Reminders that Life is Awesome and the Christmas Beard Contest!

The timing couldn't have been better. Friday night was a total wash; I don't even remember it, couldn't tell you what I was doing. And the rest of the afternoon I was dealing with a twin monster. The first was a little facebook social experiment I tried, giving away my eBook "A Loaded Portrait" for free and asking people to share the link. I personally tagged every single person on my friend list, hoping for 10%. I fell far short of that, and I could have told you every single person who would do it before I even started. It was both crushing and eye opening.

The second was the redesign of Maddoser.com. If you didn't know, that's really my base of operations. You need a solid web presence, and that one is mine. I'd neglected it for sometime now.... but there's a plan in the works..... I needed a mood changer... something to put me in a positive spin.

My buddy Mike was gracious enough to invite me to his birthday party, and I really needed to be out and around people, but I wasn't sure what they would be getting out of me; I wasn't in a partying mood. But its a relaxed atmosphere with Mike and his wife and friends... I was getting comfortable, guests were filing in....

And then it happened.....

"You know what I love?" a woman I just met said to me in the middle of a conversation we were having about Elvis....

"Dr. Phil!"

"huh." I responded immediately, matter of factly.

Its not polite to laugh in someones face, not conducive to a free fun having party atmosphere. So Mike, when he saw my reaction, had to turn away.

A few minutes later a new challenge was laid before me, something that I didn't see coming. I had no idea what I was in for; I wasn't prepared. I walked into the room and The Wiz kicked me square in the nuts! I dropped to one knee gasping for air, couldn't move, down for the count. It was my second eye opening experience of the night.... no body beats The Wiz.... nobody beats The Wiz.

I had been weighed, I had been measured... and I had been found wanting...
Time to officially send me down to the minor leagues. I just can't hang with the big boys any longer.

As Mike said later on that night, its not often that you can look across the room at someone and know EXACTLY what the other person is thinking. But it kept happening. The order of things is really skewed now, but there was the first time in my life anyone has ever compared me to Collin Farrel.

Most of the time they tell me I look just like Matthew Glave.... you know him as Glenn Gulia.

Somewhere in the middle of Forest Gump drinking Dr. Pepper and having to pee, ruining your Black Panther party, and deciding not to run anymore it happened again...

"NO ONE SAYS GOOD BYE TO ME WHEN THEY LEAVE!"

WHOA! What the hell is going on here? I don't know, but I can't recall laughing so much in one night in a very, very long time. Over and over again I was being reminded of just how LIFE IS THE BEST!!!

Because you just can't make this up.

I don't know if it was because I was the new guy (everyone loves the new guy) or if I just fit in that well with everyone there, but MAN, was I happy I went. Some people are lucky enough to have this sort of experience all the time, every week, and life is so awesome for them because of it that they never even realize that there's any other way. Sign me up for that right now! I'm in!

And you know what else I'm in on? The inaugural Christmas Beard Challenge! That's right, we're making it official. You have from now until Christmas to grow out the BEST, most creative, beard that you can pull out of that mug of yours. We haven't even decided what the winner gets yet, but that's not the point... winning is... and getting a cool beard out of it.... one more thing to stroke... play with. My face is begging for a shave right now, but its not going to happen. Mike and Joe are going to give me a run for my money. And last night Ringo joined the frey. These are the things you get into in the midst of being reminded how awesome life is.

That and.... I've never had anyone throw themselves at me like that in my entire life. It was crazy. Quite literally... CRAZY!

I don't think its crazy at all....

I'm just glad Mike and I were on the same page the entire time, there's nothing better than being around folks that are seeing the world the same way that you are in that moment..... and laughing your ass off at it the whole night.....

As I drove home another thing really struck me.... the third eye opener of the day....
Normally I'm the guy people look at with that expression that says "WTF?", but even I have my people with whom we just go together like peas and carrots (thanks Forest). More and more I'm finding mine. What I was seeing was any lady friend (special lady friend, that is, YEEAAHHH!) that I start spending time with has GOT to be able to chill in that crowd, chill at that party, and fit in just as well. Guys and gals alike, you don't want to be hanging out with someone that makes your friends pull you aside and say "WTF?". You don't want to be strapped to the one who makes your buddies look across the room at each other and know what the other is thinking.... laughing so hard they're crying about it....

Unless you do it on purpose. Afterall, we all need a good laugh, don't we. We all need those reminders of how awesome life is. I got mine Saturday night thanks to Mike, his wife Mary Jayne and their awesome friends. Because of how great they were, I got to be great too.

As for my little social experiment..... it was a test that had to be done. I know I can write, now more than ever, but that and $2.50 might get you on a bus. Unless you can get people to check you out its all for naught, and I had to see just how bad I am at that. And its bad! As it goes... I don't have anything most of these people want... they don't see what's in it for them by helping me. Now at least I know the people I can count on and the ones I can't.

Before my experiences of the past week or so I would have looked at the mountain before me and decided not to start the climb. Seriously, in my position I probably should just give up, get a job, put my head in the sand and forget the whole writing thing. But since seeing what I told you about in my articles "Doing it right", "Personality...." and "what NOT to do" something has changed in me, and I NEED to take on the challenge. And I know what did it too....

Eh, maybe I should just give it up anyway.... maybe I'm too overmatched, too far behind the rest the of pack, too late to the game to make a things work....

But I don't feel tardy.

Later people!



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