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A Week In The Life of Aaron Yonda

People often ask me (and by often I mean about twice) what does a regular day look like for you, Aaron Yonda?  People always refer to me formally using my first and last name. jk! They don’t. So I documented a week in my life a little while back for those 2 people that asked.  And the fact that this week has been even busier than that one reminded me I should post it.

MONDAY
  • Woke up
  • Cried
  • Began scheduling 8 live broadcasts of Beer and Board Games/Rated RPG which involves scheduling 3 guests and 2 crew per show, figuring out which games to play, coordinating any sponsored games with their creators, getting images and descriptions of the games, setting up the live shows on Youtube, creating Paypal buttons, testing out the live links, emailing all the people who have toasts or sponsorships the links, sending out beer passes with the links, emailing rewards to our patrons on Patreon, and a huge number of other small but important actions that end up taking way more time than you want them to.
  • Begin scheduling and coordinating live recording of 7 Days To Die, a GameSocietyPimps gaming series that now involves up to 10 people playing at once.  Assemble an email list, email all the people to find a time that works, coordinate with the guys running the server to iron out technical problems we had last time we played, run a few tests, try out a new Skype-replacement program called Discord which can handle 10 people all talking at once during a game, and a huge number of other small but important actions that end up taking way more time than you want them to.
  • Communicate with 30-50 different people daily via social networking and email regarding any number of issues, questions, or comments of varying importance including but not limited to: board game orders, video game codes or access, fan rewards, convention appearances, youtube comments, emails regarding orders or order issues, requests to have a game on B&BG or GSP, fan and professional emails on Facebook and Twitter, posts on my Facebook page, or the Chad Vader, Blame Society Films, or Hal Thompson Facebook page.
  • Check in with Emre on the progress of the latest Christopher Walkenthrough episode we’re making for Machinima and discuss the schedule for that.
  • Sift through games on Steam to try to find new video games that will be good to play on the GSP channel.
  • Play a video game.
TUESDAY
  • Wake up
  • Think to myself today I’m going to CRUSH IT! Just kidding, I walk around zombified, make coffee, and stare at my ipad until the coffee kicks in.
  • Adam and I completely revamp the GSP Patreon page. The rewards need to be updated.  3 hours.
  • I package up 7 different games, random items, etc that people have won on B&BG or Patreon.  The overseas ones require a customs form which takes an unsettlingly long time to fill out. Takes about 3 hours.
  • Go to the post office to ship the item.  Wait in line for an ungodly long time and then wait for the postal workers to enter the overseas customs forms which take them an excruciatingly nut-stabbingly long time to fill out. Especially if you get the slow guy who types with the 2 finger method.  I hate that guy.
  • Reply to 30-50 different people via social networking and email regarding any number of issues, questions, or comments of varying importance including but not limited to: board game orders, video game codes or access, fan rewards, convention or classroom appearances, youtube comments, shipped objects for review or gift, emails regarding orders or ordered item issues, requests to have a game on B&BG or GSP, fan and professional emails on Facebook and Twitter, posts on my Facebook page, or the Chad Vader, Blame Society Films, or Hal Thompson Facebook page, often with the assistance of the wonderful Courtney Collins who I sometimes see at dinner time.
  • Prep for the live GSP broadcast for a half hour. We’re playing Dead Island. Multiple things fail or don’t work.  Spend 2 hours trying to figure out why technology that worked perfectly last week does not work now. Including a basic pair of headphones I just plugged in that works with one program, but not the other? This is why I cry in the morning. We start the live broadcast late. I make jokes and talk for 2 hours straight. Then do an additional live Patreon patrons broadcast for 1.5 hours. After that’s over discuss the video release plan for the rest of the week with Adam and Emre as well as the recording plan for when they come up here to record.
WEDNESDAY
  • Wake up. Or at least I dream that I wake up but I don’t.  I’ve never had one of these horror movie dreams where you think you wake up but you haven’t. That’s cool.
  • Wake up for real.
  • Eat a bagel and set up recording equipment for 7 Days To Die recording session. Start up “Discord” and spend about an hour getting the 8 or 9 people who are playing with us coordinated and connected to Discord and in the game.  Record gameplay with stops and starts for technical issues for about 3-4 hours.
  • Adam and Emre begin the drive up to Madison for recording. I set up equipment for that and clean my house up even though I know they will just wreck it again.
  • Adam and Emre arrive and we begin recording videos for GSP until 2am.
THURSDAY
  • Adam wakes me up with some sort of insult.
  • I go over to Matt’s to review Beer and Board Games and then I upload, publish, and post on social media about the new episode. 2 hours
  • Jason arrives and we record for 3-4 hours.
  • Jason leaves and we continue to record GSP videos until 2am
FRIDAY
  • Record GSP videos all day until midnight.
  • Emre leaves and I clean up his filth.
  • Watch Star Trek Voyager Season 4 episode and go to bed.
SATURDAY
  • Wake up and play catch up with the 30-50 different people I’ve been communicating with via social networking and email regarding any number of issues, questions, or comments of varying importance.
  • Prepare for live Beer and Board Games show: set up camera, lights, audio, and other items.
  • Prepare toast list, release forms, surprise list, for live show.  Publicize live show on social media (with a lot of Courtney’s help).
  • Live B&BG begins. It’s time to get drunk and play games for 4 hours.
  • Clean up after the show for an hour. Blast music (the Pixies Trompe Le Monde this time). Stay up as late as possible to wear off drunkenness.  I find this is the best way to avoid an extreme hangover the next day.
SUNDAY
  • Awake feeling a bit on the shady side, but not terrible.
  • Edit 7 Days to Die for 4-5 hours, upload to GSP
  • Eat dinner, watch Game of Thrones if it’s on, if not, sob myself to sleep.

So there you go. It’s a good life, if a bit overwhelming at times. But I do have a bit of fun and that’s worth a lot.