After a nice, long-time-coming, well-deserved trip to Disneyland with a good friend, I feel the clutter in my mind put into neat little drawers, ready to tackle the big things I have coming up!
I cannot even begin to tell y’all how much I absolutely needed that Disneyland trip, though. I was mentally exhausted to where I knew the trip would at least be a relief from how drained I felt, but it wasn’t until I was eating some greasy Mexican food at my friend’s dinner table in San Diego that I realized I desperately needed time away from my daily routine. Of course, having gone through an entire pandemic hindered any sort of travel in the last year, and with that whole year fixing me into a mundane cycle of making food, working, working out, working again, watching something on Netflix, and then maybe doing some more work or playing a video game, life started getting a bit of a de-saturated filter over it.
I needed something to brighten it up, and the happiest place in the world felt like the best place to do it.
It was nice because there were so many more new things to see, like the new Star Wars area in Disneyland, and the Avengers Campus in California Adventure. It had been so many years since I had been to the parks, and as someone who used to go just about yearly, it was nice to get my dose of Disney magic all over again. Plus, it was a late birthday celebration for myself, and a birthday celebration for the friend I went with, so it was nice to have everyone at the parks wishing us a happy birthday (or, as they do in Galaxy’s Edge, a “happy origin day”) as we gallivanted around the parks.
I made a ton of updates on my Instagram regarding the trip, so if you missed any of those, feel free to skedaddle over there and see the pics:
And this trip couldn’t have come at a better time, because it came right before some big, exciting things in streaming!
It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from September 15th to October 15th, and to celebrate, Xbox is featuring five Hispanic/Latinx streamers per week on their Twitch channel.
And, uh…guess who one of those streamers will be?
Yeah. I might still be freaking out about it.
Before someone inevitably asks: yes! I’m Hispanic. My mom was fairly light skinned, but 100% Mexican, and my dad is as white as they come, so that mixed together to make me, a white Hispanic person. It’s not a commonly known fact that there are white Latinos and/or Hispanic individuals, and according to some of my other Latinx friends, is actually a concept that some Latinx community members try to actively erase. I’m proud of this part of my heritage, and if me speaking out about it more, to the point where I get represented in ways that show that we’re not going anywhere, then gosh darn it, I’m going to do it.
But yes, Xbox stream!! I’m so excited! I’ll be playing a game called Donut County, which looks so silly and fun. I’m only a little bit nervous about the stream, but honestly, I’m just going be myself and stream the way I normally do (with perhaps a tad more hype), because that’s what got me this gig.
Then, the week after, I have another sponsored stream for a game that hasn’t come out quite yet, but it’s still one I’m excited for! And it’s also weird to start having more than one sponsored opportunity so close to each other with my Twitch channel, but hey, here we are. I kinda hope this becomes the new normal.
These are some strides that I’ve been wanting to make for so long, and the fact that they’re happening more often is just…absolutely wild, to me. Thinking about it gives me so much hope for where this career is taking me, so the more I focus on improving my craft, the more I can hope to see opportunities like this come through.
I hope you’re all doing so well, that you’re making your own dreams come true, and you’re giving yourself the love and kindness that you deserve. Never forget that you can’t fill others’ cups if your own is empty, and that you are worthy of that time and attention it takes to fill yours back up.