Stuff I Learned Yesterday

Today’s story is one that I thought I’d get around to sharing eventually, but really didn’t think I’d be sharing it this early.  My mind was changed after I received this email (I’m withholding the name of the sender out of respect for her privacy):

My name is [withheld] and I'm from Mexico. I follow several of your podcasts and find them really amusing and enjoyable. …  I have almost five years in a deep depression and started seeing a psychologist this past friday. One of my many issues is my relationship with my sister, which is almost inexistent, we might as well be strangers. Yesterday I asked my sister about this and for her I'm quite dramatic, boring, ridiculous and she have no interest in sharing her life with me. She doesn't understand why this affects me, I was shocked. Well, I think that's everything.

Thank you for sharing your passion for so many wonderful series, thank you for make my life less miserable.

First, I want to thank this listener for her courage to write in about such a difficult issue.  I am not at all qualified to address this situation in any kind of clinical or professional way, but I can tell you that her story is not uncommon and hits really close to me.  I want to share a story with you today in hopes that it might give you strength and a brighter outlook.  Read More...

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Did you know that Jerry Seinfeld was booed off stage the first time he did stand up?  Did you know that Stephen King’s bestseller “Carrie” was rejected by publishers 30 times?  Or how about this one?  Thomas Edison failed at making the light bulb over 1000 times!  The Beatles were rejected by a music label and told they have “no future in show business.”  Walt Disney was fired and told that he lacked imagination and had no original ideas.

There are many, many other stories of how now-famous people once failed miserably.  Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Abraham Lincoln, and Steve Jobs are just a few.  The stories of their failures have been widely circulated around the internet and often used to inspire others.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to look at those people and think that they have anything to do with ME.  I’m not a millionaire.  I’m not a famous author or inventor.  I’ve never won any awards, well, unless you count that podcasting award!

The point is, if you’re like me, when you hear stories of famous people who once failed, you quickly tell yourself why you’re not like that person and their story may not inspire you the way it was intended.  In reality, all those people are normal humans just like the rest of us.  And while we may not ever be a famous inventor, TV personality, athlete, author, or musician, we can do the EXACT same things that each of those people did.  We can learn from our failures and use them to make us stronger.  Read More...

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There are many things that I wish I had.  I wish I had a more energetic personality.  I wish I could play guitar, piano, and sing like Daryl Hall, I wish I had a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.  they're so perky, I love that...and I wish I had the gift of encouragement.

Now, I know that I can BE encouraging, and I hope that you find these podcasts, encouraging, but there are people out there that just have this gift of encouragement.  Those people that seem to always know what to say in those tough situations or moments when life has you down.  When the tables are turned and someone around me is struggling, I often find it difficult to figure out what to say.  It seems like anything I say is just trite or hollow. Read More...

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Ah, high school.  As I mentioned yesterday, those aren’t really days that I would ever care to repeat.  Even though I don’t want to repeat them, I did learn a lot and look back at most of those days as good days.  Adolescence is hard.  I don’t care how big of a town you live in or how stable your home is.  Teenage boys are hormonal, generally have short attention spans, have tons of energy, and generally would rather be any place other than school.

It just so happened that my high school sophomore English/Lit class was the same time of day that the girls had their PE or elective.  This meant that my sophomore English/Lit teacher, Mr. Harrison had a room full 20 or smart mouthed, teenage boys who couldn’t care less about Shakespeare, Poe, Dickens, or Steinbeck.  I was naturally good at English, but didn’t really care much for literature.  Some of it was interesting, like Poe, Dickens, and Twain, but the poetry, and Shakespeare stuff was dull.  Please don’t hate me.

Mr. Harrison was different than most teachers.  He didn’t fit the mold.  That’s probably why he only lasted about 3 years.  He drove a 1976 Jeep CJ5 and it had the word “Tenacity” stenciled on the sides.  He always backed it into his parking space.  In the classroom he was different too.  He understood what it was like to be a teenage boy and, while he demanded respect and order in the classroom, he tried to make our time and fun as possible. Read More...

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What is your proudest moment? Perhaps it is a professional achievement or recognition. Maybe it’s the day you reached a personal goal. Or maybe it was the day you overcame a gigantic obstacle. For me, it was the day I lost all my friends except one. Wait, what? That’s my proudest moment? Here’s the story.

I grew up in a small town. I graduated with class of about 36. I tried to be athletic, but that didn’t work. The basketball coach and the other players would literally laugh at me as I tried to do the drills. I was never in the cool crowd. Most of the kids at school were nice enough, but I never really felt like I fit in. When I graduated high school I was insecure, and not exactly sure where life would take me, but I could not wait to get out of that small town and see what else was out there.

I started attending the university in a town about 30 miles away, the town I still live in today. I enrolled as a Graphic Arts major with hopes to one day be an animator for Warner Brothers. I’d never taken a formal art class because my school didn’t offer any art courses. I also found a part time job to pay my way through college. I soon realized that my love for drawing went away when it started becoming an assignment and stopped being a mere hobby. So it didn’t take long for my interest in school to wane, even though I was making great grades and made the dean’s honor roll. At the same time, I grew more interested in my job. And there at that little book store is where I reached my proudest moment.  Read More...

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Today's episode is titled, The Day I Slew the Fear Dragon. If you enjoy comic books, sci-fi shows, the geeky side of pop culture, or super hero movies, then chances are that you know what comic con is. Many people associate the word comic con with a massive gathering of geeks and pop culture nerds each July in the sun bathed city of San Diego, California. But in reality, that event is actually called Comic Con International or even San Diego Comic Con. There are many comic cons happening all year round in cities all around the world. In 2013 I not only made my 3rd trip back to San Diego Comic Con, I attended Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con, Dallas Comic Con, and Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia.

There are many things to love about comic cons, and one of my favorites is the opportunity to see and often speak to the people that have worked tirelessly to create books, TV shows, and movies that I love. Sometimes these encounters with celebrities have come in one on one conversations, sometimes they've come in small group conversations, but most of the time I've simply been one of thousand of giddy geeks in a room for an hour as the actors and producers sat on a stage and spoke about their work. I don't get nervous or scared during the one on one conversations, and I no longer get butterflies when I'm part of a round table discussion, but those massive rooms filled with people...those are the ones that make me nervous just thinking about it right now. My fear is the peers.

My first year at San Diego Comic Con I got up in front of nearly 5,000 people in Ballroom 20 so that I could ask a question to the stars of my favorite show, Fringe. I was disappointed, but mostly relieved when time ran out before I even got close to the microphone. I attended 4 other comic cons, as I mentioned before, and never got up enough nerve to even approach the microphone line again. And then came Dragon Con 2013. It seems only fitting that I would finally slay the fear dragon at con bearing its name. But first, a little background. Read More...

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