I have all the things that I want to do and as a result of my ADHD I struggle to stick to any one thing for long term. I will get hyper-focused on one thing and that is the one thing that I will work on. Then one day that focus will shift to something else and then all I want to do is that other thing and I have to force myself to work on what it was that I was doing.
Last year at the start of the year my focus was on reading and writing. I was doing the Ray Bradbury reading challenge and 1 million words in a year writing challenge. I could manage both at the start when I was excited about the challenges but once it got hard I dropped the reading challenge and was able to focus on my writing challenge and kept with my writing every weekday despite not wanting to keep writing every weekday.
The next thing I was hyper-focused on in 2023 was getting my twitch monetised. I managed to do that and then I did not do much streaming on twitch after that. I have social anxiety and sometimes its not an issue and I can talk to anyone and everyone. Other times I cannot talk to anyone at all. I feel like I did my best at streaming when I had covid and couldn’t talk because I lost my voice.
This year for 2024, I am trying to go back to focusing reducing my backlog and talking about my progress here on my blog and getting at least one of my YouTube channels active.
I currently have 3 YouTube channels.
The Backlog Quest – The original channel that I started. I am leaving most of my old videos up, post blogs, random videos that don’t fit on my other channels and multi-stream my livestreams from Twitch.
Fee The Writer Bee – My second channel that I started where I talk about writing. Its a mix of writing timers and some of my past livestreams and writing vlogs.
Backlog Quest – For my gaming videos. I started it under another name for gaming related videos. Then I changed the name and switched it to live streaming l. I changed the livestreams to the original channel since this one was copyright notifications from my Storyblocks music that I used in the background which is able to be used on the first two channels but not this one. So no more live streams and just switched it back to gaming related videos with a different name again.
As crazy as it is, I want to split out into more channels even though I know it’s not recommended. I want one channel for book reviews. One from tv shows and movies. And then a sci-fi related channel for the like of Stargate, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who and the other media relating to those, a anime/manga channel, a Christian book review and bible reading channel and one for narrating my stories. I know that I cannot do all that by my ADHD is convinced that I can run several channels and two blogs and a twitch and keep up with the writing, gaming, reading and show watching even though I could not do that for one channel and one blog.
My daily goal is to reduce a little of my Backlog every single workday and have breaks on weekends because I need those breaks.
My daily goals in the order I plan to tackle each task:
1000 Words
15 minutes Bible Reading
30 Minutes gaming, edited and posted to gaming channel.
1 episode of a TV show or 1 movie
Blog post
Work on book review and tv show review episodes. These are not getting posted, saving them at the moment while I decide if I really will put them on a different channel.
30 minutes reading – This is the last thing I plan to do for the day, in bed
I still need to try and fit exercise into this list of everything that I want to do and go to bed at a reasonable time.
I wrote a Day 2 blog post talking about how much I struggled to even get to day two, writing the Day 2 blog post on day 3. I had hoped that this would get me back into reading but. It worked for short term. I was doing another challenge at the same time where I was trying to write 1 Million Words in a year and daily write. That ended up taking priority over this challenge.
I cannot remember when I failed the challenge. The book where I was supposed to record the challenge into only had two days recorded. I have a feeling I made it to April before I dropped the reading challenge. That is the month I have failed challenges in the past. That is when I prioritise playing Guild Wars 2. The non-fiction book I was reading when I stopped is still sitting at the side of my bed in my To Be Read Pile.
It is a challenge I would like to try again in the future, but not while I have other tasks that are taking priority.
I started planning for the Ray Bradbury reading challenge in September with the plan of recording all of my books before I started the challenge so I could tell you exactly how much is in my backlog. I spent all of September and October recording books into my spreadsheet in the afternoons. I stopped in November when I participated in NaNoWriMo intending to start again in December with recording more books. Instead started with updating my 2023 Writing word totals spreadsheet and that is now completed. I still have not gone back to recording what is in my collection. So far I have 1676 books recorded. I still have one more shelf to record and four or five boxes that will not fit on the shelves and the ebook and audio books plus the computer games and videos I have since I want to know everything in my entertainment backlog and not just the books. I already delayed when I was going to start this reading challenge since the list was more time consuming to record than I wanted it to be.
The Ray Bradbury challenge includes reading a poem, short story and essay daily. I don’t have many essays in my collection as far as I am away so I changed that to a chapter of a non-fiction book. I modified the reading challenge even further to suit my reading needs. I am a Christian and I am very guilty of putting my Bible reading and Bible study aside when I am busy so I have included that as part of my personal challenge of reading my bible, my devotional book and a bible study book. A large portion of my collection is longer fiction so I also have reading one chapter of a fiction book on my list since I don’t want to neglect that part as well for this challenge. My collection has been ignored too much as it is with everything that I have been doing at the moment.
Day 1 For what I consider the Ray Bradbury portion of the challenge I read Poem: 3 poems in Prayfully by Helen Steiner Rice Short Story: The Immolation Game by Mitchell Tierney: Chapters 20 – End Non-Fiction: Yates Garden Guide 43rd edition: Introduction – Chapter 1
For my modified reading plan Bible: NIV following a reading plan from Cover to Cover: Day 136 Devotional: Teach me to Pray by Andrew Murry: December 23 – 24 Bible Study: Fixing Abraham by Chris Tiegreen: Introduction Fiction: A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin – 1 Chapter
The Immolation Game which I completed was 91 pages in total which is why I included it in my short story list. I started it previously, ended up busy and just didn’t go back to it which is what has happened with most of the books on the list. It was recent enough that I didn’t have to go back to the start of the book. A quick skim of the last chapter and I was able to remember the basic premise of everything.
Everything except for the Yates Garden guide I started in previous years. The only books that was started this year was The Immolation Game and A Dance With Dragons. I started the A Song of Ice and Fire series that A Dance of Dragon belongs to in 2018. I believe every other book on the list is from 2018 as well. I hate how long it now takes me to finish books when once I would read multiple books in a day to completion.
I stayed up far too late last night after I wrote my blog post, trying to finish off the rest of my list. I had intended for an earlier night tonight, and yet I am still up late trying to finish this blog because I don’t want to fail on my new goal on day two.
After I finished my blog post, I put on the anime Bleach, which was once my favourite of the Big 3 when I started watching anime. That has fallen all the way down the list to the number three spot. At the start of the year, I started watching again from the start and am currently on the Bount Arc, which is all filler. I remembered enjoying this Arc a lot the very first time I watched the show. Uryu was my favourite character when I first watched Bleach, and I remember a lot of the Arc being about him. I am not yet at that point in this watch-through. This time around, I am not enjoying the filler episodes as much and had to take a break before continuing. I was still new to anime back when I watched Bleach for the first time and was a lot more tolerant of the filler episodes because I wanted to consume anything and everything, and it was hard to get a hold of anime. Streaming wasn’t an option, legal streaming sites didn’t exist, and my internet back then had a cap of 10GB per month for what I watched online and downloaded, meaning I was buying everything I watched as it came out on DVD and I had an entire box set of filler, I watched that entire box set of filler.
I only intended to watch one episode but watched multiple as I spent time going through the different craft projects that I have already started to work out what I would complete and have decided on one of the cross stitches that I started a while ago. I always feel like I should make more progress on my craft projects than what I actually manage to get done. I wanted to do more cross stitch today when I was watching but ended up getting phone calls and just couldn’t get myself back to the cross stitch when I got off the phone.
Reading went well last night. I read one chapter of A Dance of Dragons and had a chapter with Daenerys. She is one of the characters despite liking in the TV show, that I have struggled to read in the book. This time was easier to read than the last time she was in the book. It was like coming back to an old friend because she and a lot of the other characters that I love were not in book four. A book I really struggled to get through. I am hoping that book five will be easier to read because it has more POVs from the characters that I always found easy to read. I am not far into the book at the moment. The last thing I do today will be reading another chapter.
Guild Wars 2 playing went well. Did my dailies. Did a couple of achievements that would earn me Mastery points for Season 4 content. Did the daily achievements that I always have to force myself to do because I want to play other areas of the game and make some progress towards completing achievements for Shatterer.
I have written for the third day in a row towards my work-in-progress pile. Writing didn’t go as smoothly for me today. Intended to write at breakfast time, sat at the computer and did nothing but stare at my story. Again at lunchtime, early afternoon, and after dinner was the same. It was only just before bed that I was able to force myself to actually get some words down for the day. Some days are easier than others. I have all the words in my head but sometimes pulling them out of my head and getting them on paper is a struggle.
I need to make sure I come back tomorrow and do more of this blog and continue chipping away at reducing all my different backlogs.
The purpose of this blog was to record my progress as I worked towards reducing my backlog, something that I have not been very successful in doing. That backlog was meant to include the books that I have purchased and never read, the shows and movies I brought because I wanted to watch them and then never end up watching them and the games that build up year after year because I want to play them. That is what I wanted to focus on.
My backlog is so much more than that. It is all the stories that I started writing that I never finished, the puzzles I brought and never put together, the craft projects that fascinated me at the time but never ended up completed. I love starting new projects. I will research heavily into a topic that takes my fascination. I struggle to complete them.
Starting today, I am making it a goal to update my blog every single day, write or edit one of my stories, work on a craft project while watching a show or movie, do the daily achievements on Guild Wars 2 and read one chapter of a book. I eventually would like to add streaming a backlog game on twitch for one hour, something I started doing but haven’t been able to continue since I caught covid a month ago. I’ve had a cough and haven’t been able to talk for long periods of time, which I need to be able to do when I stream.
I have limited time to do all those tasks. Four hours in the afternoon if I go to bed at 10 pm, so I get plenty of sleep for work the next day. As it is, I am running out of time for today. It is 9.40 pm, and the only thing I have done so far off my list is play Guild wars 2 and work on this blog.
I plan to write, watch a show while working on a craft project and finally read.
Summary: Goten wants Videl to be his sister so together he and Trunks and Marron try to use a love potion of their own creation on Gohan and Videl.
Fandom: Dragon Ball Z Characters: Gohan, Videl
Gohan Son was sitting in a storage room with his girlfriend of two years, Videl. They were hidden away from the rest of his family and friends. There were hoping that no one would see them because if found like this, someone would suspect that the two teenagers were up to something suspicious.
“I didn’t think that we were ever going to get rid of them,” Videl sighed. Not believing that she was hiding in a storage room from a toddler and two hyperactive children.
“Hopefully they won’t find us,” Gohan said, looking around the corner of some crates they were currently hiding behind. “I don’t really want to have them to pour their love potion all over us.”
“You don’t think that it will actually work, do you?” Videl asked her boyfriend.
“I don’t think it will work the way that they plan for it to work. Knowing Trunks they have been playing in Bulma’s lab, and whatever it is that they have made, it’s probably toxic,” Gohan informed her.
Videl gulped not believing how dangerous the three children could be where they were all together. “Why are they making a love potion for us when we are already dating?”
“I think that my mum has put ideas into my brother’s head that we don’t really love each other because my mother isn’t a grandmother yet,” Gohan answered keeping his ki as low as possible. “Seems like they have recruited Tarble.” Gohan sensing that the younger brother of Vegeta was now following the kids around.
“Someone’s coming,” Videl said, hearing footsteps coming into the storage room, moving closer to Gohan as someone came through the door. Both sighed in relief as the light was turned on, and no sign of children were anywhere.
“What are you two doing in here?” Bulma asked, seeing Gohan and Videl sitting beside some boxes. She had a look on her face that suggested she’d managed to catch them in the act of mischief.
“We weren’t doing anything,” Gohan said, nervously hoping that Bulma wouldn’t jump to the conclusion which of course she already had.
“Hiding from the three little kids and their love potion,” Videl answered, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend who hadn’t given a reason for them hiding.
“Why are they trying to cover you in a love potion? You have been dating for two years now.” Bulma stated the same as Videl had already asked.
“Mum doesn’t think our relationship has been progressing fast enough. Goten has got the idea that he needs to help us. He has recruited Trunks and Marron.” Gohan answered.
“Ahh,” Bulma said. Understanding what her friend was like. “If they left you both alone they would get more progress then harassing you.”
“Bulma, is there something that you are looking for? We can help you find it if you like?” Videl offered.
“Yeah, I don’t think the kids will try anything while we are with you,” Gohan said, hoping that Trunks would be scared off by his mother.
“I’m looking for the old baby things,” Bulma mumbled only just being heard by Gohan.
“Wow, I’m surprised. Congratulations. I had no clue. I mean you’re older than my mum, so I didn’t even suspect …” Gohan said, sensing a faint ki signature from Bulma that was not hers. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t sensed the baby sooner. He had known as soon as his mum was pregnant with Goten.
“I know, I didn’t suspect a thing either. I thought that I was going through menopause.” Bulma answered.
“What’s going on? What does Bulma being older than your mum have to do with menopause?” Videl asked. Having not heard Bulma mention the baby things and she also couldn’t sense anything different from the scientist’s ki.
“I’m pregnant,” Bulma said. “I only found out I was pregnant when Vegeta asked me what menopause was after I’d been complaining for a few days. I, of course, told him what menopause is. He looked rather horrified for a few seconds, then started laughing. He told me you’re not going through menopause, your pregnant and walked off.”
“How was Vegeta able to tell when you didn’t even know?” Videl asked.
“Vegeta could sense the baby’s ki,” Gohan explained.
– DBZ –
Gohan and Videl were moving the baby things down the hall to the room that used to be Vegeta’s bedroom; hoping that they wouldn’t run into the children while Bulma wasn’t around.
“Goten,” the very familiar voice of Gohan’s mother yelled out. “Gohan, have you seen your brother?”
“Last time I saw him he was with Trunks and Marron trying to pour something onto Videl and I,” Gohan answered his mother.
Gohan and Videl both notice the change in Chi Chi’s behaviour and then looked at what they were holding.
“Is there something that you two are not telling me?” Chi Chi asked, looking at the two caring baby stuff.
“I don’t know what you are talking about Chi Chi,” Videl said, pretending to be a bit clueless to the fact that Chi Chi was grandchild crazy.
“The baby stuff.” Chi Chi pointed. “Why do you have all that baby stuff?” She asked in anticipation.
“Bulma is sorting through things and asked us to help,” Gohan said to his mother. “Do you want to help? We have to move it to the room that used to be Vegeta’s when he first came to the planet.”
“Why would Bulma want baby stuff moved into Vegeta’s old room?” Chi Chi asked the two suspiciously.
“You should ask Bulma that,” Videl said stopping Gohan from answering.
“Um Videl,” Gohan said nervously “Run!” dropping the baby things that he was holding and grabbing his girlfriend’s hand.
Chi Chi blinked and looked at all the baby things on the floor, picking some of the things up only to have them knocked from her arms a few moments later when two blurs came past her.
“Trunks, Goten wait up,” Marron said running down the hall followed closely by Tarble.
“Marron, what are you and the boys doing?” Chi Chi asked the young girl.
“We are trying to give a love potion that we made to Gohan and Videl,” Marron answered sweetly.
“But Gohan and Videl are already dating and love each other. Why would they need a love potion?” Chi Chi said worried that the pair’s relationship wasn’t as good as it appeared to be.
“It’s because they are not married yet and don’t have a baby,” Marron answered almost making Chi Chi melt. “We want someone new to play with.”
– DBZ –
Gohan and Videl had now locked themselves in Vegeta’s Gravity Room. Finally escaping the children once again.
“Is Vegeta going to kill us if he finds us in here?” Videl asked her boyfriend, hoping Vegeta would stay away.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Gohan promised, hoping that he would be able to protect himself and the girl he loved from Vegeta if he was to find them touching his property.
“So what now?” Videl said, starting to get bored with the constant hiding from the children.
“We could study,” Gohan suggested looking for the capsule that he carried everywhere with his university assignments.
Videl just sighed. “We are in the gravity chamber, and your first thought is study? If you were Erasa or Sharpener, your first thought would have been something else. Can’t we practice martial arts?”
“Oh yeah,” Gohan started laughing. “We haven’t practised together in ages. I’ll put the gravity up to ten times Earth gravity. Bulma can handle that so you should be able to.”
“How can you stand this much gravity?” Videl asked. She had trouble moving once Gohan turned the gravity on. “How can Bulma handle this?
“I have trained with Vegeta a few times over the years; I can last a few hundred times Earth’s gravity. Bulma was trying to prove something. She can be very competitive.”
“I keep forgetting that you are part alien and can take more than humans,” Videl sighed. She sometimes still thought of Gohan as the nerd that she met when he started high school.
– DBZ –
Gohan and Videl had been practising in the gravity chamber for around half an hour. Or more to the point, Videl had been training, and Gohan had been giving her pointers.
“What are you brats doing in here?” Vegeta yelled as he opened the door, not happy about finding his gravity chamber already occupied.
“We’re training,” Gohan answered Vegeta.
“While hiding from the kids, they were trying to pour a love potion on us.” Videl finished for Gohan. She had collapsed at the sudden change of gravity.
“I don’t care if you’re hiding, get out,” Vegeta yelled, pointing towards the door.
Gohan was glad that Vegeta hadn’t gone super on him as he often did. Gohan helping Videl to her feet before fleeing the chamber. They hadn’t got far when they both felt something wet and cold hit both of them on the head, and it didn’t stop pouring on them until they were completely soaked. They both tried to escape, and Gohan would have succussed on his own. Videl was not fast enough to escape. He refused to leave her behind.
“Yes, we finally got them,” Trunks yelled out in triumph.
“Goten and Trunks!” Gohan yelled as the two boys flew off into the distance.
“Goten, Trunks I can’t fly,” Marron yelled out who had been hiding in nearby bushes.
“I’ll take you,” Tarble offered. He had been following his nephew and Goten and was finding that he was unable to keep up with the two hyperactive children.
“Let’s go and get cleaned up,” Gohan said, taking his girlfriends hand and walking back into Bulma’s apartment.
“What do you think their potion does?” Videl asked, hoping that she wasn’t about to sprout extra limbs.
“No idea but I guess that we are going to find out eventually,” Gohan said, hoping that there would be no effects. If it actually worked wouldn’t that mean that nothing would happen because they were already in love with each other?
– DBZ –
Gohan was getting changed in one of the bedrooms while Videl was in the bathroom. Both had capsules with a change of clothes.
“Gohan, can you help?” Videl shouted from the bathroom.
“I only have my underpants on,” Gohan shouted back.
“I don’t care this stuff’s gone hard, and I can’t get my shirt off,” Videl shouted, “Just hurry up and help.”
“Okay,” Gohan said sheepishly walking in to help his girlfriend out of the shirt that had turned solid.
“Um I broke your shirt,” Gohan said, watching the shirt crumble.
“I’m going to kill those kids when I get my hands on them. That was my favourite fighting shirt,” Videl said, trying to bend down to pick up the pieces of her shirt, to find herself overbalancing and unable to move her legs to stop herself from falling.
“Are you alright?” Gohan asked, looking at his girlfriend laying face down on the floor.
“Can you help me get my pants off as well?” Videl screamed in panic. “Because I don’t want to be stuck like this forever.”
Gohan kneeling down to help his girlfriend out of her pants before she’d even requested the help. Her pants breaking the same way as her shirt and his own clothing.
Gohan was brushing the remains of Videl’s pants away when he heard the door open. Both the University students looked up to see an excited nine-year-old and a shocked mother.
“Yay the love potion worked, I’m going to be an uncle,” Goten said gleefully.
“But you two aren’t married yet!” Chi Chi shrieked. “I want grandchildren, but I would like for you to be married before you took that step to get me my grandchildren.” Chi Chi started to lecture. It was the first both young adults had heard on the matter. Normally she was encouraging them to make her a grandmother already.
“This is not what it looks like,” Gohan said standing up realising that he only had his underwear on. He blushed while his mother had seen him in his underwear plenty of times. Videl, on the other hand, hadn’t. She didn’t like being seen in her underwear by anyone. She hid behind Gohan as much as possible.
“This is so embarrassing,” Videl said wishing that everyone would leave them alone.
“Goten and Trunks were playing in Bulma’s lab,” Gohan started to explain getting interrupted by his mother.
“Trying to get me to concentrate on the mischief that your younger brother had done so that I can forget yours and Videl’s actions is not a very nice thing to do Gohan Son.” Chi Chi continuing her lecture.
“But mum I haven’t finished yet,” Gohan said, interrupting his mother and hoping she wouldn’t bring out her weapon of mass discipline. “Goten and Trunks made a love potion for Videl and I. We were running from them all afternoon, and when we came out of hiding from Vegeta’s gravity machine, they poured the so-called potion all over us.”
“The potion made our clothes solid, so I couldn’t move, and I had to ask Gohan to help me get mine off since my strength wasn’t enough to destroy my clothing,” Videl said still hiding behind Gohan pointing out the hardened clothing on the ground. “I think that it has done the same to my hair,” Videl said as she demonstrated trying to move some of her hair.
“Goten is this true,” Chi Chi asked the young boy.
Goten stared at the ground as he nodded. “I’m sorry, Videl and Gohan. I’m sorry, mummy.”
– DBZ –
Videl was back at the Son house and was sitting in Chi Chi and Goku’s bathroom in a bathrobe as Chi Chi tried to wash the love potion out of Videl’s hair. Gohan was upstairs in the boys’ bathroom having a shower.
“You’re going to make such a wonderful daughter-in-law one day,” Chi Chi said while washing Videl’s hair. She’d got a solution from Bulma that helped but still took a long time. “And a wonderful mother.”
“I don’t think that I’m ready for that yet. I mean I am still nineteen,” Videl answered wishing that this subject didn’t have to be bought up regularly.
“You’re already older than I was when I got married. When I was nineteen, I had been married for a year and had a beautiful baby son.” Chi Chi said dreamily “You should’ve seen him, he was so cute. Don’t get me wrong, Goten was a beautiful baby, but there was just something about Gohan, maybe it was because he is my first. I would love grandchildren, especially if they are anywhere near as cute as what Gohan was when he was born.”
Back in the upstairs bathroom, Gohan has finally found a solution to getting the love potion out of his hair, the only problem was Videl wouldn’t be able to do the same thing to get the solution out of her hair.
“Why did you power up to Super Saiyan, son?” Goku asked who came inside curious about the sudden power fluctuation that came from his eldest son.
Gohan relayed the adventures of that afternoon. “Instead of making us fall more in love like they had planned it turned our clothes and our hair rock hard,” Gohan said turning back to normal and checking that his hair was no longer cement-like.
Goku looked confused for a few seconds before asking “Don’t you love Videl anymore?”
“What!” Gohan asked, confused as to where this question was coming from. “Of course, I still love Videl. Why would you even ask if I still love her?”
“Then why did Goten and Trunks pour love potion on you?” Goku asked, scratching his head.
“Because they want Videl and I to get married and have a baby,” Gohan said simply turning to get a towel so that he could have a shower when his father left.
“Well, why aren’t you guy’s married yet? Your mum and I were already married and had you at your age.”
“I want to finish my study first. It’s my top priority at the moment,” Gohan answered.
“We aren’t always going to be living in times of peace, son. This is the perfect time to get married and start a family. Trunks, the one from the future told me that the you from the other timeline never got married and never had any children because you were constantly fighting. The other version of you didn’t have time for anything except fighting for his life and training to become stronger or time taken up recovering from serious injuries.
“What would happen if we ended up in a time of war? You wouldn’t have time to finish your studies? Would you have time for Videl?” Goku asked, leaving the bathroom, leaving Gohan to think things through properly.
– DBZ –
Gohan and Videl were sitting underneath one of the many trees on the Son’s property. Videl was running her fingers through her hair amazed that Chi Chi was able to get the love potion out without shaving her head.
“You look pretty,” Gohan said blushing.
“I’m wearing your mother’s clothes,” Videl said, wondering how any boy could think that their girlfriend was pretty while wearing their mother’s clothing.
“It’s the third time that I have seen you wearing a dress in two years,” Gohan said blushing even more if that was possible.
“I don’t like dresses. Your mother gave me another wedding and grandchildren lecture,” Videl said, rolling her eyes.
“Believe it or not, my dad gave me one as well,” Gohan said, still slightly confused why his father had given the lecture in the first place.
“I mean we’re not ready to get married. We’re still too young,” Videl said, trying to think up more reasons than the too young excuse that she kept using.
“Even though we’re already older then my parents when they got married,” Gohan said, wondering why his parents got married so young in the first place. “Plus I still have to study.”
“My parents got married while my mum was still studying to become a teacher,” Videl said, wishing that her mother was still around to ask advice. “And she didn’t have to put her study aside after she was married.”
“Will you marry me?” The squeaky voice of Videl’s boyfriend asked.
“Did you just ask what I think you just asked?” Videl asked wondering if she heard correctly considering they were both trying to come up with excuses not to get married. All Gohan could do in response was a nod. “Where did this question come from all of a sudden? I mean we have been trying to avoid the marriage thing since we started dating, why now?”
“What my dad said. If we ended up in a time of war, would I still have time for you? I realised that I want to spend every single moment with you. Whether it’s in a time of peace or war,” Gohan said, knowing that he meant every single word.
“Yes I will marry you Saiyaman,” Videl said, leaning over to kiss her boyfriend, not believing that Gohan had asked her and that she said yes.
“Gohan and Videl kissing under a tree,” said a voice from in a tree above them. ” G.”
“Goten how much did you hear,” Gohan asked, still bright red.
“You asked Videl to marry you,” Goten shouted, jumping out of the tree and running towards the house, “and I’m going to tell mummy.”
“Goten you get back here now!” Gohan shouted, chasing after his little brother.
“Gohan, stop him,” Videl screamed flying after her boyfriend and her soon to be brother-in-law.
“Mummy, daddy. My love potion worked,” Goten shouted out at the top of his lungs. “Gohan asked Videl to marry him.”
Summary: After being deaged Mai, Shu and Emperor Pilaf contemplate if they are really villains.
Fandom: Dragon Ball Z Characters: Mai, Shu, Pilaf
“Are we really villains?” Mai asked her two companions. She was drinking a strawberry milkshake.
They were in a cafe instead of at a local bar since they’d accidentally wished themselves into children with the Dragon Balls. No-one was going to serve alcohol to people who appeared as minors no matter how old their identification said they were.
“Of course we are Mai,” Emperor Pilaf replied. “We want to take over the world that makes us villains.”
“I don’t know boss,” Shu said, agreeing with Mai. “That is our overall goal, but we don’t exactly do anything else that is really evil, like other criminal organisations.”
“Because of our lack of villainous plots, the rest of the organisation left us years ago. It’s only us three now. Has been for years, we cannot even recruit more people despite trying. How are three people going to rule the whole world when we cannot even manage an organisation? If we do manage to somehow take over how are we going to manage?” Mai asked her boss.
Shu nodded along in agreement. “Yeah, what Mai said. Our biggest rivals, the one who stands between us ruling the world didn’t even recognise us. They were kind to us and invited us to that birthday party.”
“Well, that just means that we have to do something really evil to make up for it.” Pilaf replied to his two henchmen and closest friends.
“Are you kids done? Do you want anything else?” One of the waitresses asked them kindly.
“No thank you, ma’am,” Shu replied.
“It was a really nice meal,” Mai agreed.
“We’ll be leaving now. But thank you,” Pilaf said to the woman.
The three got up and left the cafe, Shu leaving a small tip. The waitress smiled and waved as they left.
They gathered in the local park, sitting in the fort. The other children leaving them alone.
“We’re losing our touch.” Pilaf ranted. “What type of criminal organisation pay’s for their food and are kind to the waitress staff. We even left a tip!”
“I don’t think we had much of a touch to lose, sir,” Mai told him. “We were never that good at the criminal thing anyway.”
Shu nodded again. “Yeah, whenever we steal something we leave a note telling them that we would bring said item back or leave money to pay for the item and we do after we are finished with it. We do return items. If something happens that we can’t bring it back, then we send them money.”
“And we nearly caused the success of the world being concurred, but it wasn’t by us. It was by King Piccolo who we released.” Mai continued.
“Okay, we’re awful at concurring the world. Instead we’ve been opening it up for other villains.” Pilaf admitted. “But we are still villains. Aren’t we?”
“Maybe we need to give up on the concurring the world thing boss,” Shu suggested. “I mean we’ve been trying for a really long time now. Goku is now a grandfather; he was only a little kid when we started out. Go for something smaller.”
“Think of it this way sir, do you really want to spend all that time trying to stop other people concurring the world if we do succeed?” Mai pointed out the reality of what they would face.
“But we’ve been trying to concur the world for years. It will be sad to stop. I can’t think of anything that we would do instead,” Pilaf said.
“Maybe start with something small, like rebuilding your kingdom?” Mai suggested.
“That’s a great idea, Mai! I will rebuild my kingdom. Once my kingdom has been rebuilt, I will re-evaluate my plans.”
“How about finding the Dagon Balls to wish us back into adults?” Shu suggested. “I wanted to be younger, but not this young?”
“Do you think if we asked nicely that Bulma would let us use the Dragon Balls?” Pilaf asked his two henchmen friends.
“What harm can asking do?” Mai said. “If she says no we are stuck like this until we grow up. If she says yes, we get to be in our mid-twenties again.”
“Why mid-twenties?” Pilaf asked.
“My voice was still breaking when I was in my early twenties.” Shu agreed with Mai.
“I had horrible acne that only cleared up in my early twenties. I don’t want to have acne again.” Mai said.
“Okay, mid-twenties it is.” Pilaf agreed. “What are you going to do with that little boyfriend of yours, Mai? Won’t Bulma be mad?”
Mai gulped. “He’s not really my boyfriend. Now let’s go and hope his mother doesn’t kill me. Age ourselves first and then work on the kingdom.”
They had gathered up the courage, and Bulma had agreed to meet them. “Are you kids here to play with Trunks? I’m afraid he’s not here at the moment. He’s out with his father.”
Mai sighed in relief; she really did not want to see Trunks.
“No, you see. We’re the Pilaf gang.” Emperor Pilaf told her. “We want to borrow to the Dragon Balls and wish ourselves older.”
“Mid-twenties to be precise,” Shu told Bulma.
“We used the Dragon Balls to wish ourselves younger, but weren’t specific and the Dragon turned us into children. I do not want to go through puberty for a second time.” Mai explained.
Bulma laughed. “I don’t know how I didn’t see that before. Sure I’ll help, as long as you guys promise not to take over the world again.”
“We’ve decided that we no longer want to rule the world.” Pilaf told Bulma honestly. “Too much effort to stay in charge from other people that want to conquer the world.”
“We are going to rebuild Emperor Pilaf’s Kingdom. And after that, we haven’t decided what we want to do.” Shu told Bulma.
“But we won’t promise that we won’t be villains anymore. We’ve been villains for our whole life, and do know anything different. We can promise that we won’t conquer the world.” Mai said.
“Or mess with you guys,” Shu added.
Pilaf and Mai nodding in agreement with Shu.
They were themselves again. Bulma had wished them all back to their mid-twenties. They didn’t even have to wait since she already had the Dragon Balls. They stood in the ruins of the kingdom, a place they hadn’t returned to since Goku had turned into a giant monkey ape thingy and destroyed everything.
“Looks like we don’t have to think of another goal anytime soon boss. We have a lot of work to rebuild your kingdom.” Shu said.
“You two get to work, my Kingdom won’t rebuild itself.” Pilaf ordered them.
“Yes, boss.” Mai and Shu said together.
All three happy to no longer be children and working towards a goal that they could actually succeed in. Then they could work out what type of villains they wanted to be.
I did the exact opposite that is recommended for when first starting out on YouTube. I went and brought several items, most of which could have waited until I had myself properly established.
Did I need to spend money? No, I did not. So why did I do it? I’m in a finical position that I can spend a bit of money each pay going towards something that I don’t need or at least just yet. I have always loved new technology, and these have been my first purchases of the kind for a few years. I have found most of them useful for other things outside of YouTube.
My purchases so far have been: ● Adobe Suite subscription ● Elgato HD60 ● Blue Yeti Microphone with boom arm ● Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop ● Canon EOS 1500D camera ● Overhead camera tripod
Out of all those items the only one that turned out to be an actual need was the Acer laptop. A few months after buying my laptop, my desktop computer stopped working. One power surge too many fried the power supply and motherboard. I was hoping it was only the power supply and that I could get that computer back up and running. Sadly it wasn’t. The power supply didn’t go to waste, it’s now in my Windows XP computer, replacing a power supply that sounded like a helicopter taking off. Because I already had my laptop, all I needed to do was transfer everything that wasn’t already on the laptop.
The least useful has been the Elgato HD60s. Every time I want to use it I have to change the sound settings using the Elgato software and on the computer itself. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I have to restart the computer before getting the sound to work. Other times I have to uninstall and reinstall the audio side of the Elgato software. I have not been able to get the Elgato to play sound via an analogue which is what I need to work to record gameplay footage from my XP computer which had reverted back to being my gaming PC. Something that isn’t an issue since majority of my game collection work better on an older PC than anything new. I don’t know if it’s just doing something wrong. The Elgato HD60s has been more trouble than it’s worth when I attempt to record my gameplay for more channel.
The Adobe suite I would have eventually got even without the intention of using it for YouTube. I have a copy of Adobe Photoshop CS3 on my XP computer which I wanted to upgrade for a while before I got the subscription to the Adobe suite.
The Blue Yeti microphone, I love the microphone itself one I worked out how to make it stop buzzing. The boom arm that came with it doesn’t sit how I want. I’ve watched videos on how to adjust it multiple times, and no matter how I adjust the tension on the arm, it just collapses on itself. I end up having to use other items to prop up the arm to a level that I can actually use it.
The most recent purchase is the Canon EOS 1500D camera. I have wanted a Digital SLR even before I started YouTube and my blog. It’s the first one I have purchased. The overhead tripod had made some of my video footage that I want to record easier to record while keeping me out of the footage. I was previously using two rulers propped on a bookcase which limited where I could record. This was something to make everything else for me.
All these purchases were not made at once, they were spread over a couple of years because it has not been an overnight thing for me getting my YouTube channel operational.
Do I recommend doing what I did? No I don’t. Do I regret any of my purchases? No I don’t. They’ve been fun to play around with in my free time. I have found other uses for everything, even if it’s not towards my YouTube channel or blog. Even the Elgato HD60s has been useful for outside of YouTube, I used it to convert a PowerPoint presentation to video from an older version of PowerPoint that didn’t have the option to convert to video.
Summary: Not everyone celebrates when the anniversary of Cells defeat comes around. (One-shot. Completed)
Fandom: Dragon Ball Z Characters: Gohan, Videl, Sharpener, Erasa
Celebrations were in full swing with the parties planned for the upcoming public holiday that Wednesday. The chatter amongst the students was excited as they planned their day off.
“I’m going to have the biggest party ever,” Sharpener bragged. He was always throwing last minute parties. He liked to wait to see if someone else was doing something better first before he made his own arrangements.
“Oh, can I come?” Erasa asked, jumping like a hyperactive child.
“Of course babe, it wouldn’t be a party without you,” Sharpener answered. He put his arm around his oldest friend. “Wouldn’t be a party without you.”
“Gohan, you can be my date.” Erasa pulled away from Sharpener and clung to Gohan. “Are you alright?” Erasa asked when she did not get a reaction. He usually pulled away after a nervous laugh when she flirted with him.
“It’s time to party.” Sharpener cheered. Watching with concern as Erasa picked Gohan’s hand up and moving his arm around like a puppet. Sharpener moved so that he was standing the other side of Gohan and then joined Erasa in trying to get their friend to respond. Both concerned seeing nothing but hollow eyes staring into nothingness. “Nerd-boy, you in there. Earth to Nerd-boy.”
“What are you doing?” Videl asked startled both the blonds into dropping Gohan’s hand.
“Trying to get Gohan’s attention. Something’s wrong with him. Wow, you look terrible. You okay?” Erasa let go of Gohan and raced over to Videl when she noticed she wasn’t her normal self. “What’s wrong?”
“Something’s wrong with Videl?” Gohan asked, still in a trance-like state. But it was more than they had out of him before.
Sharpener snorted. “Of course you notice Videl but not us. Why are you both depressed? This is a time to celebrate. No moping allowed,” Sharpener cheered.
“Why does it have to be a celebration for my dad?” Videl yelled out, drawing the attention of the other students in the class. “There were other people at the Cell Games as well. Why couldn’t one of them have beaten Cell instead? That way, I wouldn’t have to put up with the stupid celebration and my dad’s big ego every single year for the last seven years.”
“But that is the day that you’re family came into wealth. You were two weeks away from being evicted if your dad didn’t beat Cell. You would probably be living on the streets now or with your grandma.” Erasa reminded Videl how far her family had come money wise.
“But I don’t get to spend much time with my dad anymore,” Videl said, sounding like a spoiled child that didn’t want to share a toy with anyone.
“Babe, come to my party that will keep your mind off everything,” Sharpener suggested.
“Nice try Sharpener, but no thanks,” Videl said, a slight grin sneaking its way through. She turned her attention to the zombie-like state that the new kid was in. “Why are you so sad?” Videl enquired.
“My dad died …” Gohan started to explain but was interrupted before he could continue.
“What are you even doing at school if your dad died?” the shocked blond girl asked. “You should be home with your family.”
“It’s wasn’t recent, babe. Was it?” Sharpener asked. He wouldn’t put it past Gohan to put his education before personal matters.
“It will be seven years ago on Wednesday,” Gohan answered, trying to get the images of his last moment with his father out of his head.
“Wow, that is the same year as the Cell Games happened,” Erasa said.
“My dad died the day of the Cell Games,” Gohan answered. “He was one of the only people that was killed by Cell that didn’t come back. It was my fault that he died.”
Sharpener remembered something from the news stories from after the Cell Games. “It was rumoured that some of the people that died and came back during the time of King Piccolo didn’t come back after Cell. Did your dad die then?”
“No, it was another time when I was little. That was my fault too. I killed my dad twice,” Gohan said, tears now streaming down his face.
“How could it be your fault if Cell killed your father?” Videl asked. “And I am sure that other time wasn’t your fault either.”
“I made a stupid mistake, I was too cocky, and because of that it cost my dad his life.” The teenager answered in hysteria. “The time before, he died trying to save my life from my uncle who kidnapped me. If I wasn’t around, if I stayed home with mum, he would have survived that day.”
“Cocky! You?” Sharpener started laughing, trying to imagine Gohan being cocky.
“Your uncle kidnapped you,” Erasa gasped.
The teacher chose this moment to come into the class and stopped in surprise when she noticed it was the class genius and his three friends were the ones disrupting the class.
“Don’t worry Gohan, school will be back on Thursday,” The teacher said jumped to the wrong conclusion about why her prize student was upset.
“It’s not about that miss,” Videl said. The crime fighters tone unsettled the teacher. She’d never seen or heard Videl looking so upset.
“Something happened between you two didn’t?” The teacher suggested knowing the mischief that some of her students could get up to.
Sharpener went into another fit of laughter, trying to imagine Gohan and Videl in a relationship.
Videl turned red at the suggestion. It went over Gohan’s head what the teacher had suggested.
“Believe me, it’s nothing like that. I would know.” Erasa answered, confusing the teacher about the sudden behaviour changes of Gohan and Videl. If nothing had happened between them, then why were they both so upset?
“Can we go?” Sharpener asked, holding back giggles.
“If it means that the students that actually want to learn, get a chance to learn, then you may leave,” the teacher answered. She didn’t usually like to dismiss students without good reason. They wouldn’t get anything done while Gohan and Videl were both in that state. She watched as Sharpener and Erasa helped the hysterical genius out of the classroom followed by the grumpy crime fighter.
“Miss, can I go as well?” One of the boys in the front row asked.
“If you even think of disrupting my class you will get detention for a week.” The teacher scolded. “That goes for all of you.”
There were some grumbles from the students about Videl and her friends getting special treatment from all of the teachers and wishing that they were close friends with the crime fighter. One question that came to the minds of all the students was why she was friends with the people that she hung out with? And why did she go to their school in the first place? Weren’t famous kids meant to go to exclusive schools that cost a zillion zeni to go to?
Sharpener and Erasa had spent the whole day attempting to cheer Gohan and Videl up while setting up for Sharpeners Totally Awesome Party for Cells Defeat Day.
“So what are you going to do for your day off if you aren’t going to come to my party?” Sharpener asked.
“I’m going to spend the day with my mum pretending that I’m not upset and that I still don’t blame myself for what happened while trying to keep her from crying the whole day. Oh, I just remembered that I have to hide the television. We normally have to buy a new one every year after the anniversary of my dad’s death.”
“What does your dad’s death have to do with getting a new TV?” Erasa asking the question that everyone else was wondering.
“Any mention of the Cell Games reminds my mum that my dad was killed by Cell. She gets angry and takes it out on the television,” Gohan said, remembering the first anniversary of his father’s death. His mother threw the television which narrowly missed six-month-old Goten. The only reason the television didn’t hit Goten was Gohan catching it. His mother hadn’t thrown the TV again after that incident, but she did hit it with her frying pan or punch her fist through it on more than one occasion. One year she had somehow got hold of a machine gun and blasted the TV to smithereens.
“Earth to Gohan.” He heard a voice saying bringing him out of thoughts of every anniversary so far. Erasa was sitting in front of him, waving her hand in front of his face. She smiled when he jumped back.”Destroying a TV sounds like something Videl would do,” Erasa piped up when she saw he was back in the land of the living. “I was at Videl’s the day of the Cell Games. My parents died near the start of the Cell stuff. I was missed because I was at a sleepover at Pira’s. I walked home from Pira’s house, finding only my parents clothes on the floor. Pira and I lived close to one another, so they allowed me to walk between our houses. It was strange only finding the clothes, but I didn’t think anything of it at first. I just assumed my parents had gone out in a hurry. I started watching TV. I was looking for cartoons. But ever channel was the same thing. That was how I found out about Cell.” Sharpener went over to comfort Erasa who had broken down in tears. “I ran back to Pira’s because they were the only people that I knew close to my house. By the time that I got there,” Erasa choked up. “They were the same as my parents, just clothes. He had been so close. And everywhere I looked around was more clothes. Everyone was gone. I was alone. I was so scared.”
“I don’t think I actually know anyone that was absorbed by Cell,” Gohan said imagining that it was his mother and friends in the place of Erasa’s family. “I don’t know what I would have done if I came home to find my mum and grandpa’s clothes lying on the floor like that.”
“The times of Cell were pretty bad, I died, I was absorbed. It was the scariest thing that had ever happened,” Sharpener said realising how lucky he was to be alive after dying. “We evacuated the city and were in a camp with hundreds of other people. They all got together, and with the remainder of the money we had hired this guy, I think his name was Taio or something like that. He built a shelter that was meant to keep Cell out and keep us safe. It was just almost completed when this blond kid came and blew up the shelter. Telling us, we were stupid if we thought something like that would be able to keep Cell out.”
Gohan felt so guilty, was it his fault that Sharpener and his parents had been absorbed? He was the one that had blown up the shelter that Sharpener was talking about.
“That kid was right, so many of us in one place had attracted Cell. He would have come either way. With how quickly that building was built, it never would have been strong enough.” Sharpener finished the story.
“How did you end up at Videl’s?” Gohan asked the crying blond girl after seeing that Sharpener wasn’t going to continue.
“I ran from Pira’s house trying to find anyone that was alive, but finding no one,” Erasa said barely above a whisper. “I think it was about two days that I went from place to place, breaking into houses to get food and sleeping in a cupboard and even in a washing machine under clothes hoping that Cell wouldn’t find me. I heard someone enter the house that I happened to be hiding in. I ran to find a better hiding spot, but he heard me. I almost died of fright and collapsed with relief when it wasn’t Cell standing before me. The person that saved me was Hercule. I had broken into his mother’s house. He’d come to check on her, but she had been absorbed like everyone else.”
“Grandma brings it up every time we visit her, reckons that we let her die on purpose,” Videl said, wishing at times that her grandmother had stayed dead. Videl punched the disco ball angry with herself that she would wish that anyone was dead, especially a blood relative.
“Anyway, Hercule took me to where he was hiding Videl,” Erasa said, “and that is how we became friends and why I was with her when we watched the Cell Games. When all the cameras were wiped out, Videl got really angry and threw the remote control at the TV screaming for it to work and then got up and started kicking and punching it. She kicked the screen in.”
“My grandpa said that my mum picked the TV up and started shaking it and then threw it when the reception was lost for the Cell Games,” Gohan said, a shiver running up his spine at another similarity that the girl he went to school with had with his mother. “I wasn’t home at the time, I was out with dad. Telling mum that dad had died to protect me, that he wasn’t coming back was the hardest thing I ever had to do.
“How did you die?” Erasa asked the ghost-white jock.
This time he continued his story. “We fled from the site of the Cell protection structure with some of my parent’s new friends. We thought that being in the middle of nowhere was remotely safe, but we were wrong.” Sharpener said remembering the last moments of his life. “Cell had us trapped in a cave with nowhere to run. I watched as Cell picked people off one by one starting with adults followed by teenagers and then the elderly leaving the children till last. He absorbed us kids youngest to oldest. It was horrible; Cell absorbed my baby sister while she was in my arms. There were only four of us left. I remember Lime fighting till the very end; she was the closest to my age out of the people that had escaped. She tried to fight Cell till the very end. A few moments later, I was absorbed, I assumed the two older ones after me.”
“Lime died,” Gohan said. He knew that she had to be the same Lime that he had known. “I should’ve let her drown; it would’ve been a nicer death than being absorbed by Cell. It was a miracle that she survived when Cell absorbed her family, and then almost drowned a few days later and then a few days after that to actually die.”
“Wait, you’re the guy that saved her from drowning?” Sharpener said, seeing his friend in a new light. “She said that he had blond hair.”
“I had blond hair for a couple of months when I was younger,” Gohan said hoping that they wouldn’t link him to the kid from the Cell Games with that information. “Mum started crying about me turning into a delinquent the first time she ever saw me with blond hair.” Gohan managed to chuckle.
“If she had drowned she never would have got to live again,” Erasa said.
Gohan knew that she was correct.
“What were you doing in that area anyway?” Sharpener asked, “that is a couple of hours away from the 439 mountain district.”
“We ran out of food. Mum wanted something nice,” Gohan answered with a grin for the first time that day. “It was for my birthday party. We had a picnic, it was like everything was normal for a few moments. We could forget about Cell for a few hours.”
“Birthday?” Videl asked. “When is your birthday?”
“Eleventh of May,” Gohan answered.
“Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?” Erasa asked she liked everyone knowing when her birthday was.
“I didn’t think that it was important,” Gohan said with a shrug. “Besides my mother makes a big enough deal about my birthday every year I didn’t want anyone else to know.”
“Eighteen is the only important one to worry about. Next year when you turn eighteen we will have a big birthday bash,” Sharpener said already planning Gohan’s birthday party.
“I turned eighteen the other day,” Gohan corrected.
“Dude, you’re the same age as me,” Sharpener said shocked that the class nerd was the same age as him. “I thought that you were the same age as Erasa and Videl.”
“How come you only started school now, shouldn’t you go straight to college?” Videl asked, “You’re smart enough to be in college already.”
“My mum kept going on about getting a high school diploma,” Gohan answered. “She also said about meeting people my own age and that college wasn’t the place to make friends.”
“That’s stupid, college parties are the best,” Erasa said who had been to her fair share of college parties.
“My mum wants me to be concentrate on studying when I start college,” Gohan said. He would be forced to do so much more studying then he already did when he started. He was not looking forward to that.
“Do you do everything that your mother asks you to do?” Videl shouted sick of the goody-goody act that Gohan always portrayed.
“I don’t do everything my mum says. Maybe if I did everything that she asked my dad would still be alive.” Gohan said. His mother hadn’t wanted him to fight in the Cell Games. She had begged him not to go, to stay home with her.
“Stop blaming yourself,” Erasa said as the light mood disappeared as quickly as it came. “The times of Cell were dangerous and terrifying.”
“Which is why we celebrate the fact that Cell is dead,” Sharpener said, not feeling as festive anymore.
“Why did it have to be my dad to beat Cell?” Videl shouted. “I hate being famous, I hate being rich. I want to be normal. Like you three are.”
“Videl I’m not normal,” Gohan answered without thinking.
“You’re more normal than I am,” Videl answered.
“I live in the middle of nowhere,” Gohan said, trying to prove that he wasn’t normal without saying too much.
“Many people do. I live in a mansion,” Videl said back.
“My grandfather lives in a castle,” Gohan said. Maybe it was time to open up a little. These people were his friends. He didn’t need to keep everything from them.
“Is it an old one or a new one?” Erasa asked. That little girl inside her that wanted to be a princess showing through. “Does a handsome prince live there, oh and a king and a queen and a princess. Is the prince single?”
“It’s probably not that type of castle,” Sharpener said in fits of laughter trying to imagine Gohan as a prince.
“What’s so funny about that?” Gohan asked as clueless as ever.
“Which royal family?” Videl asked, having met quite a few royals.
“Let’s not talk about them,” Gohan said, trying to move the conversation to another topic.
“So it does have a royal family,” Erasa squealed in excitement.
“They might be someone that I’ve met, like Princess Mioku from Gurumes?” Videl asked. She had clashed with that princess on a few occasions.
“Mioku is a princess?” Gohan said, “She hates me because I accidentally pushed her down a set of stairs and broke her arm when I was three.”
“You met Princess Mioku when you were three?” Erasa said with excitement, “is she the one that lives in that Castle where your grandfather lives?”
“No, her grandfather and my grandfather are friends,” Gohan answered with the first thing that came to his mind. “Let talk about something else, like Cell.”
Videl’s watch beeped. “Duty calls.” She sighed.
“I should head out. School is over for the day, and my mum worries when I come home late. Enjoy your party on Wednesday,” Gohan said, waving to his friends. Talking about what they had gone through with Cell had helped.
Slide after slide was displayed on the projector of Goku as a baby with Grandpa Gohan, a lot of pictures of Bulma and Goku, Goku and Chi Chi.
They were up to slides of Gohan as a baby when Goten spoke. “I wish that there were pictures of me as a baby with daddy.”
“I know that he would love to be in photos with you,” Bulma said. She was hoping that Chi Chi and Gohan would add more, but they were both non-responsive.
It was better than previous years when Gohan seemed almost suicidal with his depression and blaming himself over his father’s death. This year was more thoughtful and quiet. Maybe school was doing good for him.
Chi Chi was angry at Goku for not coming back. Bulma feared that if Goku stayed dead too much longer, he would lose Chi Chi forever. Chi Chi loved Goku to death, but Bulma occasionally got the feeling that Chi Chi was ready to move on.
There was also no destroyed TV’s this year which was another plus though she had noticed that there were no TV’s around to destroy. Maybe they had already been destroyed or removed beforehand.
“Gohan, how’s school?” Bulma asked, trying to bring up some light chitchat.
“It’s good,” Gohan answered, trying to put on a happy face in front of his mother. “I almost let it slip yesterday that Grandpa is the Ox King.”
Bulma smiled, glad that Gohan was now talking.
“Is that a bad thing?” Bulma asked.
“Probably not. I’m just want to be normal.” Gohan replied.
Gohan looked up as Goten started laughing. “Big brother, your hair looks funny in that picture.”
“Our trip to Namek,” Bulma said, wondering how Chi Chi ever managed to get Gohan’s hair like that.
“I wonder how all the Namekian’s are?” Gohan asked, forgetting why they were watching slides in the first place.
“My poor baby getting sent to space like that.” Chi Chi said, in a lighter mood than she’d been in for previous anniversaries.
“I enjoyed space. I learnt so much that you can’t learn from a textbook.” Gohan answered. His mum’s eyes sparkle at the mention of education.
“I want to go to space,” Goten whined.
“I want to go as well,” Trunks said enthusiastically. “Can we go to space, please?”
“You’re too young to go to space,” Chi Chi answered sternly.
“I agree,” Bulma said, “and space is a dangerous place.” Bulma smiled, they were all going to be alright.
Gohan just ignored the two adults hoping that they wouldn’t remember that he was younger then the boys were now when he went to space. Though he was a lot more mature than his brother and young friend when he was a child.
Gohan was in a happy mood when he returned to school the next day. Most of the day had been spent talking about old times and remembering the good times that they all had together. Krillen and Maron had come by in the afternoon, and it was nice seeing the two adults that he was closest to, that had always been a part of his childhood. Gohan watched as Videl skipped into the classroom, something that he had never seen before. He didn’t take her as the type of person to skip, that was more Erasa’s sort of thing.
“You seem happy today,” Gohan said, as the teen hero sat down.
“My dad spent most of the day with me,” Videl said happily. “He was away in the morning for some ceremony but was back before lunch. I got to spend the whole time with dad and grandma.”
That’s great about your dad spending time with you.” Gohan answered with a smile. “I spent the whole day with mum and my brother Goten and a couple of close family friends.”
Gohan and Videl both watched as the two blonds entered the classroom.
“Are you two okay?” Gohan asked, wondering if they should even be at school.
“They’re fine, both have hangover’s,” Videl answered, glad that she didn’t go to the party. She’d probably have to arrest her friends if she saw what they had been up to.
“Isn’t Erasa underage?” Gohan whispered. Videl nodded, and Erasa groaned.
“Why can’t the public holiday be on a Friday?” Sharpener complained. “I want to sleep.”
Gohan watched the reactions of several students as the teacher came in and as she made slightly more noise than usual. He turned to see Videl smile at each reaction from the students. He wondered where they would all be a year from now and how the next anniversary of the Cell Games and his father’s death would go. A part of him hoping that next year his dad would finally be in his life again.
I did a lot of research on YouTube and blogging before I started my channel and my blog. The thing that they all tell you to do is find your niche, narrow your focus. I tried to find just one thing I want to talk about. I have so many things that I like and want to talk about.
Did I talk about anime? At one point most of the video’s I watched were about anime and manga. I spent a lot of my time on anime forums before YouTube was a thing. The first videos I watched on YouTube were anime episodes that were split into two or three videos an episode with horrible quality and horrible subtitles. Back then it was the only way to be able to see certain shows at all. There was no legal means back then for a lot of the shows that interested me. While I love anime and do want to talk about it, what was the point of having a channel dedicated to just anime and manga when I have not been keeping up with recent anime? I stopped watching seasonal anime and have no plans to start watching seasonal anime again. I still have things that I want to talk about when it comes to anime and manga, just not enough for it to be my focus.
Or did I talk about the books? My favourite past time when I was growing up. I don’t have to buy books to talk about them since I already have a collection. I have the same issues with reading as I do anime, I don’t read as much as I used to. Since I made my YouTube channel, despite not releasing as much content on books as I intended, my reading has picked up but not back to what it used to be as a teenager. I have finished reading more books this year than in the last ten years.
Or did I talk about technology? I have always had an interest in technology. I have every single computer that my family has ever owned. I had a PDA and replaced it with an iPod touch when they were released. I went out of my way to get a Gameboy when I started working because I always wanted one growing up and never had one. I don’t buy tech gear too often since I ran out of space to store everything. My money for tech gear is now going towards paying off my house. I feel a bit guilty about owning so much stuff. Stuff that hardly gets used.
And then there was gaming. I love gaming because I love playing through a story. My favourite games are DOS and early Windows games that tell a story, point and click adventure games being my favourite. I love watching gaming channels on YouTube. I watch some game-through but prefer those that talk about the history or facts about the games. I don’t feel like I know enough about any game to dedicate a channel to just games. I now spend more time watching other people play games rather than playing them myself. The only game that I play on a regular basis is Guild Wars 2, and even that is much reduced in recent years. I wouldn’t be doing anything online with Guild Wars 2 because I play to connect with friends that I no longer see in person. I don’t want to mix something that I do as a break for work with something that while a hobby is a form of work. I still need something that gives me a break, and that thing is Guild Wars.
I wanted to talk about it all. I want to talk about what I am reading, playing, watching. What technology I am using. So I decided that despite all the recommendations to have a narrow focus, that I was going to talk about my books, DVDs, games, technology, anime and manga on the one channel and see what I enjoy talking about long term. That is where my blog name and first YouTube channel name comes in, The Backlog Quest because it will be a quest to get through all my unread books, unwatched videos and unplayed games. I will get the chance to talk about different technology along with way because I have different consoles for the games in my backlog.
I recognised that one hobby did not fit on my YouTube channel dedicated to reducing my backlog, and that is my writing. Writing is the hobby that I do the most of in my free time. It’s what I talk about the most in my day to day life. I don’t feel that I know enough about writing to have a separate blog for writing which is why I have a section for it on here despite having them separate on YouTube channel.
So attempting to narrow my focus was really a fail. My passions are too broad. While my overall likes have stayed the same for many years, my attention often shifts between my hobbies. I am trying to get myself to the point that I do a little bit at a time of everything. For right now, that is not working. I have just accepted that I have a broad focus and will work around it.
