Occupy Wall Street, our soldiers coming home and why our society crumbling is YOUR fault!

Yesterday afternoon I caught parts of a radio show after Opie and Anthony on satellite that had soldiers coming home on discussing how difficult its been for them to come back to society after being at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Aside from the obvious, killing people and then having to adjust to sitting in a cubicle or kissing YOUR ass at Best Buy, they told stories of women with kids of their own back home driving in convoys that had to run kids down so that the pieces were mopped off the road with a sponge in order to avoid ambushes. They had men come on and discuss the goo where their buddies face was just a moment before and how they just can't explain that to anyone, and how these people wake up screaming in the middle of the night, and will probably never get out of therapy.

Every 80 minutes a veteran tries to kill themselves.

There are a lot of factors that lead to this. Though it may not be as bad as it was after Vietnam when hippies would spit on soldiers and call them baby killers, in one vets words, the happy homecoming and cheers last for about fifteen minutes, then its business as usual. Thanks for serving, now what are you going to do for me?

Then a quick look around at how Republicans and Democrats bicker and fight, push agendas and take kick backs, screw the people and get nothing done, our soldiers wonder what the hell it was that they were fighting for in the first place.

But there was something that really stuck with me, something that I'd spoken about before in this space, and probably the biggest issue that I have in trying to get people to understand me and why I sometimes do the things that I do.

One of the soldiers explained that, when you were over there it didn't matter how horrible things were because no matter how bad things got, there was somebody right next to you going through the same exact thing you were. Your buddies over there understood exactly what you were going through, exactly what you were feeling, because they were seeing things the same way you were. But when they come back home, in our society, there's nothing like that. People don't understand where you've been, what you're doing, going through or why..... and they don't care to try.

You'll often hear stories of championship sports teams that have a special locker room, that all come together as one, and years later they continue to share that bond with those guys from that locker room. That right there is the true meaning of TEAM, to sacrifice for a larger whole, and everyone seeing things that same way.

Why do young kids join gangs? They do it because where ever they are in life or the world, none of their options are very good. So they choose to align themselves with people that have experienced the same things that they have, gone through the same struggles. Whatever you want to say about the horrors of gang life, what these people are signing up for is a place where they belong, a place where they're understood, feel important. No matter how broke you are or bad you have it that gang has your back. They're all seeing things the same way.

These are all extreme cases and rare though. They're sects outside of normal daily life that society doesn't want to understand. More often we're comparing ourselves to one another, in competition. You have to keep up with the Joneses, and if you can't somehow you're less. Its about the biggest house, the bigger paycheck, the best toys, the hottest wife, the powerful husband.

Soldiers know all about sacrificing themselves for a bigger purpose, they know all about team. But how do you look out for each other, pick each other up, come together as one when you're always bragging, backstabbing, belittling or ignoring one another? How do you act as one while you're always trying to set yourself above, jockeying for position as the alpha male or female in the pack?

In Sociology we judge societies on the quality of life for all people in that society. A good society is that way because of how they treat the least of amongst their people. Here, however, its all about more, more, more. We're judged on having, not what we did to get it. And if you don't have, then you're nothing, so people will do whatever they have to do to get it. Once again, value, and we're always looking to value up.

We don't act like a good society, we act like a bunch of wild dogs. And then we wonder why our government, our entire system is corrupt. More, more, more!

If you say I'm wrong, I say you're kidding yourself. If you say you don't do that (you may not, there are good people out there), I say look at who you hang with, what you do and who you're trying bring into your life. And if you tell me that I'm just bitter and angry because I'm a have not, I say you're DAMN RIGHT!!!

 What Occupy Wall Street has become

And make no mistake, the entire system is corrupt. The Occupy Wall Street people may have a good reason behind what they started, but nothing is ever going to be changed by what they're doing. While the movement has degenerated to bums, slobs and drug dealers sleeping and pissing in parks disturbing average citizens, they continue to feed very same Alpha More Powerhungry's that corrupt the system in the first place.

And quess what.... if its not them, it would be someone else. And if they give you a chance for more, more, more, it would probably be you. Our society is screwed, rotted from within, and the only fix is a complete overhaul.

That's a foot!

But the Occupy Wall Street people DO have one thing right, the change IS up to each of us as individuals. "Be the change you want in the world" and all that mess. Unfortunately that change has to come in how we treat each other, and we treat each other like SHIT! Societies are judged by how they treat the least of their people, we're trained to look down on and ignore them.

Societies are built and re-built by coming together and learning how to see things the same way, then sacrificing for the greater good. That will never happen here, there will never be real change, and we'll continue down this toilet because very few people have the ability to see beyond how everything affects THEM! And everything we see and do, everyone we surround ourselves with, have trained us to be that way our whole lives.

If you don't think so you're naive. Your head is in the sand. You ARE kidding yourself. What we have on our hands here is a battle of conscience, and we're getting our asses kicked. Our world is rotting because of the one question you all ask of EVERYONE before you do ANYTHING for THEM......

"What's in it for me?"

Later People!



Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota

D'OH... Raging Against the Machine and why it'll never work!

Have you ever said or done something because you were so angry that you couldn't help but pour it out, only to wish that you could take it back later on because of the damage that you did with your actions? You caught yourself in that Homer Simpson moment. Of course you have, we all have.

But what about those deeper levels? Have you ever found that you said or did things thinking that you were completely clear of mind while taking action, that you were fully in the right and just telling it how it is, explaining what's REALLY going on out there.... only to realize later on that anger and resentment run so deeply in the core of who you are that it oozes out of the marrow of your bones, flowing like red blood cells, and that THAT is really where your message had come from, not that place of tranquility?

We don't all start off at the same level, no matter how nice a fairy tale that may be. Some of us were lucky enough to be born into a family that had money, connections, a clear path for you to have all you wanted in life. Some of us had parents who are crack heads and its a miracle you didn't turn out to be one yourself. Some of us are beautiful with model good looks, or born with supreme talent, and the doors of opportunity blast off their hinges at your very approach, while others... fat, ugly, stupid, talentless, useless, sickly, what have you. That's just the way that it is. That's life!

When we're kids we're judged and categorized by these things, the popular crowd, the freaks and geeks, whatever you want to call it. And we like to believe that when you get older, as adults, that this stops being the case. How many movies out there are about both of these things? Unfortunately, that's just not the truth. As you get older, life remains the same old high school popularity contest (if anything, its worse!), played by the same exact rules, and your success in life depends directly on how well you play that game.

Last night I wrote a letter to a friend of mine who is one of the beautiful people, part of the club, explaining that I know I have a certain amount of talent, but none of that matters unless I can find a way to make people believe that I can make THEM better, make THEIR lives better, help get THEM to where THEY want to go. And this is true of all of us, its the essence of what that high school popularity contest is all about.

She could have easily helped me along, as I've seen her do with countless other people before, just with a word or two, "Hey, read this guy, he can write", but she never has, not once. The reason is because I don't fit the image she's trying to project. Helping me won't advance her career or her causes, so not only hasn't she helped, but she's actually gone back and deleted things I've sent her, erasing all outward knowledge of my work with her people.

Isn't that just like the kid who helped you with your math homework in school, but you ignored in the halls when you were with your friends? Well, we know that its because of value, and we always chase after HIGHER value, and run away from lower value, as away as we can get.

The thing of it is that most people don't even know that they're doing it, its not a conscious choice, its a natural human behavior. This is the game, its how its played, and I only know the difference because, like many of you, I've spent most of my life on the outside looking in. If my life were easy breezy, if all the doors were open for me, then I'd be caught up in the machine as well, oblivious to what was going on here.

Instead, because the system has always worked against me, I too Rage Against the Machine.

Trouble is... I've been raging against it so long that that anger has set in real deep, so deep I didn't even know it was there, and it comes out in terrible ways, as that chip on my shoulder, that nervousness I spoke about yesterday that keeps me from performing up to my capabilities. And I know a lot of you, a lot of very intelligent, very talented people, who suffer from the very same malady. I see it everyday, see it in your comments, see it in your attitude, see it in your facebook posts, and in your pain. And it holds you back. It holds me back, holds us ALL back.

You see... there IS another level, that place of peak performance that you only come to when you're free and easy, confident, and all of that anger, resentment and negative energy only keeps you from getting there. Its like snake venom, coursing through you, killing you. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface in what I can do, as a writer, as an athlete, in the ways that I can help people.... and while I knew this, I didn't see what it was that kept me from accessing that better part of myself.

The real difference between those people that have had the doors open for them, however or for what ever reasons it was done, and the rest of us continually hurling ourselves against the jagged rocks in the seas of life, is that they're able to keep their eyes completely on the prize and use all of their focus and energy towards that goal, where as the frustrated folks like me have one eye on the goal and the other on all the many things we have to fight to get there. We have one hand reaching for that star, and the other clenched in a fist swinging away at all that approaches.

How much energy does that take from you? How much does it sap your strength? How much does it steal from your focus? How much harder will that force you to have to work, and how much more tired will you be from that?

Open doors allow people to reset themselves, get back to zero that much more quickly. Fighting all the time leaves you in a state where you're constantly fighting, until you reach the point that its all you know, and you forget exactly what it is that you're fighting for. Then without a fight, you don't know what to do with yourself, you have nothing left. Often, this is where I find myself. Do you?

That's like being a beaten woman, trapped in an abusive relationship with yourself.

My friend probably took what I said as a personal attack, as me saying that she's messed up and wrong for doing the same exact thing that everyone else does. That has me upset, because she really is great and I really do love her. She's not the only one, that's just how the game is played, it just makes her like everyone else.

That's not her failing; its mine. Its like I'm trying to play chess in checkers tournament and getting pissed off that I got eliminated.

Just like anyone else in any other walk of life, from here on out any success that I have in any area moving forward relies directly on how much you, and everyone else, believes that I can make their lives better. Whether that's by motivating you, inspiring you, giving you an idea or making you see things in a way you never did before, if that's helping you make a new connection, spreading the word for your product, or just simply entertaining you (you can't put a price on a good time), how much people believe that I can help THEM do these things will dictate how far I go. The same goes for you in all that you do.

But how can anyone hope to do that if they're so full of piss and wind that they're pissing in their own face, blinding themselves in the process? How can they do that when they're so full of venom that we sap ourselves of all the energy and forces within us that allow us to fire on all cylinders?

We may not all start at the same spot, but it IS our responsibility to reset ourselves back to zero, find that focus we need, and if the doors won't open for us, if we can't find the people to open them, then to blast the off of their hinges ourselves, no matter what circumstances we come from. It just that much harder when you start the race at the back of the pack, forced to jump the hurdles while others run in a clear lane. But the spectators aren't watching for who's running in which lane, only who wins the race.

For myself, I'll never be able to blast those doors open until I'm able to release all of that anger and frustration that keeps from from reaching my peak performance. But unless I find the people who able, AND WILLING, to make ME better, make MY life better, help get ME to where I want to go, whether that's by motivating me, inspiring me, giving me an idea or making me see things in a way I never did before, if that's helping me make a new connection, spreading the word for my products, or just simply entertaining me, helping me relax and have a good time.... then I'll never be able to release all of that anger and frustration that keeps me from reaching my peak performance.

Its a Catch 22 situation. How many of you are there?

That's EXACTLY why your support system is damn important. Why finding the right woman (or man) to share your life with is SO important (instant support system), and why most people that are highly successful become so after marrying that right person. This means the right friends too. Of course, its so hard to find them while you're in that situation above, so you're back in that Catch 22.

But, ask the right questions and you'll get the right answers... so I'll ask you this...

HOW THE FU... DO YOU GET OUT OF IT?!

Later People!

Delirious....

Yup... that's about right. I usually am delirious, this morning because I got absolutely no sleep at all last night, so I have no idea where this thing is going. And of course, I was just having this conversation at my Alumni Networking event for Ashford University last night, how sleep and getting the proper rest is vital to everything that you do. I mentioned that also in my piece Coach LaSota's Formula for Success, but that didn't get much love, which is a damn shame, because there's some really good stuff in there.

Its crazy what comes up when I look for visuals to help me along with these blogs, and part of what makes them so fun, because often I don't even know what I'll get. This HAD to be used for the cover picture. Eddie Murphy's Delirious is probably the single funniest comedy routine ever to this very day, which is saying alot, but that was WAY back when he was the funniest person on the planet. God was he great! Then he went to the comedians graveyard.... he signed that Disney contract... and it was all gone. All the laughs.... gone. Now he's in that new flik with Ben Stiller. Ten years ago that match could have been sick, now there's just no way it can be good. Matthew Broderick is in it if that doesn't tell you something.

What's going on with Alison Lohman here? Either she's got the blowers cramp or someone's stuffing something into a very uncomfortable place, and I don't mean the back of a Volkswagon. She seems to be enjoying it though. This came up with the delirious search too, from a 2006 Delirious that must have completely sucked because I never heard of it, and I thought she may have been something after she looked so great in Big Fish and was so good in Matchstick Men.

Big Fish was probably the only Tim Burton movie I liked after Batman and Beetlejuice. What an over rated hack. And Matchstick Men, Nick Cage... UGH! Still, I like a whole lot more of his crap than Burton's. He must just do everything and hits a winner now and then. As for Lohman, she's pretty sexy here, huh? She'll probably have to do more of this with bombs like "Drag me to Hell" out there. What complete trash that was.

Maybe she'll follow Lindsay Lohan and bare it all for Playboy. That would probably actually disappoint me. I like this girl here. Now that Lohan is taking the plunge, how long before Britney Spears takes it all off? You think she'd go Hustler or Penthouse?

Now there's a classic! But tell me, what John Candy flik isn't? What a damn shame that was, but its what happens when you eat bad meat in Mexico. How do you not see that coming? The only thing more tragic to me was Michael J. Fox and his Parkinson's. Two guys who brought something great to everything they touched.

Talk about great ways to be touched. Hugh Hefner is the man. I caught the Showtime special on him last night and you really should see it. That man has done so much more than put naked 20 year old girls in magazines. He's touched your life in so many ways that you don't even know about, civil liberty sort of ways, that its just insane.

That there is Route 66 in New Mexico in the winter. Most people don't realize how cold it gets. This morning, for whatever reason, I was caught with the feeling I had one morning while moving back to NY from Vegas while pumping gas out there. I had my two little dogs, my ferret and my snake all piled into the car hauling a trailor behind me for three thousand miles. I looked out over a site very much like this one, only a lot more snow. This morning I had the same feeling that I did that day.

The next morning in Amarillo Texas is was so cold that the handle for the shower broke off in my hand and the faucet couldn't be turned off. The water just kept pouring out. I put the broken handle down on the counter when I checked out and kept it moving.

I was listening to Steve G. Jones again yesterday, and this guy is great, really knows his stuff, and it hit me that.... I really know my stuff too. And that's no joke. There are a few things that I really know well. All the important material to be a good Life Coach, I know it really well. Writing... I know that really well too. But one of the things that Jones said, and this is very true, is that the more relaxed you are the better you're going to be in everything you do. The good stuff just flows naturally. Yet I noticed it the other night playing darts... I get nervous for no good reason and it destroys my chances at being good. And somehow I'm that way in everything, playing ball, meeting chicks, telling people about my books, trying to get interviews for this blog, whatever.

Everything except.... Life Coaching.

And I know this is all still residual effects from the ex girlfriend taking off and pulling the rug out from under me. It often feels like there's no steady ground to stand on, even in the things that you know you do well. Its not that I haven't moved passed that event, I long since have. Its that I have yet to have, in all this time since, positive successful results to replace that negative association. So even with all I've done it feels as if nothing will ever work out.... because it hasn't yet, no matter what I do.

The right woman (or man for a chick), lets just say the right partner, is SO damn important to that. Its the single most important factor in your life. Of course the wrong one.... well, the wrong one will have you still getting nervous in almost everything you do even years later...

I dated a stripper in Vegas for a while after the event. This was the exact pose she was in when we introduced ourselves to one another. Yeah... that was a strange time in my life. And that didn't go the way I wanted either. But with strippers... does it ever really?

And here's the funny thing about those positive successful results and why its imperative to have passion for what you're doing in order to reach them.... they come slowly. This blog is perfect example of that. Right now I don't make money or gain much recognition from it, not even from the people closest to me. The numbers are trickle in.... yet yesterday alone I had articles read in Poland, Croatia, Russia, Moldova, Ghana, Italy, Great Britain, Egypt and Australia. And that's not counting all the many, many other nations across the globe where my voice has been heard. From the number too, I can also tell that these readers are passing them along to their friends. How many people out there actually have global influence like that? Not many.

No matter what your measure, how is that not great success?

Eh, but whatever. There were some things I had wanted to talk about, but I'm really just babbling right now. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore....

I'm feeling like this chick right here, but I warned you about that, so the rest will have to wait for tomorrow, unless I come up with something better to talk about. Hell, I've been waiting for something better to talk about since I started this, and that hasn't happened yet either, so don't hold your breath.

But then, there I go again, not giving myself enough credit. How many of you do that to yourselves too?

Enough of this.

Later People!

I HATE the snow... and movie time!

Hate it! Its one of the major reasons I moved to Vegas in the first place. So when we got hit with a snowstorm already in October you can imagine how I felt about it. I didn't want to deal, cancelled whatever plans I may have had. No Halloween parties, no nothin! I wasn't even going to leave the house in that crap.

I'm not the type of person that likes being trapped in the house. Like the snow, it drives me NUTS! I get stir crazy, cabin fever. But every once in a while it ends up working for your advantage, and this passed Saturday I did nothing but sit back, relax, and spend the whole day watching movies.

I often talk about how much trash there is out there these days, but the truth is that there are some really good movies being made, its just that they're the ones no one is talking about. I'm probably not supposed to tell anyone that I'm even into the type of films I was watching, but I'm secure enough in my manhood to not care. I like a good story. That's it, bottom line.

So the first flik I checked out was Beastly, with the delectable Vanessa Hudgens. If you think she only does teeny bopper fliks you should see how many pictures are floating around of her in her underwear, but whatever. I'm getting to the point where I'll watch most anything of what she's in. You already know how much I loved Sucker Punch from my article Cockblocking Momo's.

But I actually rented the flik because Beauty and the Beast is still my favorite Disney movie, I associate with the character really well (outside of being rich, no one wants the broke beast, that's me) and it was starring the kid from "I am number 4" Alex Pettyfer, who's also becoming someone that I would check out most things from.

I hear Mary-Kate Olsen tried to cast the same spell on Heath Ledger, and we all know how that one turned out. Or maybe that was the other Olsen twin.... I have no idea, they all look the same to me.

I Am Number Four was outstanding by the way, and if you haven't checked it out you really should. And what's not to like, good story, solid action, and two really hot ladies, Glee's stunner Dianna Agron (up top, look at those eyes!) and Teresa Palmer (below) who was in The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Take Me Home Tonight, two more films I really enjoyed. And of course, we can't forget one of my favorite actors Timothy Olyphant, but we'll get back to him later. The juice is worth the squeeze.

Beastly was alright, I know, all this for a flik that was just alright. But worth $1.

All summer everyone kept talking about the movie Bridesmaids, so for a buck I figured why not check it out. I know, I know, chick flik, except that its a chick flik full of nothing but guy humor. Certain scenes were just plain sick, and others were so embarrassing I had to run out of the room. It was just an odd watch, but for anyone who's ever been in a position in life where everything just sucks and there isn't a single aspect of it that's going right or how you want it (where I am now), funny or not its just a damn good movie. Its also got Rose Byrne in there, which is always nice, and if you're thinking why the hell would I pass over the two big stars of the movie, Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph (both great in this by the way), then you just don't know what it is that I do here.

That up above is Rose Byrne. Below is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, the new eye catcher in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Do you have any idea how difficult it is with some of these women to get pictures that aren't completely naked? This isn't a porn blog, regardless of how it may seem at times, and I refuse to go that route.

When I was a kid you were either a G.I. Joe guy or a Transformers guy, me being the latter (though I was really more of a Voltron guy). So when that first film came out I got chills seeing it; I LOVED it. And then the sequel, Revenge of the Fallen came out, and it was absolutely horrendous, one of the worst movies ever made, as one critic put it "with plot holes so large you can drive Optimus Prime through them". When no one said anything at all about this I was worried, but I had to give it a chance, if only for a Red Box rental on a snow day.... I wasn't disappointed. On the contrary, I thought this flik was really cool, a lot of good action sequences, good plot twist, killing of one one of my favorite characters... it really had it all.

I won't go on much about that Shia LaDouche kid, mostly because I think he's a clown, but Josh Duhamel on the other hand is another of those guys that I'll watch almost anything he's in. Duhamel didn't have as big a role in Transformers 3 here, but he played Danny McCoy, the main character of one of my favorite TV shows ever, Las Vegas and he has that believable total good guy thing down pat. Which brings us back to my buddy Timothy Olyphant....

Even when he's playing a good guy he's a total ass about it, which is what makes him great. I swear, Dumahel and Olyphant really are the Boyscout/Asshole versions of each other. They even look enough alike that they could pull off a believable Good brother Bad brother thing. I'd love to see a flik with these two in it going against each other. Get the right chick for them to fight over in some romantic comedy, or some young kid actor for them to square off mentoring... you've got Hollywood GOLD right there I tell ya!

And.... back to Vanessa Hudgens.... that's her singing Everything I own in the movie Bandslam. I'm not shy about admitting that I like the show Glee, I like anything that has people performing like this. And maybe this is another movie for High School kids, and I'm too old to be watching it, but free on cable got me caught up in it, and it was definitely worth my time. I've had this song stuck in my head for three days now, and you probably will too. Call me crazy, but it may be better than the original.

Yes, that is the sexy, the beautiful Anne Hathaway up there. Reason being, I had to waste time waiting for Ringo, so after Bandslam I saw that Love and Other Drugs was just starting, with her and Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal is another one that's worked himself into that I'll watch all your shit category, I don't know that its his great acting chops, but he chooses good movies.

That right there above is basically how these two spent the first 45 minutes of the movie. For all you pervs looking to spy Hathaway naked, this is the one for you. She bares herself the entire time. And before you start to think this is just another sappy romantic comedy, stop yourself right there. Its not at all; its actually based on a true story about a Viagra drug rep (when it first hit the market) falling in love with a woman with early onset Parkinson's disease. And its a great film, even if it does fall in that romance category, without the sappiness love stories bring. I still can't decide though who I'm into more, Anne Hathaway or Emmy Rossum.

Both are absolutely gorgeous. Both sing like angels. And both bare it all for the cameras. That last line item is actually a minus in my eyes. I'll never complain about seeing it, don't get me wrong, but in a lot of ways it disappoints me when it happens. Something about innocence and leaving certain things special. I'm funny like that.

So I watched a lot of movies this Saturday, but I saved the best for last. I'm one of those comic book geeks that HATES when someone screws around with story lines and whatnot, which is why I didn't catch X-Men, the First Class in the theatre. Well, I missed out because it was absolutely outstanding. If they had taken out the X-Men part of it and it was just a random superhero movie you would have thought it was just plain great. There was nothing at all not to like about it, big cast, good acting, good story, good action, hot women... it had everything. Kevin Bacon was the main villain, James McAvoy, that Scottish kid with the bad teeth, played Professor X. Rose Byrne (again, I had a theme) got down into her undies. January Jones (up top) was a sexy Emma Frost, and there were a few other surprises too.

This last picture is a holdover from yesterday.... I just wanted to get it in.

So there you have it. There are some good fliks worth catching out there, you just have to sift through the over hyped nonsense to get to them. There's nothing I love more than a good story in any form, so I recommend checking these out if you have nothing better to do.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Later People!



Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota