VLOGMAS is a terrible word
But I am having so much fun
Hi! I’m in the middle of participating in VLOGMAS, which as I wrote before, I have had complicated feelings around.
DECEMBER ROUNDUP + links
I made a conscious decision last November to get off social media and stop feeding the algorithm. One of the biggest changes was that I stopped making YouTube videos, something I actually love doing. Nonetheless, this past year I made most of them private and turned off the comments — because I’m going through a lot of personal stuff. And it felt too vulnerable.
But I’m honestly having the best time being creative every single day. Sitting down to face the camera and figure out what I’m going to record, then quickly editing/uploading it, gives me little time for perfectionism or second-guessing myself, as I’ve been doing with writing scripts and editing narrative films the last five years.
It reminds me of the dear old Actor’s Diet blog days and has been really freeing. I’ve been enjoying sharing everything from grief and my death class to my karaoke playlist to exchanging Sodastream canisters in a random backyard to putting together a giant lamp to my everyday morning routine.
Because I understand not everyone has the time/interest to sit and watch a daily video where I’m babbling in my pajamas, I thought I’d curate a little list on the subjects I think GXT readers might like. If you’re interested in the links for the products, just click through the videos and they’ll be in the YouTube video description!
DAY 0/-1: As I’ve written previously, I had a lot of fear bleaching my Asian hair because I feared the maintenance level would be really high. But the truth is, since I started getting balayage/highlights every 4-6 months back in 2020, my hair has never been easier to care for and I couldn’t be happier with it. This one shows the wash day process, which is usually every 5-7 days a week.
DAY 4: These are all the red light/laser gadgets I’ve been using, which includes the second generation of the CurrentBody Mask and a laser hair band I’ve been using to help my thinning hair (stay tuned for an upcoming podcast episode in January more about this).
Day 8: Anyone who followed me from 2009-2019 knows I mainly created content around food, whilst being pretty vocal about my body image and a lifelong binge eating disorder. I haven’t talked about it much on camera since then, mainly because I have celiac, and since the pandemic happened, I now hate cooking. Plus, my relationship to food is still so confusing. But I took a new appliance (a combo slow/pressure cooker) for a spin for vlogging’s sake in an attempt to address it all again.
Know someone who would love reading GXT too?
DAY 9: I’ve been wanting to save $$$ on grooming Miles and recently discovered that there is a hair cutting vacuum system (yes, like a Flowbee) for pets. Actually, there are many, many, many. I chose the most well reviewed one on with a Black Friday deal and here we are.
DAY 14: I don’t know if you can get any of these in time for the Holidays, but this video has three really amazing customizable Etsy gifts. (Note to my husband Abe — don’t watch the second half of this vlog).
DAY 15: I think right here, at the half-way point of VLOGMAS, is where I really re-discovered why I have been so passionate about being a “content creator” — a word that didn’t even exist when I began publicly sharing my life over 15 years ago. Revealing my most vulnerable self, and actually documenting my depression in real time — in the hopes that someone else will relate — is exactly why I do this. I had been holding myself back from doing this because I wanted to be a “real filmmaker” and a “real adult.” But I guess I just needed to get, ya know…. real… and just accept where/who I am.
