One Adventure Ends, Another Begins
Donation protected
UPDATE: 5/1/2016
After a few successful resets of my tourist VISA, my current time in Japan is coming to a close. After the initial plans failed, I tried everything I could to obtain concrete income while in the country. I set up teaching profiles on free-agent web sites, networked with those I knew in the country, even got a remote job with a US based company (before they pulled the plug upon finding out I was in Japan - I believe this was for tax/legal reasons), but nothing else I tried seem to stick or work. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here regardless, but now a new adventure back home is waiting for me. For the first time in my life I'll be attempting to live on my own (sans roommates). With this newfound freedom I'll be able to pursue passions old and new like never before. I've been placed on a waitlist for an apartment in the town where I grew up as a child, have found an arrangement for a vehicle, and will resume remote work and regular streaming for extra income as soon as I arrive. I'll be seeking new employment for health insurance, and trying to make it 100% on my own. I'm very excited for this. Even though I moved out of my family's house at a relatively young age, I've never had a place I could truly call my own. Even with Japan coming to an end, there's something new and special to look forward to. Being able to sufficiently pay my bills will certainly be a concern until I've found a new job equivalent to the one I had before my departure, but I'm confident I can get one back home, and am also confident in my ability to be self-sustaining once I get going. I'm eager to put all the footage and content from Japan and across Asia that I have yet to share together for everyone to see, and produce more content that my loyal followers and fans seek. I've had a good time streaming on a regular basis for these last months in Japan, and I hope to continue this upon my settlement into my own apartment. The drive will remain open for any and all assistance anyone wishes to provide during the transition back home and initial expenses until I find new concrete employment.
UPDATE: 9/25/2015
My ankle is healed! I'm in Japan! All seems right in the world...but a new problem has arose. When beginning to get the ball rolling towards my own visa to live and work in Japan, I learned that things weren't going to be so easy. The original plan was to get a visa that would allow me to work unrestricted in any field. I'd have been tied to someone that was already working full-time and considered a long-term resident - or so we thought. Once the process started, it was deemed that they in fact were NOT considered a permanent or long-term resident, and thus the visa I was planning on obtaining is now impossible for me. As a result, without a sponsorship, I'm limited to either a student or dependent visa. Neither of these visas allow one to work full-time or even at all. I can request special permission to do part-time work, but it's not a guarantee. It's something I'm going to try to pursue of course, but suffice to say that I currently have no legal way of obtining work-related income while overseas, and have no guarantee that it will be possible for me without a company sponsorship granting me permission for a working visa. There are various avenues I'm still going to pursue - journalism visa for one, or possibly even an athletic/entertainment visa related to an esports career with fighting games. While the latter would be ideal, it's not concrete, so I need to do everything I can in the mean time to ensure I can stay in the country and make money as desired. Worst case scenario, it may be necessary for my to keep resetting my tourist visa by leaving the country and coming back - while this is possible, it would still cost money to fly in and out, and there's still never a guarantee that I'd be let back into the country depending on the circumstances. Because of all this, I'm keeping the original gofundme page open and putting the goal back to it's initial mark of $9,019. All money will go towards basic living expenses such as food and trains and nothing more. In the mean time I'll still be doing everything I can on my end: possibly import/export merchandise, one-on-one english tutoring (although the ground for this is shaky without the appropriate visa and could be dangerous), and more. Any help you can provide will secure my ability to live my dreams and pursue my passions the way I always wanted to do. I hope you can understand and respect this latest update in my life, and even if you don't contribute, I thank you for hearing me out and caring enough to read the page at all.
-Aaron
UPDATE 7/2015
Thanks to all who helped make the drive a success. Without your help I don't know how I would have made it this far.
Now I find myself in the homestretch of my ordeals. With my plan to move overseas still concrete with a current arrival date of 9.4.15, preparations need to be made. Final medical expenses from the removal of my plate/screws before such a longterm international trip are to come, and there's more work to do beyond that. I'm around 3K shy of my goals at this point, so I'm leaving this page open with the hope that a resurgence may come when I share the streamathon and all of its contents to youtube. Along the way I'll be selling from my collection of games, figures, and more.
If you won a prize from the streamathon but haven't received it, please email me or DM me on twitter and I'll get it to you posthaste.
If you're here, you either know me as Aaron, or Zero9teen. If it's the former, you know I'm just a 20-something white-boy nerd from the midwest suburbs that has sought only fun and love for the time I've been here so far. If it's the latter, you know me as a Youtube Pioneer. An OG-Let's Player. The Face (or lack thereof) of suburban gaming during the early years of Youtube and the Playing-Games-On-Cam sensation. A Fighter. A true competitor in Street Fighter (making it out of Evo pools the last year I went), Marvel, and more.
If you're here, you probably know what you need to in regards to what I'm about.
The reason I'M here, while at first glance may seem straightforward, is a little more complicated than that. I'll start with the story of what happened and simpler facts and get into the real turmoil from there, and regardless of how far down you make it, I appreciate the time you took to read. If nothing else, getting it all out helps mentally either way.
I've sustained my first real injury. I've played it pretty safe most of my life, and now being 27 I suppose perhaps I was even overdo for an accident. The accident in question was a complete fluke: as I was leaving for work on Wednesday, April 22nd, I stepped off of the elevated deck of the backyard (the route I always take), into the yard itself to eventually reach the garage. Unknown to me at the time, and something I simply failed to notice, was the large divot/hole that was awaiting my landing. Sure enough, I stepped in at the perfectly wrong angle, rolled my ankle with full weight until - snap, and then I was on the ground.
It didn't take me long to realize what had happened once I saw the hole (somewhat covered by leaves - photos will be posted). I tried shaking it off, and at first it seemed like I may be okay. Just a sprain...walk it off...I've got a trip coming up in 8 days and I can't have anything bad happen to me... but as I lay there reeling in pain trying to get up, it started to dawn on me something might be wrong. I couldn't put weight on it, and the pain was something new to me. The foot at least didn't seem out of position, but I couldn't and wouldn't be able to take my shoe off now to further inspect. I cursed and balked and had to shove the dog that was outside at the time away from me a couple dozen times so she wouldn't knock me over/trigger more intense pain. I'll admit I was pretty livid with the animal at this point in time. I suspected (and confirmed later) that it was In fact this dog's handiwork that had resulted in the accident.
I didn't do much for a while except try to think amidst the pain. I tried thinking about everything happening and any possible consequences. I briefly thought what it would mean if I had broken my foot or leg. I said out loud "please don't let this be serious" or "please let me be okay by next week." The pain, even at this moment, was only a secondary thought, but I was yelling all the same. After about 5-10 minutes I realized no one from the neighbor's yards, nor the three people inside the home I emerged from could hear me or were coming to help me. I crawled to the nearby fence to work my way up on my good foot, and eventually hopped my way back to the backdoor.
After making it back inside, three more 20-something nerds were there, still sitting in the same position since I had walked out. I managed to plop down into the nearby dining table chair and started telling the tale and taking off my shoe. After completing both these tasks, I got to see something I didn't like: heavy swelling on my ankle. I thought this could still easily be a sprain and there's no need to panic. Maybe I can still get to work and tomorrow I'll be all right. Besides...if I go to the hospital, what if something is wrong and they tell me I can't travel? Everything would be ruined.
So, naturally, unsure of what to do and not getting answers from present company, I did what most people would if they could: called my mom. After more conversation and severe pain, the decision was made for me to go to urgent care. I had realized that, instead of worrying about not being able to go on the trip, it's BECAUSE of the trip that I need to get this checked out so nothing worse happens. The owner of the dog dropped me off at urgent care (at the time I don't think he was fully aware of what had happened), and it was there they quickly diagnosed my fractured Fibula and ankle displacement and referred me to an orthopedic specialist. After that appointment the same Friday, it had been determined that natural healing would likely end up misaligned, resulting in a funny walk and/or early arthritis (which is something I know runs on my mom's side of the family, to boot). The decision was made that surgery would be needed to reinforce the bone and create a strong proper recovery. I'd be looking at about 6 weeks of recovery time - no traveling let alone much movement.
Devastation kicked in.
The more genuine pain and anguish begins.
Seven months ago, I had booked a plane ticket to go overseas to Japan. This would be my second journey there, but for good reason. Someone of great importance has been there waiting for me, and not only that, but I know it's where the next chapter of my life is meant to begin. We had all kinds of plans both for that initial trip and for the future. I planned doing a documentary series. I planned a big comeback to the fans on the internet that still cared about me. I planned to hone in on what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life. I planned to live and to love. It was on April 30th I would've gotten on the plane to start this journey and see this person again for the first time in a year, but now, instead, I'll be in surgery. Therein lies the great painful irony of it all, and is what adds to my decision to create this gofundme page.
I still want to live. I want to make sure this is merely a delay, and something that I can indeed recover both mentally and emotionally from. In this case, a fundraiser actually would genuinely help in achieving that goal.
My surgery is going to be very expensive (~12k) and yes, I do have insurance, but it's not the greatest. I'm going to be out of work for 7 weeks , and yes, I likely will be placed on medical leave with short term disability, but I won't be getting my full wages. I'm looking at a loss of about 25% on work wages on top of all medical costs, and my living expenses of course are the same. When I research legal cases and compensation, I understand now why numbers are say high. According to my own calculations, a $10,000 payout for the time out of work, medical expenses, pain and suffering is not at all unreasonable. This is what brought me to the more gimmicky number of $9,019 for this particular fundraise, as there's no civil suit that I want to pursue here and at the behest of my loved ones and all those I care about, I should try and cover all the bases I can to see if any additional help might be available.
All of this then, is what has now brought me to this gofundme page. While normally I'm one with a more cynical view on crowdfunding in certain capacities and the way it's treated by some, here I now find myself in a position where, regardless of my pride or morals, asking for help is one of the more reasonable options I have to continue to live my life to its fullest.
I thank you for your time, and my sincerest thank you and appreciation for any and all monetary and/or emotional support you may provide.
Aw yeah
-Aaron "019" Kosinski
After a few successful resets of my tourist VISA, my current time in Japan is coming to a close. After the initial plans failed, I tried everything I could to obtain concrete income while in the country. I set up teaching profiles on free-agent web sites, networked with those I knew in the country, even got a remote job with a US based company (before they pulled the plug upon finding out I was in Japan - I believe this was for tax/legal reasons), but nothing else I tried seem to stick or work. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here regardless, but now a new adventure back home is waiting for me. For the first time in my life I'll be attempting to live on my own (sans roommates). With this newfound freedom I'll be able to pursue passions old and new like never before. I've been placed on a waitlist for an apartment in the town where I grew up as a child, have found an arrangement for a vehicle, and will resume remote work and regular streaming for extra income as soon as I arrive. I'll be seeking new employment for health insurance, and trying to make it 100% on my own. I'm very excited for this. Even though I moved out of my family's house at a relatively young age, I've never had a place I could truly call my own. Even with Japan coming to an end, there's something new and special to look forward to. Being able to sufficiently pay my bills will certainly be a concern until I've found a new job equivalent to the one I had before my departure, but I'm confident I can get one back home, and am also confident in my ability to be self-sustaining once I get going. I'm eager to put all the footage and content from Japan and across Asia that I have yet to share together for everyone to see, and produce more content that my loyal followers and fans seek. I've had a good time streaming on a regular basis for these last months in Japan, and I hope to continue this upon my settlement into my own apartment. The drive will remain open for any and all assistance anyone wishes to provide during the transition back home and initial expenses until I find new concrete employment.
UPDATE: 9/25/2015
My ankle is healed! I'm in Japan! All seems right in the world...but a new problem has arose. When beginning to get the ball rolling towards my own visa to live and work in Japan, I learned that things weren't going to be so easy. The original plan was to get a visa that would allow me to work unrestricted in any field. I'd have been tied to someone that was already working full-time and considered a long-term resident - or so we thought. Once the process started, it was deemed that they in fact were NOT considered a permanent or long-term resident, and thus the visa I was planning on obtaining is now impossible for me. As a result, without a sponsorship, I'm limited to either a student or dependent visa. Neither of these visas allow one to work full-time or even at all. I can request special permission to do part-time work, but it's not a guarantee. It's something I'm going to try to pursue of course, but suffice to say that I currently have no legal way of obtining work-related income while overseas, and have no guarantee that it will be possible for me without a company sponsorship granting me permission for a working visa. There are various avenues I'm still going to pursue - journalism visa for one, or possibly even an athletic/entertainment visa related to an esports career with fighting games. While the latter would be ideal, it's not concrete, so I need to do everything I can in the mean time to ensure I can stay in the country and make money as desired. Worst case scenario, it may be necessary for my to keep resetting my tourist visa by leaving the country and coming back - while this is possible, it would still cost money to fly in and out, and there's still never a guarantee that I'd be let back into the country depending on the circumstances. Because of all this, I'm keeping the original gofundme page open and putting the goal back to it's initial mark of $9,019. All money will go towards basic living expenses such as food and trains and nothing more. In the mean time I'll still be doing everything I can on my end: possibly import/export merchandise, one-on-one english tutoring (although the ground for this is shaky without the appropriate visa and could be dangerous), and more. Any help you can provide will secure my ability to live my dreams and pursue my passions the way I always wanted to do. I hope you can understand and respect this latest update in my life, and even if you don't contribute, I thank you for hearing me out and caring enough to read the page at all.
-Aaron
UPDATE 7/2015
Thanks to all who helped make the drive a success. Without your help I don't know how I would have made it this far.
Now I find myself in the homestretch of my ordeals. With my plan to move overseas still concrete with a current arrival date of 9.4.15, preparations need to be made. Final medical expenses from the removal of my plate/screws before such a longterm international trip are to come, and there's more work to do beyond that. I'm around 3K shy of my goals at this point, so I'm leaving this page open with the hope that a resurgence may come when I share the streamathon and all of its contents to youtube. Along the way I'll be selling from my collection of games, figures, and more.
If you won a prize from the streamathon but haven't received it, please email me or DM me on twitter and I'll get it to you posthaste.
If you're here, you either know me as Aaron, or Zero9teen. If it's the former, you know I'm just a 20-something white-boy nerd from the midwest suburbs that has sought only fun and love for the time I've been here so far. If it's the latter, you know me as a Youtube Pioneer. An OG-Let's Player. The Face (or lack thereof) of suburban gaming during the early years of Youtube and the Playing-Games-On-Cam sensation. A Fighter. A true competitor in Street Fighter (making it out of Evo pools the last year I went), Marvel, and more.
If you're here, you probably know what you need to in regards to what I'm about.
The reason I'M here, while at first glance may seem straightforward, is a little more complicated than that. I'll start with the story of what happened and simpler facts and get into the real turmoil from there, and regardless of how far down you make it, I appreciate the time you took to read. If nothing else, getting it all out helps mentally either way.
I've sustained my first real injury. I've played it pretty safe most of my life, and now being 27 I suppose perhaps I was even overdo for an accident. The accident in question was a complete fluke: as I was leaving for work on Wednesday, April 22nd, I stepped off of the elevated deck of the backyard (the route I always take), into the yard itself to eventually reach the garage. Unknown to me at the time, and something I simply failed to notice, was the large divot/hole that was awaiting my landing. Sure enough, I stepped in at the perfectly wrong angle, rolled my ankle with full weight until - snap, and then I was on the ground.
It didn't take me long to realize what had happened once I saw the hole (somewhat covered by leaves - photos will be posted). I tried shaking it off, and at first it seemed like I may be okay. Just a sprain...walk it off...I've got a trip coming up in 8 days and I can't have anything bad happen to me... but as I lay there reeling in pain trying to get up, it started to dawn on me something might be wrong. I couldn't put weight on it, and the pain was something new to me. The foot at least didn't seem out of position, but I couldn't and wouldn't be able to take my shoe off now to further inspect. I cursed and balked and had to shove the dog that was outside at the time away from me a couple dozen times so she wouldn't knock me over/trigger more intense pain. I'll admit I was pretty livid with the animal at this point in time. I suspected (and confirmed later) that it was In fact this dog's handiwork that had resulted in the accident.
I didn't do much for a while except try to think amidst the pain. I tried thinking about everything happening and any possible consequences. I briefly thought what it would mean if I had broken my foot or leg. I said out loud "please don't let this be serious" or "please let me be okay by next week." The pain, even at this moment, was only a secondary thought, but I was yelling all the same. After about 5-10 minutes I realized no one from the neighbor's yards, nor the three people inside the home I emerged from could hear me or were coming to help me. I crawled to the nearby fence to work my way up on my good foot, and eventually hopped my way back to the backdoor.
After making it back inside, three more 20-something nerds were there, still sitting in the same position since I had walked out. I managed to plop down into the nearby dining table chair and started telling the tale and taking off my shoe. After completing both these tasks, I got to see something I didn't like: heavy swelling on my ankle. I thought this could still easily be a sprain and there's no need to panic. Maybe I can still get to work and tomorrow I'll be all right. Besides...if I go to the hospital, what if something is wrong and they tell me I can't travel? Everything would be ruined.
So, naturally, unsure of what to do and not getting answers from present company, I did what most people would if they could: called my mom. After more conversation and severe pain, the decision was made for me to go to urgent care. I had realized that, instead of worrying about not being able to go on the trip, it's BECAUSE of the trip that I need to get this checked out so nothing worse happens. The owner of the dog dropped me off at urgent care (at the time I don't think he was fully aware of what had happened), and it was there they quickly diagnosed my fractured Fibula and ankle displacement and referred me to an orthopedic specialist. After that appointment the same Friday, it had been determined that natural healing would likely end up misaligned, resulting in a funny walk and/or early arthritis (which is something I know runs on my mom's side of the family, to boot). The decision was made that surgery would be needed to reinforce the bone and create a strong proper recovery. I'd be looking at about 6 weeks of recovery time - no traveling let alone much movement.
Devastation kicked in.
The more genuine pain and anguish begins.
Seven months ago, I had booked a plane ticket to go overseas to Japan. This would be my second journey there, but for good reason. Someone of great importance has been there waiting for me, and not only that, but I know it's where the next chapter of my life is meant to begin. We had all kinds of plans both for that initial trip and for the future. I planned doing a documentary series. I planned a big comeback to the fans on the internet that still cared about me. I planned to hone in on what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life. I planned to live and to love. It was on April 30th I would've gotten on the plane to start this journey and see this person again for the first time in a year, but now, instead, I'll be in surgery. Therein lies the great painful irony of it all, and is what adds to my decision to create this gofundme page.
I still want to live. I want to make sure this is merely a delay, and something that I can indeed recover both mentally and emotionally from. In this case, a fundraiser actually would genuinely help in achieving that goal.
My surgery is going to be very expensive (~12k) and yes, I do have insurance, but it's not the greatest. I'm going to be out of work for 7 weeks , and yes, I likely will be placed on medical leave with short term disability, but I won't be getting my full wages. I'm looking at a loss of about 25% on work wages on top of all medical costs, and my living expenses of course are the same. When I research legal cases and compensation, I understand now why numbers are say high. According to my own calculations, a $10,000 payout for the time out of work, medical expenses, pain and suffering is not at all unreasonable. This is what brought me to the more gimmicky number of $9,019 for this particular fundraise, as there's no civil suit that I want to pursue here and at the behest of my loved ones and all those I care about, I should try and cover all the bases I can to see if any additional help might be available.
All of this then, is what has now brought me to this gofundme page. While normally I'm one with a more cynical view on crowdfunding in certain capacities and the way it's treated by some, here I now find myself in a position where, regardless of my pride or morals, asking for help is one of the more reasonable options I have to continue to live my life to its fullest.
I thank you for your time, and my sincerest thank you and appreciation for any and all monetary and/or emotional support you may provide.
Aw yeah
-Aaron "019" Kosinski
Organizer
Aaron K
Organizer
Redford, MI