My history with Twitch and streaming and hopefully future.

Alright.  It is a bit weird perhaps that I am documenting my "history of involvement on the Twitch site" before I dive into my history with video games.  Especially since the latter is a lot more lengthy and in-depth for the most part.  However, in discussing the former, I wanted to address some plans, ideas and general observations for the future.  (Both future of my own Twitch channel and me being on Twitch and just some observations about the future of Twitch in general.)

The Past
I've been active on Twitch since around February of 2015 and I had a "justin.tv" account years ago and forgot my login on it.  (Also I'm pretty sure I deleted the email associated with that login.)  Truth be told, when I first stumbled on to Justin.TV it was by accident and I vaguely recall stumbling on to UStream around the same time frame. I was never very active on JustinTV or UStream and thus the memory of my time being on those sites are a bit fuzzy at best.  Before that, I had 3 YouTube channels. One of those channels was for my "film school" portfolio work and was deleted in 2011 due to matter that I will not discuss here.  The other two channels were my personal channel and  a channel that was to be part of a digital media project that was later cancelled (and the channel deleted). 

As I mentioned, my journey on to Twitch began around February of 2015 because I was looking for information on a game (Elder Scrolls Online).  I quickly saw the potential for a lot of other content being viewed there.  Since then, I've been in and out of several different communities, made numerous acquaintances, and even a few friends.  There has also been a handful of "people I'd like to think of as friends but I honestly can't be certain on".  When I first ventured on to Twitch though, it was not to be a streamer myself.  I dabbled in it a few times to test the waters but had not planned to do anything on a regular basis.  At best, my original plan was to learn the mechanics of it and utilize that knowledge in the future.  For example, I've known way too many people in the local Film and TV market not to mention music market who could benefit from doing some gaming streams as a means to raise money for their other projects. (The producers and director on the film "Congratulations" did something along this line to help with 'extra funds' for their film.)

As many have seen over the past three years, Twitch has grown in various and crazy ways and continues to grow.  I think it will continue to grow and even if some of that growth is awkward and perhaps a bit painful in place, it will be growing for the better.  And along with that change and growth, particularly in some of the Creative areas and IRL channels, the interest in stream as grown a great deal.  I started making somewhat of an effort to do some degree of streaming in 2016 but was not willing to fully 'commit' to it due to the mess going on with my health issues. 

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I began having issues again in 2014 and by time I'd started seriously thinking about doing the streaming stuff on a regular basis, the issues were getting progressively worse. By the end of 2016, I'd decided to make a go of doing the streaming thing part-time but all of that changed rather fast.  After several months of getting a schedule down that I was reasonably happy with and actually starting to get a bit of traffic, I wound up hospitalized in May of 2017.  It was determined that I have a 'severe lung disease' and the process was began to put me on disability over the following months after that.

The Present
Currently, I am looking at Twitch as a means to continue doing creative and digital media content since I'm basically being told my days of busting my butt for 8-12 hours plus on sets are basically done.  While I am more comfortable behind the camera, I am trying to get more comfortable with being in front of it with all the awkwardness that comes with it.  I've also been getting more comfortable moderating for a few friends' channels.  My buddy "Failed_Hero85" (aka Isaac) began streaming his WWE 2K games universe content in the summer of 2017 and that has been a fun and learning experience.  (Both for him as a content creator and me as a moderator.)  I've also been moderating some for a young lady named "Angelic Devil Girl" who is working to grow her channel as well. Both have made affiliate and are doing their own things with their respective channels. Since January of 2018, I've been trying to get my schedule for streaming back in order and managed to make affiliate in March of 2018.  I'm potentially interested in moderating for a few other channels but I always want to continue to do things with my own channel.  I tent to lurk in a lot of channels that I go into more often than not after saying a quick hello.  I'll try to talk if spoken to in chat or by the streamer but more often than not, I am lurking and piddling with other stuff.  

The Future
I am not where I technically "want to be" with my channel though probably not in the ways that a lot of you might be thinking.  In fact, I'm willing to wager it is not what you are probably thinking.

What is troubling me is more from a "technical and design perspective" and some other "layout" perspective.  I think a good way for me to explain it is "I am a 'writer / director / producer' trying to do the 'set designer' and 'art department' work as well as a few other departments and it is a bit new territory for me".  I'd love to have some input on some behind the scenes things from some of the "bigger name folks" without being demonized by the streamer or other streamers as breaking the "almighty Twitch etiquette" regarding not promoting channels.
(As a side note, there's a handful of streamers who I already make an effort to promote on my Twitter channel, my Twitter and Instagram feeds, and in other avenues. And this blog will have a lot of links to people's Twitch channels and Twitter feeds with their permission in the future.)

Let me elaborate on what I need.

• I'm wanting to do some more "talk show" and "podcast" style streams and not just 'game streams'.  The biggest problem with this is trying to get it set up in OBS to allow multiple camera sources to be on the stream at once.  I've tried using Skype which didn't work out well for video chat.  Trying to look up YouTube videos has been a huge headache, especially regarding Skype.  There are a LOT of videos with seemingly outdated information or badly explained information regarding Skype and OBS compatibility.  I need a more streamlined way to get my guests in and out of the interviews that are not being done in person. (Doing some live or pre-recorded in person interviews is an eventual channel goal.)  I've tried Discord voice chat and it worked well for just audio interviews but it requires the other person to get into discord. This is not always an option given some people's relative unwillingness to download Discord due their unfamiliarity with it.   And this is just ONE of the tech issues I'd like to get resolved before trying to 1) market myself as a full time streamer, 2) contacting potential interview people to schedule stuff, and 3) try to do more interviews on Twitch.  There are some other things as well.
• I'm extremely finicky about any sort of art work and layout design on my channel.  I've commissioned a few things but most of it has felt very temporary.  And some of the stuff, I have flat out regretted as I've changed my mind on it later.  I'm especially finicky about overlay stuff as I am intending to do a combination of "game streams" and "talk show" / "podcast" / "IRL" streams.  I've some broad ideas but need a bit of assistance fine tuning them.  I mentioned 'set design' and 'art department' as a point of reference.  I know the elements I want in the design of the channel... rather it is overlay or emotes or info panels or sound commands... just don't necessarily have an idea of how I can implement all of it and still create a specific "brand identity" for my channel.  I've minimal interest in using green screen.  I do know this much.  This is largely just a personal preference.
• I'm extremely interested in some sort of "affiliate-ship" or "partnership" and maybe even a "sponsorship" from a company at some point in the future.  To be honest though, I am more interested in doing stuff on my channel to "put over" companies and business with whom I enjoy their product or otherwise do business with on a regular basis.  This is especially true with local companies to the "Metro-Atlanta" area as well as other parts of the State of Georgia and the Southeast US.  I love the idea that I can use my channel to help get some local artists, musicians, and businesses some attention that they would not be otherwise getting.  The question for me is to how to best go about doing some of this activity.  I'm almost certain there is some sort of "written protocol" as much as there is "unwritten protocol" about other stuff.  More importantly, I'm looking for a good way to explain to some of these folks who may not be overly familiar with the platform that there are potential benefits.

Here's the most important thing for me: I want to create a channel with content that I am proud of and maybe a community around that.  Twitch is a growing platform.  And I believe it will continue to grow and streamline the various branches of its content.  Sure there will always be gaming channels but the creative content will continue to grow not just in the music area but in other areas.  For example, I could completely see a scenario where Twitch could have a short film festival in the future.(Something I would love to work with Twitch to co-ordinate if we are keeping score.)

With regards to my own channel, I'm not looking to be the biggest channel on Twitch.  I'd rather be the "little cult classic indie film with the loyal following" than the "tent pole summer blockbuster"...
but hey whatever happens, man.

I'll update again with various projects that's I'd like to work toward in my channel. 
Till then... Cheers.

Regarding Medical Issues

Alright.
I have a rather lengthy medical history.  In fact, I am still dealing with medical issues to this day.

I was born without part of my esophagus. (In case some are unaware, the esophagus is part of the digestive system.)  For the better part of the first 5 years of my life, I was in and out of the hospital going through around 14 or so surgeries.  For a a few of those years, I had a feeding tube which I had to be fed through.  They fixed the issue by taking part of my colon and using it to connect the two pieces in the September before my fifth birthday.  Despite this being fixed, I still have periodic issues with digestive stuff and occasionally swallowing certain foods.  More recently, I've had an issue with coughing up a lot of mucus due to issues from this and sinus related issues.  There were some other issues from the surgeries that were unfortunate side effects including a bit of nerve damage and some other stuff.  To my knowledge, I was among the first kids to go through the surgery to fix my esophagus but I am told it is now a common procedure.  I'd love to know more on that from a medical professional.  However, I don't have a full list of the surgeries and don't know the name of that particular one.  As I will touch on in a bit, getting the information is even more complicated than that.

I also have thoracic scoliosis.  While I don't know for sure, I suspect some of the development of this is due to the amount and types of surgeries I had when I was younger.  What I do know is that I am in varying degree of pain about 24/7 and much of it is from pain caused this and in my neck and shoulder area.  I have seen a few doctors on this over the years and basically been told that it is not operable.  More recently, due to lung issues, surgeries might be even more risky.

In addition, I've had additional surgeries.  Two eye surgeries, a double hernia surgery, two dental surgeries.  And well... I could be missing one or two things there.  Between the double hernia surgery and the thoracic scoliosis, I have been told I have some "minor nerve damage" but I've been skeptical of that explanation of things and it has never been diagnosed formally.  Despite the eye surgeries, I still have eye issues.  Some of those issues have been more "recent" and have developed in the past five years.

About the lung stuff

First off, I am a non-smoker. I've had one cigarette my entire life and didn't care for it.  Second, I have a history of having had "childhood asthma" or "asthma" which was diagnosed in my teens.  This is one reason why I have opted for the most part not to smoke (other than the one cigarette and there is a story to that one cigarette I will tell at some point).  Having said that, most of my respiratory issues were more or less being controlled fairly well for a number of years.  In fact, I didn't have a LOT of issues from them throughout my early 20s to mid 30s.  There were some issues but they were largely few and far between.

Both in October 2009 and May of 2012, I was hospitalized with "severe respiratory infections" at a local hospital near whee I am currently living.  The latter of the two hospital stay was contributed at the time to finding some severe mold, dust, and mildew while cleaning out some stuff at my father's place. Aside from that, any sort of issues that I was having was attributed though to the "history of asthma" and nothing else was looked at seriously.  When I began having issues in 2014 and went to see an "asthma doctor" the guy said that what ever was going was not asthma related and "he didn't know what it was".  (By all accounts, I probably have a potential law suit against the clinic I was using as my general practice due to negligence.) I was stuck using the facility due to losing my insurance and the place was all I could afford.  I was working freelance at that point which made getting insurance all the more difficult.  Finally at the end of 2016, I was able to see a pulmonary specialist who provided some insight into what was wrong.  However, it was suggested I get referred to someone by my new general practice doctor when I managed to get insurance again at the beginning of 2017. 

In May of 2017, I was hospitalized with lung issues a third time with similar issues but worse than the previous two times.  Instead of the more locally located hospital, I was taken to a hospital near where my new pulmonary specialist was located.  Initially, they thought it to be pneumonia related.  It turned out to be something else. What was believed to have been a "recurrence of childhood asthma" for a number of years was a misdiagnosis. I have Stage 3 COPD / emphysema.  I get why the misdiagnosis occurred.  As I mentioned, I am a non-smoker which is the most common factor leading to COPD / Emphysema.  There is also the factor that my scoliosis is believed to have increased the damaged my left lung.  In fact, my entire lung function is around an average of the 33-35% mark and lower when I had been admitted.  Since then, it's been up to 40% a time or two but that is considered a good day at this point.

At the hospital, my pulmonologist recommended that I apply for disability.  Currently the process is being appealed by an attorney.  I'm not enthused by the prospect of it but it is one of those things that I know is something that that need to be addressed.  Here's the thing, the idea of being classified as "disabled" at the age of 42 and even more devalued than you already have felt at various times over the past 18 years (if not longer) is depressing to say the least.  Having had a run of a few years in that period where you did feel valued and felt productive, which I did to some extent while doing the Film, TV, and related video stuff, then all of a sudden not being able to do that anymore adds to that depression even more.  I digress a bit on this but much of this is where the current issues with my health are at the moment.  

The last thing to note on this is that much of my medical were records were lost over a decade ago.  I'm having to get a lot of stuff redocumented and for that matter properly documented.  As I mentioned, the place I was using as a general practice in 2010 not only didn't bother to get any records of mine previously but didn't keep very detailed records of anything while I was there.  I'm finding that some of the stuff that had been documented may have not been accurate.  Basically meaning that there may have been misdiagnosed stuff over the years.  Don't be surprised if there are some update blogs on this topic.  There will definitely be some blogs regarding updates and rather or not the disability case goes through or if some other path happens.

Anyways!! Generally, I try to stay relatively positive on the matter.  I get accused of being "angry" or "negative" on occasion but I think a lot of that is due to the other person's perspective.  Usually if I am coming off as "angry" it is usually due to the amount of pain I am in at the moment.  I don't like taking pain medication, I usually just opt to suffer through it. 

Alright that is enough about this topic.  As I said, there will be update blogs in the future.
Though at the moment, I am gonna be working on some other blogs.  Thanks for reading.

Cheers.

An Introduction

Hi folks.
Welcome to the lengthy explanation of the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of both myself and this blog.  I'm planning to break this into at least two blogs.  I don't want to get TOO lengthy with these posts but that is going to be unavoidable at times.  I've no idea if any of my "Twitch friends", "streamer friends", "viewers of my Twitch channel", or "other IRL and Internet friends and acquaintances" will see this but I felt it best to put it out there anyways. And if you stumbled across this by accident, blind luck or random chance, then hopefully you will hang out a bit and give some of the entries a read.

First a bit of broad information.  The aforementioned "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of both myself and this blog.

Who? Alright.  For those who don't know me: my name is Gary Hamrick Jr.  I'm known to some of my friends by the nickname "Gaz" which was given to me by an actor buddy of mine from England.  (For the longest time, I didn't know what he was calling me or why but another actor later explained it to me.  There is a bit more to the story there but that's for another time.)  As of 2018, I am in my 40s.  Over the past 10+ years, I have worked in the media and entertainment industry and before that in a few restaurants and in retail as well as in freelance journalism. I am based out of the Metro Atlanta, Georgia area.

What? This blog is part of an effort on my part to try to keep the creative juices floating from a writing standpoint.  This blog is also a means for me to get some of my own thoughts and stories out there somewhere.  I've seen a lot of strange things over the years and met a lot of people over my 40+ years.  I have a lot of varied interests that I'd love to discuss and I'm always finding topics that I want to comment on as well.  Another part of my effort will involve both my Twitch channel and some other things to be established in the future.

When? While I am still working out a schedule for this and my Twitch channel, I am intending to update this blog AT LEAST once a week.  It is always a possibility that I will more than one blog a week.  I am planning to do the streaming on Twitch at least 2 - 4 times a week but there are somethings to be figured out there that will hopefully be figured out soon.

Where? Besides this blog, you can find me on social media here on Twitter and here on Instagram. And there is my Twitch channel where I am intending to be broadcasting again soon. Note that I am currently taking a slight hiatus to reorganize some stuff and I eventually will be changing the channel name. Also here is my YouTube Channel which will also be undergoing some changes in the coming weeks.

Why? I have had an interest in digital media and its possibilities for years.  Additionally, I've had an interest in podcasting since before podcasting was called podcasting. (Have a blog on that topic to be posted soon as well.) I've had some blogs in the past and in fact had one here that I just cleared out all the entries of before typing this post.  Guess this is a bit of a fresh start on the blogging front.  Oh and there is the thing with the health issues.  Due to health issues that I will elaborate on later, I am not currently involved with doing any Film and TV related projects. I will be posting a rather detailed (possibly too much detail) blog on the medical stuff shortly.

How? At the moment, I am somewhat limited by what I am do as far as content creation from my desktop PC. (Along with Instagram and Twitter uploads from my phone and tablet.) If circumstances allow then I will be expanding on this a bit in the future.  On my things to do list is to figure out if my phone or tablet can handle doing IRL streaming on Twitch.  I am looking at some other options as well.  I will at some point add a business email to this but will figure that out later and edit it here.

Alright.  A few other things.
Various topics of interest will likely be discussed with some regularity on this blog.

Pro-wrestling and MMA: My interest in pro-wrestling these days is largely because I have friends who either ARE or WERE pro-wrestlers.  You will hear this a lot from me: I support my friends in their endeavors.  Before you say anything to me about pro-wrestling, please understand my viewpoint on it.    I respect it as a business and it is a business just like filmmaking is a business.  Regarding my interest in MMA, it is similar to my interest in pro-wrestling but also different.  I discussed this over on my old Tumblr blog. (Yes, I tried out Tumblr once, can we not discuss that? I also tried out Live Journal and MySpace back in the day too.)  I will talk about that more in a future blog but don't be surprised if I post a blog here and there with some other comments and observational notes on both. 
Comic books.  I learned to read off of Batman and Spiderman comics (amongst a few others titles) and the TV Guide.  I have been a lifelong fan of Batman and his Rogue Gallery since I can remember.  Aside from that, I tend to be a fan of certain writers and artists.  A few of those people, I have made the acquaintance of over the years. I like both Marvel and DC!  My favorite DC characters are John Constantine and Batman.  My favorite Marvel characters are Doctor Strange, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil and Jessica Jones.  There's a lot of other characters I like as well and several characters that I have developed a "love / hate" relationship with over the years.
College football.  Hard and fast Rule #1:  GO DAWGS!  I am a Georgia Bulldogs fan first and foremost.  This applies to football, softball, gymnastics, whatever.  Okay, I will admit they do not seem to have a good basketball program compared to Georgia Tech.  What do I know though is I'm not much of a basketball fan.  Rule #2:  Go SEC!  If the GA Bulldogs are not playing then I will cheer for just about any SEC team.  I firmly believe that the SEC is the best conference in college football currently.
Video Games: I've been gaming since the days of the Atari 2600 and remember the early days of PC gaming as well.  Currently, I have been gaming on a PC and will be doing a wee bit of gaming on an Xbox One console again someday soon.  My tastes vary but I frequently venture toward things like The Sims franchise, and some of the stuff from Bethesda Games like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchise. I also play some open world sandbox games like ARK and Conan Exiles.  Have played a few MMOs as well but not a huge fan of them.  I have a love / hate relationship with Witcher 3 but I am currently looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077.  Aside from my love of RPGs, I love games that have some sort of mystery or investigative element to them. Puzzle games are very hit and miss with me.  For a number of years, I did not own a gaming PC so there are a lot of games that I missed out initially and I'm open to some recommendations.
Movies.  My favorite are mystery films and old film noirs and neo-noirs.  However, I am liable to talk about any kind on this blog.  I will inevitably discuss TV shows as well.  I'm also open to discussing the industry on as a whole.

I think pretty much covers it. Having said that, there is liable to be an assortment of other topics. (For example... history and craft beer and more.)

Alright that's it.  Till next time.

Cheers.