A better work/fansub/life balance?

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A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by takenoko »

So lately, I've been pretty dissatisfied working full time lately. Maybe it's getting old, but when I get home, I feel like I'm too tired to do anything complicated, like fansubbing.

For those of you who have full time jobs, how do you find ways to do other things during your work days? Anyone have any good tips or tricks to finding a better balance between work/hobby?
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by Catastrophe »

I feel like the problem comes when the hobby begins to feel like work itself or an obligation. When this happens with me, I usually take a step back for a little while to relieve the burn out and pick it up again when I feel refreshed.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by takenoko »

I've definitely felt that at some points, but this time, I feel like it's work that's the time burglar. I want to work on my projects and I'm less interested in my day to day thing that I do for money.

I'm thinking about either going part-time or quitting entirely and just living off my savings and maybe whatever tips I can get while fansubbing. It'd be a tough leap since I'd be giving up monetary stability, health and dental insurance, and I'm not young. I'm going to turn 40 in October and I assume I'll have to get my colon checked and stuff like that.

But I don't feel like I can continue working full time while also finding time to do the stuff I really want to be doing in life

I want to hear what you guys do. Like have you guys ever had to choose between work and your hobby and what did you guys do to resolve it?
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by Catastrophe »

Before I had kids, I would just change jobs every couple of years when I got bored of the monotony of that particular position. Helped keep things fresh. Isn't much of an option now, but I do think a change of day to day scenery can do wonders.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by takenoko »

Please tell me you show your kids our shows
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by Catastrophe »

Of course! Dare I say that reading subtitles has been good for them.

The only downside being that I have to import all the DX toys (mostly sentai mechs) for them.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by decade368990 »

takenoko wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:11 pm I've definitely felt that at some points, but this time, I feel like it's work that's the time burglar. I want to work on my projects and I'm less interested in my day to day thing that I do for money.

I'm thinking about either going part-time or quitting entirely and just living off my savings and maybe whatever tips I can get while fansubbing. It'd be a tough leap since I'd be giving up monetary stability, health and dental insurance, and I'm not young. I'm going to turn 40 in October and I assume I'll have to get my colon checked and stuff like that.

But I don't feel like I can continue working full time while also finding time to do the stuff I really want to be doing in life

I want to hear what you guys do. Like have you guys ever had to choose between work and your hobby and what did you guys do to resolve it?
I've got the feeling that this thread is like we're sitting in a bar together, getting drunk, and spilling the truth of our life.

Takenoko, I didn't think you're already at age 39. Do you have a date? I want to date a girl and live my life. I don't want to be extreme workaholic. I want to have a girl who likes me even though I often make wrong decisions just to disappoint them.

I honestly haven't found myself a new job yet since my resignation from my full time printing job last year. I quit not just because I want to spend more time helping TV-Nihon, but I was very exhausted from getting off work constantly between 10:00pm-12:00am. It's the feeling off extreme workaholic alone while others got to get off at 7:00pm. Same as your thought, my life was pretty much occupied and I didn't get the time I needed to rest. Are there other ways of running errands without such hard working schedule? Others just look down on me and say "be a good boy, stopping complaining about working late, remain at your current job to learn and live.". I was like "no", I worked hard for 3 years; I earned the right to exit. I got personal things to do. I want to make my own decisions.

I know helping TV-Nihon is a hobby without getting paid, but I ain't spending 24/7 of my life doing this either. I pretty much get out of my home, reading a few pages at a bookstore, walking around, buying something to satisfy my lust, or looking at cute girls.

I hope this gives you some hints to live on.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by takenoko »

Catastrophe wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:49 pm The only downside being that I have to import all the DX toys (mostly sentai mechs) for them.
Nice! My friend from college was just telling me about how he was buying Transformers "for his kids", realizing later that they were really for himself

Damn decade, 10 pm is a pretty late work shift. I didn't know you were working that late.

No, I've never really been into dating. Just haven't met the right person, I guess/not something I've really prioritized really
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by decade368990 »

takenoko wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:41 pm Damn decade, 10 pm is a pretty late work shift. I didn't know you were working that late.
That's the nature of a printing company. Another downside is my boss and I were the only people staying up until 10:00pm-12:00am. My boss was waiting for me to complete a task alone. I didn't have guidelines to guide me the easiest way and I was pushed very hard to finish things from scratch using my own methods. I didn't even have at least 3 colleagues as companions to divide projects into parts.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by decade368990 »

Takenoko,

You should change to a part time job. With a part time job, you can spend more time to do your hobby. On your day off, you can spend your afternoon enjoying a cup of Americano or Mocha, reading books, hanging out with friends, or shopping for your lust.

I hope this is a helpful advice can ease you for a bit if you really want to change the direction of your life a bit.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by Joosche »

Advice to give I do not have. I can't believe I have the wisdom to do that. What I can do is try to show how I deal with personal projects x hobbies here on my side.

Obviously I would love to be able to work less and focus on my hobbies and personal projects. But this is not a reality so I know that at least 10 hours a day will be spent for work and more 2 hours for exercise in general. This is non-negotiable for a moment and will be the reality for many years to come.

So I have to deal with the remaining hours of the day (minus the hours of sleep) to get on with my personal projects.

For a long time I have been playing two projects simultaneously and what I learned over time that although it is ideal to use all free time for them I need to have time to relax. It is not because it is a personal project that means it is less tiring and stressful than normal work and if I don't have time to relax, nothing I do will be done well so I try to reconcile some time in one of these projects each day, even if it is 30 minutes, and always practice some hobbie to relax (games, animes, tokusatsus, books, sex, parties and cooking) + home duties (pets, cleaning, relationship and more).

Of course, sometimes it is impossible to run my projects on a daily basis, because sometimes some hobbies or obligations take up all the time available, but I force myself not to lose the line and pick up one of the projects as soon as possible to never lose the habit of dedicating myself to whats is important for my personal fulfillment.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by decade368990 »

I need to get better sleeps these days. Lately, I have been going to bed at 2:30am and getting up at 11:30am. So I think it's better that I should sleep earlier if I don't want to become a maniac.

What time does anyone usually go to bed if you're not doing fansub on that day?
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by takenoko »

I don't have a set sleep schedule, I take a series of naps so that I can be awake at night as well as the day
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by VerusMaya II »

If I were in your shoes, I'd go part-time on the monotonous irl job, and then try to monetize part of my hobby. Maybe commission your translation skills the way xiiliea has been? Add some extra cash to your part-time income and savings? And then you get the bonus of your free time, and handling your own timetable with your commissions (i.e. sorta self-employed).

That said I don't know the state of your finances, and losing insurance is terrifying. You can get some mediocre (and probably high deductible) insurance at the next open enrollment for Obamacare, but I'm not sure when that is.
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Re: A better work/fansub/life balance?

Post by xiiliea »

VerusMaya II wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:31 pm If I were in your shoes, I'd go part-time on the monotonous irl job, and then try to monetize part of my hobby. Maybe commission your translation skills the way xiiliea has been? Add some extra cash to your part-time income and savings? And then you get the bonus of your free time, and handling your own timetable with your commissions (i.e. sorta self-employed).

That said I don't know the state of your finances, and losing insurance is terrifying. You can get some mediocre (and probably high deductible) insurance at the next open enrollment for Obamacare, but I'm not sure when that is.
To be honest my commission service isn't really a reliable way to earn a living. I just happened to have a big customer as my first one. So far, I've only had 3 customers since February and the other two customers only gave me 1 or 2 movies. Once I'm done with the first customer's project I'm going to have to do something else. (Although maybe it's because I'm just not as famous as take, so who knows?)
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