A Much Needed Kyle/Patreon Update... (Patreon)

Hey folks,

I'm sorry for not posting some kind of update sooner. I've been meaning to make a post here for a while. It can be difficult to do these updates under the best of circumstances, but it's especially hard when there just isn't that much to update you on, or when it's any news other than "I've just got 97% of the hull done in 6 hours."

More House Work

Despite my hope to jump back into substantial structural work after organizing THG's research, I ended up getting diverted [again] to more house work.

You may recall I was left with a great hoard of stuff after my father's passing over a year ago, as well as an apartment that was in dire need of work. Last year involved going through and organizing a massive amount of junk, throwing things out, cleaning, etc. That work took months but was never fully done, just paused while I worked on THG for a while. This latest work involved going through an entire room full of all kinds of things - largely toy trains - that I had not touched in all this time. After that, I started fixing up the space - cleaning, painting, repairs, redecorating, etc. Consequently, I have not gotten as much done here as I would have liked.

I am, unfortunately, the sort of person who gets into one track or another and stays there until I either finish the task or get sick of it. Sometimes it's because I just get the motivation and HAVE to do it, either because that motivation is overwhelming or because a given task may never get done otherwise. That's happened with plenty of things from THG itself, to the Gantry, to 401 and other past projects, and that is certainly true of all this house work. And the fact is I need to get my environment in order before I can be happy and focus as much as possible on THG. It's always been difficult for me to balance work/life as well as managing time/tasks - working on THG has pretty much always meant getting nothing done elsewhere in my life, which is a problem when there's just so much to do (don't look at my kitchen sink).

On the plus side, the worst of the house work - going through literally a hundred+ boxes, thousands of papers, etc. - should be over. Work on that room and a few other tasks around the house should also be nearly done, maybe in another couple of weeks. The rest of the house will need more work (painting, repairs, cleaning mostly), more periods of downtime for me, but I will leave that for a bit later on so I can get more done here.

I look forward to the day I am no longer burdened by the seemingly endless list of tasks I keep telling myself I have to do around here. But I do need to do those tasks when I feel up to them, or else they may never get done - even if that means getting sidetracked from THG again. I understand the frustration that brings given the one-man approach to the structural model, but it is what it is.

But enough about that.

ETC

You probably saw Derek's "recent" update (check it out if you haven't) and that our own James Penca has been on the Dino Chouest for RMS Titanic, Inc's latest expedition. I'll leave it to RMST and James to talk about that more when the time comes. Between my thing, Derek's thing (a wince-worthy injury and subsequent day-job catch-up), and James' job with RMST and the expedition that has only just wrapped up after nearly a month, this has sadly been another one of our famous THG slow periods that have often plagued this project. It doesn't help that our slow periods are also the worst when it comes to updates.

I really am sorry for that, and can only say that I hope all our stars align soon enough. Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to get this current house work finished and just have whole days where I can sit down and work on THG and not have to worry about all that other stuff.

Patreon Changes

In other news, and at the risk of burying the lede: We will be making some changes to our Patreon, rewards, and how you guys are able to communicate with us/the team. This will be discussed more in-depth in a separate post I need to make ASAP after this, but the gist is this...

• We have hyperfocused on keeping our Officers happy while largely failing to do so with the rest of our Patrons. Our Officers are cool folks, but they aren't the only ones supporting us.

• The Officers have their own Discord server, and that has unfortunately caused a massive imbalance in how much info the rest of you get. Officers regularly hear from us, but the rest of you have no idea what's happening much of the time, even the other higher tiers. That's a huge problem.

• We have not done enough to keep our Patrons in general - the people financially supporting our work and us - in the loop on THG goings-on.

• We have not done enough to create a community for our Patrons.

• Our rewards really need work to make them less confusing and more worthwhile.

• Our tier selection is slightly bloated.

In the next post, I will go over - as briefly as I can - what we intend to do about all that.

Thank you for your patience, and I'll see you in the next post in the next day or two...