Apologies and Success

  I'm kinda getting sick of every blog post being an apology for not writing more blog posts.

  Pointless viscous circle.

  I mentioned previously the instant success of 'How To Be Ambidextrous.' Since then, the video's blown up. Thousands of views, more than I've ever had on any video. Great feedback from it too, glad I've been able to help so many people! Interestingly enough, I'm right at the top of YouTube listings for 'How To Be Ambidextrous.' And fourth or something for Google results, which is a pretty remarkable  feat if you ask me. It's definitely not a viral, but it's my biggest success by far. Just had to find the gap in the market. Same with all things really, products, services... and of course YouTube videos.

  I'm finding it hard to believe I'm 'qualified' to give advice on a reasonably successful YouTube video. But that's all there really is to it: find the gap. People need something? Create it for them.

Onto other matters. Not that I ever really stop talking about YouTube videos, but it's a topic I'm familiar with, so onwards!

  Lately I've been firing off a few vlogs, none of which have really taken off as successfully as HTBA, but I enjoy the habit, talking about anything and everything. A few dozen views a couple of likes on those are all I need to know people actually care. I'm going to be continuing with loads more vlogs for a few reasons:

1. They don't take too much time to make and are usually just based off ideas I come up with on the spot.

2. I really care about what I'm talking about.

3. I love making the videos, the whole process of scripting, filming, editing and uploading - just all of it.

4. I get a good response from them, you, the audience, also enjoy them.

  I'm considering recording a few of my dreams vlog-style. Crazy stuff that goes on in my head at night. Did one a while ago, was okay... we'll see.

Away

  I've been gone some time. Although I have literally no audience to speak of on this blog I'm going to start again. Such a brilliant thing to do, writing a blog. I'm far too excited about restarting this blog.

  Months later and loads of things have happened. Exams which weren't fun, and a few more videos uploaded.

  Had my most successful video within the last two months teaching people how to be ambidextrous.

  Also, my latest proper video was my second original song - Colour of Snow.

  Received quite a popular response, so here I am, sharing it. If anyone ever does read this, please feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Edit: Oh yeah, passed 100 subscribers which I'm pretty pleased about, need to start posting videos again now my exams are done, looking forward to it.

Multiple Covers

  Extremely pleased I managed to get two covers done this week.

  Gives me a bit of relaxation and more time to work on a third one.

  In case you're interested, tomorrow's one is Skinny Love by Bon Iver. I'll keep you updated and post it on here as soon as it's up.

Dare You To Move

  So, as promised - video!

  Among other things that happened today, I did a French speaking test. Went okay apart from the questions they asked at the end. Those were terrible.

  I was told I may have to sit the whole thing again.


  Unrelated subject - I got mixed up today in terms of rehearsals. I'm in The Harlequin Eastwood Theatre For Youth and I thought I had a rehearsal tonight. But I don't. Story of my life.

  What a rubbish post, I know - I'll think of a decent topic for next time.

February

  This is shocking, second blog of the month, and the last one hardly counts.

  I'll just start with a few things going on right now.

  Last night, despite having a cold, I recorded a cover. After 3 hours of shooting and 4 of editing, I ended up with something half-decent.


So that's for Tuesday's upload... I'll share it here once it's up.

Oh yeah, see the blog before last? I did end up doing a vlog on it! So here ya go:



  While on the subject of YouTube, I'm extremely annoyed at the inactive accounts deletion. Basically all YouTube accounts whih hadn't been used for a while were deleted. Meaning I lost 10 subscribers.

  So I could really use a boost right now. If you're interested you could go over and check out my Channel, maybe subscribe.





 

  Negative things happening right now...


  Oh yeah, French speaking test tomorrow. Can't wait to get that over with.



  Okay, negativity over!

  I managed to train myself to be ambidextrous. For the less-informed, being ambidextrous means you're able to use both hands equally and not just be 'right-handed' or 'left-handed'.

  I often get tendinitis in my right wrist because I play squash (a great sport which I recommend) which is quite painful and inconvenient when, when I try to write with my right hand, I experience stabbing pain.

  So I built up the muscles in my left arm, wrist and hand and now reasonably competent in my left hand.

  After this success, I decided to do a video on it. With it, I leave you.

Oh dear

  I haven't blogged in a while.

  Oops.

Quality vs. Quantity

  I feel as though lately I've been neglecting my blog. And I have. If I'm going to make this a thing, I need to keep at it.

  Thus I renew my efforts.

  On to the topic of conversation however, I really seem to have been leaving all my weekly YouTube videos till the last minute, not something I'm proud of.

  People often say, you need to make time for things. Usually when people say this to me, it's to do with studying.

  I dislike this 'making' time for for things. It frustrates me when people say this, it's the opposite of encouragement and motivation.

  Admittedly, I have terrible time management skills. And I mean absolutely atrocious. I always run out of time to do things, waste hours of time watching YouTube videos and end up stressfully completing a job with no time for relaxation.

  It's like this with my videos.

  I've often said to myself: 'Should I really upload a video every week? And if not, then what should I do instead? Tell all my subscribers I'll take two weeks, with the promise of Quality over Quantity?'

  And the answer is no.

  As I haven't learned time management skills to a reasonable extent yet, I'd only end up spending the end of the extra week I'd given myself hurriedly doing a last-minute video.

  The one-week deadline is helping to discipline me into getting it done in that time.

  I need to learn to put in time throughout the whole week doing a video.

  ...Gotta do a vlog on this.

Motivation

  Ok, so I feel really bad that my blog's almost got 100 views and I've not actually posted anything for a few days.

  About that idea I came up with... I never carried it through in the end. BUT. I managed to come up with something. Yeah, title says it all... well, not all, but the actual video will. I'll try blog more often, sorry again. Anyway, here's the video:

Idea

  Oh wow, been three days since I blogged last, really need to try and do it more regularly.

  Apart from the fact I just wasted an hour and a half on addicting games, I have no idea what topic to choose for Tuesday's vlog... really hope something'll come to me.

  I know hardly anyone out there's reading this vlog, but just writing helps me organise and come up with some of my ideas, for example last week's: The King Of Umbungoland video was first inspired by the blog.

  So I'll be minding my own business, typing my thoughts out on this really bad keyboard I'm using just as my actual pc build is just completed but I really need to replace.

  Anyway, I feel that it's not enough any more just to upload a pointless vlog which has no particular reason to exist except to actually have something online and update people on how my covcers etc. are getting on. Nobody's interested. These videos don't exactly get a huge amount of views and there is no point to them.

  So, for tomorrow's video, the challenge I am setting myself is to come up with an interesting, fun topic that I will enjoy talking about and others will enjoy watching.

  I'll hit the news to see if there's anything there I could voice my opinion on...

  Nothing.

  That's a lie, but for my concerns it's true.

  I have another idea however.

  For those of you who have seen my video "The Real Facebook" you'll know the kind of thing I'm talking about. If not, here it is:

  The idea is, I take a commonly known, trusted website, research it, and let everyone why it's not all it appears to be, throwing in my own opinion at the same time.

  I have my idea, just need to go off, find a target and get to work.

Euthanasia

  Setting: yesterday, in my R.M.P.S. (Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies) class

  Debate: Is it worth living if you have some sort of illness or disease, not necessarily terminal, which
               causes you a great deal of pain?



  The conversation went something like this:

  Me: There are so many painkillers out there that such pain could be subdued.

  Other Person: But if they have such a condition where they cannot move properly, they may not feel as if they want to live anymorebecause they can't do as much as they used to do.

  Me: Well you'd be able to do a lot more than if you were dead.
 
  Other Person: ...

  It was a very short debate.

Upload

    Been busy. Managed to get a video uploaded yesterday though, based on a previous blog, The King Of Umbungoland. Check it out if you like.

Late Upload

  My usual regular Tuesday video will be uploaded a day late due to the fact I'm doing all the lighting for a gig tomorrow night... so no video tomorrow.

  Hopefully I'll get it done for Wednesday though :)

Followers and Subscribers

  I currently have nobody subscribed to me on this, even though people have viewed it. If you're reading, feel free to! There's a link at the bottom of the page.

  Here's all my subscriber and follower information at present, just to let you know:

  YouTube - 81 Subscribers

  Twitter - 51 Followers

  Blogger - 0 Subscribers

The King of Umbungoland

  Today I'm going to try and be productive, something I've failed to do so far today. I have a list! Yes, I do. I must clean my fish tank. I have to then test the water in the fish tank. I also need to practice for my music practical exam on Thursday. And organise a video for Tuesday. A vlog should do methinks.

  And so I need to go about finding something to vlog about. Say, a current event or maybe this blog.

  Okay, I have an idea. You know those stories you get which are quite long and interesting but lead nowhere or has a terrible punchline at the end, leaving the audience confused and predictably frustrated they stuck around to listen?

  Well, if you haven't, here's an example which I will tell in a vlog and post on this blog once I upload it to YouTube on Tuesday. If you have, read it anyway. Take note I have no idea where this story originally came from, nor am I purposefully violating any copyright:


The King of Umbungoland

  Once there was a king. He ruled happily and fairly over Umbungoland and all his subjects loved him.

  Now, The King Of Umbungoland was very good friends with the king of the neighbouring country, Mantusseland. His good friend decided that for The King Of Umbungoland's birthday, he would get the finest carpenters of the land to create a new throne for him.

  And so, on the 1st of August, The King Of Umbungoland received the most magnificent throne with carvings so intricate you'd need a microscope to behold the true beauty of it.

  Now The King Of Umbungoland was very pleased and thanked his friend greatly for his supreme generosity. He reigned for many more years over Umbungoland in peace and happiness.

  Until one day.

  One day, as The King Of Umbungoland looked up from his lovely throne, the latest Argos catalogue came shooting underneath his mud hut door.

  Curious, he got up and walked over to it.

  He decided to see if there were any thrones superior to the one he owned, chuckling at the thought. I mean, surely that wasn't possible... wasn't it?

  The King Of Umbungoland flipped to the throne section and gasped. There, newly in, was a throne. It was exactly the same as his current one. But this throne... this throne was made completely of silver.

  He scurried as fast as he could to the phone. He could not let anyone else have that throne. Why, he was The King Of Umbungoland, he had to have the best throne in the world to show his superiority over the surrounding countries.

  Whipping out his credit card, The King Of Umbungoland ordered the throne.


   Two weeks later, it arrived. It was beautiful, one of the best thrones he had ever seen, in fact... the best.

  There was, however, a problem. There was a hulking great wood one in the way. But he didn't want to just throw it away, it would be an insult to The King Of Mantusseland.

  Of course, there was a simple solution. He called out the window to some of the local young men in the street outside to come and help him. They complied, and under The King Of Umbungoland's instruction, lifted the throne up and into the rafters for storage.

  And so, for another few years, The King Of Umbungoland reigned in happiness over his country.

  Until One Day.

  A brand new edition of the Argos catalogue came skidding underneath his door and came to rest at his feet, open at the throne section.

  A gleaming gold throne looked at him, pleading him to buy it.

  He closed it, thinking: I have, in these years, become wise and realised I do not need material possessions to show what a great King I am.


  But he bought it anyway. He just couldn't resist.

  After two weeks, he sat at the door and waited... and waited...

  ...and waited.

  He waited a day and a night, and, when it didn't come, he phoned up Argos.

  After much discussion, and Argos explaining how much work it took to create a gold throne and how the gold had to be heated to a much higher temperature than silver, he accepted that he would have to wait another two weeks for his new throne to appear.

  Once it came, The King Of Umbungoland needed assistance with storing the silver throne in the rafters. It took a great many more people to lift the silver throne, but after a long night's work, they managed it.

  A decade of wonderful ruling passed and all was well.

  Until One Day.

  A catalogue, Argos of course, blasted through his newly installed letterbox built in preparation of a whole new influx of fan mail.

  As The King Of Umbungoland held the catalogue in his hands, trying to resist temptation, it just happened to fall open at the throne section.

  The page blared: Buy Our New Diamond Throne With Two Previous Purchases Under Your Belt And We'll Give You A Fifty-One Percent Discount!!!

  Well, The King Of Umbungoland thought, it's better than half price, how can I say no?

  So he phoned up Argos and they promised the arrival date to be within three months to prevent him from phoning up again.

  Three months later and the Diamond Throne arrived.

  The King Of Umbungoland had decided to make this an occasion and all the folk from the surrounding villages in Umbungoland had turned up.

  After ordering that both the gold and diamond thrones be lifted up into the rafters of his mud hut to clear a space for a party, The King Of Umbungoland broke into a dance on his cleared floor.

  All attending followed his example and there was song, food, dancing and wine.

  Meanwhile, the rafters began to creak and groan under the stress of the wooden, silver, gold and diamond thrones.

  The whole hut collapsed with the weight.

  Everyone inside perished.

  Moral of the story?

  'Don't stow thrones at grass houses.'




  Well, I hope you didn't find that too awful - I did spend over half an hour typing my version of it all up. Comment on this telling me what you think if you like, and I'll see you at the next blog post.

My Audience Exists?

  Wow, so just completely forgot about printing off that essay.

  So I was about to close blogger in my browser when I noticed the statistics.

  My audience exists! Well... what can I say? Hi. Welcome to all from the US, Germany and the UK who've seen this. I hope you're not too insulted by the fact I thought you didn't exist... and stuff.

  So yeah! Gonna blog every day if possible. Glad to see some people have actually seen my blog. So, I'll definitely be back tomorrow.

  I have an essay to print,

  Later.

Blog vs. Vlog?

  So I'm doing this blog experimentally, who knows if I'll persist regularly at it or give up. I'm aiming to do at least one blog a day.

  At the same time, I'm considering doing a series of vlogs on my YouTube channel 55SamJ at the same time as this blog in which I'll try to capture the essence of the day. I'll see how that goes.

  So, unfortunately I failed to adjust my sleeping pattern last night, in fact, it went exactly as I hoped it wouldn't. The exact details of last night's sleeping pattern are therefore in yesterday's blog. I must be able to see into the future... or something.

  School on Monday, hurrah! Back to the joyful world of studying and homework and exams and teachers. I'll try not to depress myself too much. I have a draft of an English essay to print out for then, I'll do it now actually.

  So long, (hopefully) catch you tomorrow non-existent audience.

Sleep

  Oh wow, I'm rubbish at this, I skipped a whole day due to the fact I went to the Irn Bru Carnival yesterday... In case you don't know, it's the world's largest indoor carnival with various rides and stuff. It runs from somepint in December to mid-January every at the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland, which is where I live, by the way.

  Anyway, I definitely feel as though today was a good day, apart  from going round houses selling cakes which is one of my jobs. It poured with rain, I was soaked. But at least having a job is better than walking the streets right...?

  Oh wait... :\

  Plus, remind me never to use an emoticon in a blog ever again.

  I'm really just writing this as I go, I feel it gives a much more natural flow to a piece of writing rather than spending hours planning beforehand. I probably wouldn't ever get round to writing the blog at all if I did that. I suppose there would be instances in which I would plan before a blog, for instance if I wanted to discuss a particular topic with you, my imaginary, non-existent audience. Yes, you don't exist. For all I know I could write this blog for all eternity and not one other soul save myself would ever read it.

  So, been blogging twice now, I aim to make this a habit... yes, such a good idea. I have twitter, just to let you know... Twitter is kind of blogging in miniature in my view. It doesn't really give enough detail and you can't exactly tell a story or anything if you want to without telling it in about 1000 different tweets and leading to people clicking the nice big unfollow button.

  I'm using way to many ellipsis' in this blog...

  I'll stop.

  Okay, it's quarter past 11 and I think to avoid the pain and suffering of holiday sleep lag you get after sleeping in for a couple of weeks, I'll head to sleep and try to get a more 'civilised' sleeping pattern again. Instead of my current one:

• Go to bed at half 12
• Spend ages trying to get to sleep
• Fall asleep at just after 1
• Get up at 5:45
• Do paper round
• Finish at 6:50
• Shower
• Go to bed at 7:15
• Wake up at 1 in the afternoon

  I can't imagine getting up and not getting back to sleep for those few extra hours sleep. Just so used to these holidays. Times like these you wish you weren't a 15 year old and were already retired and enjoying a lovely 6 month cruise somewhere.

  Alas, decades to wait for that sweet moment in life. Goodnight.

Let's Start Blogging Already

  Just sitting completing my second draft of my creative writing essay and I thought to myself... I like writing. So where to write? This seems as good a place as any. I blogged a few times on a different site you've probably never heard of before, so I won't mention the name, but back to the point, I thought I'd give blogging a proper shot.

  To clarify, this is a blog on my personal experiences, thoughts, feelings, views on various subjects and maybe even my videos which are on YouTube. I don't want that to be the focus however, as I don't want this to be a vain advertising campaign for my work. If I do happen to touch on that subject then it'll be on my thoughts of say, a cover I'm thinking of doing.

  I'm not sure what to tell you to expect from this blog, but, if you're interested, stick around and I'll be posting as often as possible.

  It's slightly late, but Happy New Year ;)