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Make No (Livestream) Mistake About It

by | Mar 30, 2018 | It's My Life

A Cautionary Tale for the Livestreamer

There once was a communications technologist named Mayumi. Mayumi really liked her job producing video events at a major university. One day, a high-profile guest came to campus, and the high-profile department sponsoring the high-profile guest decided to livestream a video event, to both the Book of Faces and the Tube of Yous. Mayumi had done simultaneous live streams before, so she got to work, building and testing stream pages like she’d always done. A few days before the big event was going to happen, Mayumi tested the connections to both the Book of Faces and the Tube of Yous. All went well, as Mayumi expected it to, and everyone involved went on merrily.

The day of the event arrived, and Mayumi got ready to start streaming to both the Book of Faces and the Tube of Yous. But when she pressed the big Start button on her magical encoder…the Tube of Yous didn’t start! All of the settings were right, and the Book of Faces was going strong. But the Tube was not reacting as it should have done!

Mayumi recalled the Golden Rule of Technology: When in doubt, restart. So, she restarted her magical encoder machine. She started her connections again, using the same information as before. But wait! Now, neither the Book of Faces nor the Tube of Yous was starting properly! Oh noes!

There was only one thing left to do. Mayumi rebooted again, and rebuilt from scratch BOTH the connections for the Book of Faces and the Tube of Yous, discarding the event credentials from before. She pressed the Start button on the magical encoder, and…they worked! Mayumi monitored both working connections through the end of the event, and they stayed live and sending, with no more troubles. But what had happened to those other connections?

Here’s what Mayumi learned:

  • A Book of Faces stream event can be created up to seven days in advance. You can test-stream to this event without going live as many times as you want. Once you go live, though, that stream’s unique identity cannot be duplicated. Which means, if you stop the stream (like with a machine reboot), you need to create a completely new event, with completely new credentials.
  • A Tube of Yous stream event can be created a long time in advance. But if you test-stream to that particular event page, the Tube of Yous will expect you to go live shortly thereafter (within a couple of hours); it will look for the EXACT SAME data stream for the live event, that you used for your test event. The error may not apply if you ARE using the exact same data stream, from the exact same output hardware, but just in case, test your Tube of Yous live stream event with a separate test event, especially if you’re testing a few days out.

Now that you’ve read Mayumi’s story, you won’t have to panic when you run into either of these issues. You’ll know what to do! And, as the famous saying goes, knowing is half the battle.

 

Freeing Myself From the Comparing Mind

by | Jan 21, 2018 | It's My Life

It’s a new year, and with the start of a new year, we traditionally make resolutions. Over the last several years, I have focused my new-year’s-mind on being kinder, listening more closely, supporting more causes in which I believe. I think I’ve become a (slightly) better person for those past resolutions. This year, though, I need to look inward.

I’ve been struggling with a kind of lingering depression for several years, now. It has not been clinically diagnosed, but I also know it’s more than just mood swings or the odd blah feeling. I function fine at work, and I carry on my family chores and responsibilities. My creative soul has been drowning, though.

I have known for a long time that I waste too much effort comparing myself to others’ success. Others’ popularity. Others’ epicness. I had thought that the best resolution for me this year was to be more accepting of others’ accomplishments, but it has to go deeper than that. The real answer came to me from a cooking show, of all things.

Jeong Kwan "Creativity and ego cannot go together."

Jeong Kwan

 

The show “Chef’s Table” (available on Netflix) did a portrait on Jeong Kwan, a Buddhist nun in South Korea. In her interview, she said the above, as well as the following:

“If you free yourself from the comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly.”

Jeong Kwan said these words in regard to her cooking, but I have taken them to heart for my writing. She equates the art of making wholesome and natural food to spiritual enlightenment. I believe that the same can be done with writing. Creating characters and stories has given me strength over the years. I’ve learned from the conflicts of those characters, and letting them speak, fight, and sing through my pen has opened my eyes to perspectives and ideas that might not have occurred to me otherwise.

I know my journey to this greater enlightenment and peace will not be easy, but every journey worth making takes effort. I hope to become a better creative, and a more well-rounded person, for that effort.

How do you deal with jealousy? Have you made any resolutions in the new year?

“Buckle Up” [original FMW short story]

“Buckle Up” [original FMW short story]

by | Dec 23, 2017 | Finding Mister Wright, Short Stories

I had not planned on writing a holiday story this year. Current events led me into a kind of lingering depression, where even writing my work-in-progress – a space opera of diverse and changing characters running for their lives, a story I love and want so badly to see to the finish line – had become difficult to do every day. I was putting down four, maybe five or six sentences a day on my commute. The spark had left me. Then I saw a throwback post to my Christmas story swap from 2014.

Kindling of a Tradition

For those of you who haven’t read my earlier blog posts about this and aren’t familiar, the Christmas story swap is a tradition my sister and I started when we were pre-teens. (Now, I guess they’d call us “YAers”.) We would each write our own stories – usually fanfiction based on the X-Men, Dark Crystal, Star Wars, or whatever had captured our fancy that season – in the days or weeks leading up to Christmas day, with the purpose of swapping them on Christmas morning. It was an idea designed to keep us busy in those wee hours waiting for our parents to wake up. I don’t even remember anymore who came up with it, just that we did it for a several years straight, and it became one of my favorite holiday traditions. Writing stories became a tradition for me.

The Rekindling

That tradition between us fell away as we grew older and moved away to university. I even forgot about it for a few years. Then, during a whirlwind bout of inspiration over the 2013 winter break, I wrote my not-exactly-romance, not-quite-coming-of-age novella “Finding Mister Wright.” Fifteen chapters over fifteen days, with the words flying from my brain to the page. I’d never before – and have never since – encountered characters whose voices and personalities have flowed so easily for me. Like Athena from Zeus’s crown, Marshall, Daniel, Rob, Paige, and the rest burst fully-formed from my brain. More than their easiness, though, I’ve loved how their lives and (non-)adventures have always brought me a simple but satisfying joy.

Finding Myself in Mister Wright

The original “Finding Mister Wright” novella takes place mostly over the winter Chicago holidays. Because of that, the cast of that story has always lived in a perpetual kind of winter wonderland, for me. I’ve written them through many different seasons and stages of life, but there’s something about the holidays that always bring out the best of them…and the best in me.

I love writing these characters in this holiday season. No matter how much they change – and they do – they always fill me with such love and a sense of family that is almost as good as having my real family around me. So, while I hadn’t planned on writing a Christmas story this year, when a little nugget of another “Finding Mister Wright” universe story idea struck me on my morning commute earlier this week, I had to run with it.

“Buckle Up”

I wrote this 2017 “Finding Mister Wright” holiday story over the course of the last three days, so it’s basically me falling in free-form. It’s about 3500 words and nearly a full twelve pages, double-spaced. It’s not as polished as it could be, but it’s something I made and that I’m proud to share, nicks, scratches, and all. You can click on the cover image at left if you’d like to read it. If not, that’s fine, too.

I wish you a lovely holiday season, wherever you may be!

Do you enjoy reading holiday stories? How about reading them? If you read my story this year, what did you think? I’d love to hear from you!

Final Count!

by | Dec 5, 2017 | It's My Life

The final count for my “Change, in a Bottle” Giving Tuesday 2017 charity contest is in: $39.94! Wow, even I didn’t think it would be that much!

 

 

As I said in the post from last week, I’ll be donating my collection of lunch change ($39.94) to my charity of choice, the Sierra Club. Since so few people participated in this contest, though, I don’t want anyone to feel left out. So…

EVERYBODY WINS!

That’s right: each of the following charities will receive a donation of the final tally, $39.94:

When I saw the small number of folks who took a chance on this contest, I was kind of sad, because I tried hard not to make this about blog hits or comments or subscriptions. I didn’t want to be one of those people who demands a subscription or a story comment to participate in something. But then I reminded myself that this isn’t about me, or my blog, or my writing. It’s about even just the little bit of good that I could give – or give back – to the environment and community around me. The world needs our help to keep growing for the better, whether that’s through charity, art, purpose, care, or communication. We’re one world, and it’s up to all of us to keep the world and all of its inhabitants healthy, strong, and protected.

Thank you to everyone who participated! Let’s keep the giving going!

Even if you missed this contest, why not share the name of your favorite charity in the comments? You never know who may be reading and looking for a good cause to support!

Change, in a Bottle

by | Nov 28, 2017 | It's My Life

Change in bottles

Change, in a Bottle: The Concept

They say change starts with you, and me. Since it’s Giving Tuesday (2017), I wanted to make an effort to give back to one of my favorite charities. As I sat eating my lunch, I saw the bottles of change I keep on the table, where I toss the dimes, nickles, and pennies that I bring back from my lunch purposes. A few years ago, I took the change I’d collected and given it to one of our office charity events. It felt great not only to start fresh with those bottles once more, but also to know that even my little change was going to a good cause. I’d like to do the same again, but I’d like to help you, too.

Change, in a Bottle: The Game

Take a look at the image to the left. Those bottles represent my change collection from the last year or so. While it’s not a lot of money, I know that every little bit helps, especially when it’s for a good cause. I’m going to donate that change to one of my favorite good causes, Sierra Club Foundation, which gets a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, in case you have your doubts. If you’d like to join the game, take a guess as to the total amount of money in coins in that picture. The person who guesses the closest to the total will win an equal donation to the charity of their choice, from me. Just post your name, your guess, and your charity in the comments below! Guess submissions will close one week from today – Tuesday, December 5, 2017 – when I’ll do a count of the change and post the results. So start guessing!

Change, in a Bottle: The Rules

While I’d like to keep this super-easy for everyone, every game has to have rules just to keep things orderly. Here they are:

  1. Only one guess per person, please.
  2. Post your guess, along with your name and the name of your charity, using the Comments box for this post. Social media replies or retweets don’t count; sorry.
  3. Submit your guess before Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at 8am ET.

Thanks for playing, and let’s get giving!