OoC-01
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Josh, the voice of the Database. I’m also showrunner, director, editor, sound engineer, script editor, casting director, social media manager, graphic designer, and occasional foley artist and composer.
I don’t like speaking as myself, like I am right now. I don’t like breaking character for the audience’s sake, and I also have severe anxiety and prefer to have a character and script to hide behind. But I have a personal announcement to make and it would be weird to deliver it any other way. Don’t worry: I’m not dying or anything, the podcast isn’t ending, and I’m not asking for money.
So, on and off over the past few weeks I’ve been getting sensations in my chest ranging from near-constant pressure to sudden pain, along with occasional shortness of breath. This past week it was bad enough that I went to a clinic to get tested for COVID-19. I had no other symptoms associated with it, but I have vulnerable people in my house and I needed to rule it out. Thankfully, the test came back negative, and we were able to determine that my symptoms are being caused, as I kind of suspected they were, by my anxiety.
There’s a lot to be anxious about right now. We’re all feeling it to some degree, I’m sure. But, even despite the pandemic, after examining several other facets of my life, I’ve realized that a huge part of the heightened anxiety I’m feeling is a direct result of managing this podcast. Putting as much work as I do into a show that somehow manages to release episodes two or three times a week is beginning to take its toll.
So, following this realization, for the sake of my own mental——and now, physical——health, I’ve decided that our release schedule will need to relax a bit. So, beginning immediately, the podcast will release no more than two episodes per week, including the Quaran-tainment Series. But that won’t last much longer: we have a few works currently in production for that series, including a request we plan to honor, but once those episodes are complete and uploaded, the Quaran-tainment Series will end. Once it’s done and we’re back to SCP episodes only, we will release one——or possibly two——per week. We have some major projects coming up though, including SCP-087, 093, and 096, and those may require extra time to complete. So, in the run-up to bigger, more complicated episodes like those, it may also be necessary to go a week without posting anything, both to make sure I don’t lose my shit and have a fucking panic attack, and to make sure the quality of the content we’re presenting doesn’t suffer as a result.
I hope this change isn’t too disappointing to anyone. I regret promising extra content to last through the pandemic and not being able to deliver on it for very long at all. I apologize for that. Of course it may also be the case that this change is a way bigger deal to me than it is to any of you. It’s just, I love doing this podcast and I’m proud of what my voice cast——my friends——and I have done with it. I would rather take my time to make sure we continue to make a product I’m proud of than to keep up this unsustainable pace and risk getting burnt out and having to take a break from it or stop altogether.
I do especially regret needing to end the Quaran-tainment series prematurely, though. I greatly enjoyed getting to present other content, especially since doing readings of that kind of stuff is how I got started in all of this. If you guys are enjoying them so far, then maybe it’s something we could keep doing on a much more spaced out schedule——like, once every month or two? If you’d like that, or if there’s any other feedback, questions, or comments you’d like to share, let us know. You can email us at SCPDataPodcast@gmail.com. It’s also in the episode description if you’d like to copy and paste it. Just be sure to put “Feedback” in the subject line.
That’s pretty much it. I have to keep reminding myself that this is still a passion project, for the most part. Any money we make goes right back into the podcast. If I’m not enjoying it——or worse, if it’s negatively affecting my well-being——then it’s not worth doing anymore. I don’t want to get to that point. Again. So, here’s hoping that’s a long way off yet. Thanks for listening.
