Where to Turn?

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Where’s Justin?

I had a shock this morning. When I tuned into JTV, Justin’s icon was missing. Not there! Gone! Poof! I get it — he wasn’t publishing, but in 102 days, this is a first. No sight of Justin anywhere. I checked the Officecam stream and wasn’t not there — well, no one was there. It was early, but although Justin sleeps a lot, he has always had a stream going 24/7 with very few exceptions, even while asleep. Some of the testosterone crazed viewers love tuning in to watch the girls on the comforter and would make a thing of how they appeared to be moving and what this meant — blah blah blah. But today, no Justin in bed for anyone to see. Life moves on.

Beauty in the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon

In the Beginning

Justin has said that he would like to get to the point where there were other, more engaging, more interesting, attractive (his words, not mine), more viewer-popular lifecasters and he would be able to put down the hatcam, and perhaps we are at that point. I am not sad, I am not unhappy that JTV has made it to the point where he can do this, I am just making a comment. It’s different and it’s interesting that he’s gotten to that point and if this continues to go in the direction it has been since adding lifecasters, perhaps the wheel of success will finally be spinning to the JTV slot. If so, they’ve done well. It’s been just a little over 3 months. We’ve (well, those that have sacrificed their normal lives to JTV like yours truly) seen them grow from the embryonic stage where a lifecast consisted of sleeping 1/2 the day away, trudging to the “office” in the Crystal Towers apartment pre-eviction and doing “something” on the computers, going out at night and getting wasted, once in a while going on a “date” and on ocassion chatting with viewers. In the beginning there was a major negative attitude, a real chip on Justin’s shoulder. Viewers appeared to be the bain of his existence, until one day he realized that viewers were necessary and that while critical, opinionated, sometimes gruff and curmogenly, the people tuning in were what he was doing this for. No, not an offer of help or some kind of charitable venture, but for viewer acceptance and, satisfaction and acquisition. And better yet, that some of the faithful watchers had worthwhile things to say and to suggest and advice to offer. I’d have to guess that these people were not offering up suggestions and advice just for the fun of it, but rather because for whatever reason, and I am sure there are a multitude of reasons, they felt they had something to say that could help. Those that do not care, would most likely not take the time and effort to send mail or type a message into chat with an offer of help or advice.

Portland seen from the Japanese Gardens

Sarah Meyers

I tuned into Sarah’s stream this morning, but I saw nothing other than a little movement around the room, heard a very yappy dog and that’s about it. Perhaps it was too early to wrap my head around what was going on, but I didn’t last long. Sarah seemed to be reading something on her computer the entire time and no one was saying anything, so I left, and yes, I can do that. Perhaps as a surprise to those hating on me for making a comment about Sarah’s stream being a bore this morning, I do realize that I can switch channels at any time and … I often do. I am not a channel flipper (similar to a hair flipper?) with my TV, but with JTV I need something interesting if I am going to stay tuned in to a lifecaster’s stream or a TV show or a movie and I found nothing stimulating to my gray matter so I left.

A brilliant red rose in Portland’s Rose Garden — no post production work other than sharpening

I wonder what makes people think they know me better than I know me? One of those things that makes you scratch your head.

Tuned in Again

After spending some time in the GGJ room where I “helped” Jeffy do his dishes — by hand! Didn’t I just get a fine new dishwasher yesterday? Why was I doing 2D dish washing by hand this afternoon? Anyway, we had fun and a bit later Jeffy and the room were back to fun like last night and the night before so I stayed for a while. But I have spent enough time on Jeffy, so I won’t linger.

Silver Falls outside of Portland

I thought I’d give Sarah another whirl. She was back in the room with people, lighting and other equipment, the yappy dog and her new iPhone. I did not bother to watch any of the Tipped Sarah video, but I heard a little of it being played back as she was trying to figure out how to get the clip to the Gizmodo guys so they could upload it for their use. I noticed a bit of frustration or perhaps it was discomfort in Sarah’s voice and expression at some of the less than mature stuff that was scrolling by about her body and requests for her to strip and other things. There were comments about how rich Sarah is because she bought an iPhone at which point she smirked and noted that she did not purchase the iPhone. Ok, she’s allowed, gifts are good. What got me was something I’ve noted in the past — that purchasing (if she did) what some consider a high priced item does not make one rich. The iPhone is no more expensive than the first Treo or other smartphones that have launched and it appears to have a nice amount of functionality. But how does a purchase of a $500 or $600 item make someone rich? Perhaps the person purchasing the phone saved up for months — we knew this was coming, and we have known how much it would cost. Maybe the person purhasing an iPhone just received a birthday gift of money, perhaps the person making the purchase just got a bonus. Who the hell knows, but to me, a $500 expense doesn’t equate to a person being rich. It means they had the means to make a nice purchase and I don’t begrudge them that ability, I don’t envy them their phone. If I decide I want one, I will buy one. If I don’t have the means at that time, I will make it happen, but I am not going to think that everyone I see carrying an iPhone is rich. Read below and determine if you think an iPhone purchase = Rich.

Definition of Rich —

Main Entry: rich
Pronunciation: ‘rich
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English riche, from Old English rIce; akin to Old High German rIhhi rich, Old English rIce kingdom, Old High German rIhhi, n.; all from prehistoric Germanic words borrowed from Celtic words akin to Old Irish rí (genitive ríg) king —more at ROYAL
Date: before 12th century
1 : having abundant possessions and especially material wealth
2 a : having high value or quality b : well supplied <a city rich in traditions>
3 : magnificently impressive : SUMPTUOUS
4 a : vivid and deep in color <a rich red> b : full and mellow in tone and quality <a rich voice> c : having a strong fragrance <rich perfumes>
5 : highly productive or remunerative <a rich mine>
6 a : having abundant plant nutrients <rich soil> b : highly seasoned, fatty, oily, or sweet <rich foods> c : high in the combustible component <a rich fuel mixture> d : high in some component <cholesterol-rich foods>
7 a : ENTERTAINING; also : LAUGHABLE b : MEANINGFUL, SIGNIFICANT <rich allusions> c : LUSH <rich meadows>
8 : pure or nearly pure <rich lime>
– rich·ness noun
synonyms RICH, WEALTHY, AFFLUENT, OPULENT mean having goods, property, and money in abundance. RICH implies having more than enough to gratify normal needs or desires <became rich through shrewd investing>. WEALTHY stresses the possession of property and intrinsically valuable things <wealthy landowners>. AFFLUENT suggests prosperity and an increasing wealth <an affluent society>. OPULENT suggests lavish expenditure and display of great wealth, more often applying to things than people <an opulent mansion>.

Pronunciation Key

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Flower in the Japanese Gardens

Bristling at Viewer Comments

At one point, Sarah was reading chat and people were asking questions about how to set up a lifecast. This seemed to bother her or to make her skeptical or — I don’t know what, but her reaction to this was to poke fun at the viewers. She said something to the effect of, “Everyone wants to have a lifecast. Hook me up with Justin. Put me on the network,” all the while with a chuckle and smirk on her face. It’s reminiscent of an early JTV days Justin coming out in a female persona. I wonder at what point she will “see the light” and realize that talking down, patronizing, being sarcastic or arrogant toward viewers is not going to help her gain a larger audience.

Again I will ask — why didn’t she do her research? She has had plenty o’ time to see how things go here. Hell, she was streaming a couple of times in the past and should have known how people feel about her and how the business is one that requires people to enjoy her enough to want to tune in. She has asked a few questions that make me question how much time she has ever spent checking out JTV. Will Sarah be able to stand up to the critics and the haters? Will she grow a thicker skin? I hear that LookShiny wigged out and could not handle the haters and jumped ship. It is not first hand knowledge. He disappeared from the stream list while I was away. I will just call it a rumor at this point.

Japanese Garden

Housekeeping

And now to some important business. This will be my 61st post. It’s been great fun writing, having the forum to state my opinions, to write about this new phenomenon, but like the small viewership on JTV, the readership here is even smaller and I am inclined to start cutting back. It takes no time to write what I have to say, but putting it all together with images and on ocassion video and then recording and getting it all posted is not effortless and it’s exhausting because I don’t usually end up getting to bed until 3:00 or 4:00am. If you have great objection to me cutting back, please let me know. I can be encouraged by flattery and even donations of just plain kindness. Hell, I’ve finally been encouraged to get off my butt and use the fitness room in this building now by one of my loyal readers, so if a virtual friend can help me find the motivation to do that, who knows what you can do — as you can see, I am very impressionable. 🙂

And … I am having company for the July 4th holiday, so I will be spending the day cooking and getting ready and on Friday I am having a big party so if I am not too tired, I will probably post, but not much more than photos. As you can tell by now, I like to chronicle my life not only in words, but in images too.

Ok, enough of the boring stuff. Back to JTV. I am wondering if some of the lifecasters will take us to see some cool fireworks, or perhaps to some fun barbecue festivities? We will just have to wait and see I suppose, but I am going to be an optimist.