TheCalcutec

Good (and difficult) question, so let’s start with this one!

I learned a ton from my time at GB—I cannot begin to overstate the wisdom that was imparted on by everyone there. Really, really hard to push So here's a lesson I from everyone:

Vinny taught me the value of of a backup plan—and how to face the fact that sometimes, even your backup’s backup fails. I remember when Vinny told me that our quick look system had three redundancies. I laughed at how surreal that was. Less than a week later, the initial recording and two of those three backups totally failed. I was very grateful for that third one.

Alex taught me how to push forward on a shitty day. Alex and I both have a great deal in common in terms of our, uh, cloudy demeanors, let's say. But Alex was an incredible professional, and even on the days where things were rough as hell, he managed to put his nose to the stone

Jeff taught me that it’s less about perfection, and it’s more about cadence. Every swing you take will not be a home run—both as a creator and journalist and also as a person—but if you can consistently, reliably do solid work, people will follow you.

Rorie taught me the value of prioritization. Matt is just… super busy over there, and he constantly has to decide what challenges are things he needs to address immediately and which things need to be saved for tomorrow.

Drew showed me the courage (and the deftness) it takes to bring really, really esoteric interests to a wide audience. Things like the Crusader Kings 2 stream or the Twilight Struggle Quick Look (which I did with Drew) never would’ve happened if he didn’t prove that if you bring a fun personality and a lot of patience, you can share your weirdest interests with people.

Jason is a living example of grit. Long nights of setup were worth it, because tomorrow it meant that things would be that much easier. And longer nights of breakdown were worth it because hey, you were done. If I’m every a tenth of the professional Jason is, I’ll be able to get a ton done even on the hardest nights

Dan and I bonded over our social anxiety. His ability to step out into a crowd—but also to know that it’s okay to step away when you need to was a very important lesson for me.

Brad taught me how to deal with criticism. That’s not a joke, either. There were weeks where I saw fans of ours pile onto him unfairly—unaware of whatever really difficult task he was hard at work at accomplishing—and he was just fucking head down on what had to get done. But he also listened when people had real, important, constructive critique. Super important lesson

While I was there, I also worked with a dude named Stan who you probably don’t know, but Stan absolutely taught me the value of working with people who understand the big picture. I’m a humanities dude, you know? I resist stats and charts and all that. Stan showed me how those things could inform my work without forcing it to change in a way I wasn’t happy with.

Patrick was obviously gone by the time I arrived, but watching his whole career (and now being lucky enough to work with him on a daily basis), he’s taught me a ton about the value of being curious. Dig deeper. The story isn’t the obvious thing, it’s the next level down. Always take that next step.

And while I was never lucky enough to know Ryan, as a fan, I was keenly aware of his amazing way of bringing a room of people together. In prepping for our huge 72 hour livestream, I thought a lot about how well Ryan was able to find common ground between people who had very little to do with each other. He was a master MC, and I aspire to bring even a fraction of the joy he brought others.

Here's the bit in question.

Dan was really, honestly, asking me if I wanted a twinkie the first few times. Then during one of the downtimes, we just both sort of excitedly talked about how much we loved it and wanted to escalate. One thing led to another... and then another thing led to a coffee machine.

Jeff was... an enabler.

Let's just say that being a teacher for so long means that I very quickly developed the senses necessary to recognize the traits of a bad teacher...

Here's a story: At one point in my academic career, I was a at a meeting with all of the teaching assistants in a course that I was also a TA for. The goal was to help us come to agreement on what we were expecting from term papers: What did an A grade paper look like from session to session, for instance? (Sometimes, a TA gets assigned students who really excel, which can throw the average expectations things off).

At one point, a TA asked "how do I know the difference between a B+ and an A?" Another TA responded, "That depends on how hot the student is." Needless to say, that response was not appreciated in a room filled with people busting their asses to figure out how to correctly grade dozens of students. (Worth noting that the TA in question is no longer teaching, or in academia in any way, as far as I know).

Life is Strange's Mark Jefferson moves and speaks exactly like that TA.

Look for when the sky is clear, And the sun is back. Patrick and I will share some beer, And play some Knack.

what if knack 2

had

four knacks

:thinking emoji: