Hey, hey, I'm here. Hold on. I am plugging in better audio Here we go Hello, hello Maybe I was supposed to do that like before I went live here we go. Is that better? Yeah, that's working. Okay Happy New Year. How is everyone? I don't know if anybody will be joining us because who the heck knows what's going on and where anybody is so I just thought I'd come on here to say hey and Yeah, basically avoiding work like I usually am so happy new year. Hi Let me know where you're joining me from Um And yeah, we're going to chat I have less to say so I don't know if you're like me but when my family goes on holiday It's like maddock and so when I get back I need like a holiday for my holiday And so like this is day. I don't know. I haven't been back for a couple days like Well, I got back and I was hosting some people. So that's also exhausting in a different way Always good, but tiring and so then really I didn't have anybody since sunday one day as a tuesday, so Yeah, I'm not there yet Ooh, Syracuse new york awesome. Happy for you guys to pop in any questions that you have Anything you want to talk about? Australia. Oh nice. It's only 11. Well, it's one o'clock here and I still have it I've done my meetings for the day, but I haven't like Narrowed in on work because I get my mind just gets so like So many things I want to do in their new year and I'm so excited to get started on those projects, but like I actually have to make money so There's that problem that we all have right so Yeah, so I got to do that, but it's good. I'm in the flow and I'm happy with it and I'm happy to not push push all the time But yeah, so What did I do over the holiday? We went and we stayed We went north in new zealand and we stayed at a beach like a batch like It was fine. Nothing fancy For like six nights and then we had Christmas there and we did all of that We did lots of surfing and I mean I'm not surfing my husband's surfing. I am boogie boarding like No, I didn't really do that either. Um, I just really went I just went to the beach So that's what happened and then tried to relax but not really, you know, because you're trying to make Christmas special, you know, because you're the mother and you have to make it special. So, um That's what's happening and then we went to a friend's lake house for the next couple days And they have all these fun toys down in rota rua lake terraria area If you've never done the lake terraria falls walk Um It's like so good. Um What else did we do there? So yeah, we did have you ever been e-foiling so E-foiling is like you're basically in your own motorized like How do I say? Uh kind of like a surfboard size And you just like glide on top of the water. It's amazing I'm not like amazing at it. I think I fell off like 32 times, but um, and I'm still recovering from the falling But I mean just falling in water, but it's still like, you know It's still falling people So yeah, so that's what we did. Uh lots of boating and you know, uh Biscuiting or tubing. That's what they call it here. Biscuiting. Hello. Happy new year Back to the matrix. Yes um, and Yeah, and then we came back and we well, we had some friends from the u.s fly in for New years and so we had new years there and it wasn't good weather but um Then we came back and we had to do all the wellington things boy like showing people around your city.  So You regret not learning to surf like Elvis. Yeah, um, I Yeah, do I have a desire to surf? That's the question Not so much. So anyway, um Gosh, what else can I tell you tell me about your holiday if you did one? Um, you know, the world is different like in the states. You don't get as many days off right now It's not the same. It's not the end of the school year. It's just different but um I have one daughter that's in europe traveling around in one son who's in In wisconsin. So we were kind of split for christmas. So you know, that was different, but it was okay technology is amazing I am not going to complain. I'm going to be happy with it. So um So, yeah, I was happy with it. We got we talked a lot but um Surfer holiday jelly. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just like uh, and I didn't even do it Uh, so anyway, uh excited for a new year. Um, I don't really like to make New year's resolutions, although I think goals are good and writing things down are good You know, let me just be honest with you. Okay. This is a true story So this just happened over the holiday. So like I am like anti Writing things down when people tell me that they journal. I don't understand it I've tried to journal. I said they're like, what do I say? And so I my friend let me read some of her journal, you know, like she picked a page and Like hers are like written out prayers And I was like, oh, this is actually like really good. Like I never really You know, I've tried it. I haven't been successful. So I tried it this weekend And I'm just I should read it to you. I should find it. I don't know where I put it Shoot, I should read it to you. It's funny because I'm like, I don't know what to write in here Why am I hesitant to write anything in here? And then I like broke it down and I was like, okay So why am I hesitant? Well, number one, I think someone's gonna find what I wrote Like I don't really feel like it's private. Um, so number two, like I feel like Um It feels weird to write down your feelings. Um, I don't know And I wrote down these things and then I was like, okay I'm gonna write in this as if it's gonna be burned up immediately. Is my journal burned up? No So I feel like I've just started to relax a little bit about it. So I just started writing I just read it anything I was thinking and feeling or whatever and let me tell you Like I am not one of these. I can't tell you I'm like totally like a person that would be like again something like that um And I was wrong I Can't believe how much better I felt Putting it from here to somewhere else I was like, oh my gosh Like I've been like struggling with all these things in my head and then I just put it on paper And I just immediately felt better. Have you guys experienced this? Am I the only one?  I learned lessons hard sometimes Like one year. This is a couple of years ago. This is totally true and I should find that no quick for you See, I'm completely unprepared for this um I wrote down somebody I was listening to something and there's just like over and over like I know you don't want to I want you to write down all of your Craziest goals life dreams whatever like I mean, I'm saying like Anything is possible like stop putting all your limitations on it. Like just write it down And I can't remember who it was. I kept saying I kept saying and it was like in a pocket I was like, you know what fine. I'm gonna write it down.  I think this was like 2019 2019 yeah, I think it was 2019. I read that piece of paper in 2021 and every single one of those things became true Never looked at again never thought about it again. And I was like, oh Maybe I am missing something you think I would learn that it's good to write it down because now I am like actually doing it Like I'm subconsciously doing I'm taking like up and I've written it down I didn't even write it on this calendar. I didn't make a plan I nothing I wrote it down and I went through and nine out of ten of those items I accomplished There's got to be something to that that was weird and it was all weird stuff I could not believe it. I flipped out when I read it. I totally forgot. I wrote it down anyway, um So yeah, this year. I think it's going to be different the youtube channel is going to be different As you know, I haven't been posting a lot of video mainly because I do really like doing it. Um Mainly because like Yeah, like I'm just not like the amount of money it cost me to edit it and the amount of money coming in is about equal So it doesn't you know, it's not great for me that way. And so I think that's why I'm going to do some more, um live videos because I don't know. I should probably be more organized about it. I don't know So I've been thinking a lot about it and I'm not going to do any more of the I'm not going to just post every week because the algorithm or youtube Wants me to like I'm not going to I'm not going to post unless I have something I want to say I'm not going to post um about just the same thing. I always have because the algorithm wants me to I'm going to post what I want to post when I'm thinking about um And I'm going to be more thoughtful and giving myself time to be creative to be thoughtful to do To educate to think through to ponder, you know, all of these things and so that's what I've been doing Over the last week or so it has been a really good like oh my gosh. So I've started to write more. I'm not a writer I say that I'm not a right. So here's the thing. I'm a professor by trade I don't have my phd.  I just want to teach I just want to know I want I like the practical side of everything. I don't like Doing research. I just didn't like it. Although I have published some research last year and it's great If you want me to send it to you Um, hold on. I just Yes, things just go round and round in your head until you like you're like I have thank you Like that's a really well said better than me um And that's good. So yeah, so anyway, I'm not going to be posting videos every week I'm sorry if you count on that, but you know It's free and I yeah I don't I'm not looking for tons of subscribers. I'm not looking to All of this like I'm not I'm not trying to do that. I'm actually just trying to provide Content or information or education that I think is valuable And I think that that's why my channel was all of my social media has done really well Was because when I talked about things I was passionate about things that I knew about things that were of interest And so now when it becomes more of like a business and you try to structure and process it It kind of loses your ability to be creative and your ability to come up with new ideas. And so Um, hello. Hello. Welcome Uh Yeah, so that's what I'm thinking So I have some new so I've been writing more. So anyway, my point about the writing. Oh my gosh. Am I all over the place? She's Okay, so my thoughts about the writing is that I realize that I don't like academic writing And that because I started, you know, like if you guys get my emails if you're not on my email list Um, just kiwi americans.com and just join the first page Just join the email list because I don't I don't send it out every week again.  I am just you know, it's often it's it's relatively once a week. Um But like they're fun like I'm like writing and I'm telling stories and I'm sharing personal thoughts and And that kind of writing I can do I love it um And I love that sort of thing. I'm also I'm writing um courses for the universities here business courses marketing courses admin courses, um So I'm really getting good at writing courses. So I think I'm going to start writing courses Like why am I writing courses for other people to sell? Okay? um because I understand I under I'm a teacher, right and I'm um and I love that sort of thing So don't know what I'm going to do a class on But let me know what you want me to do a class on because I love teaching I love but I love the face-to-face too. So I envision any sort of course to be You know, you can watch in your own time But also face-to-face because there's something to that in fact, that's where my research is on how to improve online teaching um, that's synchronous and asynchronous and so um, yeah, there's actual ways of doing it like Being a teacher and lecturing to a group of students does not translate to online And so it has to be done differently. And so me and my research partner have come up with an actual um What do they call that like formula really to To communicate better online as a course like we should really be selling us the teachers. He is He has been a bit But I haven't been as much involved in that so Um Oh, you did. Okay. So I was up by the core mandal too. I was in Why he why I had core mandal booked and then I got canceled on me. So that was all I could get happy new year Thanks for joining. Um, so yeah, we're just talking about all things life. Um Yes, why yeah, yeah spelled like that Thanks So, um, yeah, so that's what's fun. So I've been writing. I've been writing lots of interesting things That I think I'll probably turn into youtube videos because I think you'll like them and so that's more more general Not about it's about moving. It's about less. It's it's all stems from all of my experience and what I've learned Hmm That's where you went as a childhood. I love that beach. I would totally do that again So yeah, so I think let me know if you like the videos, you know If you don't that's what I need is the feedback. Um Yeah So I was writing So I've been trying to write like an hour or two a day and just like really just kind of pondering and doing research And this is what I love the learning and then the sharing the learning and the growing and the sharing And there's a lot that I can I've learned and grown a lot over three years. So there's a lot I can share Um There's a lot like I keep writing out questions or ideas on my phone on the little notebook Because I'm like, what about this idea and this and I'm just kind of letting my brain go wherever and then organizing it for you um That I think would be good and putting it on social media and Probably creating videos. So I think that should be interesting. Um, I would like I said, I would like to create courses Let me know if there's any courses you'd like to do obviously I've been I've been consulting helping people move to new zealand for three years now So I've talked to hundreds of people and so I know all of the questions And so that's actually what I answer in my membership. So if you are thinking about moving to new zealand get into my membership Um, I don't know how long I'm going to have that So get into that and if I do turn it into a course, it will be a lot more expensive. So Um, get into the membership if you are coming to new zealand It's everything. It's all your questions answered literally and you have access to me So if something doesn't answer your question, I'm right there And you get to meet other people that are moving here. So really that's where people that are like moving um Even if you're thinking about moving it's for you because it answers all of those initial questions as well But really it's interesting because when I consult with people We're very much at the consideration stage. It's that's the real hurdle is to think can I really do this? And is it going to be okay with my kids to move overseas? Am I going to ruin my teenagers? And what how does this affect my relationships with my family and the beauty? So this is what we talk about a lot. Um, and so I've articulated that on the membership But also could maybe just come up with something that just talks about that consideration stage So I've come out with a move a broad boot camp coming up in february And that's where we're going to kind of tackle that where it isn't just me Answering questions that you may or may not have but it'll just be like let's get together every day 30 minutes and let's just tackle these questions as a group. So Thank you, I'm not giving up on videos But yeah, I'm just not sure what I'm going to talk about. I I think I keep thinking I'm going to run out of Things to talk about in regards to new zealand, but I don't seem to be so I'll still be talking about new zealand In addition to whatever is in my curiosity at the moment. I'm going to be talking a lot about what I've learned on growth Really like what I think about a lot of things So Okay So that's what I'm doing If you still want by the way, if you still want I have some of the cookbooks left If you want the american cookbook using new zealand australian ingredients, I can ship it anywhere in the world. Let me know $25 includes the shipping Even if it's somewhere else so Yeah, so also would be helpful if you wanted to share and please be honest like I'm you're not going to hurt my feelings Look, what is it that you like about the videos? Like what videos do you like and when I look at my analytics and I look at what videos do the best It's obviously the ones that are the most controversial like don't move to new zealand or Don't come to new zealand without knowing this not things like that like those are you know, I'm getting people to click on the video but like Really it's the videos where I talk about What I've learned how I've changed it really kind of personal growth And that's interesting to me that those are the ones that people are really relating to and those are probably more like Personal growth would be an area. I'd like to talk about more And I think that that is a huge part of moving abroad is how much you can grow if you move abroad So I think that we'll be talking about that So I think that Moving like you don't you don't have to move abroad in order to grow as a person Obviously, I'm not saying that but what I am saying is that there's huge benefits to your growth personal growth if you do Huge personal growth family growth Um, and I've done it three times over Okay, um, and it has this very true and it's been really good for my kids Really good for my kids so far, you know, we'll see, you know, I don't I can't I don't I have so much time but I have been here for eight years but it's been really a kind of a 10 year period and Um, actually feeling like my younger two are not benefiting as much My older two had to go through a lot of change They moved here and then they moved home and then they moved back here even as teenagers and middle schoolers and that was Hard at the time definitely hard Um, but now that they're adults how quickly they adjust How they know themselves how they adapt in the situation Is all because of that Because at the end of the day, we're not growing by staying the same. We're not growing by avoiding change. We're not growing Um by doing the same thing over and over we only grow when we change when we do hard things when Um, yeah, and like we want ourselves to grow. We want our children to grow You know, otherwise, what are we doing? We're not that happy If you're honest with yourselves You love the chance with christie. Oh my gosh, we have to get christie on I have been asking her Um, I really wanted to make one before the end of last year. I don't know what happened Like I just can't see him to nail her down. But yes chance with christie like she is so Like I can't predict what she's gonna do. I wish you guys could see like should we um What do we do? Maybe I'll do like I could do a video We do marco polo. Are you familiar with that?  So it's just easier and typing number one You could you can hear the most emotion. You can hear the tone You can hear all of that and that um Yeah, so we pretty much talk every day on there And she's so funny like it's just the way that she starts out like every polo like I could probably take them If they let me download them. I don't even know um The way she starts out on every single one and we we laugh on there. We cry on there. We you know, we're just it's just raw really Um Yeah, your videos are great. Yeah. And so that's kiwi clan. Thanks. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that you know I'm a creator. So like whatever, you know If you if you like me talking about one subject, you'd like me talking about another one, right? And you can't continue to just do one thing for the rest of your life. You have to grow and change So um, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Um But yeah, so I'm excited for this year. Um, I'm not going to get crazy about I have to update everything and change all the looks and like I'm not going to do that Like I just think things need to change. In fact, I've watched some really big youtubers come out with the same Feedback that I've been feeling who like I'm not posting every week. I'm not I'm like, oh my gosh. That's exactly what I'm thinking And it's just like we can't like youtube doesn't have anything if they don't have creators. So I'm just I'm not going to just do it every week because you want me to because my videos aren't as good Because I'm not I'm not putting enough time into the creative because I have kids And I have an actual job because this doesn't make me full-time income by a long shot Um, but I love it like being a kind being a creator is probably my favorite thing to do So I every year I'm like, what do I actually like doing am I doing what I actually like to do My problem is most day is actually going to do the work that I don't want to do that work. I want to do the other work that um, just Gives me life and gives me and it's not that I don't like it. It's fine But there's just a really big difference in something that you're passionate about that that is innately you just You're curious your loves your you know, whatever and so anyway I I continue to do youtube and talk about new zealand because I get emails weekly Often about oh my gosh. Just so helped me And that's what it's there for Because I wish I had somebody like that. So if you are coming to new zealand definitely get into my membership You're gonna want that it's not it's like what 30 some dollars a month And um, you get everything you get everything that I know And all the resources even if you just come in for that Um, knowing what to do so Yeah, so yeah, that's what I'm gonna be doing get the cookbook if you want it. Um Oh, maybe the link isn't down there if you just go to my instagram the link is out there Um, but yeah, I think you're gonna like get on my email list if you're not because emails are gonna start getting good Start going to get deep. I share lots of stories I get lots of replies to my email saying these are so These are not like normal boring emails that you get where I'm trying to sell it I'm not trying to sell you anything. I mean sometimes I put on their products that I sell because I actually think it's helpful I don't create anything that I don't think is good and that I don't think is helpful Um, and nothing I have is expensive, you know um But yeah I should be better at that, but I'm not That I get so many consulting calls. I need to limit they eliminate those a little bit, but um I love talking with people it's great. It's easy. It's um, it brings me joy. So I keep doing it Look at this hairdo. Is your hair long enough to tie up in a bun? That's the question mine is so there you go You like the reaction video see that's interesting I started doing those not because I like doing reaction videos, but because I am good at reacting And you know what annoys me people that are good at reacting and that's a lot of members of my family I'm just going to call them out. This is the truth I when something happens to somebody they win something they succeed at something they they hit a goal I am the most enthusiastic. I like oh my gosh because Why wouldn't you be like somebody just and like so many people just like oh great That's not me That's not me. I react. I'm a reactor and so then I thought oh, I should do reaction videos. I'm a reactor So yeah, I'll do more of those. Can you send me videos? I should react to because that's why I'm like What should I react to? Somebody sent me recently you should react to what's his name that guy that's basically copies my videos He's really good. I am not criticizing him Because you should copy if there's a something that works That's the way youtube works. You should copy the concept I mean, he's not copying what i'm saying but the concept of the video The topic I should say of the video. What is his name curls curls? That's it He's from england or the uk. I don't even know and He responds to new zealand does kind of does the same thing as me and he's doing really well As he should because it's really funny Really funny and some really good takes on new zealand, which I think are great. So shout out to him on that but Somebody said I should react to I think that's a funny idea because I haven't actually watched that much of his so It would be I don't like to do reaction videos unless it's Legitimate like I literally have not watched it before I've done it like I'm not going to pretend Uh, I am a good actress But I'm not going to do that. So anyway, can you guys do this with your hair? It's pretty good, right? It's long enough I haven't um, I took a shower this morning and And that's what we do I did my meetings today. So we're good. Happy new year. Hello. Um, so yeah Let me know any questions that you have. All right, I'm probably gonna go and actually get to work But it's been great catching up and sorry. I have not been making videos. I don't think I made I think I made one video in december Um, and that was like the youtube one which said, you know, I knew that wouldn't gonna do well But there's so many people that I thought that that would be helpful for so if you're interested in starting youtube check that one out because um Yeah, it's some good insider tips Um for somebody that has been doing it for a while So I love youtube. It's the best one. That's why if you notice I'm doing lots of videos on youtube more than my other channels Although my instagram has taken off What am I at now? Which another reason I say this like I said, I don't really care about followers, but like it's just so much more like I 16 000 I was at five. So um So yeah, that's interesting It's interesting. I'm going to be putting out some new content. I'm interested to see how it goes So please be honest. Give me your feedback. I love it. It's really helpful If you are considering a move do my boot camp in february The link is in the description and sign up for the membership. You're gonna need this it has everything that you need Uh, and it's not expensive. Maybe that's probably my problem Um, but people that go in and are actually going through most of the videos So that's good. And then I chat with them and help them out with anything that is missing. So That's great. Um, not that different than australia if you're thinking about moving to australia and I've teamed up with a couple organizations That I'll tell you about once those situations are in detail Um, that will be really great for anybody that's moving here. So just trying to I have my limitations and so I am trying to fill in it all the gaps So that anybody that is moving here can kind of come Here to me and we will get you sorted and everything will be covered from pieces from to jobs to You know, uh Relocation deals that sort of thing. So lots of good things coming So anyway, you guys have a great day and thank you for joining me live


Hello, welcome to lesson 8. We will talk about more catalytic conversion processes. We'll talk about in this class about alkylation, about polymerization, catalytic reforming, and isomerization. All of these processes are catalytic processes to produce high octane number gasoline. Remember for high performance, high power, we need it to produce high octane number gasoline. FCC obviously is the principal process in a refinery to produce high octane gasoline. Catalytic reforming developed also during the Second World War was really a popular, very popular process. Now the feedstock for catalytic cracking comes from the light ends unit. You will remember the NAFTA fractionator in the light ends unit. The heaviest product from the light ends unit is the heavy NAFTA. The reason it's heavy, it has a lot of NAF teams or cycloalkanes in its composition. So what happens in catalytic reforming is essentially converting these NAFTAs or cycloalkanes into aromatics. Aromatics have very large octane numbers. Benzene for example has an octane number of 100. So that is highly, highly desirable high octane number component in the refinery blending scheme if you will. So dehydrogenation of NAF teams using a precious metal catalyst like platen is pretty straightforward. If you do have a clean NAFTA heavy NAFTA, if you have sulfur associated with clean or with NAFTA feed, you need to hydratrate it to remove because platen is very susceptible to poisoning by sulfur. So you need pre-hydrotreatment before catalytic reforming. Now up until the 1990s, cat reforming was one of the most popular processes in the refinery as far as producing high octane number gasoline. But with the introduction of 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, the amount of gasoline or benzene and aromatics in gasoline were limited because of environmental issues or reasons of toxicity. So all of a sudden now catalytic reforming produces high aromatic content wasn't so desirable, but the refiners could not give up catalytic reforming. Why? Because there is a byproduct from cat reforming that is very, very valuable for the refinery. It has become of course increasingly valuable in the recent times and that is hydrogen. If you do dehydrogenate NAFTAs, the byproduct is hydrogen in addition to making aromatics. And hydrogen is needed in hydratreating processes and finishing processes that we will be talking about in the next lesson. So that is the cheapest source of hydrogen. Obviously you can make hydrogen from natural gas by reforming natural gas and that is done in refineries as well to produce additional hydrogen. But the cheapest source of hydrogen in a refinery comes from catalytic reforming. So it's still used in US refineries to make gasoline. That is a reformate and of course the byproduct hydrogen. The second process we will talk about is alkylation. Alkylation is in a sense the opposite of cracking where you have a larger molecule, you crack it into smaller molecules. In alkylation we do the opposite. We take the smaller molecules and combine them into larger molecules that would fall in the boiling range for gasoline. So the feedstocks for alkylation are 3 to 4 carbon atoms, alkanes, isoalkanes, isobutane is the principle feedstock that comes from FCC and also olefins, 3 to 4 carbon atom olefins that is propene and butane. So combining isobutane with propene or propene or butane will put you in the gasoline boiling range with 7, 8 carbon atoms and the resulting product will be an isoalkane with a high octane number. That would be essentially making up the alkylate. So alkylation is an alternative to catalytic reforming to make high octane gasoline without the aromatic. So that looks like really a nice alternative but there is one problem and the problem is for alkylation you would need as catalyst highly concentrated acids like highly concentrated sulfuric acid or highly concentrated hydrofluoric acid. These are of course not easy to work with or to transport or to have around because of the risks involved with using this highly acidic materials. Another process that generates larger hydrocarbons from smaller fragments are called polymerization. The difference between alkylation and polymerization is that we use just olefins in polymerization. No isobutane here so we use 3 to 4 carbon atom olefins typically again come from FCC process combine them using a milder acid as a catalyst this time so phosphoric acid. So the problems with handling phosphoric acids are not as severe as those with highly concentrated sulfuric or hydrogen fluoride used in alkylation. So polymerization produces branched olefins which also have respectable octane numbers. The last process we will talk about is isomerization. That's actually adding branching to straight run paraffins. This is essentially the light NAFTA that comes from the light ends unit as opposed to heavy NAFTA that is NAFTANIC like NAFTA is paraffinic but it has only straight chain paraffins with low octane numbers. So isomerization add branching to these straight chains to increase the octane number. So all these processes just make high octane gasoline which is of course the most important fuel in US refineries.


This video is in paid partnership with BetterHelp. Hello and welcome back to the average or to the average, if you've never been here before, I'm Steph, I'm the average artist at Nice to Meet Ya. So recently there was an exhibition with Van Gogh and Pokemon over in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. When I first heard this, I thought that sounds incredible because I like Van Gogh and I like Pokemon. So I wanted to check it out and I think there's some really cute stuff. Apparently it all sold out in like minutes and everyone was grappling over each other and probably not like the best of times but it's really cool to see all this different works in the style of Van Gogh. You know with Pokemon which is just just a really fun collaboration. I wanted to paint something similar because I just saw the idea and immediately of doing Starry Night with some ghost Pokemon because it would be super fitting in my opinion. So I set my washi tapes up and I wanted to do just a wash of color underneath first so that when the color peeks through it's not just like a blazing white white color, it's going to be coloring it quite nicely hopefully. So I spent some time blocking out shapes, trying to figure out how to replicate a masterpiece because you know it's kind of difficult because it's a masterpiece for a reason. Definitely difficult if you don't have oil colors I felt because the paint definitely doesn't push around like oil paint does. I'm using a jelly wash as usual here and I'm trying to replicate. I started using like the back of my paint brush to sort of indicate those brush strokes but just it didn't look right so I didn't go with that in the end but it did add some texture to the piece. This video is in paint partnership with Better Help. It's something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals. 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Clicking that link helps support this channel but it also gives you 10% off your first month for Better Help so you can connect with a therapist and see if it helps you and because finding a therapist is sometimes difficult and it doesn't always fit quite common to find that you might want to change your therapist so you can easily switch to a different therapist at no additional cost. So if you're struggling consider online therapy with Better Help. Click the link in the description or visit betterhelp.com forward slash average artist. Thank you again to Better Help for supporting this channel. And then I started On The Sky which I tried to just get those brush strokes in those classic Van Gogh strokes of paint the busyness the emotion the the energy from the painting itself trying to replicate a master's work and I just wanted to do it sort of in my style as well but I think in the end it does come out quite nice so I'm just using lots of different colors and I realize that Van Gogh probably has a bit more of a limited color palette than I used but this is just me. I'm blocking out the tree in the foreground here because I just wanted to block out where that shape was so it helped me define where everything else was in in the piece because I think this is the most apart from the sky it's the most iconic bit of the painting because it just stands out so strangely but it works. When I was younger I remember I used to think this was like a tower it was like an evil tower looming over and then I got older I was like no it's probably just a tree so he's looking over the tree tops but he only has this like solitary tree in the foreground and it's a really odd composition if you think of it that way because just to have like this thing in one of the set like one of the thirds of your painting but it balances out nicely with the way that the sky and the hills roll up to the right and I have a appreciation for Van Gogh a new appreciation I've always liked Van Gogh but trying to replicate his work I definitely have a much bigger appreciation of how he created these works how difficult it was I've always been a fan of his since I was young because I think you know everybody in our class learns about him quite early on I think we all get that same education of this poor man and he went mad and he painted anyway he painted what he wanted despite the times despite people telling him his work was no good and I think that's just a sign of love isn't it of what you do of doing something even though everyone around you said it's crap I know I wouldn't be able to continue doing stuff and putting it out there if I didn't think that someone out there likes what I'm doing so this is purely from his passion that's why I was drawn to Van Gogh when I was younger it's just him using what he has and just going for it even though life always gave him a bit of a kick up the bum is the the way I would say it and also I really like it because he used to not you know paper was expensive back then it was very difficult to get and he was doing these weird experiments that no one else was doing even though it was very expensive and he couldn't really afford to so it's like takes a lot of courage and I think that's why Van Gogh is a big inspiration for a lot of people especially myself so yeah well we're coming to the end of sort of this painting and I was figuring out what Pokemon I wanted to do I knew I wanted to do Ghost Pokemon because that was just you know October spooky season this painting is somewhat magical and haunting so it just it made sense to me I mocked up where I wanted these Pokemon to go before I put them in the painting and at first I thought I was going to use Posca's for the whole thing because I thought that would be simple to just draw over and I did put a varnish coat between this and the Posca's between the painting and the Posca's because I knew that the gouache could reactivate maybe with the Posca's and it did it anyway even with the varnish so I ended up just using more gouache to make these these little guys and I think he turned out really cute this one is ghastly and I really loved him as a kid I know all the first gen of Pokemon because I was obsessed with it I had Pokemon blue and then I used to be obsessed with the show me and my friend we were gonna go to Jesse and James to the school Halloween dance thing but then I realized that it would probably be expensive to dress as them um yeah I used to be obsessed these collect Pokemon cards all the stuff and now I'm realizing that my obsession isn't quite as big as everyone else's because I stopped being obsessed with Pokemon quite a bit because it was too many to learn really bad old names and things anyway so it was too much to learn for me I obviously still play like the Nintendo games and stuff when they come out because it's just fun but I'm really bad at remembering what the Pokemon except the ones that I'm like super into uh like Litwick which you will see in a moment painted Gengar next and I really like the idea of him sort of jumping out at us uh from the frame if that makes sense uh from the painting and uh he is the Pokemon that took the longest to paint because even though he looks relatively simple I think the fact that he's got arms and feet and all these spiky little fingers and toes it took ages to get that right and also his eyes and mouth I feel like with a Pokemon if you don't get it spot on the design the drawing whatever the painting it looks really weird so even the smallest like mistake can make it look really off and yeah I know my paintings of these Pokemon are not perfect but I think I get them pretty close where you can look at them without looking at them side by side with the original they're possible and uh yeah this Gengar took me ages I don't understand why he's so hard to paint I realized that I did his eyes a bit too close together here and then I think I went in later on and painted them a bit of paint in between and went back in with like another Posca and also I realized my reference image the light is coming on him on the left of his body and it would have been nice if I had flipped that and uh because the moon is shining down on these Pokemon from the right but whatever it doesn't matter let's say there's a lot of radiant light around and uh next I painted Litwick who is just adorable I love this little guy I think he's so cute one of my faves definitely and he was relatively simple to do compared to uh Gengar he took like I don't know not long at all very simple little guy and I think he looks pretty spot on to the original don't look it up just uh just um believe me thank you and yeah so these are kind of like all the final Pokemon together I wanted to do a Haunter up in the right corner but I think I just ran out of time basically might add Haunter to this maybe one day if I get the chance but adding some more light beams over to just kind of put Litwick into this painting I know that maybe it doesn't make sense of how big he is in this painting but I like to think they're just like kind of images stuck on so this is the final result I would love to know your thoughts and feelings I'm really pleased with it I think I might add Gengar up in the top right if I have a moment because I think it would just look really cute but overall I think it was a really fun job and I hope you guys like it I hope Fango and Pokemon fans out there alike like it please let me know if you do down below and give this video thumbs up or whatever thanks again to better help for partnering with this video and see you guys next time bye


It's very easy to give up on things. It's very easy to attempt something, meet a little bit of resistance, and then say, well, I guess that's not going to work out. But God put something in you that was designed to build and create and grow and conquer and prosper. And God put that in you for a purpose. You have a path before you.  Because if you're not diligent, the Scripture makes it clear that poverty will come on you like a thief.


Oh the sun came out. Thank you sun. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. It feels so good to see that again So for the past four months, I have moved to good old Hollywood. Well, LA. I can't afford Hollywood yet And today we are giving my tiny, drafty apartment a complete 1950s vintage makeover The foreshot that you just saw isn't actually what this place looked like when I first walked in This is what it looked like So my first step was to completely renovate the place I gave it a good old paint job a good old scrub down and prepped it for decorating So to quickly fill you in on how I prepped the space the color I use on the walls is called crystal cut by bear Which is just a white paint with a soft pink hue. I chose white just because it is the most versatile color It brightens up small spaces It works for all seasons of the year and if I ever want to switch the decor up I'm not restricted with what colors I choose Now since I couldn't install crown molding panels I decided to paint the existing borders to look like it and I think it looks pretty great. I Just sealed the cracks between the wall border and the floor border with plaster and use a glossy ultra white paint to make It look like fancy crown molding. I think crown molding makes every home instantly look more upscale and new So I just had to have it done one way or another and lastly I painted the doors Ultra white and replaced all the old outlet covers for new white ones as well And here is Benny the bunny making sure I did a good job with that Now that you're all caught up on how I prepped the space. Let's get to the fun part decorating So the specific vintage style that I'm going for is a Palm Springs mid-century modern look during the mid-century They use a lot of wood pops of color like red and aqua Geometric wall decor and plants I actually already have some items that fit the bill like this wooden TV stand and this couch So I'm gonna be upcycling and we're using a few things I already own to be budget friendly Along with some fun new things I bought to complete the look starting off near the entrance I found this wooden cabinet that doubles as a table and as a secret shoe rack So that way I can be space savvy and store my go-to shoes without them being a visible eyesore So now that the cabinet is all pieced together I am going to place this geometric wire basket right next to the table to not only hold some of my awesome records But to also help disguise the wiring that is running along the floor Now to take advantage of the table space on top I am placing this quirky wooden table lamp that has a really cool mid-century modern shape to it off to the side along with this aqua record player for a pop of color and Then topping the table off with a round plant base in the color green to help bring in more color and also give that cozy vintage Atmosphere now right along the same wall I have two large windows sitting side-by-side and windows of this shape can really make a place feel short So to make the walls look taller and to make this place look more homie I am applying beige curtains with sheer white curtains in the center with the curtain rods placed onto the wall Way higher than where the curtains actually start to give the illusion that the windows are taller And I chose these light natural colors because they will filter the sunlight beautifully and right in between these windows I am placing this super cool retro sunburst mirror wall decor that was an iconic piece for the era It is a total must and it also gives this empty gap a purpose So for the living room, I already have this mid-century modern shaped couch, which is great So right in front of it I am placing this white and light wood boomerang shape table with a gold plant terrarium To add more fun geometrical shapes to the area and to also give the darker wood furniture a fun contrast For the couch I am topping it off with green and yellow pillows to brighten up the sofa area and also to stay true to the famous 1950s color palette For this corner I wanted to be a place where guests can sit in when they come over So I found this really awesome retro orange lounge chair that really brings this place to life and right next to it I am placing a matching white circular table with a retro aqua telephone on top Which is such an important decorative piece when trying to recreate the era and to tie the decor together and for ultimate coziness I am placing a matching green decorative pillow on top So the hallway is very narrow, so I'm not gonna add too much so I don't make it feel even smaller What I'm gonna do is kind of create a hall of fame and add pastel colored portraits of the animals We have three animals in this apartment all rescues. There's two dogs named Savvian BB and the notorious Benny the bunny How cute does this look I took the photos myself The OG bunnies are probably wondering where's my dog truffles But he actually lives in my home back in Florida where I have a huge golden portrait of him already So don't worry. Well, let's move on to the dining area I found this huge round wooden mirror that I'm placing onto the back wall Because mirrors make areas feel way bigger and it also helps bounce the window light around the room better Now as I was looking through old photographs of vintage dining rooms I noticed many dining rooms had some kind of cabinet near the dining table to store their nice dinnerware But for an apartment this small something like that might make the space feel cramped So instead I opted for a gold mirror bar cart to fill the space right under the wall mirror Ironically enough I hate alcohol, but when guests come over they often love to drink cocktails or wine So it's fun to have a little fancy set up for them So the ceiling fan that came with the apartment was honestly too ugly to keep up So with the help of my dad I replaced it with this gorgeous bright gold sputnik style chandelier Which really made the apartment look so upscale and classy. It is definitely my favorite piece in this apartment Now for the dining table I found this white and light wood table that perfectly matched the small tables in the living room Which was total destiny So another iconic piece to a mid-century modern home is that iconic big house plant that is seen in either every living room Or dining room So I picked up this cute little plant at the plant store and named her long tall sally Whoever can guess where that name came from first will get pinned in the comment section Going back to the dining table. I am placing these amazing retro aqua dining chairs that I am seriously so in love with Dining chairs are the perfect opportunity to bring a pop of color into the dining room while still keeping it classy Moving on to the dining table I am placing these two dark wood and fruit bowls to help further harmonize the dark wood decor with the light wood decor in The apartment plus fruit bowls were in every 1950s household So it is also decade accurate alongside them I am placing this beautiful purple orchid plant and a geodstone for a modern flare and to finalize this space I am mounting this black and white canvas of palm trees for that Palm Springs touch and of course Here's me struggling once again. Don't laugh Glee my kitchen already has that vintage look probably because they haven't renovated it in decades So that is a plus But there is no color in here and everything doesn't match so we are gonna solve both of those problems First step I'm taking is changing up these floral doorknobs the kitchen already came with by using a gold appliance spray Using a paint spray is a great way to modernize an old kitchen without spending money on new doorknobs Because we all know that doorknobs can easily get costly So for the countertops, I won't be applying too much But we'll definitely be placing these kitschy red polka dot canister sets near the stove Canister sets were on every kitchen counter during this time period And it is a fun way to introduce color to the kitchen without cluttering the counters To compliment the canister set. I am hanging this matching red polka dot oven mitt on the cabinet knob Next to the oven for quick access while baking Of course, no vintage kitchen can go without a classic cake stand for when you bake that classic cherry pie That I will be making in my upcoming vintage cooking series wink wink Right next to the sink. I am placing another green plant base and another small wooden fruit bowl Getting matching decor from other parts of the room is a good and sometimes affordable way to tie the whole apartment together Especially if they come in a pack of two which these did And for the most tedious part of the kitchen makeover I am applying the shiny red vinyl appliance wrap over the dishwasher and the fridge Vinyl wraps are a very affordable way to make your appliances seem like they came in a set without actually buying a whole new set It's also a quick way to modernize them and it's a good way to introduce a big burst of color Which really helps transform the area and lastly right outside of the kitchen I am hanging up my retro red wall clock so I can keep time of my baking in style So here is my apartment before And here is my apartment after That wraps up the end of this apartment makeover for now Uh as of now, I'm not going to be showing you guys the bedroom or the bathroom Just because the bedroom is a complete blank canvas for filming Um, it's literally just like a little film set up and the bathroom I don't know what I want to do with it because it's so small. I don't even know I want to bother with it. We will see I have to come up with some ideas Um, if you guys have any ideas comment them down below Um in my florida room that is also renovated, which I will be showing you guys How I gave that a makeover it is like a marion twinette 1700s palace So another really fun video coming your way also stay tuned for future videos I'm gonna have way more covers on this channel. I know you guys Really want me to stay more on this channel. So I will um a lot of awesome vintage content is coming your way So make sure you subscribe turn on the little notification bell so you know when I post and I will see you guys in the next video