I don't think Wallmart is as bad as people say it is.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE1ZvCnwkYk
Jul 30, 2010
Jul 29, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Pants On Fire
I can't help but find this terribly funny. This is what happens when you wear pants and on top of that, you try to set them on fire.
Idiot Sets His Pants on Fire
Uploaded by ns-knt. - Discover more webcam videos and video blogs.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, click here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6o6dd_idiot-sets-his-pants-on-fire_webcam
Idiot Sets His Pants on Fire
Uploaded by ns-knt. - Discover more webcam videos and video blogs.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, click here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6o6dd_idiot-sets-his-pants-on-fire_webcam
Jul 27, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Unicorns After Wisdom Tooth
I say we make documentation of people going to the dentist mandatory, we might discover one or two secrets of life this way.
If you're reading this from a Facebook note click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5oK4ERIQEk
If you're reading this from a Facebook note click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5oK4ERIQEk
Jul 26, 2010
WITHOUT YOU WE'RE NOTHING - Being In An Indie Rock Band
If I asked you what do you think being in an indie rock band is, I would imagine some of you might say you think it's a fun hobby in which you meet with your friends to play and write music, perform live once a week or so, have a few followers and admirers, probably get laid every once in a while, and make an extra couple hundred of bucks a month. I think this would be the general idea for someone who's not too familiar with the music scene, and maybe it does describe how it is for some indie musicians out there, but my experience couldn't any more different. Being in a band is extremely rewarding to me but for very different reasons. When you take music as seriously as I do, being in a band is no different than any other job, a job that you love, that is.
I've been thinking a bit about what being in a band is for the past few days, particularly, about the "and make a couple hundred extra bucks a month" part, and there are a few things I'd like to say about this - money and music -, things that perhaps none of you, non-musicians, would know if I didn't say it or if you didn't ask.
First, I just want to say that during all these years of making music and being in bands I have not enjoyed one single penny from music. Not one. In fact, if I had kept an accounting book for this "hobby", the balance would be minus several thousands of dollars, and by now I believe it already passed the minus $10.000 mark. This is without counting all the time spent, professional time, mind you, which could easily take it over 50 or even 100 thousands of dollars. I bullshit you not. But being the guy with the studio and the audio engineer/producer skills this is no surprise, to me at least, so it does not bother me. You might think there might be something wrong with my calculations, I mean, we have CD's for sale all over the web and all over the world, we play amazing shows with really big acts now and then, we got merchandise, and we probably get donations from fans, among other things... The honest truth? Let's see, let's start by saying that you probably don't want to know how many t-shirts we've sold, but if you do want to know, the number is 2 (two), as for the "big" shows which we do play kinda often, 95-97% of the time we get paid $0 (zero) which is pretty much standard when you have a "local" band opening a national or world touring act, then on local only shows you're lucky if you get $200, it's usually more like $100, and even when you can still buy our CD's on a few sites and our mp3's are sold on iTunes and many other sites, the sales are not substantial, plus we are currently giving all our music away for free on our site and a few other social media sites. There are times when we sell a few CD's here and there, but we barely make any money out of any of the products we sell, because this is not about money. What drives us to do what we do is not money but love. Yes, we would love to make enough money to be able to live from music, and we would love to have enough money and time to make more music and play more shows all over America and all over the world, but at this stage, we are more interested in getting the word out there so everyone knows who we are and what we do. The reason why we only make only $2 out of every shirt we sell is because we believe we would benefit more from someone wearing our shirts than from the extra $5-7 we could make from a t-shirt sale.
But does this reality matter to me? Yes and no. It does not matter because I love doing this. We love doing this, and by we, I'm not only talking about me and my bandmates, but about all the other independent musicians out there, and as far as I know, at least in this town, no one is making a dime from music. Those $50 we might make out of sales, those $100 a club might give us after a performance are gone in the blink of an eye, just paying for the practice space rent (which usually comes out of our own pocket), our instruments, guitar and bass strings, drumstick, equipment, equipment repair, gasoline, food, hotels and many other things, we fall in the deficit territory. Houston is a really tough town for musicians, the music support here, in my opinion, could be a whole lot better, but it's at best mediocre. Maybe the reality of indie musicians in other towns is a little different, I don't know. Don't get me wrong, there are a few people here who support music to the max, but outside these few caring souls, it seems no ones gives a shit. "Big deal", we say, if that's the case, then so be it. That ain't gonna stop us.
None of this changes the power you, the listeners and the fans, have. In this day and age independent musicians aren't waiting to land a record deal anymore. We can't. Those days are over. We can't wait for someone with money to invest in our music, or for a publishing deal to materialize, or to suddenly have our music in big budget films and national TV commercials and make money out of licensing our music. Sure, that happens here and there, but waiting for such things to happen is rather unrealistic. Nowadays, it's all up to you, and I'm sorry to bear that weight on your shoulders, but it's the truth. We depend on you, and without you, we're nothing. Especially when you live in a town such as this one, when you can't even count on the local press (unless you are their personal friends) to help you the way they could help you get exposed to the rest of the country or even to the very own people of this town. Maybe we are not good enough, eh? Sorry for the sarcasm.
Even many of the people who call themselves fans share the same kind of apathy, but I'm starting to believe it's not apathy, but a state of mind you develop by growing up in certain regions, something to do with the information and education you get. This is the reason I'm writing all this crap, because...
I want to tell you about the power you actually have...
There's so much every single person can do, things that require almost no effort, like a click of a mouse, that could bring a fair amount of benefits to independent musicians. Other things, which could be considered a small sacrifice (donating one dollar, for example), could be massive! Just a dollar from you could translate into The Watermarks performing in your town! Let me elaborate.
A little less than two years ago I went on tour with my band, The Watermarks, along with fellow band Ladyheat. It was a simple tour through the mid-West that didn't last more than a 10 days, but we hit places like Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati. Each one of us spent about $150-$200 out of our own pocket on top of all the band fund just for the renting of the van, gas, hotel (only 2 nights out of the 10 days) and food. So when we subtract the expenses to the profit made, the whole thing cost a bit less than $2000. And believe me, those were $2000 well spent. We loved it, and most importantly, the people that we played to loved it too!
Now, the sad truth is that we cannot take a week off work, or even a few days, off work to tour as often as we'd like, especially when we're not making any money. But check this out, The Watermarks, at the time this blog was published, have a little less than 600 fans on Facebook, and I know that not everyone in those 600 are "real" fans; a few will "like" you out of politeness or because they are also in local bands, there are family members and friends who feel obligated, etc, but let's just assume we have 500 real fans for the sake of this example. If every fan donated $1 a month to The Watermarks, we would be able to go on tour in 4 months. This sounds soeasy amazing enough, but why it doesn't happen? -This is where I tell you what you don't know- You don't even know the amount of power you have, you don't know how much more we could do if we just had tiny help from you. And this doesn't apply to The Watermarks only, don't help us, help your favorite starving musicians, and there are many to choose from.
I'm going to make a comparison with another job to see if you are able to understand little better my point of view. When you go to a bar and the bartender opens a beer for you, you probably give him/her one dollar every time he/she opens a beer for you. If you drink 3 beers every time you go out and you go out 3 nights a week, you're "donating" to this bartender $36 a month. Now, maybe we can't open beers as good as these bartenders do, but when you think about it, this seems kinda odd, doesn't it? One time a few years back, I was hanging out at a bar with a friend who made as little money as I did, and I noticed she tipped the bartender $5 for opening a beer. I had to say something, not because I thought it was unfair, but out of curiosity. I asked her why she did that, and she said that she's been a bartender before and she knew how it hard it was to depend on the tips you make when you are a bartender and other things. She's never been a musician before, so maybe she doesn't know how hard this is and how just $1 could help. Oh, and she didn't have to pay for my band's CD, of course, since she was my friend. Now, let me clarify this, I think bartenders deserve each and every penny they make, including $5 tips for opening a beer bottle, but what I don't understand is why a musician's tip jar is so empty in comparison. This is a job, and it requires work, and the only reason we don't make more of "it" is because we would die of starvation if we depended on tips, like a bartender does.
Now, tips to a musician don't necessarily have to be money. Every single time you leave a comment, every time you share our posts, or share our profile to your friends, or play our music to someone you think might like it, or blog about us, is an awesome tip. I'm not going to explain why, but we benefit immensely every time you do something like "liking" something we said or posted on Facebook. You wanna talk numbers? Check this out, if each one of our supposed Facebook fans suggested The Watermarks to all of their friends and we gained 10 new fans per person (out of a couple of hundred friends they might have) we would have 5000 fans. Then, if every one of those 5000 fans tipped The Watermarks $3 a month we would be able to live off music (I know the percentage of fans who would spend money on our music is much lower, but I think you understand where I'm getting at). We'd work on music and videos all day long, and we would play in every single city in America, and we would release at least an album a year, and play around Europe, and communicate with you, the fans, even more. Shit, even when I love being able to entertain you and share things you may find useful or interesting, my personal social media "presence" takes time and effort too. I know I'm not Trent Reznor, but I'm helluva more fun than him, or his online presence, for whatever that's worth.
I'm still skeptical. Even if everyone was aware of how much they could help, I doubt anyone will think we're entitled to even a dollar a month or a Facebook "like". Perhaps this is the reason a lot of musicians work as bartenders?
Anyways, I have a mission, I would like to tour the west coast with The Watermarks, and I want to release something on vinyl, and I want to be able to write a whole lot more music, each song better than the last. You, my dear friends, can make this journey a lot easier and faster, you can make this "fun hobby" become a dream come true, and if you want to get a whole lot more from The Watermarks, or any other artist you appreciate, you should know that in this room, there's only you and me, there won't be a label/corporation/investor in between. Music is back to what it used to be before there were record labels, and you're back to being directly our employer. We are working for you.
Honestly, I don't think anything will change any time soon, people will have to get used to this new paradigm first. The show will go on, regardless, I just wish it was a bigger and better show, much much bigger. I just wish it didn't have to ever stop.
I've been thinking a bit about what being in a band is for the past few days, particularly, about the "and make a couple hundred extra bucks a month" part, and there are a few things I'd like to say about this - money and music -, things that perhaps none of you, non-musicians, would know if I didn't say it or if you didn't ask.
First, I just want to say that during all these years of making music and being in bands I have not enjoyed one single penny from music. Not one. In fact, if I had kept an accounting book for this "hobby", the balance would be minus several thousands of dollars, and by now I believe it already passed the minus $10.000 mark. This is without counting all the time spent, professional time, mind you, which could easily take it over 50 or even 100 thousands of dollars. I bullshit you not. But being the guy with the studio and the audio engineer/producer skills this is no surprise, to me at least, so it does not bother me. You might think there might be something wrong with my calculations, I mean, we have CD's for sale all over the web and all over the world, we play amazing shows with really big acts now and then, we got merchandise, and we probably get donations from fans, among other things... The honest truth? Let's see, let's start by saying that you probably don't want to know how many t-shirts we've sold, but if you do want to know, the number is 2 (two), as for the "big" shows which we do play kinda often, 95-97% of the time we get paid $0 (zero) which is pretty much standard when you have a "local" band opening a national or world touring act, then on local only shows you're lucky if you get $200, it's usually more like $100, and even when you can still buy our CD's on a few sites and our mp3's are sold on iTunes and many other sites, the sales are not substantial, plus we are currently giving all our music away for free on our site and a few other social media sites. There are times when we sell a few CD's here and there, but we barely make any money out of any of the products we sell, because this is not about money. What drives us to do what we do is not money but love. Yes, we would love to make enough money to be able to live from music, and we would love to have enough money and time to make more music and play more shows all over America and all over the world, but at this stage, we are more interested in getting the word out there so everyone knows who we are and what we do. The reason why we only make only $2 out of every shirt we sell is because we believe we would benefit more from someone wearing our shirts than from the extra $5-7 we could make from a t-shirt sale.
But does this reality matter to me? Yes and no. It does not matter because I love doing this. We love doing this, and by we, I'm not only talking about me and my bandmates, but about all the other independent musicians out there, and as far as I know, at least in this town, no one is making a dime from music. Those $50 we might make out of sales, those $100 a club might give us after a performance are gone in the blink of an eye, just paying for the practice space rent (which usually comes out of our own pocket), our instruments, guitar and bass strings, drumstick, equipment, equipment repair, gasoline, food, hotels and many other things, we fall in the deficit territory. Houston is a really tough town for musicians, the music support here, in my opinion, could be a whole lot better, but it's at best mediocre. Maybe the reality of indie musicians in other towns is a little different, I don't know. Don't get me wrong, there are a few people here who support music to the max, but outside these few caring souls, it seems no ones gives a shit. "Big deal", we say, if that's the case, then so be it. That ain't gonna stop us.
None of this changes the power you, the listeners and the fans, have. In this day and age independent musicians aren't waiting to land a record deal anymore. We can't. Those days are over. We can't wait for someone with money to invest in our music, or for a publishing deal to materialize, or to suddenly have our music in big budget films and national TV commercials and make money out of licensing our music. Sure, that happens here and there, but waiting for such things to happen is rather unrealistic. Nowadays, it's all up to you, and I'm sorry to bear that weight on your shoulders, but it's the truth. We depend on you, and without you, we're nothing. Especially when you live in a town such as this one, when you can't even count on the local press (unless you are their personal friends) to help you the way they could help you get exposed to the rest of the country or even to the very own people of this town. Maybe we are not good enough, eh? Sorry for the sarcasm.
Even many of the people who call themselves fans share the same kind of apathy, but I'm starting to believe it's not apathy, but a state of mind you develop by growing up in certain regions, something to do with the information and education you get. This is the reason I'm writing all this crap, because...
I want to tell you about the power you actually have...
There's so much every single person can do, things that require almost no effort, like a click of a mouse, that could bring a fair amount of benefits to independent musicians. Other things, which could be considered a small sacrifice (donating one dollar, for example), could be massive! Just a dollar from you could translate into The Watermarks performing in your town! Let me elaborate.
A little less than two years ago I went on tour with my band, The Watermarks, along with fellow band Ladyheat. It was a simple tour through the mid-West that didn't last more than a 10 days, but we hit places like Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati. Each one of us spent about $150-$200 out of our own pocket on top of all the band fund just for the renting of the van, gas, hotel (only 2 nights out of the 10 days) and food. So when we subtract the expenses to the profit made, the whole thing cost a bit less than $2000. And believe me, those were $2000 well spent. We loved it, and most importantly, the people that we played to loved it too!
Now, the sad truth is that we cannot take a week off work, or even a few days, off work to tour as often as we'd like, especially when we're not making any money. But check this out, The Watermarks, at the time this blog was published, have a little less than 600 fans on Facebook, and I know that not everyone in those 600 are "real" fans; a few will "like" you out of politeness or because they are also in local bands, there are family members and friends who feel obligated, etc, but let's just assume we have 500 real fans for the sake of this example. If every fan donated $1 a month to The Watermarks, we would be able to go on tour in 4 months. This sounds so
I'm going to make a comparison with another job to see if you are able to understand little better my point of view. When you go to a bar and the bartender opens a beer for you, you probably give him/her one dollar every time he/she opens a beer for you. If you drink 3 beers every time you go out and you go out 3 nights a week, you're "donating" to this bartender $36 a month. Now, maybe we can't open beers as good as these bartenders do, but when you think about it, this seems kinda odd, doesn't it? One time a few years back, I was hanging out at a bar with a friend who made as little money as I did, and I noticed she tipped the bartender $5 for opening a beer. I had to say something, not because I thought it was unfair, but out of curiosity. I asked her why she did that, and she said that she's been a bartender before and she knew how it hard it was to depend on the tips you make when you are a bartender and other things. She's never been a musician before, so maybe she doesn't know how hard this is and how just $1 could help. Oh, and she didn't have to pay for my band's CD, of course, since she was my friend. Now, let me clarify this, I think bartenders deserve each and every penny they make, including $5 tips for opening a beer bottle, but what I don't understand is why a musician's tip jar is so empty in comparison. This is a job, and it requires work, and the only reason we don't make more of "it" is because we would die of starvation if we depended on tips, like a bartender does.
Now, tips to a musician don't necessarily have to be money. Every single time you leave a comment, every time you share our posts, or share our profile to your friends, or play our music to someone you think might like it, or blog about us, is an awesome tip. I'm not going to explain why, but we benefit immensely every time you do something like "liking" something we said or posted on Facebook. You wanna talk numbers? Check this out, if each one of our supposed Facebook fans suggested The Watermarks to all of their friends and we gained 10 new fans per person (out of a couple of hundred friends they might have) we would have 5000 fans. Then, if every one of those 5000 fans tipped The Watermarks $3 a month we would be able to live off music (I know the percentage of fans who would spend money on our music is much lower, but I think you understand where I'm getting at). We'd work on music and videos all day long, and we would play in every single city in America, and we would release at least an album a year, and play around Europe, and communicate with you, the fans, even more. Shit, even when I love being able to entertain you and share things you may find useful or interesting, my personal social media "presence" takes time and effort too. I know I'm not Trent Reznor, but I'm helluva more fun than him, or his online presence, for whatever that's worth.
I'm still skeptical. Even if everyone was aware of how much they could help, I doubt anyone will think we're entitled to even a dollar a month or a Facebook "like". Perhaps this is the reason a lot of musicians work as bartenders?
Anyways, I have a mission, I would like to tour the west coast with The Watermarks, and I want to release something on vinyl, and I want to be able to write a whole lot more music, each song better than the last. You, my dear friends, can make this journey a lot easier and faster, you can make this "fun hobby" become a dream come true, and if you want to get a whole lot more from The Watermarks, or any other artist you appreciate, you should know that in this room, there's only you and me, there won't be a label/corporation/investor in between. Music is back to what it used to be before there were record labels, and you're back to being directly our employer. We are working for you.
Honestly, I don't think anything will change any time soon, people will have to get used to this new paradigm first. The show will go on, regardless, I just wish it was a bigger and better show, much much bigger. I just wish it didn't have to ever stop.
HAPPY MORNINGS! I Believe In Unicorns
I might have to reconsider my take on unicorns...
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGgJmnKS_k
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJGgJmnKS_k
Jul 23, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Awesome Baseball Commentary When Fan Gets Hit By Ball
Oh my god!!! I'm going to Tweet about it! Hahaha.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, the go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsNb5rbuFY
If you're reading from a Facebook note, the go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsNb5rbuFY
Jul 22, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! If you take technology for granted you're an idiot.
I've always said it and I couldn't agree more. Technology rules.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, then click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
If you're reading from a Facebook note, then click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
Jul 21, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Cool Mirror Prank
Clever. I'm sure more of one thought they were vampires.
If you're reading from a Facebook note, then click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF7ZevR4cs
If you're reading from a Facebook note, then click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF7ZevR4cs
Jul 20, 2010
All You Need Is Love?
Recently, I asked the following question to all my friends on Formspring:
"Assuming there was a omnipresent god who knows it all about you, past, present, future: what would you do if god told you from now on you won't ever experience love or romantic affection of any kind, including sex".
Not everyone responded, and a couple of people gave me some smarty pants answers, obviously avoiding the question. The rest gave me the answer I was expecting, which was that they would rather die or that they would kill themselves. Even when I expected this response from most people it's still interesting.
Here's the story behind my question:
Many years ago I fell deeply in love with a friend of mine. We had a very short romance, just a few days, but I was crazy about this girl. Everything about her was perfect, her soft kisses, her scent, her mind, her hands, her feet, her brown eyes, her hair, everything. I was convinced that I had accidentally found "the one". I said accidentally because I had been friends with her for a while, and even when the attraction was always there I never expected her to be so perfect for me. In the end, things didn't work out. It wasn't meant to be, for many reasons, mainly because we lived in different countries, although, I suspect things wouldn't have worked out even if we lived close by.
She was the realistic one, and she was the one who decided we should not attempt something as difficult as a long distance relationship (I also know there were other reasons that influenced her decision). Me, being the hopeless romantic dumbass that I used to be, felt destroyed and totally heartbroken. I couldn't bear the fact that I knew she was the one, but I couldn't be with her. I spent countless nights without being able to sleep, and countless days depressed thinking about her. We kept in touch, but it hurt. A lot. I told myself that I would wait for her, that I had to be prepared for her to get into other relationships (which soon happened), but that I should stay strong and never lose hope that in the end she was going to be mine. You know, the usual bullshit you think when you're young and naive.
One night, while re-playing in my head the same old fairy tales about her, over and over, not being able to sleep, I thought about the possibility of us never ending together. It scared me. Like, I literally shat my pants. No, I didn't shit my pants, but the idea terrorized me. I thought "what if the time passes by and I become old and she's with someone else, with a family, happy?" Thinking about this didn't make me feel anything good, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, about everything that had to do with it, about everything that would make my life suck if this it happened. The thought became somewhat obsessive. The only way I was going to be able to think about something else was to accept, to accept that this was a possibility, and to accept this scenario if it ever became... real.
But then I thought that since this terrible nightmare was very possible, even more possible than my ideal situation, perhaps I should just concentrate on the other things around me that made me happy, and not on this one thing that could make me, and was making me, miserable. This one thing... Yeah, how can I let one thing make my entire life blow? Sure, it sucked, but it was only one aspect of life and there were many other things that I enjoyed in life that made my life worthwhile. Little things, like chocolate, and music, and books, and friends... wait, those are not little things, those are great things. Then I thought about the question that started this blog and what would I do if I knew I was never ever going to be loved or touched again, from then until the moment I die. Was I going to let my life become miserable? Was I going to let this one thing not enjoy all the other things in life that I loved? And how much did I depend on love to become happy? I was, and still am, alone for the most part. Was I going to become one of those whinny people who are always complaining because I was not in a relationship? What's the percentage that loves contributes to my overall happiness? 50%? 30%? 20%? Hmmm... One of the things I've learned is that many people get into relationships because they do not want to be alone, even if for the most part, these relationships make them unhappy. I knew that I didn't want to become one of those people, and that if I was going to be in a relationship, it wasn't going to be with just anyone, but with someone I actually liked and with whom I had a lot of things in common, and I wasn't going to force myself to like someone just so I'm not alone.
When I thought about all of this I felt a huge relieve. I was a bit sad, but I knew then that I didn't need love, that no one does. We all want love, but love is not the only thing that our happiness depends on. Love alone will not makes us happy. It can, temporarily, but it will not give us real permanent happiness. Love is just one of the pieces, and there are many pieces, especially if you want to lead a rich and interesting life. Furthermore, I shouldn't risk NOT having all the other pieces because of love, or lack of it, because I knew that one day I will look back and I will regret it immensely.
The time went by and the feelings I had for my friend started to fade away. I'm still friends with her, and I love her very much, as a friend, but I don't have the same feelings I once had towards her. Of course, there's no such thing as "the one". Love is great, and awesome, and wonderful, and I'd love to throw myself in someone's arms right now. I want love, we all want it, but love is not all, or even close to being all.
I can say, with plenty of conviction, that The Beatles were wrong.
"Assuming there was a omnipresent god who knows it all about you, past, present, future: what would you do if god told you from now on you won't ever experience love or romantic affection of any kind, including sex".
Not everyone responded, and a couple of people gave me some smarty pants answers, obviously avoiding the question. The rest gave me the answer I was expecting, which was that they would rather die or that they would kill themselves. Even when I expected this response from most people it's still interesting.
Here's the story behind my question:
Many years ago I fell deeply in love with a friend of mine. We had a very short romance, just a few days, but I was crazy about this girl. Everything about her was perfect, her soft kisses, her scent, her mind, her hands, her feet, her brown eyes, her hair, everything. I was convinced that I had accidentally found "the one". I said accidentally because I had been friends with her for a while, and even when the attraction was always there I never expected her to be so perfect for me. In the end, things didn't work out. It wasn't meant to be, for many reasons, mainly because we lived in different countries, although, I suspect things wouldn't have worked out even if we lived close by.
She was the realistic one, and she was the one who decided we should not attempt something as difficult as a long distance relationship (I also know there were other reasons that influenced her decision). Me, being the hopeless romantic dumbass that I used to be, felt destroyed and totally heartbroken. I couldn't bear the fact that I knew she was the one, but I couldn't be with her. I spent countless nights without being able to sleep, and countless days depressed thinking about her. We kept in touch, but it hurt. A lot. I told myself that I would wait for her, that I had to be prepared for her to get into other relationships (which soon happened), but that I should stay strong and never lose hope that in the end she was going to be mine. You know, the usual bullshit you think when you're young and naive.
One night, while re-playing in my head the same old fairy tales about her, over and over, not being able to sleep, I thought about the possibility of us never ending together. It scared me. Like, I literally shat my pants. No, I didn't shit my pants, but the idea terrorized me. I thought "what if the time passes by and I become old and she's with someone else, with a family, happy?" Thinking about this didn't make me feel anything good, but I couldn't stop thinking about it, about everything that had to do with it, about everything that would make my life suck if this it happened. The thought became somewhat obsessive. The only way I was going to be able to think about something else was to accept, to accept that this was a possibility, and to accept this scenario if it ever became... real.
But then I thought that since this terrible nightmare was very possible, even more possible than my ideal situation, perhaps I should just concentrate on the other things around me that made me happy, and not on this one thing that could make me, and was making me, miserable. This one thing... Yeah, how can I let one thing make my entire life blow? Sure, it sucked, but it was only one aspect of life and there were many other things that I enjoyed in life that made my life worthwhile. Little things, like chocolate, and music, and books, and friends... wait, those are not little things, those are great things. Then I thought about the question that started this blog and what would I do if I knew I was never ever going to be loved or touched again, from then until the moment I die. Was I going to let my life become miserable? Was I going to let this one thing not enjoy all the other things in life that I loved? And how much did I depend on love to become happy? I was, and still am, alone for the most part. Was I going to become one of those whinny people who are always complaining because I was not in a relationship? What's the percentage that loves contributes to my overall happiness? 50%? 30%? 20%? Hmmm... One of the things I've learned is that many people get into relationships because they do not want to be alone, even if for the most part, these relationships make them unhappy. I knew that I didn't want to become one of those people, and that if I was going to be in a relationship, it wasn't going to be with just anyone, but with someone I actually liked and with whom I had a lot of things in common, and I wasn't going to force myself to like someone just so I'm not alone.
When I thought about all of this I felt a huge relieve. I was a bit sad, but I knew then that I didn't need love, that no one does. We all want love, but love is not the only thing that our happiness depends on. Love alone will not makes us happy. It can, temporarily, but it will not give us real permanent happiness. Love is just one of the pieces, and there are many pieces, especially if you want to lead a rich and interesting life. Furthermore, I shouldn't risk NOT having all the other pieces because of love, or lack of it, because I knew that one day I will look back and I will regret it immensely.
The time went by and the feelings I had for my friend started to fade away. I'm still friends with her, and I love her very much, as a friend, but I don't have the same feelings I once had towards her. Of course, there's no such thing as "the one". Love is great, and awesome, and wonderful, and I'd love to throw myself in someone's arms right now. I want love, we all want it, but love is not all, or even close to being all.
I can say, with plenty of conviction, that The Beatles were wrong.
HAPPY MORNINGS! Blonde Mic Check
This girl has been ready since she was born.
Blonde Microphone Check
not rick | MySpace Video
If you're reading from a Facebook note, just go here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2073282150
Blonde Microphone Check
not rick | MySpace Video
If you're reading from a Facebook note, just go here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2073282150
Jul 19, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Teach Baby Wolf How To Howl.
Ain't it cute?
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jws92F-NF48
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jws92F-NF48
Jul 16, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! World Of Warcraft Addiction.
This is a little bit scary and very pathetic, I must confess, but the moment when he tries to insert the remote control into his rectum makes it the perfect happy morning video.
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, then watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpzgxfqAERg
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, then watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpzgxfqAERg
Jul 14, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Bobby McFerrin Hacks Your Brain With the Pentatonic Scale
Pretty cool and bluesy.
If you're reading this from a Facebook note feed, then go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk
If you're reading this from a Facebook note feed, then go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk
Jul 13, 2010
Jul 12, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! I'm Yours By Cute Kid With Ukulele
This kid has passion. Seriously.
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, then go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4
If you're reading this from a Facebook note, then go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErMWX--UJZ4
Jul 9, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! Why Middle Aged Women Shouldn't Drink
This shit happens in real life more often than you think.
If you're checking from an imported note on Facebook, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd1S0lbF6Lk
If you're checking from an imported note on Facebook, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd1S0lbF6Lk
Jul 8, 2010
HAPPY MORNINGS! This Kid Puts Beyonce To Shame!
I don't know if this is old or not, but I don't watch Idol or any of those shows. However, regardless, I think just like out Korean friend from the previous post, this guy has some mayor skills and his performance was straight up sexy. Thanks to Zulay for sharing this gem.
If you're watching from a facebook note, then click this link to view the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0abFoHZDZY
Or go to www.ce54r.com
If you're watching from a facebook note, then click this link to view the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0abFoHZDZY
Or go to www.ce54r.com
Jul 7, 2010
Premiere of HAPPY MORNINGS at ce54r.com! - Touch My Body by Korean Dude
Before we begin I must explain a little what's going on here. If you had known me for a long time, virtually or in real life, you probably remember me posting "Happy Mornings" bulletins (originally called "Gooooooooood Morning America") since the beginning of MySpace, when there was no Facebook, Twitter or even YouTube (holy shit, I had forgotten there was no YouTube!). Back then, after reading many bulletins from people complaining about their mornings, how sleepy they were, how they didn't want to go to work, etc, it just came to me. The concept was a simple one: why not look for very funny/inspiring/uplifting videos and post one every morning before people have to go to work, when they check into their MySpace's accounts for the first time. Perhaps starting each morning with a smile or warm feeling in their hearts will make my friends' rest of the day a tiny bit better, improving their miserable little lives. I even remember the very first post I made, and I knew it was a success after many messaged me to tell me how they had teared up a little after seeing the video, or just saying thanks for having posting it. If you're curious, the video I posted was this.
Anyways, I continued posting Happy Mornings bulletins through the years. I tried to be constant and post one every morning, but sometimes finding funny videos was hard and sometimes I was going through so much shit that it became a low priority, like it happened for about two years of my life, when the Happy Mornings bulletins were sporadic. More often than not no one would say shit about my posts, which many times made me doubt anyone was listening, or anyone cared about them, but every once in a while someone would say something and that was good enough for me. One person happy is one more person happy in the world. I must say all of this may sound like I'm a really nice guy, but I think the reason for taking all the effort is rather selfish, it just feels good to me, so it was very easy for me to ignore the ungratefulness of my friends when I knew there was at least one person listening, waiting every morning for my posts, or just feeling happy when they re-appeared during the bad times.
At some point I came up with the [NewMusic4You] bulletins, which were intended to show my friends new good music (in my opinion) that some of them might not know, so if you were lucky you would see my two bulletin posts every morning.
The social networks have evolved, new ones have come, the format has changed a bit, MySpace is pretty much dead, but the Happy Mornings have continued until today, and right now they have a true following, at least 5 or 6 people! I was thinking that it might be a better way to archive them and go back to them if I posted them on my blog instead of posting them as Twitter and Facebook statuses, which not always keep an archive of all the bullshit you say through the years, so I just decided to start "broadcasting" my Happy Mornings posts from my own blog, which it's a rather compilation of useless things I think about or do once in a while. These will continue, but since they only happen once in a while, I don't think that hosting Happy Mornings here will hurt at all.
So, let's just cut the crap, I wasn't expecting to write all this bullshit for this, so let's just begin and today's post couldn't be a better, it is a masterpiece, if you ask me.
Enjoy, and happy morning to you, my friends!
Anyways, I continued posting Happy Mornings bulletins through the years. I tried to be constant and post one every morning, but sometimes finding funny videos was hard and sometimes I was going through so much shit that it became a low priority, like it happened for about two years of my life, when the Happy Mornings bulletins were sporadic. More often than not no one would say shit about my posts, which many times made me doubt anyone was listening, or anyone cared about them, but every once in a while someone would say something and that was good enough for me. One person happy is one more person happy in the world. I must say all of this may sound like I'm a really nice guy, but I think the reason for taking all the effort is rather selfish, it just feels good to me, so it was very easy for me to ignore the ungratefulness of my friends when I knew there was at least one person listening, waiting every morning for my posts, or just feeling happy when they re-appeared during the bad times.
At some point I came up with the [NewMusic4You] bulletins, which were intended to show my friends new good music (in my opinion) that some of them might not know, so if you were lucky you would see my two bulletin posts every morning.
The social networks have evolved, new ones have come, the format has changed a bit, MySpace is pretty much dead, but the Happy Mornings have continued until today, and right now they have a true following, at least 5 or 6 people! I was thinking that it might be a better way to archive them and go back to them if I posted them on my blog instead of posting them as Twitter and Facebook statuses, which not always keep an archive of all the bullshit you say through the years, so I just decided to start "broadcasting" my Happy Mornings posts from my own blog, which it's a rather compilation of useless things I think about or do once in a while. These will continue, but since they only happen once in a while, I don't think that hosting Happy Mornings here will hurt at all.
So, let's just cut the crap, I wasn't expecting to write all this bullshit for this, so let's just begin and today's post couldn't be a better, it is a masterpiece, if you ask me.
Enjoy, and happy morning to you, my friends!
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