preparations on that front are made. Who knows what the future holds after all!
Alright everyone. Again, I just wanted to make an update post and try to get back in the swing of posting regularly again. It is always good to do a recharge post! I’ll see you guys in the coming day!
As always thanks for reading and have a great day!
200th Post Celebration Part 1
We hit 200 post a week or two ago. Let’s reflect on how the blog has done since its first 100 post.
Disclaimer: This is part 1 where we reflect on post 1-100. Part 2 will look at later post. It may be multiple parts just due to the nature of the beast. All Links seen in this post should lead directly to the post they are referring to. None should be spam or anything of that nature.
It did not take me long to reach 100 post. We wrote our first post on June 9th, 2015. Almost 7 short months later we hit 100 post. Some of the highlights from that era were:
Food Wars Season 1 Review. This post exploded in the first year getting a huge 37 views! It paced all non-home page post by a total of 9 grand spanking views. This review was a big deal at the time. I enjoyed a lot of post I was doing at this time, but to me this one was the game changer. I had not reviewed a whole season of an anime up to this point. This one gave me confidence moving forward.
Top Five Animes You Should Watch This Summer– This was another hype post. I was just falling back in love with anime after what felt like a forever hiatus. I watched some animes that I absolutely enjoyed. Amagi Brilliant Park, Death Parade, and Parasyte (just so I do not spoil the whole list in case you want to read it for yourself!) were animes that really commanded my attention. I watched them all in such close proximity that, instead of reviewing them separately, I just lumped them all into one review. I need to rewatch some and give them proper reviews.
We did a review for every episode 1 of the summer of 15 animes. Ushio and Tora, Gate, Monster Musume, Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers and I think Charlotte was also a part of this group. God-Eater got delayed to kingdom come if I recall right and I was not ready to jump into Dragon Ball Z Super. There’s a chance I’ve gotten some things mixed up. I feel like Gangsta also came out around this time? Summer animes were hyped. Rokka was actually our most viewed post that summer with 15 views. Even with all those hyped animes, Monster Musume was the one Jessica and I actually finished. That’s kind of insane.
That show I think actually challenged me to write out of my comfort zone. I love anime and Japanese culture, but I find the idea of sexualizing half woman half mythical creatures a bit odd. Still, I initially went to college for Film and Television and minored in Film Studies. I challenged myself to dig deeper past the objectifying woman and find some actual symbolism and meaning. I think I did that. I remember being proud of that post.
We also did a raise awareness series each month to spotlight a different awarenesses. I use to work in a Dollar General and in September we started selling Breast Cancer Awareness pens. Now, I certainly believe Breast Cancer is an absolutely appalling evil that no human should ever have to suffer from. Yet, September is Prostate Cancer Awareness (to name one of the potential many awarenesses.). There was no sign of blue pens anywhere. So, I did the only thing a blogger could do. I spoke out. Here’s an excerpt from my post.
If the stores around your area are like mine, you will never see that little blue ribbon. That’s a shame. September 3rd and there’s already pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbons and shirts set up in some stores, which is great. I discovered this last year when I was working at Dollar General and we started selling Breast Cancer Awareness pens at the counter at the start of September. I asked the manager on duty why don’t we sell Prostate Awareness month merchandise. She did not know. Again this year, I see no Prostate Awareness Month merchandise.
5 years later and I do not remember seeing any blue ribbons. It is still a shame.
Lastly, I would be absolutely remised if I did not speak on the daily challenge in January. One of the biggest reasons we hit 100 post so fast. We got at least 31 post in that month alone. We had a lot of fun with post such Top Five Type Pairings That Need To Happen, What Occupation Would I have, and Which Region Had the Best Starters. Those are all included if you click the January 2016 link. The most popular post from that stint was What Is Your Favorite Pokemon Evolution Line with I believe had 7 or 8 views.
Well, that does it for part 1. Honestly, this wasn’t meant to be a two parter. However, this is the first time I really got a chance to fall down the rabbit hole of past me so I indulged in the opportunity. I will try my hardest to have part 2 out tomorrow, but Tuesdays are always interesting.
Again thanks for reading this post. If you’ve read the old post from 2015 and 2016, maybe consider revisiting them? If you are new, perhaps go give an old classic a chance?
Anway, that is it for me. Have a great day! And be on the look out for part 2 very soon.
My New Job!
Tuesday I started my new job. I now work for a very awesome collectible store. It is very hard to know what to call it exactly. It’s not a local game store, not quite a local card store. It is a mix of both. It sells action figures, board games, video games, TCG card games. You name it. We even took in a collection of Barbie Dolls not to long ago. In other words, it is a wonderland. (Though for the sake of this blog, I am going to refer to as an LCS since I work with the cards and buy my comics from there.
I’m mentiong all of this to say this is now going to be a big part of my life. Right now, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I work 12-9. So yeah, I’m basically over there all day those days. Tuesday I have class 10:50-12:05pm than I work 12:30-5:30pm and back to school from 6:10-7:25pm class.
My job is super tedious but super sweet. We get traded in a lot of Magic the Gathering and Pokemon TCG cards. My job is to go through and assign them a grade on a 5 point scale. (Near Mint, Lightly Played, Moderately Played, Heavily Played, and Damaged.) I sleeve them up in the corresponding sleeve and list most of them on our TCGplayer site. We have a 2nd crew that handles the storing and shipping of the cards. I just see to it that they get properly logged in the site.
However, I have been a nerd with several hobbies for my whole life. They have more stock than they could list before. Eventually, I will move onto comics and other collectibles. For right now though, we need to get all our cards up to date.
It is a desk job. I mostly sit at my desk for 9 hours except for my lunch break and the occasional bathroom break or so to stretch my legs. However, it is literally the coolest store within probably 100 miles of me, so I love it. My boss is a real good dude. My card grading co-worker also seems nice. They work around my classes. And, as I like to point out, the cards never give me sass. So, it is tough to complain with a job like this.
I’ve got to look at so many cool Magic cards. That’s a real perk. I could not afford/did not want to spend money on half of these cards. So, it is awesome to get to hold and look at them. Some of the highlights for me have been: Cavern of Souls, Teferi Hero of Dominaria, Sensei’s Divining Top, 4th Edition Lightning Bolt, Revised Blue Elemental Blast, Karn Scion of Urza, Sylvan Library, and Priest of Titania. There’s been some other stuff. One collection had some cool legacy elves pieces, one collection had the dominating Red Deck Wins from about a year ago. It is wild, truly. My co-workers stack had a foil version of Dark Confidant.
It is now more easy than ever for me to get my hands on TCG stuff. I’m strongly debating on bringing some of that stuff to the channel, maybe? I might do a TCG Singles pick up video as I’ve bought about 15 Magic the Gathering singles. I’m looking to add some Pokemon Singles or even do some unboxing on my Youtube channel. So, if that sounds interesting, make sure you follow me on here and subscribe to my Youtube channel here.
Well, I need to go to bed now. I hope you guys look forward to hearing about interesting stories and awesome finds.
Thanks so much for reading! Have a great day!
An Unplanned Break
I love this blog. And this year in particular, I have made what feels like several post marked as life updates. This is just the next one in that long running tradition.
This break was completely unplanned and one of those things where I had to sit down and make sure I prioritized ending the long draught of post. Which is a shame. I wrote what I consider to be some of my favorite reviews this years. I had watched a handful of animes that I planned to review (including Tower of God Season 1 which I actually did write up.)
So, if I love the blog and had all these plans, why has it been over a month? Let’s break it all down.
School- School also ruins my motivation towards hobbies. It’s a shame. It’s not always a bad thing though. Sometimes it is because I enjoy my classes so much, I actively prioritize school (weird, right?). Other times, school provides that good ol existential crisis of what am I doing with my life? This semester has been a mix of both. For starters I’m taking 6 classes which is near, if not, the maximum amount of classes you can take in a college semester. Only one is actual hard, but it is plenty hard. 2 or 3 require a lot of reading and video watching. and about 2 of them are actually pretty easy, thankfully. Well, 2 of these classes encourage me and are helping me decide what I want to do for work. Others, are making me reconsider everything. However, I am way too deep into the college tank to jump ship. Regardless, I was on a tear over the summer and during the covid break. School being back in session has hurt motivation which, in return, has hurt production.
Hobbies- I am a collector. I collect a lot of stuff. Mangas, comic books, and video games are some of the bigger hobbies I have. That’s without counting how much anime, movies, and Youtube/Streaming I watch. As a result, I rarely stay on the same hobby too long. These last two months my interest shifted from animes to video games. Now, I’m mostly reading comic books and I’ll occasionally fire up a game when I’m in the mood. This blog mostly centers around anime. When you’re not watching anime, it makes it hard to constantly write about anime. I’m trying to reprogram my brain into anime but is tough with all other good forms of media that exist right now.
Youtube Channel- On top of running this blog, I run the companion Youtube site, Dahubbz, I run a completely separate Youtube channel with some friends. That channel uploads almost daily this entire year. I am in almost every video as well as edit every video and I come up with most of the ideas. I would not call it a full time workload but it keeps me busy. (In fact, I have put off editing the video for today to focus on the blog.). I’ve tried to teach the other members how to create their own concepts and edit the videos, but they are not ready for that yet. Which is fine. The 2nd channel was my idea and I’m super proud of it. Nevertheless, there are definitely days, weeks, and sometimes months, where I am focusing on that channel more than this one. Back in August I came up with several high profile video ideas. However, I was really struggling with which channel I would put them on and as a result, I just have not done those videos yet.
As it stands, I have big plans for this blog and the channel. However, I might have to consider one day I’ll shift all my attention on to one channel. That time is not here yet. So, let us continue to enjoy the ride together. If you watch any of our videos or read any of our post, thank you.
I don’t want to make any promises, but tomorrow I plan to review One Punch Man Episode 1. Fingers crossed.
Life Update (May 6th 2020)
I really like doing these life updates. I like going back and reading them and seeing where I was at in one point of my life. So today, I’m sitting in a tire shops waiting room getting 3 tires replaced. Jessica and I have began full time babysitting her cousins since their school is closed. (We get them Sunday afternoon and they go Friday night. And this has been going on for a month now). I just finished one of the weirdest semesters I’ve ever had. Not the hardest by any means, but certainly weird.
All my classes moved to online due to the Coronavirus. That really threw off the whole groove of the semester being entirely online.
Earlier in the year, my passion for blogging was on fire. I had what I consider to be some of my greatest post to date. However, I tried to channel all that energy into both the Dahubbz YouTube channel and the Dahubbz blog post (the site you’re reading on right now.). Well, the candle burned on both ends burns out twice as fast or something like that.
So I decided to focus on the channel. I started streaming twice a week and they were successful for a channel my size. We streamed custom mods for A Hat in Time. All our viewers really enjoy them. Right now, due to us watching the kids nearly everyday, we havent been able to stream much. We have plans to restart soon.
Of course, most of my readers on here are here for the manga/anime reviews and the Pokemon content. Well, I fully plan to bring those back in strides now that school is over and I can’t really stream and record as much as years past.
Tomorrow or so, I’ll post a blog about some of the options we have available. Jessica and I each picked up about 3 mangas last week.
I dont have a detailed list of blog post I’m planning. I’m just going to kind of post what comes to my mind. In the mean time, if you enjoy our content and want more regular updates, go check out the Dahubbz youtube page (if I remember, I’ll add links later because I’m on mobile at the moment.)
I’m just happy to make post again. I’m always looking for more creative outlets. Here’s to finishing 2020 strong.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Manga Car Ride! Make a recommendation!
This Saturday will mark my epic two week quest down to Panama City! That nets me close to ten hours of car trip reading time. I’m bringing Dragon Ball Vol. 7-8-9, Seven Deadly Sins Vol 2, Tokyo Ghoul Vol 1, and Food Wars Vol 1. to keep me entertained.
While I am down there, I will try to stop by book stores and comic stores and pick up some new ones.
So if you stumble across this post, you should totally leave the name of a manga or comic book I should be on the look out for.
You can also recommend an anime I’ll try to get around to watching it. Ideally, something found on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu.
You can follow me on twitter @Dahubbz to see if I find anything cool!
Thanks for reading!
Life Update: BatmanVsSuperman, moving
The drought is almost over.
My moving situation is basically solved and figured out as long nothing changes between now and the first week of April. I am so excited as this change of scenery is what the doctor ordered! I plan to finally have office space(If youll allow me to call it that) I plan to renew my subscriptions and buy some mangas. It’s going to be a fresh spark that I think will add energy back to the blog and create some momentum for the youtube channel.
That wont be until roughly April 5th. In the meantime I have a “Let’s Talk” session lined up for BatmanVsSuperman, as well as trying to read a manga Ive owned for like 4 months. God willing, I will start Random Wednesday next Wednesday, But I make no promises as it seems my time flies by here currently.
Thanks for reading this and sticking by. The ambiguous uncertainty has really taken a toll on me but I can see a light. Here’s to a bright future!
Da_Hubbz 