 Okay, I haven't posted any videos in like a week or so because I just had a rough week a couple weeks ago and I just wanted to nose to the grindstone just work on some stuff and put everything out of my head and just You know get things together. So I've just been digging and working on my video game, which has been going great I'll get into those and some other videos, but okay. What's this? What's this garbage that happened? That wasn't so good Well, there are two main things One was kind of more minor and one was like a really major thing let me go through the minor one real quick so I was on this TV show where It was basically supposed to be an episode about our lives here and they show what's going on and what we're like and stuff and I was kind of looking forward to it because I Was thinking all I'll be able to use this sort of as a recruitment tool a little bit for people who might want to live here So if someone's thinking about coming I can say hey go watch this and then they could see what we're like what our lives Are like etc But it wasn't really like that they totally misrepresented us and the whole episode I found pretty visually boring Largely because I know a lot of the shots they got but they didn't use and they chose more boring shots so I'll give a little bit of explanation on this stuff, so In in terms of misrepresenting us They tried to make us look like we're isolationists So even though they got video of some of our neighbors and us with the neighbors and doing stuff around they only showed us and they They kind of played up the idea that we're here all alone and our kids have no friends and then you know I'm pretty good on camera in terms of Not being trapped into saying you know the wrong things But to Shayna was not prepared for that at all so they sat her down in front of a camera made sure I was somewhere else because I would have stopped this and Basically said okay defend your life to the world and now defend homeschooling to the world now You're a very controlling person explain yourself and then You know she just got nervous and started talking and actually trying to answer these ridiculous questions Which she should not have been answering at all and then the host is just like oh my gosh And it was just oh that was disappointing Why is there a hair right here? All right, so I Don't want to go into any more of that it was just That was disappointing and then in the in terms of the visually boring stuff I should say something about that. So let me just give one quick example and then we can move on So Okay, here's one. I went to pick up the the host of the show in my little pedal solar boat It has an electric motor and pedals and drove them back over here and they showed three shots of that One well two of them were us just floating up to the dock while me floating up to the dock to pick them up And then us floating up to the dock here and those are kind of boring shots But it was just to indicate, you know a change of location fine So the third shot is the chance to have some dynamic visually interesting or you know Like I know in my YouTube videos I don't spend a lot of time setting up the camera and the shots because I'm the camera guy and the everything But if you're if you like have a whole crew of people, there's no excuse for this so um So the third shot is the chance to have something visually interesting now that they shot They chose to use was a long-distance shot of the boat coming straight at the camera So there's no movement in it. It may as well have just been a photograph Because you can't there's nothing moving the boats coming straight at the camera from a long distance It's it's just a boring shot and it's far enough way you can't see any details like what is that? Now I know they have it they had a much more interesting shot Because when we got here The some of the crew got out of the boat and said oh man your boat was amazing I can't believe how fast that thing went that was so cool And I was like you got some good shots for it right and they're like yeah, I've got some beautiful shots Oh, it's gonna be you're gonna love it and on the way over here The host and I are driving in my boat and they were driving in a boat beside us following with the camera aimed now that is a visually interesting shot because When you frame something that's moving in the in the shot, it's just going a little bit of video theory here It's a view you don't normally see because normally when you see something moving It's zooming by and you don't get a really good look at the thing that's moving right because it's it's going past but if you if you if you center the moving thing in the frame and Then the background is just zooming past you get to have a good look at the moving object Which is an unusual thing and your brain wakes up and says oh I should look at that And then you you get to see you get to have a good look at something You wouldn't normally get to see you can see the waves rippling past as the boat You know goes through them you get to see all these details. You wouldn't normally see It's kind of like if you're like on the top of something really high and you look out And it's like whoa, I could see all this stuff. I don't normally get to see like your brain wakes up And it's visually interesting So I feel like like a high school student would have known to choose that view rather than the boring shot of the the the boat coming at Ben and There were so many times where they got interesting Shots here that I didn't see in the final product. I don't know what's going on there so anyway That whole video I watched that and I was like oh well, this is useless to me I can't show this to anyone it is of no value so I have okay I wasted a week when they were here videoing, but at least I got some free pizza. Okay, fine I can move on from that Now the major thing This is oh this was devastating. I was devastated A friend who's here He and his family left And you know, it's not it's not like any huge thing happened It's just like well I think it's time for us to do something else and they they came here to live and they've been here for a year and You know, I haven't act I haven't actively been recruiting people to come yet so They've just been the occasional person who caught like sends me an email and says hey I want to come live there Or try it out or visit for a while or whatever and he was one of these people. He's been here for a year He built a boat he built a house, you know did all this stuff They got got almost set up and they were like this close to to the point where they're like Okay, this is it. This is what we're doing. We're just staying forget plan B forget, you know Forget the idea of leaving forget safety nets. No, this is this is it Like they were so close to it And over over the last year or so a few times it's come up that they might leave So it wasn't a total surprise Really hoping they'd get over that last little bit But yeah, they left and that's oh Man never statered because we we had lots of plans of stuff to do together and also I'm trying to build this community here Right and the hardest part of building a community is the the first few people Because so when when I and my family came we didn't know anyone we didn't know what we're doing We didn't know anything we you know, we just spent a lot of time figuring out how to how to make things work Figuring out where to buy land who to get it from where to find resources like just figuring out the logistics of everything so it was very difficult and the only reason we We made it is because I am incredibly stubborn and I won't give up no matter what when I when I set my sights on something As long as I'm still making progress. I'm like I don't care how hard this is for me. I'm still going and and So when they came It was a lot easier for them now they they was still a lot a lot of work But they got us got to skip a bunch of the stuff that we had to do because I could say oh, okay Here's some people who own land You know become friendly with them and maybe they'll don't want you stay and so say some land Okay, here's where you get resources. Oh you want to build a boat here. I have this mold as long as you take care of it You know, you can use it to build a boat and you know, I have some stuff that can help build a house You know, there was a lot of helpful stuff And I don't want to diminish how much work they did because they it was still a ton of work for them And the thing is the next person people family whatever to come would have My help and their help and then every time someone new comes it gets easier and easier because there are more people who can Give more perspectives on you know different ways of doing things here and can offer more help and stuff It's just the first few people are Way the hardest So what we were gonna do Over Over the next year would start actively recruiting people to come And we were gonna build while starting January 1st. We were gonna build Like this guest house, maybe a few guest houses guest compound I mean, I don't know how big it would have gotten we were just gonna start with one guest house. So So we were gonna do two things with that one we're gonna have events where people come for a week and Then we're also gonna start Kind of actively recruiting people who might want to live here and those things would kind of be related to some degree and if someone came Like say someone came to one of the week-long events and say, yeah, you know, I want it I want to test it out for a couple months then then we were going to build a second house With that person that's kind of maybe in a more secluded spot like a nice spot to live and Then that would become like the initial spot. So Like when my family came here, we rented a house It was kind of expensive and not where we wanted to be and it kind of sucked But we just got through it this way we'd have this place that we'd I don't know Maybe just rent out really cheap or something I wouldn't want to let people stay in it for free because then people start taking advantage But you know basically help people transition into a life here if if they want to do that So now I'm back to just me So it's gonna be a lot harder So my first thought was Well, maybe I can use their house the people who just left as you know, the guest house But the problem is it's it's kind of I mean, it's a really cool spot to live. It's kind of isolated and hidden And it's it's it's a gorgeous spot But when you go to a place for a week, you know, you're kind of on vacation or whatever You don't really want to be so Secluded you kind of want to be in a more open spot where you're more Not really exposed, but yeah kind of exposed to the the elements more You know, you're interacting with the world more and then when you want to live. Okay, cool That's when you want your privacy hedge and you want to you know, have people not in your face So I'm thinking I Still go ahead with the original plan Which is to put? Oh, man, this is gonna be hard Because now I'm doing it by myself So I'm thinking I can still build this guest house on the island where we're gonna do it Which is like right by the water. It's this nice open spot. You know, it's it's a really it's a really gorgeous little spot and The upside is now I have Part B already done. So if someone comes and says yeah, I want to stay well now I've got this other house. That's in a nice secluded spot where someone could could stay for a couple months or whatever So I just gotta figure out how to how to get the first part done by myself, you know, this reminds me of This reminds me of a water polo game that I had in high school like 20 whatever years ago where If we won this game we get to go to the city championships if we lose the game We just go home and we were down by one point there's like five minutes left in the game and I'm trying to get my team riled up and Finally, I was just like, you know, it just give me the ball And I took the ball and I held it over my head and swam the length of the field Just shoving people out of the way went right up to the net and threw the ball in and Then like two minutes after that I did the same thing and it was ridiculous I was just like fine forget everyone else I'm just doing it myself and then we won the game went to the championships and I feel like that's that's what I'm in right now like this video thing That was supposed to kind of be part of this this helpful situation well, they dropped the ball and Then these this guy and this family who are supposed to help I mean they're they're just going in another direction now, so Darn it. I'm gonna do it myself Hmm, and it's gonna be amazing. So that's what's been going on. Anyway So Right now, I think I'm gonna stick with the original plan January 1st, I'm gonna go full gangbusters Building this guest house making it nice making it, you know I had a nice bathroom for you know people who are not used to anything. I don't know It makes it easier for city people to transition if there's a bathroom basically the city people need a bathroom like a fancy bathroom So I'll set up all that stuff and I'm just gonna start doing that and the first of the year And it'll take a month or two. I don't know. I won't take but I'll just make that the the priority and until then I'm not gonna do anything on that. I'm just gonna focus on Finishing the digging that I'm doing right now finish this video game. I'm that's like super close to done and Just working on some of my own stuff. I also have some thinking still some more planning. This is all still on the planning stages Hmm, but that's what I that's where I am right now