I’m so excited to start stream coaching thanks to ShotCall! My adventure in content creation started 7 years ago (July 2013) on YouTube. I started on YouTube because the autistic kids on my old Minecraft server wanted to see me play. Since then I’ve been on multiple platforms, had numerous screen handles and branding, and learned through lots of mistakes.
I want to help you get started on your journey streaming. Currently, my focus is on Twitch, but I also have accounts on Mixer, Dlive, and YouTube to help walk you through things. It’s really simple to hire me thanks to ShotCall! Here’s the link! https://shotcall.gg/user/AwakeningLukas
All you have to do is set up a free account and request a session! Easy as that. You can block out as much time as you feel you’ll need so long as it’s in my schedule for just $5 for 30 minutes! I’ll be hosting all my coaching sessions on Discord, so make sure you have your Discord connected to your account so we can connect. Things I’ll help with:
Getting started social media
Goals
Stream scenes/layouts
Time management
Networking (specify for Twitch, Twitter, Instagram)
Bots, chat commands & timers
General Advice
When you’re setting up your session, please leave me a detailed message about what you’re looking to get out of the session so I can prepare. I will let you know if I need any additional information and if we need to change the time allotted.
Welcome to my first Saturday Slate! My computer was out of commission for a week or so and then the internet started getting really spotty at the same time my network card failed, so I’ve been out of touch with everybody for a few weeks.
Blog updates
Sorry it’s been so long since there has been an update. Have a little bit of housekeeping to do. I’m committing to releasing a blog post every Wednesday and Saturday. Saturday Slate will always be this little bits of random information and updates. I may periodically do a third post in a week based off of current events.
Keep Safe
Between the protests, COVID, and everything else going on right now, the world is full of uncertainty. Please exercise caution when you go out. Wear your mask, wash your hands frequently. Make sure somebody knows where you’re going if you go out alone and when to expect you back. Drink water and take your meds.
The question worth asking every day (and you know I do): Are YOU ok? If not, feel free to DM me any time! Other resources available: #YouAreRad 1-800-273-8255 – Suicide Hotline 877-455-0628 – Self Harm Hotline 888-640-5174 – Depression Hotline #NotAlone
— 🏳️🌈🖤 Kevin C. Wallace 🖤🏳️🌈 (@GhostOfKevin) July 4, 2020
ShotCall
Things are continuing over on ShotCall. This weekend started some free sessions to play games with me. My plan is to eventually make these paid sessions that donate to charity. You can also still book in stream coaching sessions with me.
Owly Update
Got to talk with a deaf friend via Facebook video for nearly 5 hours (it was so good to use my ASL again) and spoke with Lukas on Discord nearly everyday. It is nice to have some bit of face to face socializing.
I’m still staying busy with doing art commissions and some personal art for myself. Not much, but every bit goes towards planned trip to see Lukas (assuming that the government says it’s OK to travel) on his birthday.
Hoping to get around sorting through my ArtStation soon to sort through older works and update it for more professional looking. Someone told me it’s better if I post only complete works on it and use DeviantArt for art commissions display.
[Lukas note: you can order your own commission here]
Finances
I’m so excited that I have big updates about my savings goals! As of yesterday, my credit score hit 623. When I looked into my history, last July I was at 507! What a big difference in a year!
A note about my credit card debt. I opened up a new account and bought a couple of presents on it, so my credit limit went up, but so did my credit card debt, so it went up and then back down again.
Goals: $5000 $6000 – moving expenses (19.22% 26.03% funded) $15,000 – emergency savings (0.0% funded) Pay down credit cards ($1779 $1737) Get credit score above 650 (623) Increase available credit by $10,000 ($2700) Start investing for retirement
Closing Thoughts
Thank you for all your support. I look forward to making Saturday Slate a weekly post! I’ve got lots of projects and blog posts in the works.
A classmate asked me why my mom and dad are white and I am so tanned- Did I come from Mexico? Am I half Black? Did my mom cheat on my dad? Those are the questions I get asked at the elementary school and that got me thinking about why I suddenly look so different. I looked in the mirror. I don’t have straight hair like them, I don’t have blue eyes as them and I don’t have pale skin. My skin was very dark tan but not close to being Hispanic, my eyes are dark brown, my nose looks like other black kids I seen and hair is mixed of fizz curls
Adopted
I came home that day and repeated the questions to her (yes, the exact questions to my mother who was very mortified that a 6-year-old would know of such words) and I finally got the answer: I’m adopted.
Growing up in an adopted white family has its benefits. You get a good home, good appearance, nice status and you don’t look out of place. Unless you do look out of place so badly that other people thought your parents are babysitting a friend’s kid. That part annoys me. People always ask my parents, “oh are they your children?” while pointing at my pale-looking siblings and that made my parents had to beckon me and Lewis over to introduce us as their adopted children. I slowly got used to that.
“Hey, what’s your heritage?” -This is the question I get asked most as an adult now. I can answer that question, “I am Cuban mixed with white”
When I initially asked that question to my parents as a child; they told me that they adopted me from a 17-year-old teen girl and that she’s Cuban. Nobody knows about my father since he didn’t sign the adoption papers. I don’t still know that much of my Cuban Family, so much of it that I do not know. I’ll have to do DNA testing to find more about it.
My Upbringing
I end up growing in very “white American” culture and not knowing much of my Cuban culture or my Deaf culture (that’ll be for a later topic). I had read up on Cuba from what books I could find, only to find that there’s not much information on Cuba. Information was suppressed since they still are a communist country and we don’t have the internet back then.
Currently, I don’t want to be overwhelmed seeking out more information on the Cuban culture. I do learn bits of it from friends who were delighted to tell me about how Cuban is almost like some Hispanic cultures in aspect. I’m still learning slowly but surely about it at least.
Concluding Thoughts
I’m not in a rush, I wanted to learn slowly about my heritage and find pride in it.
Overall, in my experience- I think the white families shouldn’t adopt kids of different country heritage until they are fully prepared to learn and teach their children about their heritages be they full or mixed like me. It’s a form of whitewashing a person from child to adult to not knowing about their heritage and history. I felt I had missed out on it and is now playing catching up on that and everything else.
I am Afro Cuban Mixed.
Learn more about my relationship and current life on the about page and keep up to date with me on Twitter.
Here is my budget. So for a long time, I was in a lot of debt. In my early 20s, I was in a very dark place of being irresponsible and impulsive. I let other people influence me into spending and doing things that I shouldn’t have done. Because of this, my credit score went into the crapper. For 9 years, I didn’t even have a job because of my health.
Two years ago, I got serious about my finances. A lot of the debt I had from years ago has fallen off my credit report, but I still have some work to do.
Right now I have 2 derogatory marks on my credit score, that total $1507. I also have $1779 in credit card debt. I want to share this all with you because we don’t really talk about or finances. It’s taboo and private. Now more than ever, I think it’s important to share wage information because it helps everybody get paid fairly for the work they do. Putting this out there also is a form of accountability to make sure I stay on my goals
For comparisons sake, I’m 36 years old, living in Las Vegas.
Income Budget
Here’s my income. I never made enough on Twitch to get a payout. With my health, consistency was a problem and that’s fine. The VA compensation is something I’ll receive for the rest of my life because of my time in the military and my health after I left the military.
Right now we’re receiving a 10% bonus at work that will end on Friday, so my income is about to go down. I budget out a lower amount than I actually get because it fluctuates. My paychecks range between $915-950 right now.
This is what I take home as a manager with 2 years of experience as a manager and 3 years total with the company.
Expense Budget
So here are my current expenses. My savings is an odd number because I am saving exactly 1/4th of my income. This is new as of this month. I’m very proud that I can do this now.. As of this article, I have $1516 in savings.
My two big savings goals before I start with anything is to save $5000 to move into my own place with my partner and then save 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund. I also need to pay down my credit cards. I’m budget out $150 a month in extra payments for that, and that will help get my credit score up too.
My phone plan includes 2 phones, a smart watch, and a mobile hotspot, which is why it’s so high.
Current Goals
$5000 – moving expenses (19.22% funded) $15,000 – emergency savings (0.0% funded) Pay down credit cards ($1779) Get credit score above 650 Increase available credit by $10,000 Start investing for retirement
I am a white transgender Jew. Through all of these BlackLivesMatter (BLM) protests, riots, and demonstrations, I’ve been doing my best to keep my opinion out of it. I’m going to do my best to put my thoughts into something coherent while interjecting a lot of (mostly Twitter) voices of color. This is their story to tell.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
As of right now, there are BlackLivesMatter protests in at least 140 cities, and it’s growing constantly. There are protests in my city routinely. I wish I could participate in the ones in my city. Instead of protesting in person, I have created this blog, spread the word, donated, helped elevate voices, participated in education.
This isn’t going to end soon. Yes, Minneapolis is dismantling the police department and brought charges against the people who killed George Floyd, but that is only the beginning. The police brutality isn’t the only problem, it’s the catalyst that was the final straw.
I saw on social media somewhere, someone making a reference that “a few bad apples” shouldn’t be allowed in certain professions. If you were about to board a plane, you wouldn’t want to hear “Yes, we have had a few pilots crash planes into mountains, but I’m sure your pilot is one of the good ones.” We trust our police to keep us safe.
Police are attacking people protesting against injustice. Police are attacking journalists trying to do their jobs in reporting about the above.
Both are meant to be protected under the same First Amendment.
While “good” cops can stand by and watch injustice being done by other cops and not do anything, I have a hard time saying “not all cops”. Frankly, it should be “not any cops”.
As I am writing this blog, another black man has lost his life to police.
David McAtee, a longtime businessman and pillar of the Louisville community was fatally shot by law enforcement officers while protesting police violence.
McAtee, who owned a BBQ business, regularly fed officers in his community for free.
I grew up around people of various ethnicities. It exposed me to a lot of different cultures but I never really learned a lot about any of them. It left me on the outskirts of these different communities but never really participatory in any of them. I don’t remember ever specifically having any conversations about racism with anybody.
Since I was little I would always stand up for somebody being picked on, no matter who they were. Standing up for myself is hard for me to do, but standing up for somebody who can’t stand up for themselves is easy.
Now is the time for every ally to have those uncomfortable conversations about racism with family, friends, and neighbors. Call it out in every instance—even when it’s difficult.
Oddly enough, I don’t really recall ever experiencing much racism in spending time with my friends. Maybe it’s because I’m not “out and about” with people much, or that I am very careful about who I choose to spend time with.
I thought I grew up pretty open-minded, but my life really expanded as an adult. Learning about the struggles of other people, how I grew up different than other people. Even though I grew up without seeing much in the way of racism, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist, or that it wasn’t that bad.
I grew up with a white-washed education system that glossed over the history of racism in our country. An education system that suppressed the achievements of pioneers of color: educators, scientists, doctors, inventors. It has become my responsibility to educate myself and not allow this white-washing to continue into other generations.
It is hard to think that war isn’t impending when you see pictures like this. The BlackLivesMatter protests are no longer just isolated events in certain cities. They are all over the country, including in our nation’s capital. This isn’t going to be calmed with a couple of arrests, tear gas, or the conviction of the disgraced cop that killed George Floyd. This picture was taken on night six of the protests.
Our country was built on racism. From capturing lands to building our commerce on slavery, we have hundreds of years of systematic racism and injustice to work to undo.
Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
Winston Churchill
It’s so weird to think, if this sends us into a civil war, we have repeated history. This will be twice we would have split the country to the point of war over black rights. Even just the thought of it makes me question how exactly far we’ve really come as a society in the last 155 years.
The Civil Rights Act was passed 56 years ago. It took 100 years for us to decide that not only is slavery bad, but maybe we shouldn’t discriminate against black people either. But seriously, did we *really* take that to heart if we as a society are still discriminating?
It is now Pride Month as I write this. This year it doesn’t feel very exciting. I am not joyful about celebrating today. After COVID canceled most of the pride events, it seemed pointless to celebrate anything, hiding in my bedroom away from the community. Now with the protests continuing and the focus on protecting our PoC brothers and sisters, we have to remember that none of us are free if all of us are not free. There is nothing to celebrate until the protests stop. We can’t forget the progress the LGBT community has made. We also need to remember that we have LGBT family involved in the protests. There are still LGBT people who are being murdered for the color of their skin.
During the Stonewall Riots, civil rights advocates were side by side with us, risking their lives for our rights. The BlackLivesMatter protests are going on during Pride Month, and we need to be there for them too.
Closing Remarks
I’ve said before, being an ally isn’t easy. It isn’t about making the ally feel better. You can’t stop being an ally because it’s inconvenient, or no longer the popular thing to do. When it comes to racism, black people can’t just get away from it. It’s not something they can forget about. As allies we have to put that on our shoulders.
Don’t let this just fade into the background to be forgotten about. Change your behaviors forever. Register to vote; be the change you want to see in the world. Support your friends by listening to their voices.
#SayTheirNames
We blocked off Fremont to say the names.. BLOOD WAS SHED IN THESE STREETS AND WE WONT REST UNTIL JUSTICE IS SERVED pic.twitter.com/FNAwDkKMDH
Today is apparently Pansexual Visibility Day. In case you don’t know me well, this includes me! If you want to learn more about me and my relationship you can head over to here.
According to the Oxford Dictionary the definition of pansexual is: Not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.
I think it’s important that everybody is able to find representation that matches them in media. People still use pansexuality as a joke because it is not very understood by people outside of the LGBT community.
There is still a lot of debate about pansexual vs bisexual and if they are the same or if one is more valid than the other. Let’s make this very clear. Bashing one sexuality over the other is not acceptable on this blog. Both sexualities are equally valid. I think that the difference between the two is a very specific way of thinking.
Lukas, May 2020
Bisexuality allows a person to say I like these specific genders and I’m like these body parts that go with those genders, which may or may not be all genders. On the other hand, pansexuality says *shrugs* parts are parts and genders are genders, love them all.
My life as pansexual
I came out as bisexual originally in 2001. As I grew into my identity, I eventually started calling myself pansexual, probably by around 2008. The most difficult time I had with my sexuality was when I was in the military.
I was in the military during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. People tried to say that the policy was in place to protect the LGBT community, but it really didn’t do anything to help. Instead of being actively discriminated against, they would find other reasons to get you in trouble. The stress of being constantly under a microscope for everything I did caused massive anxiety and was the reason I eventually got discharged.
Over the years I have come to love being pansexual. It has allowed me to feel love in so many different ways, learn and grow through different bonds, and feel compassion for other people’s journeys.
