Surviving Failure
My first year of college was probably one of the most difficult times in my life. As desperate as I was to leave my parents and find my own way in the world, I had some trouble adjusting to living away from home. I met a few really cool folks that first year, and they are still friendships I value today. However, I’ll be the first to admit that I was really lost academically.
Studying and I never really got along, and even though I always grasped concepts during lectures and understood them, my recall was terrible at test time. Over the course of those first two semesters I dropped an english composition class (twice) before I had a chance to fail it. I missed my health final, and despite convincing the instructor to let me take it anyway, I failed the course. The rest of my grades were unremarkable.
I knew very well that I would need to take summer classes to make up for my shortcomings in the first year. There was no way I would ask my parents to foot the bill for that since it was my mistake that caused me to be three classes behind. I was going to need a job.
I’m Famous in Canada
Yesterday, during the SOPA Wikipedia blackout, I posted a funny tweet following the #FactsWithoutWikipedia hashtag that trended across Twitter. Apparently, someone in Toronto thought it was funny because later in the day, I got a tweet from someone saying my contribution to #FactsWithoutWikipedia had been published in a Toronto Star article.
I won’t repost the whole thing here, but below is an excerpt.
From The Toronto Star website:
Top 15 fake facts without Wikipedia
What to do when Wikipedia blacks out for 24 hours? Make up your own facts, of course.
Twitter has been furiously updating with users’ sarcastic, silly, and sometimes seemingly real fake facts — using hashtags like #factswithoutwikipedia and #daywithoutwikipedia — while the English-language website is down in protest against anti-piracy law.
Here is a look at our Top 15 favourites:
*SNIP*
- Rock band Rush predicted the end of civilization when their Canadian calendar only went up to 2112. (From @BradKimberly)
Believe it or not, I had to explain this joke to my wife. I guess she’s not a Rush fan.
Young Love and “Alien 3″
When I was in high school, I got a job at the local movie theater during my junior year. It was a pretty sweet deal. They would pay me $4.25 an hour, and I would come home smelling like popcorn… ALL THE TIME!
It was a Cinemark theater, and I had to wear green fluorescent suspenders over a white dress shirt, matching green bow tie (a fake, of course), and black pants. When I worked concession, which everybody does at first, I had to wear a heavy plastic apron that felt like linoleum. Covering the apron was a bunch of Cinemark artwork featuring Front Row Joe. Follow the link… you’ll be sad you did.
I had my first girlfriend in my junior year. Our first date was to go see “Wayne’s World” (Excellent). That petered out somewhere around “the day after prom.” I was pretty down about it, but at least I was making massive bank at the Cinemark. You know, $4.25 in 1992 is about $35 in 2012 currency.
Summer is the busy season at the movies, and 1992 was no different. College folks were coming back home, and some of them would come to work at the theater. That’s when I met Julie Byars. We both worked in the concession, and, like me, she was lured to the Cinemark with the prospect of $4.25 an hour and free movie passes.
There was something about this college girl, who had just finished her first year, that struck me as awesome. To this day, I can’t tell you what it was, but I was clearly smitten. I had never blown off curfew for any reason whatsoever. That’s mostly due to how hum-drum things were back then for me. For her, though, I willingly blew off curfew three times. Sorry, mom.
From my senior yearbook, this is a picture of me working the concession stand at the movie theater back in 1992. The photo was staged after hours, hence the lack of suspenders or bow tie.
On May 22, 1992, two movies opened. “Alien 3″ and “Encino Man,” the movie that would make Brendan Fraser a household name. I asked her if she wanted to see “Alien 3″ with me after work. ”Alien 3″ isn’t your typical date movie fare, but “Encino Man” was playing at the other theater across town. To my surprise, she didn’t reject me as had been the M.O. for 99.9% of the girls I had spoken to up until then.
We sat in the middle of the theater, no longer wearing the fluorescent suspenders or bow ties. It wasn’t an official date, but it sure felt like one. No kiss, but a nice long hug afterwards. I hung out with her a few times after that non-date. I never told her how I felt about her because that was my M.O. back then. My wife would dare say that’s still my M.O. today.
Some time in June, she quit the movie theater and completely disappeared never to be heard from again. Seriously, I never heard from her again, and I was a little crushed. Still, I hadn’t invested a lot of time or energy into this girl, so it just was “one of those things” as far as I was concerned. Remember, I’m making about $100k a year in 2012 dollars at this movie house, so I had more important things to worry about.
Fast forward to today. I’m sitting at the computer searching for and applying to jobs. As I’m surfing the web, I ran across the “Prometheus” trailer. This is the highly-anticipated “Alien” prequel scheduled for release this year. Out of nowhere, my mind conjures up this old, faded memory of a girl I barely knew 20 years ago and the most fantastic non-date I had ever been on in my life.
Back in 1992, there was really no way to find out what happened to people who disappeared. Today, there’s this thing called Google. It’s made mincemeat of the difficulties stalkers used to face back in the early ’90s. By running a simple Google search, I was easily able to determine who she had married and on what date that happened. On a single webpage, I was able to find out her current address complete with apartment number and a current phone number. Another search result made me pretty sure she was divorced.
If this stuff doesn’t freak you out, it should. Running my name through Google, there are a lot of search results about Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams. However, specifically excluding the terms Paisley and Williams from the search, Google turns up just about everything you ever wanted to know about me. From articles I wrote and photos I took in the Air Force, to my Amazon profile, interviews I gave while in Baghdad, nearly every social media account I have, and even my IMDb page. Yes, my life is out there, and that’s freaky.
I can barely remember what Julie looked like. It’s hard to remember people’s faces when you’ve got line of sight on bright green suspenders. Still, she made an impression on me, and I remember never wanting to be afraid to talk to girls ever again. I always approached girls with a bit of trepidation, but after the summer of 1992, I started at least making an effort. I was shot down several more times, of course, but eventually I was able to get people to go out with me. I even conned my wife into marrying me back in 2004.
So, Julie Byars (I know that’s not your name anymore), if you ever do come across this blog, I want to thank you for giving me the confidence to be myself around people. It was worth being grounded repeatedly.
That’s the end of the story. What? You didn’t click the Front Row Joe link? Let me help you out.
Catching up…
So, it’s been nearly a year and a half since I last posted a blog entry. I should feel a little guilty about this, but I really don’t.
To catch you up, I did end up moving to Washington, D.C. to accept a prestigious job with the government. It was a pretty decent job with a good amount of stress involved. When you work at that high a level in the government, things that should be easy to do become monumentally difficult to accomplish. I’m not sure why this is, but something as simple as adding content to a website shouldn’t require fifteen planning meetings and concurrence from everyone from the janitor to the President of the United States.
Still, it was a great job, and I made lots of friends in the DC area. Unfortunately, I had to leave the job. My wife has a job that was looking at some business in the Atlanta area. She volunteered to move to Atlanta to pursue those goals for the company. We have family here, and the cost of living is much much lower than DC. So, I gave up my job in order for her to transfer down here.
She works out of the house now, and I am focused full-time on my cruise travel agency. It’s called The Cruise Hunters, and we have the best cruise deals. I’m still looking for public relations work in the Atlanta area, and I’m regularly applying to things. Money is okay, but I would feel a lot more comfy with a regular source of income. The travel business is good to me, but commissions can be sporadic depending on the supplier.
So, I’m living in Marietta now, and spending lots of time on Twitter. I hope to continue updating this site.
Upcoming Movies
People who know me know that I love movies. I remember going to the movies as a kid with my parents. They would take me to the cartoon matinees. Not surprisingly, my son, who is all of 2 years old, seems to enjoy movies as well.
We took him to see Toy Story 3 in 3D, and he did exceptionally well. He always manages to keep his attention on the screen, and he never runs off or gets distracted. I’m thinking he might be a bit like me when it comes to his love of movies. For now, it’s too early to tell.
Still, I’m really looking forward to several films coming out soon. Sadly, these are the only three films I am even interested in seeing. Nothing really stands out this year.
Tron Legacy
(December 17th)
The Green Hornet
(January 14th)
Little Fockers
(December)
Job Hunt
Almost immediately after deciding to quit the Air Force, my attention turned to finding a job to replace it.
My first decision was whether or not I should continue to work for the government. My only other options would be to work for corporate America again or go into business for myself.
I’ve worked for corporate America before (thanks to CNN and Paramount). I currently run a travel agency but not to the levels of being independent.
So, I decided I would go ahead and try to find a government job. The second decison? What kind of job should I get?
I’ve been doing public relations for nearly six years now, which is quite different from the television and radio production I did for the decade prior. Still, I’ve been able to integrate some of that broadcast experience into my public relations experience to help further my efforts in communicating the Air Force story.
I thought that my best efforts at finding a job would be to search for another public relations position. The trick in a tough job market is to not be so picky. The jobs are out there, but you can’t insist on only accepting a position in the town you live in. If I did that, I would be unemployed for years. A wise professor once told me that you have to go where the jobs are. Not bad advice.
I use USAJobs to search for these PR jobs in government. If there’s one thing the government needs is a good communicator. Every now and then, I see some bonehead in PR get in front of a camera and try to make some sort of excuses about something instead of handling issues the right way. I’m looking at you, BP. Obviously, the government is guilty of this, too.
Anyway, I would like to continue being one of those boneheads. It pays well.
So, I’m really close to locking in one job, and should I get that offer letter in my hand, I’ll be moving to Washington, D.C. in mid-August.
More to come…
9/11: The Big Lie?
Just in case you were curious, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is still an idiot.
Today, he managed to offend just about every American when he said the Sept. 11 attacks were a “big lie” used as a pretext to force us into a war against the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Punching Out
When you’re in the Air Force, there comes a time when you have to think about punching out. There are many meanings to “punching out,” but there are only two that matter.
The first is illustrated in this photo. In 2003, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds lost a jet at a Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho air show. The pilot ejected, or punched out, safely less than two-tenths of a second before the plane hit the ground. In fact, this photo is the first ever taken of a real-world ejection.
The second type of punching out is when you decide to leave the Air Force. The analogy is as if you were the pilot (you) abruptly leaving the plane (the Air Force) before its scheduled landing (retirement).
No doubt, my punching out is the second type.
Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads – 2010
I’m not a football guy, but every year (like clockwork) I plop down in front of the TV and watch the Super Bowl.
I don’t know a Payton from a Peyton, but I know good commercials when I see them. So, in honor of super-duper capitalism at its finest, I present to you, the BEST (and worst) Super Bowl ads for 2010.
The Near End of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Being in the military, I see lots of policies that make no sense. It’s the government, and that’s just how they prefer to do things… policies created as knee-jerk reactions to something that went wrong.
Now the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense are publicly saying that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy from the Clinton administration should be repealed.
I’m going on record to say that’s not the right plan. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m all for equal rights for all, so when I say it’s not the right plan, I mean the PLAN isn’t right.
In fact, I think repealing the law is the right thing to do, but when you repeal the law, where are you? Back where you were in 1992.
The law originally was designed to allow people who were gay to enter the military as long as they didn’t say “I’m gay” or perform homosexual acts in any way while in the military. It’s 20 years to retirement, by the way. That’s a lot of years of not being gay, but still being gay.
Prior to the law, gay Americans couldn’t join the military and were discriminated against just because of their sexual preference. The complete repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law allows military recruiters and commanders to continue their previous discriminatory acts.
That’s terrible on many levels. Instead of focusing on fighting two wars, commanders are instead focusing on who’s gay an who’s not.
Also, I’ve seen first-hand what happens when commanders suspect someone of being gay. They will have the person discharged for having an “inappropriate relationship.” No mention of gay… just inappropriate relationship.
So, if they intend to repeal the law, they need to also protect servicemembers and potential servicemembers from discrimination. Commanders also need to suck it up and stop looking for loopholes to get rid of people they think might be gay.
Now… off of my soap box.
