I'm going to schizo melt in one big ass long vent wall that has been simmering for months, so I don't comment annoyed on their member post. I've been holding back leaving a comment on the announcement posts until I get in a better mindset. Maybe I won't leave one. I shouldn't. I should just leave. I was banking on valentines as being a way to renew my enjoyment for them as I've enjoyed all the previous times, but then this happened, so it's disappointing to say the least.
Streaming is like hanging out with friends. homework is like college papers with non-negotiable due dates, and you pick the amount of courses you want to take. you want to hang out with friends, but you wouldn't blow off the assignments and bomb the course just for that unless you don't care about flunking. If you're sleep deprived, do you ditch the schoolwork or skip the friend time? You skip the social stuff, naturally.
Even with all the cute wording and euphemisms like "hungry puppies," the bottom line is they take on too much, don't sleep enough, and streaming is obviously lower priority. They tell themselves the projects are for the ruffians too, so we'll get it. Yeah, I get it. But it still feels shitty, because some mystery thing they're working on for a 10-minute reveal half a year from now isn't nearly as good as a quality stream where they're rested and actually into it.
However, this is where their priority is, and they've made it abundantly clear you either take it or leave it. They prop it up with stuff like that it may not be ideal for you, but some other ruffian will like it, or by saying "don't you want cool things?!" If they said it like it really is though, that streams are low priority for them, I'd be happier with it.
What actually is unpleasant is that they often come back afterwards and say they missed us with tears in eyes, or that they really want to stream and see the ruffians, implications of affection but being too shy, or some other flavor of that. Then why overload in the first place and skip the streams? No one wants them pushing through if it's hurting health, but when they're doing it to themselves, it's exhausting to keep saying "it's all good, don't worry!" doing this cycle once or twice is a mistake as you figure out workload. I understand occasional difficulties. It's just that... this has been going on loosely since the start and way more the last year and a half. Somewhere along the line though, if they hear "I want more streams!" it gets mistranslated to "I want you to sleep less so you stream more!" like reducing the homework load isn't even part of the equation.
All the "balance" talk feels less like finding a real mix of work, streams, and rest, and more like keeping the huge workload, making sure they get more sleep (which is good), and shoehorning streams into whatever cracks are left. Cutting back on workload is clearly minimal, and so more apologies and cancellations are bound to happen.
