"Courage and perseverance are important if one is to run anything resembling a news organization...the folks at theOtaku.com have demonstrated themselves to have ample quantities of both."
~ TCJ (The Comics Journal)
"A couple years of experience in the Otaku circle have taught me at least one good lesson--to trust Adam."
~ myO member
"Adam is actually a decently accomplished troll."
~ Allamorph
"The scale of Adam's cunning genius is truly frightening."
~ TimeChaser
Here it is! I begin around the 2 minute mark of video #2.
Also featured at my friends Michael Pinto from Fanboy.com and Gia Manry, who you all should know.
Gail, our valiant and bold administrator, entered her dog into a contest where, if it wins, will net $10,000 for charity.
Her dog looks JUST like Ein from Cowboy Bebop too! Spend 30 seconds to register then click the vote button. Hurry!
I love saying "otakus" instead of "otaku" because I know it's grammatically incorrect (like saying ninjas instead of ninja).
Boy oh boy, at this moment in time I am in financial trouble. Because I want to be a role model, I will get myself out of it and hopefully you can learn from my experiences and either never get into my situation to begin with or get yourself out if you're in one too.
Here's what I'm doing:
1. I partially got into this mess because I became reliant on credit cards. I have since decided that I am never going to use them ever again. After I pay off my CC debt I will pay for things cash only, or at worse, via debit card.
CC companies, especially American Express, are the worst kind of evil. I strongly recommend making it a priority to pay any outstanding CC debt and then to stop using them altogether.
2. I'm writing down *every single penny* I spend every single day. By doing this, I've become much better at spending less money day to day.
3. I'm going to be moving to a much cheaper apartment and perhaps rooming with someone. This will cut my rent almost in half. This is a major adjustment but it must be done and pronto.
4. I'm doing pretty much every freelance/extra job I can find. I'm even doing a freelance web design project, something I rely on people much better than me (like Mike) to handle.
5. eBay - the stuff lying around isn't worth as much as the debt on my credit card. For every $1 I get on ebay for something, if I pay it off on my CC, it turns into $1.16
6. Eating lean - fruits like bananas and apples are cheap and filling. So is pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. This, combined with writing down all my expenses, has brought my food expense down to $12.19 / day on average. It sounds like a lot but in NYC and considering all the times I have to eat out for business stuff, this is a huge improvement.
7. Full time job - I have redoubled my efforts to find a full time job. It's going to be insanely hard to find and will be an adjustment but it must be done.
8. Debt snowball - This is something I read online that I like a lot. You list your debts in order of smallest to largest. You make the minimum payment on everything but focus on paying off the smallest. This gives you psychological wins to keep going.
9. Crossing fingers - My iPhone game will be coming out soon. Our goal is to sell 14,000 copies. If we hit this goal I can pay all my high interest debts off immediately. If it sells less than 3,500 copies, then I'm going to go deeper into debt.
Please use the comments to share your own financial situation/tips/etc.
It'll take some time but one day I'll be able to post a victory message that I hope will be inspiring. I am deep in it.
A few Italian Twilight websites linked to 100Things's New Moon page today. That made me laugh.
Even though 100Things is a hobby side site, it's the most fun project I've worked on in years and I love reading everything people come up with.
To contrast, my game is the most grueling, never-ending thing I've ever worked on. It's like being pregnant except the baby just won't come out and I'm constantly stressed that when it does come out it'll be deformed and everyone will hate it.
theOtaku is like the kid who's grown up and cool and is on her own now with her own family. I can do nice things for it but it doesn't need me as much anymore.
Got a Kindle, which is dangerous for me because I'm in debt and this will tempt me to keep buying books.
Got a SECOND Ebert plug(!) - to me this is like getting a Miyazaki plug for theOtaku, there's no greater honor.
And worked nonstop :).
Also, today over 2,200 gifts were sent. Yesterday 46 were sent. Infinite gifts makes a big difference I guess ;-).
