And today is March 14, which as we all know, is the day King Neptune comes to execute Mr. Krabs.
It's also the day last year when I put out the auditions for Keys & Kingdoms: The Choices scratch actors... really didn't want to get to the anniversary before those scratch actors could start seeing the fruits of their labor... indeed, I was pretty angry when the boards weren't finished by that June, relationships with the storyboard artists went pretty sour for a while. But now that we're back on track and I'm a better, gentler director to my people who most certainly do not do this for a living and have lives of their own, it seems we've missed the first deadline, which I am totally okay with, just a thing that happened.
Our next deadline? April 18, anniversary of when those auditions were closed and the scratch actors were chosen. Failing that, May 30, anniversary of when the official cast was announced. Failing that, you know, whatever, I don't wanna think about that, we're doing our best. So, gonna send a little email out to the scratch actors when I'm done here, give 'em another little update...
Lots of other stuff going on, though, as those storyboards edge closer and closer to completion. For one thing, there's Irregular Fantasy. Let's see, did I say this already? Heck if I know, nobody ever leaves comments here or anywhere else, so I very easily forget what I have and have not already said because nobody ever acknowledges or responds to any of my news. Don't really feel up to reading the backlog to find out if I've already said, so, I'm just gonna say it again.
Before that, let me reiterate something I said in the anniversary special. Jokingly, but also not. You, reading this: you might be someone who enjoys my content, you might be someone who reads my news and updates, and I'd like to be grateful, but here's the thing... you've never told me. Whoever you might be, it doesn't really help that you just read or watch or whatever it is you do. You don't comment or otherwise communicate, so I still feel incredibly lonely and isolated. Please leave a comment or send me a personal message or something. It's for my sanity. Tell me I'm not screaming into the void.
I mean, yeah, when I post on Facebook about how I went to the popcorn shop or the tea shop, it's a big hit. Gets like four times as much love as anything I post that's TAPAS-related. So I get that people love me, I'm not arguing that, I'm very grateful. But, y'all... TAPAS is who I am. When nobody is into it, I can't help but take it completely personally, because I have absolutely no sense of self outside of it. I know some people might not be into the kind of stories I create, but... I'm pretty sure I'm surrounded by people for whom the kind of stuff I'm creating is very much in their wheelhouse, I don't get it.
Anyway, back to the subject, that being, upcoming plans, for TAPAS.
Irregular Fantasy, my adaptation of Irregular Webcomic by David Morgan-Mar. Still not technically greenlit. David gave me the greenlight to try something, so, I'm hoping it knocks his socks off so I can proceed with it. Going to finish up a little teaser, accompany it with my ideas for additional promotional shorts and a pilot episode to see if David goes for it! Hoping it can be a little something released by the 20th anniversary of the comic, end of 2022. Pretty close to starting to board that little teaser, gonna record the scratch track later today, just my voice doing all the characters, and then once it's boarded, hoping to bring back the actors who played the Irregular Webcomic characters in the first-ever TAPAS project, the playthrough of Icewind Dale.
Other plans post-Choices storyboards, well, there's writing. Writing for more Choices in the future, as well as Luno Canyon, one of Naty's projects.
Lots of projects like Luno Canyon will be announced come Phase Two. When is Phase Two? Hard to say. It was supposed to be November 2019, the anniversary of Phase One (TAPAS was formally founded via Facebook in March of '18, hence the anniversary special this month, but didn't have any content until November). One podcast a week, 52 podcasts. And that went pretty well for maybe 16 weeks, had a great run, but now, well, it's been two and a quarter years and I'm working on Podcast 49, so... we're getting there! We're real close. But I won't make any promises that my current outline in which Phase Two begins sometime in mid-April will happen. The podcast has become a bit of a slog lately, and, well, I believe strongly in dividing things into phases, so I won't be implementing any of my planned improvements until we hit Phase Two and the whole thing can all be improved at once and get better uniformly, accompanied by the improved TAPAS logo and the big banner that teases at many future projects. Hmm, on that note I wonder if I can put the banner up top here on the blog, the blog doesn't really have any distinguishing marks. Needs more TAPAS.
Other ideas recently picked up? Well, Naty wants us to start listening to The Magnus Archives, so, later on, making videos where we do that and talk about it, I think should be some pretty easy and popular content. And, my mom and I are planning to read some books on cognitive behavioral therapy, and discussing the matter with each other, and I thought it might help with incentive if we put an element of public performance into it, make it a playlist of reading vlogs. Looking forward to that. For a long time, my executive dysfunction ran very deep. I couldn't open a book to save my life. So the many, many books on this subject that my mom kept giving me, quite the opposite of helpful. But that problem has resolved itself the way all my medicals problems do: by going away magically after years of suffering have led to the loss of all hope. So now I can read about techniques that might prevent this sort of thing from coming back. The fibromyalgia or whatever it was, I'm still constantly looking over my shoulder for that to mysteriously return.
Life is okay, you know? I take 30-40 minutes each day to detox from the addictive blue light of digital devices -- I listen to an album, usually do my dishes and sweeping followed by exercise, I'm thinking for today's detox I'll unclutter my desk and listen to a podcast my mom sent. I get plenty of walking and fresh air in, since being on the third floor means I have to descend some stairs every time my dog needs to go outside, so, feels more sensible to make it a walk each time instead of heading right back up the stairs. Well, at least a little bit of a walk... the old doggo has aged quite a bit just since I moved in four months ago. Can't eat crunchy kibble anymore -- I make him homemade stuff, lots of ground turkey, sometimes some beef as well, with plenty of rice and a dash of mixed vegetables, and he's far more enthusiastic about mealtimes than he was before, that's for sure -- and can't even handle a trip all the way around the block. But three or four walks to the end of the block and back each day, separated by about three hours of rest, that he can do. As for my financial situation, well, I'm working with vocational rehab. Lots of paperwork to go through, which sucks, but the actual people at the office are so kind and accomodating, I'm excited to get to work on that properly.
So I'm feeling good about life, and I'm hoping later on that everything comes up TAPAS. Thanks for joining me on this big blog post that kind of recaps everything, I'll have to make sure to somehow give it more promotion than usual, make sure people find it.
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