Conversations with My Night Brain

welcome to Five Quick Things for
August 19th, 2025, number one, I'm 49.

Yes, it's just a number.

It also feels like a weird number
of course, because next year culture

has decided it's a very big number.

Me being 30 is a crazy amount of
20 years ago, but the idea of me

being 70 is only 20 years away.

That kind of messes with my brain.

Alongside this five quick things
project, I've also started a selfie

day for a year project over on whatever
social media stuff, this podcast

project isn't intended to be daily, but
we'll see which of them last longer.

Number two.

Five quick things was stolen.

I realized after I published
yesterday that I think my brain

stole the name or branding.

Five Quick Things from a newsletter
put out by Tisch Oxen Rider at

the Common Do Place website.

I am sure she wouldn't claim a monopoly
or trademark on the phrase, but I think

that's where my brain got it from.

So credit where credit is
due for five quick things.

If you like thoughtful living ideas
mixed with a bit of what's going on with

God stuff, check out the common.place

for a newsletter and podcast
you might find interesting.

Number three, editing for shorts
and reels takes out life's pauses.

Something I'm finding when I'm editing
clips from clients podcasts is how much

incentive there is to remove spaces
where nobody is talking or someone

pauses to think for a second or two.

All the tools give you one
click removal of anything

longer than one second or more.

Because if someone watching has
to wait longer than a second,

they'll probably swipe away.

And I get it from a consumption
standpoint, but what potentially

is lost by humanity as a whole
in our ability to be patient with

each other while we find a thought?

Those pauses are little moments to let our
brains catch up with a thought or idea.

I don't think it's always a great
idea to remove them, but now I'll

leave you a five second pause for
you to think about that thought.

Number four is 2025, the
year of video podcasting.

It feels like every year has
been the year of video podcasting

for the last 10 plus years.

But the fact that I went from managing
zero YouTube channels for clients at

this time last year to now running six
channels says something has shifted.

The jury is still out on whether
video is worth the time, effort, and

money for the clients I work with.

But apps like Riverside FM
and Descrip have made it much

easier to do more in less time.

But there will need to be a meaningful
change in subscribers, viewers, and

download numbers for it to be worthwhile.

I do think it's fun for listeners to
be able to see the people who they've

mainly had in their ears to this point.

That definitely helps with humanizing
the podcast people listen to.

I think number five, someone stopped me.

I'm tempted to buy a switch too.

Last night I was playing Fortnite
with my youngest me on the Xbox

X, and they were on the switch.

Fortnite on the switch point is so
bad that there's a rumor or truth.

That you get put into easier
lobbies if you're on a switch.

Just seeing the comparison side by
side of how long it took for her to

finally be able to see the island
compared to me, made me wanna sell

the switch and get a switch too.

But that feels like a silly
reason to spend $700 on a console.

Especially when an Xbox S, for example,
would accomplish the same thing for $450.

But then we need a TV set up of some sort.

So I'm back to the switch two, which has
built in screen, all that to say if I just

wait long enough, my kid will be bored of
Fortnite and moved on to something else

and I'll save myself a bunch of money.

Five quick things is a mini episode
of Conversations with My Night Brain

I'm doing so that I can just put
stuff out into the world without

having it all figured out quite yet.

If you'd like to be on a full episode
of Conversations with My Night

Brain, please get in touch with me.

There's a link on the website.

I'd love to chat with you.

And that was five Quick
Things for August 19th, 2025.

Thanks for listening.