0:01

Hello, Kakos Industries listeners. It's

0:03

me, Conrad, again. Before I

0:05

get into the news segment proper, I wanted

0:08

to highlight that I have put together a survey

0:10

that I am hoping you will fill out for me. You

0:13

can find it at KakosIndustries.com

0:15

slash survey, or in the

0:17

episode description. This is

0:20

something I like to do from time to time, and it really helps

0:22

me to figure out who's listening. There

0:25

are podcast statistics, of course,

0:27

but they're really not on the same level as

0:30

statistics for other kinds of media. If

0:32

you're on the fence about participating,

0:34

then you need to know that the slightly annoying

0:37

thing I do with this podcast that you absolutely

0:39

hate, well, somebody

0:41

else really loves that, and they're going to tell

0:43

me that, and I won't have your opinion to balance

0:46

it out, unless you also fill

0:48

out the survey. And if that's not

0:51

enough incentive, then I'll pick two random

0:53

people who have filled out the survey, and

0:55

I'll let them name the employee spotlight

0:57

people in a couple of episodes.

1:00

It can be your name, or one you make up. KakosIndustries.com

1:04

slash survey. Okay,

1:08

on to the news. I wanted to let

1:10

you know that I am going to be taking a bit

1:12

of a break, which is not something I

1:14

have done before, really,

1:17

in almost ten years.

1:18

I think I might have taken a month off early

1:21

on in the podcast's existence, but I'm not

1:24

even sure I actually did that. I think

1:26

I did an extra episode one time, and

1:28

then took a month off, which doesn't

1:30

really count. Then there was the time when

1:33

Kakos went from twice a month to once a

1:35

month, which you could have argued was like

1:37

taking a break for two weeks out of each month, but

1:40

I'm not sure that's a particularly strong

1:42

argument.

1:43

Anyway, I'm taking a break. Right

1:46

now, I'm planning to take a break until the March 2024

1:49

episode comes out,

1:51

which will be the 10th anniversary

1:53

episode. Technically, I

1:55

started doing Kakos on February 15th,

1:58

which is the real anniversary, but…

1:59

When I switched to the one episode a month,

2:02

I decided that the March 1st episode

2:04

was the anniversary one. There

2:07

is a chance that I come back early, and perhaps

2:10

a slim chance that I come back late, but

2:12

March is the plan. There

2:15

will be some short pieces coming out on

2:17

a monthly basis to keep you entertained in

2:19

the meantime. I will

2:21

be pausing the Patreon, so you

2:23

shouldn't have to do anything if you're a

2:25

patron. You won't be charged for months

2:27

where I'm not doing stuff. I know

2:29

that a lot of Patreon pages work differently

2:32

and people pay, even for months when

2:34

things aren't happening, but I have some

2:36

pricey tiers, and I think this

2:38

is the best route. I'm really

2:41

hoping that you stick around for when I return.

2:44

I know that breaks aren't that uncommon

2:46

in podcasting or creative spaces

2:48

in general, but I'm not used to it,

2:50

and I just have this terrible

2:53

fear that everything will fall apart if

2:55

I'm not constantly working, which

2:57

is one of the reasons I've decided that this break

2:59

is necessary in the first place. There,

3:02

I guilt-tripped you into sticking around.

3:05

I'm sorry about that. Well, maybe

3:08

I'm not. I clearly left it in the script

3:10

I'm reading right now. All

3:13

of this is very healthy. If

3:16

you're just dying to give me money, then the PayPal

3:18

link is on the website. While I'm

3:20

taking this break, you will be able to find

3:22

me on the Kakos Industries Discord, KakosIndustries.com

3:26

slash Discord, or you can shoot me

3:28

an email. I'm the only person who checks

3:30

the inquiries at KakosIndustries.com

3:33

email, so you'll be able to reach

3:35

me like that. You

3:38

can also come to my trivia events in

3:40

Phoenix, as long as you don't shoot

3:42

me or anyone else. I don't really mind

3:44

if you come to one of those events. I'm not going

3:46

to list them here, but there are ways of finding

3:49

out about them. There's

3:51

also a rumor that Neverrad will

3:53

be having live shows again very soon. I

3:56

may do some streaming again, but I'm

3:58

not making any promises. at the moment.

4:01

You can find out more details about that on

4:03

the Discord, but my Twitch username

4:05

is streamraddy. S-T-R-E-A-M-R-A-D-D-Y.

4:11

The way social media platforms are going

4:13

right now, it's really assuming a lot that Twitch

4:16

will continue to exist as it does in a

4:18

few months, but that's the plan anyway. I

4:21

suppose the same goes for Discord. The

4:23

YouTube channel for any VODs is

4:26

also streamraddy. YouTube

4:28

could also get way shittier in a few

4:30

months. The world really just

4:33

is an exciting place, isn't it? Okay,

4:36

so I'm guessing that there might be some

4:38

questions. There might also not be

4:40

any questions at all. Perhaps it

4:43

is totally reasonable for people to take

4:45

a break from what they are doing from time to time.

4:48

I wouldn't know in almost ten

4:50

years. Just saying that I think

4:52

kind of explains things. I'm

4:55

trying to be concise with my words here,

4:57

which is not always easy for me. Ask

4:59

anyone at all in my personal life about

5:02

that, and they'll let you know that I can just go

5:04

off for like an hour at a moment's notice

5:06

about stuff. Friend of mine

5:08

just had to put up with me for the two-hour

5:11

drive to Flagstaff, and they are a

5:13

trooper. A real one, you might say.

5:16

So the short answer to why I'm taking

5:19

a break is that it's kind of a lot of things.

5:21

I've been kind of overwhelmed

5:24

by everything. I'm sure living through

5:26

a global pandemic and having certain aspects

5:28

of life on hold for years isn't helping.

5:30

I know that all of you were

5:32

in the same boat with me on that

5:35

one, especially my fellow extra sensitives

5:37

out there. I've been having

5:40

weird anxiety. There's my usual anxiety,

5:43

and then there's weird anxiety. I've

5:45

also been having a higher than normal rate of

5:47

headaches, and they might just be related

5:49

to stress. And then there's this

5:51

feeling that I've been running and running and running

5:53

and not really taking the time to slow down and

5:56

process things. Apparently that's

5:58

the thing people do. They have feelings. and then

6:00

they process them. It

6:02

sounds like magic. It's

6:05

kind of funny to me that at the beginning of this

6:07

project it was really important for me to

6:09

figure out how to keep going from episode

6:11

to episode and to maintain

6:13

the habits necessary to make the show

6:16

and so many years later it's much

6:18

harder to pause. I'm

6:21

so used to doing it. I

6:23

also know that there is some irony

6:25

in me announcing this a month after doing the

6:27

AMA thing and asking for you

6:29

to check out the Patreon. It is

6:32

noted. Anyway I'll

6:34

leave it there. I'm sure

6:36

I'll have some thoughts when I get back from the break.

6:39

I hope that all of you have a pleasant winter

6:41

and holiday season if you want to.

6:44

Reach out if you feel like it. Fill out

6:46

the survey at KakosIndustries.com

6:48

slash survey please. Thank

6:52

you again for being the best. I

6:54

will see you in March.