Looking Back on on The SAC Podcast

As the premiere of my new podcast approaches, I thought I would look back and reflect on a big part of my life; The Student Affairs Spectacular Podcast I co-hosted for about two and half years with Tom Krieglstein and The Student Affairs Collective (SAC).

My last episode was in December 2016, and the show achieved great success during my time. While I shared hosting duties with Tom, I also took care of most of the backend production for the podcast, which taught me a lot. I've since consulted several people helping to get their own shows off the ground.

The decision to leave the show was a hard one, but at the time, I needed to focus my energies else where and really needed a break. It's been months now, and I'm excited to get back in with a show that is mine and will continue in the spirit of its predecessor.

My journey as a content creator in higher ed has been what feels like a long, slow trek but an overall positive one. The consistency of my contributions has gone down, but my writing has vastly improved. I'm still figuring out what feels right, and I think I'm getting there now. I took a break from talking with people, but now feel like I'm starting off from a much stronger place in terms of my conversational skills then when I recorded my first episode of the SAC podcast. I remember feeling so nervous each time, and stumbling through episodes at times. I have now found my voice, and feel more in a rhythm each time I record.

I also now know my worth far more than I did before. I get paid for my writing, and am able to forge partnerships that help myself and my collaborators fairly. I understand my strengths and what I have to offer. I know so much more this time around, that I am really excited to see where everything goes.

I'm thankful for the experience, the connections, and the confidence I gained from doing the SAC podcast. All good things must come to an end, but with that, here's to the next chapter!

Gaming Championships: Everything That New Gamers Should Know

Back in the early 2000’s, when gaming first became a big thing, it was simply seen as being a hobby. Because, surely, playing video games couldn’t be anything more than time-wasting, right? Actually, that’s wrong. Just like any other hobby gaming requires a specialist skillset and knowledge. Plus, it actually is good for you - gaming can relieve stress and, believe it or not, increase concentration.

Today, some of the world’s best gamers not only make money off of gaming but also compete in gaming championships. As there are now hundreds of competitive gaming events held across the world each year, has gaming become a sport? Well, because it doesn’t involve physical exertion, technically it’s not a sport. Instead, it’s been dubbed an e-sport - aka, an electronic sport.

For gaming newbies, the world of competitive gaming can be confusing. Getting your head around the fact that gaming isn’t just a hobby for geeks, but an e-sport that there are competitions held for, can be hard. To give you a better insight into what pro gaming is, below is a list of the things that you should know about this modern sport.

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Almost every game has a championship

The first thing to know is that almost every game has some sort of championship held each year. Some are national, and some are international, it depends on how big games are in certain places. All successful pro gamers tend to stick to just one game, such as World of Warcraft, and specialize in that. Think of pro gamers like athletes. Most athletes only focus on one sport to give them the best chance of being successful at it, and it’s the same with gaming.

So, if you have aspirations to become a pro gamer, it’s important to focus on just one game. Take League of Legends, for instance. If that’s your favorite game, spend as much time as you can improving your play, and learning all there is to know about the game. Use a LoL boost or rent a skilled duo queue partner and watch how they play, so that you’re able to improve your gaming.

There are big payouts for the winners

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Just like sports competitions come with big payouts for the winners, so do gaming competitions. Each gaming competition has a different prize amount, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds. So pro-gamers have the potential to earn a good amount just from gaming. As long as they’re successful and win, that is.

There are fans

Just like regular sports have fans, so do e-sports. For this reason, the majority of e-sports events and competitions are held in arenas, and tickets to watch them live are sold. Just like some footballers are sporty kid’s heroes, some gamers, like the members of the LoL KTA team, are idolized by fans.

Gaming championships are becoming so popular that they’ve even starting to be streamed online. There are many sites online that stream live gaming events for fans to access and watch. In some countries, gaming events are even shown live on TV, like sports events are.

Today, gaming is an incredibly popular e-sport, making it a great hobby to take up.

Spider-Man & Life/Work Balance

Greetings, true believers!

In an attempt to blog more regularly, I'm going to pour out some of my brain juices on a fun connection I talk about often and has even been mentioned on the episode I did for the Life/Work Balances Podcast earlier this year (check it out here). The idea is using Spider-Man as a foil for these discussions about how to find a more perfect balance in our lives.

Spider-Man is one of favorite superheroes for this reason, he always has to struggle with being Peter Parker and his job of being your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. He has to go to class, see his Aunt May, try to date Mary Jane (or Gwen Stacy), make sure to get some photos into J. Jonah Jameson, and just take care of himself. His workload is comparable to some of ours as student affairs people, so the juxtaposition gels.

Where I feel I can connect with the Spectacular Spidey is that he comes to a better balance when he doesn't put up a wall between his personal and "professional" lives. When he tells the people he cares about that he's this amazing hero, the walls come down and it is easier to live his life when he is authentic. The people in his life can help him and be there when he needs it.

I feel as though you can't ever really block off what's going on in your life from your work. They should blend together so that you are always genuinely you in everything that you do. Your passions should be on display and your colleagues able to know the true you since they see you all the time. This will lead to better work, I feel, since this schism would go away that you feel like you always have to have a mask on with as much as our work overtakes our lives. I say we flip it the other way around; bring your interests, passions, and transparent self into the work we do for students. It will be a refreshing change of pace.

I learn lessons and make connections from my geeky passions often, and I joke that I take my entertainment very seriously so I hope this was helpful to you all out there. So take this in, reflect, and go out being the most ultimate you that you were born to be!

As always, remember; With great power, comes great responsibility.