You see, there’s a chapter in my book called “Ditching Heavy Baggage” — and it’s about how in order to keep living my passion (traveling, meeting new people, learning all I can, finding mentors, having a blast, taking great photos, having adventures, changing peoples’ lives) I had to get rid of people that were weighing me down (hence the baggage metaphor… get it?  I travel, and it’s extra weight).

I’ve heard – and then had proven through experience- that you are the sum average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. This applies to everything: health, weight, happiness, success of relationship, stress levels, positivity, wealth, activity level, motivation.

I generally use positive phrases these days.  I say “wealth”, not “how broke you are” because I’d rather measure the positive things. I guess it’s a bit like “The Secret” – though, my gripe with that book/movie is that they left off one major chapter “Do something!”  ”Take MASSIVE action!” — though… having a pretty vision board is a good start.  I do believe in the law of attraction… I believe more in the law of gravity, but…. you need to know what you want, otherwise you’re a lot less likely to get it.

My posts are inspired by what’s happening in my life, or the conversations I have.  Today (after waking up at 3am from my 5:30pm nap that followed a super productive day where I skipped sleeping last night) I had a conversation with one of my couches in Atlanta.  My friend was on his way to South Carolina.

(Cut  & Paste from Skype chat)

Why you going to SC?  Hurricane looting?  Kite Surfing?  Visiting your Mom?

Nah…. my buddy steve came to visit in ATL and his buddy owns a race shop…atv’s dirtbikes street bikes…so he brought some 4 wheelers to ride….he wrecked while he was here so he is in the hospital with broken clavicle and scapula, ruptured spleen, and a flap of flesh hanging off his skull….so I am driving his truck and trailer back to SC for him.

My buddy has recently had a child, and things are not good with him and the girl.  He’s gotten a new job, which I am thrilled to say is in marketing (and he’ll be the first one to tell you that that is because of my influence over the years). I met him when he worked at Gold’s Gym (which I have a blog post to talk shit about that place!). I mentored him a bit, ’cause he’s a good kid with a similar passion for adventure and photography as me.  We’ve gone hiking, and then climbing power poles that are on the ledge of 1,500 foot cliffs.  We’ve jumped off of (much smaller) cliffs into rivers. I introduced him to marketing, and coached him in his sales technique, and all of a sudden he went from “the guy who is just an assistant behind the counter” to “the guy that broke every sales record for all 8 local branches of Gold’s, despite having a hidden location.”

The manager at that Gold’s was not particularly responsible.  No one at that gym was really motivated. It was “just a job”.

My friend quit finally.  I was glad, because those people were not a particularly great set of people to have in his 5 people that influence him. Notice, I was one of the people, and I pushed him forward to get more sales, and to compete with himself, not the lazy people that are there.

I’ve given free consulting with a very precise action plan to many people when they’ve told me their goals, dreams, or problems.  Yet, they didn’t do anything about it. Some have followed my steps, and have gotten  great results.  Though… some people listen too well… like Rob, who posted a picture of his ass on Facebook when I said “hah! great picture, you should make that your picture!”- although…. people who do listen, rather than overthink everything, can get much better results.  Ready, Fire, Aim.

So, why do most people not take action? They think their friends will make fun of them.  If you’re hanging out with a bunch of people who go drink every night, and they ask you out to the bar, and you say “Hey guys, I’m going to skip out tonight… I want to practice my sales presentation in the mirror for 3 hours, then video tape it (or… whatever the term is these days….flip it?), and see if I’m pre-addressing every objection….” they might tell you to do that later, or “why would you do that? You’re already kicking ass without practicing. Do it tomorrow, that one chick with the big boobs coming out tonight… you should come!”

The line you get may be different… that was a hypothetical example, but you know what I mean, because it’s happened to you!  You wanted to do something good for you ( start a raw diet, stick to a budget, stick to a training regiment, meditate, take a class….), and all of a sudden you weren’t quite fitting in with your friends, so you dropped whatever it was.

It’s called a comfort zone.

We get used to how things are, and a change is a threat.  We may want the change, but part of us ( our lizard/reptilian brain) starts trying to protect us….. “What if you get hurt? What if you’re not good at it? What if your friends laugh at you? What if you lose your friends? What if it doesn’t work out, and you don’t get the job?!?!?!” -

You succeeding at your goal is also a threat to your friends, because it means that you may ditch them, or that they will have to improve their standards… both are threats to their comfort zone. And thus loving friends and family are the number one killers of dreams.

I surround myself with positive and driven people who want to (constantly) improve and enjoy their lives, and thus we infect each other with motivation and support for our goals.

Instead of “Come on… do that tomorrow, let’s get plastered tonight!”  I may say “You’re working on outsourcing all your tasks?  That’s awesome!  Ok… well, we’re going, but before we head to the bar, let me give you my copy of Michael Gerber’s E-Myth and E-Myth Revisited!  He’s all about systems, and if you’re outsourcing, you should make a system of every task, so that you can give it to every person that will do it, and they’ll be able to do it!  Think McDonald’s!   Also, you should use Jing, and record the doing of every task… then they can see exactly what you do, and you can narrate it… then you’ll have a library of all the tasks!”

That’s why I like the world of Internet Marketing.  Most people have their own schedules, are positive, always learning new things, share knowledge with each other, and work hard.

My buddy that I mentioned earlier is young.  I figure he won’t listen to everything I say, and that’s fine… at 21 years old I didn’t realize the things I know today.  But, I reminded him this…..

(Cut  & Paste from Skype chat)

my buddy steve came to visit in ATL and his buddy owns a race shop…atv’s dirtbikes street bikes…so he brought some 4 wheelers to ride….he wrecked while he was here so he is in the hospital with broken clavicle and scapula, ruptured spleen, and a flap of flesh hanging off his skull….so I am driving his truck and trailer back to SC for him

that’s nice of u– have a good audio book to listen to while u drive those hours? (Was going to send him one)

hmmmm….. just a reminder:  You ARE the sum average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

if all 5 have suspended licenses, chances are you’re next. and that tapplies to wealth, health, etc…

steve is smart the other guy is an idiot…

Steve’s the one with broken everything

point taken

My friend’s life is currently hectic. His relationship is beyond volatile right now. He left a job that the hated with Coca Cola… which I predicted he’d hate, as it was mindless, and with small results.  That’s a comfort zone thing…. we’d rather have “a  job… for right now… just so I can pay my bills, and then I’ll save up, and then I’ll be able to make that thing so I can get that other job that I really want to have!”  He finally got a gig that involves his brain, where he can measure and create his own results.

I’m not his parent (or anyone’s), nor am I yours.  I’m not calling his friends losers, as I don’t know them all.  I’m not calling your friends losers.  I am saying that you should monitor where your life is compared to where you want it to be.  What’s missing?  Are you truly happy?  Do you have a relationship you like?  Do you have the gig you like? Are you living where you want?  Are your friends positive and supportive?

After you evaluate yourself, take a look at the 5 people you hang out with the most (significant other included if you’re married or dating).  Are they happy?  Are they successful (however success is defined to them)?  Do they like where they live? Are they healthy?

If most people you spend your time with are stressed out, obese, divorced, and broke… then that’s probably what you’ll see in the mirror.

I lost 30 pounds in a month by trying a raw food diet!  Ok… it was 28 pounds, but 30 sounds better  It was a very difficult thing to go from eating meat and potatoes, and never even having side salads or any salads…. to 100% raw (I did have 1 glass of Vodka during the excusrsion).  I was able to do it because the people I was traveling with on a 6 week road trip were Craig & Suzanne… both of which ate healthy, shopped at Co-Ops, and knew how to prep raw food.

The last week was the hardest, because I was alone.  After we finished rock climbing in Yosemite, we parted ways.  I went to San Francisco to visit my family, and they went back to Austin.  My family – like most – is not into raw food.  They prepped and ate all my favorite meals around me… schnitzel, brisket, home made ground burgers.  They had these, while I made salads, or almond butter with seaweed sandwiches, etc…  My mom even kept trying to get me to eat their food!  What the hell?  I told her I was doing 30 days, and that it was difficult, and yet she kept trying to make me stray from my goal!

I love my folks… and they’re at the gym almost every day, and they tell me that they eat very healthy.  But, they both keep complaining about their weight.  They don’t lift weights as I’ve recommended for them.  They swim, exercycle, and walk the elipticals.  It’s just like having a camera, and taking pictures doesn’t make you a photographer…. going to the gym, and eating healthy doesn’t mean that you’re in shape, or en route to results.   It’s better than not doing anything at all… but if you’re not getting the results you want, you’re doing something wrong.  Bring in an expert that works with others like you, and has gotten them the results that you want.

Mom figured I was skinny from my diet, so why don’t I use up this family time to eat home made food.  My goal didn’t matter…. just as most of yours do not really mean anything to your friends.

So, if you’re NOT where you want to be… who is?  Why aren’t you friends with them?  Why not see if you can help them out with something?  Why not join some Meetups (meetings from Meetup.com) and find others that have your same goal.

If you get a workout partner that doesn’t show up, or doesn’t threaten your life because you’re thinking of flaking on the training session… then you have someone who isn’t serious, and should fire them, and find a new one who is serious.

My chapter that I mentioned, “Ditching Heavy Baggage”, talks about how I’ve had to train my parents to stop being negative and tell me how my idea won’t work.  It’s about how I don’t really speak to all my old friends anymore, because my priorities are much bigger than just going to the next party or rave.  It’s about how there are some people whom I will no longer respond to their calls, emails, or texts… and will delete their voicemails without listening.  It was hard to do, but I can be happy the way that I define it now.

We all have (or… in my  case, had) that friend who is always having it rain on their parade.  Every “So… what’s new?” leads to a depressing conversation about how work sucks, their girl is cheating on them, they just got injured, they got a ticket, etc….  I support my friends when they are down.  But… if they are ALWAYS down, I’m done!  You can call me a shitty friend when you read that… but none of my friends will tell you that I”m a shitty friend… If your life is seriously THAT broken that all you have to say is bad news every time, maybe you should seek professional help.  Or… more realistically, you need to do the thing that changed my life– start taking personal responsibility.

Yup, that’s right.  The economy doesn’t matter, and the president won’t bail you out.  YOU have the power to evaluate your situation, and improve it.  Hours cut back at work?  Turn a hobby into a business.  No money for food? Barter someone food for a skill or item that you have.  There is ALWAYS a solution!  There is ALWAYS something you can do.

If I decide that I want to make a photoshop training course (which I did decide, and am working on), my friends say “That’s awesome, you’ve got so much experience in photoshop, your work rocks, you should totally do it! How are you marketing it? I bought that one course on making videos that convert really well, want it?  Want to set up a mastermind to review your strategy and make sure everything’s in the right direction?” They call me to check how that is progressing, and bust my chops if I make excuses.

They’re busting my chops now ’cause my book isn’t done yet.

I said I wanted to do more public speaking, and someone wrote an amazing letter about me, and within 2 hours, I got invited to be a speaker at the 140Conference. I have a month to prepare a presentation that will kick extreme ass!

THESE are the kind of people you want in your life.  These are the people you want in your 5 people you spend the most time with.

Hey, it’s your life. I’m not judging you. Who gives a shit if people are or will judge you? They’re going to do that anyways… we’re all people.  It’s actually a survival mechanism from the cave days…. but, if there is something you want to do/be/have, you are responsible for it. If the current group of people you have are not pushing you towards your dreams, you may want to consider getting a new set of friends.

Couchsurfing has been my savior.  I got to meet so many incredible people, discover internet marketing, find those few places (like Austin and San Diego) where I feel at home…  My life has become a force of change, for myself, and for those I interact with.  Because I keep changing who I’m staying with, and where I’m staying at, my life is always changing, as is the group of 5 people I spend the most time with…. but I make sure that as it changes, I only fill it with amazing people whom I respect, look up to, can learn from, and enjoy their company.

So… who are your five people?

So, I’m writing this from Los Angeles.  If I wasn’t here this weekend, I’d be in Alabama, driving a stock car at 200mph with Matt Bacak and his top affiliates.  I wanted to go, but funds are tight, and many amazing projects came up. This morning’s breakfast conversation led to a trip to Baja, Mexico this Monday.  Dinner’s conversation led to us searching for places we  can try to either ride an Ostrich, or… I’d also be willing to wear Kevlar vest, and a helmet, and piss one off… I hear those things are brutal, but that sounds like it’d make a fun video.

Back to LA though– I’m staying with this girl Espree.  She’s gorgeous, loves to smile, has a snowboard and 4 skateboards of different types right by the door.  I met her last week when watching Jason Moffatt perform his first stand up comedy routine at the Comedy Store.  He was awesome.  Jason was couchsurfing with Espree at the time, and Espree is also a friend of Rob & Kathi’s — whom I was couchsurfing with for the last week, and whom I’m going to Baja with, and trying to ride an ostritch with.

I’m also working on marketing some of Kathi’s projects, and Rob and I have been helping each other solve all of our business problems.  It’s been really sweet.  Additionally, this drive to LA has been the first time I’ve ever used a garment bag! Kathi is a professional organizer, and an image consultant/stylist.  I’m documenting the process.  She pre-shopped for me, then I went to Macys, had my own private dressing room (the size of a large conference room), tried all this amazing stuff on… and then took various things for alterations.  I have a whole new wardrobe, and a new haircut— yea… I know… you want pics… next week–  I’m working with Rob to do a photoshoot.

So, Rob knows Espree, but I was talking about Serendipity…. so… what’s the deal with that?

Ok.. I’ll break it down for you:

In May  I went on that road trip with the girl.  I had all that yummy but horrible Taco Bell, which led me to feel awful, which led me to go back on raw food and a 30 day cleanse, which led me to detox and bring up all sorts of emotions, which made me pretty depressed for a few days, which made it pretty damn easy to say “YES!” to Moffatt’s random text about if I wanted to watch his surf spot & dog in La Jolla for 6 weeks while he RVs with his girl, which led Rob Burns to reach out because he saw that I was watching JMo’s dog…. and because I was in La Jolla, I worked on my book a bunch, met some more awesome people, and now Espree….

Espree I find ultra inspiring.  I hope she’s not pissed at me for writing this, but I really wish more people followed in her example.  Why? ’cause more people would be happy and  successful.  She has a vision board– but more specifically, she has her goals broken down by amounts, dates, etc… very specific.  Do you know what YOU want?  Only 3 percent of Americans set goals.  Do you?  If you could do anything what would you do?  How would you do it?

Read, network, mastermind, engage, learn, take action, learn from your mistakes, take further action.

She seemed surprised at the conclusions I inferred so quickly.  Over the years I’ve just learned to trust my gut feeling, and listen to it.  Proof that  it’s working?  I haven’t had a gun pulled on me since 2001!  Must be doing something right, right?

Since I’ve couch surfed, I’ve learned a lot about people.  I spend an awful lot about them, and I study many books on psychology, marketing, and people in general… biographies and quote books rock.

My point is that she told me that she’s just lucky.  I say people make their own luck, and having studied (and couchsurfed with) many successful people, she’s taking all the right steps.

Anyways- back to serendipity-   I’m definitely going to Baja on Monday… that’s why I drive with my Passport… “Just in case” something incredible happens that requires me to leave the country.  It would not surprise me if someone said “Hey, let’s go to Thailand, and stay on this island there for 6 months” – and I’d say “Sounds great!” (in fact, that’s kind of on my agenda… if you’d like to get in on that, you can join me in Thailand where I’ll be renting a house on an island, and doing consulting from there).

I haven’t been to the dentist in years… like…. mid 90′s or so.  I don’t like getting my teeth scraped.  I’ve busted a tooth in a wakeboarding accident.  When I drove to Austin from Atlanta, my tongue got cut up on one of my teeth— is my filling falling apart?  Is my tooth?  I don’t know, but US Dentistry rates are outrageous.  So, I hear the dentistry costs about 1/10th over there, and the Fish Tacos are amazing.  I’m going for some fish tacos, a donkey show, and a checkup.  Just kidding about the Donkey Show.  That sounds pretty gross.

After connecting with Dori Friend and being her poolboy for the weekend while her 8 friends from high school visited her, I got invited to her birthday bash on the 27-29th.  Lots of floating around on the lake, and having fun.  I’m totally down, Dori rocks!

I also found out last time I was in San Fran that my parents are coming out to visit my older bro — we went indoor skydiving, and I’m going to show up when my folks are visiting, and we’ll all do that together. I didn’t even know my folks were going to go visit before the other week!

What else?

Well… actually… it’s 1:30am, and I’m waking up at 6am to beat out the LA traffic, and get to Raymond Aaron’s event.   I’m getting coaching on my consulting.  Masters hire masters.

So… sweet dreams, good morning— whatever’s going on while you read this.  But the world keeps getting more and more exciting… are you taking advantage of that?

4th of July pic from Wikipedia

4th of July / Independence day… a day where 234 years ago we told the Brits to suck it. It doesn’t seem to mean that much as a holiday these days.  Most holidays don’t seem to mean that much. This one is an excuse to play with fireworks – or break the law in certain areas to get the fireworks – over eat BBQ food, get drunk, and occasionally catch an orchestra.

This year I’m in the middle of a health kick, so I don’t care about the BBQ food.  In La Jolla, it was cold today, so I didn’t feel like taking people up on their beach BBQ offers.  For some reason I was really tired, so slept a lot during the day (my neck still hurts, and my head’s a bit foggy.  Glad it’s my day off P90x).  I did walk outside to watch the fireworks for a few minutes, then yawned and walked back in.

Why? Because in 2007 I ate shrooms at Burning Man, and watched a (literally) 1,000 foot fireball come out of an oil derrik, followed by probably about 40 minutes of the most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen!  Since then, nothing compares.  These were not the skimpy one firework at a time stream that you see in most fireworks show… these were hundreds of them at a time…. the sky was filled with them!  Like most things at Burning Man, these were done by artists who put everything into it… and probably didn’t have nearly as many fire-safety ordinances as most cities.

This year’s fireworks sounded about the same to me as a bag of popcorn getting ready in the microwave.  I went inside to hang with Webber, whom I was informed ahead of time hates fireworks.

I just don’t feel this holiday anymore. This year, to celeebrate independence, the United States has decided to pass a new law that suspends the 1st ammendment.  Yup, media is not allowed to get near anything having to do with the oil spill.  The United States of BP will now arrest you if you try to show the world how they’re killing the planet.

That pisses me off, and not just because I’m a photographer, but because this proves some more that the United States has gone from claiming independence from Brittain to becoming the world’s biggest bully.  I’m not going to blog about the middle east bullying for oil.  Seems a lot of it has to do with oil, eh?

This site has a good article on the new rule.  As far as where things are going, 1984 (a reference to the book by Orwell, not the year before I came to the USA)…. Big Brother Is Watching…. the government in Orwell’s book figured that if you control men’s minds, you control the truth.

You can listen to 1984 for free at this site: http://www.archive.org/details/George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book

There was a bill just passed by the Senate Committee… the thing we call the “Internet Kill Switch” (Google it)- which lets the government decide when and how to turn off the internet… but now passes the power from the president’s hands, to a committee’s hands as well.

Photographers and journalists (and anyone else) are not allowed anywhere near the BP “cleanup”…. that’s a semi media blackout… but that bill as far as I’m concerned will probably pass, and let the government shut down blogs that feature footage that wasn’t supposed to get out.

What I’m wondering is why people aren’t using the equipment that was used to make Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth – This is one of the clips that talks about it.  Sure… it’s expensive, and the coast guard may try to arrest you or crash your chopper into the water, where no one will know the wiser, and the oil that leaks from your wrecked chopper is nominal compared to the non-stop mileage of oil that BP’s unleashed… but… if you do succeed– which you can certainly do at a larger distance than 65 feet (can you believe they originally wanted 300 feet?) — you’ll capture amazing footage of all the oil-soaked birds, etc….

I can (and often do) write for hours… so, I’m actuallly going to stop now, and go work on my book instead.

My points though for tonight’s post:

1. If you have something that’s too good and rare, it will destroy normal moments for you (i.e.  fireworks are now lame after the fireworks at Burning Man)
2. BBQ tends to be bad for your health… I still love it though, so the best way to stay healthy is to not to put yourself in situations where you’re surrounded by what causes your problems (i.e. if you’re a drug addict, don’t go to a rave, or your dealer’s house)
3. Independence day seems like a joke these days, because we are heading towards a complete lack of freedom…. but enjoy your 3-day holiday weekend!

Small add-on:  Since I offered a link to 1984 for free (yes, I post on Facebook / Twitter WHILE I write blog posts), someone gave me this fun piece of conspiracy theory, The Obama Deception.  It’s been a little while since I watched a good conspiracy film, and how can you not believe everything they say with those awesome narrators they have, and that awesome background footage…. and perhaps also that much if not all of it makes sense.

I’m  warning you in advance, this is not your mother’s book review (takes me a tiny bit to get warmed up)! It has a lot of really personal stuff from my life as I reflect on the book, and is discussed in my fun (and language filled) manner.

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse is a book that does not fit in my normal reading list. As with all things in my life, this too has a fascinating story and reflection.

It all started with Jaime.

Have you ever known someone… you knew who they were… you’ve spoken before… you’ve got many friends in common?  Sure you have.  In my case, this is Jaime Mintun. I met her in March of 2009.  She was one of the keynote speakers at Stompernet 7.  I was invited, and had a blast learning and partying.  Jaime had caught my attention… not because of her good looks, but because she was speaking about consulting- something I do, and am always fascinated with.  The way she presented things made sense.

Since then I’ve met many of her friends, and  seen her a few times in various cities… most recently, hanging out with my fellow adventurer, Caleb Jennings at David Wolfe’s Longevity Conference.  Why is this worth mentioning?  Keep reading, you’ll see.

Now that I’m in La Jolla, we decided to hang.  I guess we see each other on Facebook so often, with so many friends in common, that we felt we knew each other. *WRONG* – This blog post is about Siddartha, but I could easily write a much longer post about Jaime…. for starters, there’s this story called Acres of Diamonds.  In that story, this guy sells his property to fund a diamond funding expedition.  He spends his whole life looking for diamonds, and does not succeed… yet, the property he sold ended up being one of the largest diamond mines ever.

That’s a reminder for you to really get to know the people who are already in your life.  Some of them may be the most awesome diamond mine ever!  Upon hanging with Jaime at a coffee shop, neither one of us got any of our work done. We did have an absolute blast… a day of non-stop laughter, and getting to know each other.  Turns out that she is extremely smart, extremely learned, well travelled, and a heck of an achiever.  When we spoke about creativity though, she told me about Siddhartha, and how fascinating she found it.  Here’s a link to Jaime’s blog post about Siddhartha.

What she had told me was that she didn’t feel that she felt in…. she liked to travel, but her hippie friends gave her crap about having nice things, while her successful friends gave her crap about staying at hostels and low-cost residences while traveling. And she read this book, and felt fine with being herself…. (and now, finally, onto the book)

This book reminds me of something I would have read in high school or college English/Literature class. It started off sort of boring me..(What? I’m being honest!  Anyways… if that’s all you read, then you’re a fool!  Keep going!) The languaging is slow, and of an earlier era.  It was published in 1922, and in the USA in 1951, before Fight Club, so it is forgiveable.  This was not intended to be an action novel, but an allegorical tale (it tells a story other than the literal interpretation of what you read, by using figures and symbols to convey the intended message).

Jaime’s summary:  This guy goes around the land meeting all these different leaders… Buddah, merchants, etc… each one trying to tell him what’s so special about their thing… but in the end, the only person who is just is the Ferryman… ’cause he would just bring people to their destination, and did not judge them, or tell them what to expect…. he let them find their own path.   I said that it was during our talk of creativity that Jaime told me about this book, because like the Ferryman, Jaime can connect people of different worlds, so they understand each other, without judging them… win-win-win.

I’m not going to tell you the entire story– you can get it on audio book, or even read it for free on Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2500 – If you’re not familiar with Gutenberg.Org, you should check it out!  It’s a site that posts an insane amount of public domain literature/sheet music/etc… Apparently, I am going to tell you the whole story… Since there is so much that relates from the story to my life (this sentence was inserted after writing this post), but I tell it in a lot fewer pages than Hesse did.

I mention Jaime, her blog, and her summary, because I’m fascinated by how different people read the same thing, and get such a different message out of it.

I was able to connect with Siddhartha as a literal character, not just in the allegorical sense.

The novel begins by talking about what a hotshot Siddhartha is…. everyone likes him, he’s good looking, he’s smart, he’s helpful, he’s successful at what he does, he is passionate, he makes other people smile….. and yet, he does not have his own happiness.

His happiness is missing, because while he’s learned all that they teach the Brahmin (the Indian caste / religion he was born into), he didn’t think that their answers actually provided truth. So, he and his buddy Govinda skip town to join the Shramanas, which are ascetics (people who give up all posessions, and basically all worldly pleasures in order to find enlightenment).

Before they go, he wants permission from his dad… who’s not willing to give it… until he realizes that Siddhartha is stubborn, and is going to do this anyways, so he finally gives him his blessing.  While not a lot of time is spent on this portion of the story, this is a major theme (uggh!  See!  Told you this sounds like a Literature class.  Even my writing sounds like homework for one of those.  It’s all right– classes are good.) which sort of boils down to “If you love something, set it free.  If it comes back, it was meant to be.  If it doesn’t, hunt it down and kill it…. er… if it doesn’t, it wasn’t meant to be!” (the original cliche, probably didn’t have that hunting part :p )

So, my parents “let me” go on this trip… they didn’t understand it (thought this would be just another phase), but they love me, so they let me go (not that I’m that easy to stop).  They let me get a motorcycle (though, that took a little bit of reverse psychology) despite being so worried about what will happen to me if I get a bike.  I loved my Honda CBR 600 F2, but sure enough… I got shot in the leg with a paintball gun while doing 110mph! Parents know everything!

So, Sid (yeah… I’m gonna call him that   It’s way faster to type… and for you to read!) and Go (well.. if Sid gets abbreviated, this is only fair.  Anyways… Sid & Go has a way more stylish feel to it…. maybe I’ll do a rewrite of the original novel, turning it into a modern action story… that has deep meaning, of course) hang with the Shramanas, and Sid says, “Nah… they don’t know shit either!” (he worded it differently) “What else is there?”

Now Go is sort of a bitch… when Hesse starts the book by saying what a badass Sid is, he talks about how Go is kind of his bitch… he wants to be him, and follow him to the end of the world.

Go is an important character for me, because he reminds me of one of the chapters in my book that talks about the people who care about you, but weigh you down.  Go always tells Sid how cool he is, but whenever Sid says “Hey! These peeps don’t know jack, let’s find some better answers!” Go tries to talk him out of it!  That little bitch, how dare he?  Despite all that, he still goes where Sid goes.

So, they left the Brahmin, they left the Shramanas, and they heard about this Buddah dude.  He’s supposed to be hot shit, and his opt-in list is growing like mad!  Oh wait… marketer-speak again…. his following is growing quickly, thus he probably has the truth.

Hesse did not spend much time talking about the journey here… It went quickly from “I heard Buddah has some good stuff” to “Yay! We’re here!”

So, Sid & Go couchsurf (yeah!  There’s a lot of couchsurfing in this novel, no wonder I like it!) with some people, and watch Buddah and his yellow-robed buddies all go beg for food, then they catch his lecture, and decide it’s pretty decent.  So, they crash another couch, and Go, who’s kind of a follower anyways decides that Buddah is in fact awesome, and that this must be the truth.

Sid wishes him well, but decides that Buddah is kind of high and mighty too, so he’s gonna go find the real truth.  He wasn’t a dick about it though.  He flat out told Buddah that his program’s pretty damn great, but has one major problem….  you can’t teach what Buddah experienced, because he experienced it… it’s an experience, not knowledge! He also told him that his stuff’s a bit too polarized.  There’s more to life than suffering and Nirvana (though, people in Seattle may argue that!).

More reflection– I was told that I’m supposed to go to college. That must be the truth, right?  Well, I went to UF, and left, ’cause I knew more than they did from my own learnings (about 3d animation– which in ’94 was not nearly as popular as it is now).  It was hard to break the news to my own Go (friends and family), but I knew that this was the path for me.

Actually, it’s an awesome story, so here’s the quickie version (color coded & italicized, so you can fast forward to Sid’s story if mine’s not fascinating enough f0r you): I started with CIS (computer and information sciences) since I wanted to learn 3d animation. After a bunch of prerequisites, it turns out that 3d animation is in the Fine Arts program, and you have to take this 13 credit class called WARP (hell if I remember what it stands for, but you had 6 hours of class on Monday / Wednesday / Friday, and lectures on Tuesdays, and tons of projects to keep you busy in between).

We had this project to mix our style with that of an artist whose name we chose out of a hat. I got Jennifer Bartlett. Some fancy NY artist whose work focuses on nature, and the passing of time (yes, I actually did research to find this out).  I took the 486 computer that I had built (I had actually driven 4 hours to get parts at wholesale to upgrade it for animation….16MB of RAM, and a 2x CD ROM drive were expensive as hell!  I had put it on Mom & Dad’s credit card – which they discovered quite quickly — and spent 6 months paying them back. ) and installed a pirated copy of Autodesk Animator on it.

In AA (Autodesk Animator… although I sure did drink a lot more back then than I do these days), I animated a robot juggling.  The background was a photo of dunes in the desert.  A dust storm came, and blew the desert away to reveal a modern city.  The juggling robot didn’t care, he just kept doing his thing, while the city turned to desert, and desert turned to city.

I had mixed my style and Mrs. Bartlett’s style by showing landscapes, and time passing– the things that she likes — in a medium that I use (computers and animation) with the art and themes that I like — sci-fi, robots, high-tech, modern.

I actually had to schlep (yiddish for carry…. often used when speaking of cumbersome cargo) my computer and my monitor in my Ford Taurus Station Wagon — my 2nd hand me down from the folks…. I trashed this one as well, though it was a wonderful car to carry kegs in– and set it up in front of the class.

I played my animation, and explained about Jen’s work and mine. People were impressed, and I was pleased with myself, but then the teacher says “ok, but what’s your message?”

“Huh?” “Message?”

People started guessing, “Are you trying to say that all things fade away?” “History repeats itself?”

I pointed at the one who said the thing about fading away “Ummm… Yeah!  You got it!” awkward pause “What he said!” (In hind sight, Battlestar Galactica – the modern series- was a complete rip-off of my art project: people evolve, create technology — robots, of course – which helps to bring them into more modern times, and then turns against them, and then the people get back to Earth, and blow up all their technlogy… back to dirt.  Now, I hadn’t actually seen the show, but Craig Allen was kind enoguh to give me the run down)

“Ah huh!”  the teacher was not convinced.

What the hell?!?!  The project sheet said nothing about having a message! It said to mix our style with the hat-artist’s style!  I decided to be stubborn, and bring up this point.

The teacher tried to explain – as if this were common knowledge – that everything we create has a meaning.  I disagreed. I believe that sometimes we just create to create…. ’cause it’s fun, or it’s theraputic… and that if they wanted a message, they should have explicityly said so in the assignment.

In case you’re wondering, I did get a shitty grade on that project because I didn’t have a message!

Part of the way through WARP, they have a lecture where all the department chairs show you the different things that each department produces, so you can choose your path for next semester.  When I saw what their idea of computer animation was (making still frames in Photoshop (back then in version 2.x ) and making an animation out of them by using Macromedia Director (Adobe Flash’s great grand daddy… I used to program interactive CD’s in Director back in the late 90′s), I was pissed off!

What the hell?  I’m already more advanced than this entire department… my juggling robot was light years ahead of their crappy animation!

The day I walked out of class, and UF all together, was the day we had  discussion. The same high-and-mighty teacher that thought that you have to have a message behind everything you do said “All right, so let’s say you have a gallery exhibit, and someone wants to not only buy one of your pieces, but also to license it, and make stamps, posters, and prints from it.  What do you think?”

The whole class looked uncomfortably at their toes… avoiding all eye contact with the teacher…  The whole class except me of course (no wonder I love the Little Johnny jokes so much!  So many of them start just like this!), I had my hand raised way up high.

“Ori?”

“Well, that’s great!”

The whole class turned and looked at me as if I wore a KKK outfit to a MLK march!

“What?”

“How can you say that?!” “If you make prints, then it loses all value as art!”  “What is it you want to do with your life?”

“Seriously? Ok…. let’s cover all grounds.  Yes, I think it’s great… because now not only did you sell your image, but now you have a steady stream of royalties coming in with every sale this person makes, so now you have money to pay for your shelter/studio where you can make the rest of the pieces that won’t be worth a thing until after you die!  Additionally, every sale this guy makes gets your work seen by more people, and thus is marketing for you!”

“As far as what I want to do? I want to be a commercial artist. That means I want to make my money before I’m dead! So clearly I’m in the wrong place!” I walked out of class, and immediately called my older brother and asked what the best way to tell Mom & Dad that I’m dropping out, I’m clearly wasting my time here.

To end this story, my folks came with a pick-up truck, and towed my station wagon (which I had sort of destroyed, and we had now used as a trailer to carry all my belongings in) back to South Florida.

When I later went to the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale (another place I don’t recommend.  That’s an even longer story.), and had my own labs on Saturdays (10am- midnight. Anything computer related: photoshop, illustrator, animator, coreldraw, 3d studio (3ds max wasn’t out yet), lightwave (which the school wasn’t teaching… but if you used it, I’d teach it), and whatever other cheeseball 3d apps they had), and taught many classes for the school, and led DART (Digital Arts Research Team), the students that had the most problems with using computers were UF Fine Arts graduates.  They were all brain washed into believing  that if it’s done on a computer, it can’t be art, and thus they had serious internatl struggle!

The reason I put that last giant paragraph in normal text color (black), even though it’s part of my flashback, is because it is definitely part of my Sid & Go dissertation!  Think about it!  These people were giving their trust and money to a famous school.

The school’s internationally renowned faculty had taught them what they knew… and they believed it all. These were truths that belonged to someone else, not them, as they did not come upon them by their own experiences, but rather were taught them (That’s basically the entire point of Siddhartha by the way).  These beliefs later would become counter productive for their goals in life.

So, like Sid, I told my folks that I wasn’t down with my expected path, but would pursue my own path…. and like Sid, I told the well known institution that I call bullshit on their truth.  I left my Art Institute Friends behind and went on to California to discover a better teacher.

The Ferryman that Jaime was talking about was the next major character that Sid came across, and couchsurfed with. He was chill, wise, and accepted friendship as payment. Sounds like many of my couches– I’ll say more on that later, as compared to now, because like my couches, Sid comes back later.

Sid got to the other side of the river, and the first person he comes across Kamala, a babe who knows how to play the game.  I’ll just say it… Kamala is a courtesan- a woman who had a nice house with servants, nice belongings, all for sex.  So, it’s not exactly a high-fee prostitute – although that’s what she was – because the courting rituals were important. You know, she had regulars, and the gifting process was important.

Another piece of reflection: Shortly after leaving UF, I dated this chick Jeannie for a little bit.  She was from Texas, soft spoken with a southern drawl. I met her online (although, I later found out that it was her mother’s doing… The mom pretended to be Jeannie, in order to set us up.), back before meeting people online was considered safe, cool, or normal.  Guess I was a trend setter, eh?

So Jeannie told me she’s a cocktail waitress at Thunder Alley.  I never heard of this place, but she never wanted me to visit her at this place (my fake ID would’ve worked just fine!), which I later found out that she had started there as a cocktail waitress, but was pressured/promoted to a topless dancer.  **I’ve never told this story before.  Amazing the shit that comes out when you write freestyle, honestly, and find a good book to write about.

Her mom(Jeannie, not Kamala… who’s mother was never mentioned in the novel) was on disability, complete with wearing depends (bad joke I tell: What does 90 year old vagina smell like?  *shrug* “Depends!”).  The mom would smoke a carton every day or two!  I shit you not.  Their small place reeked of cigarettes, and was in a ghetto part of town, near the freeway off of  I95 and State Road 84.

Jeannie didn’t like being a waitress (I still thought she was a waitress), and couldn’t stand that her mom used all her disability funds on cigarettes…. she wanted a better life for them, and missed Texas.  She took a job as an escort.  There was no talking her out of it, although when she had a breakdown, threw stuff at her mom, and got on a grayhound to Texas, she told me that any decent guy would have talked her out of it.

I had tried very hard, but despite being a very persuasive individual, I had not succeeded…. mostly because I didn’t have a better solution on how to raise money (That was clearly another era of my life– another theme from Siddhartha). I was 18 at the time, and having a beautiful, polite, and sweet girl to spend time with seemed very important.  My list of qualifications has since evolved, but at the time, despite not being able to talk her out of becoming an escort, I did not break up because of it.

It was strange, hearing about her days – or more appropriately, nights – at work. She made a lot of money.  She’d often come home with $600 or more a night.  She told me how it works, and I was even considering joining… but decided against it when the first thing she told me her boss said was “The most common request we get for guys is to join couples. Not just for the woman either.”

Jeannie told me about how many of these guys didn’t want to touch her… they just wanted someone to talk to.  They wanted someone that they felt was listening, as apparently, their wives didn’t do much listening.  In return, she not only got paid, but they bought her lots of gifts: lingerie, electronics, fancy clothes…. I remember we went to The Swapshop – this ginormous flea market in South Florida, complete with circus, drive-in movie theatre, and of course, tons of vendors. She was definitely happy when she could buy whatever she wanted…. but then again, she wasn’t all that happy when she couldn’t live with herself because of where the money came from.  See my earlier note about having a breakdown, ditching her mom (who was the pressure for having more money I suspect), and hopping the bus to Texas.

Back to Sid! He ran across Kamala (oh yeah… freaky shit– after dreaming that Buddha had morphed into a woman, and let him drink all sorts of goodness from his breast), remembered his dream, and decided that despite being ascetic (giving up all pleasures), maybe their truth of giving up stuff is another one of those things they got wrong.  He almost made out with her, but as is the ascetic way, he went away.

Being a Shramana, he had no belongings, was dirty, greasy, had a beard, and wore a loin cloth.  He decided that like my UF experience (well… Hesse didn’t mention my UF experience, but you know what I mean), those peoples’ truth was not his, and it’s time to evolve.  He ditched his loin cloth and beard, combed his hair…. you know.. complete makeover.

He came back to her, and told Kamala that he wants to learn the ways of passion from her.

This discussion was a bit boring, as they sure do say Shramana a lot!  You could turn it into a drinking game!  One shot every time they say Shramana, One shot every time they say Brahmin, and two shots every time they mention Gotama (Buddah)!

Basically, they agree that he doesn’t own anything, and if you wanna get some courtesan action, you need nice shoes… and gifts.

More reflection: (which I’m not going into, as it’s too recent, and not as insightful as many of the others) I recently was reminded that some people care more about money than others.  You need nice shoes, and gifts or it won’t last.  Like Sid’s journey, we all must learn who we are, and what our values are. Something for you and your someone special to consider: even with similar values, different people communicate love differently.  For some it’s gifts, for others it’s verbal, for others it’s physical. You can learn more about that, and figure out which one you are, and which one your significant other is… it really helps you communicate affection so they understand it… at 5 love languages.

Yup, they spoke of shoes a lot, and said Shramana a lot. Sid told Kammie that he can easily make money…. you know, the ol’ “How hard can it be?” She mocked him about not being a merchant, and what could he possibly offer.  He mentioned patience, and being able to fast, and being able to do sacrifices (a very handy resume piece!).  She was impressed that he knew how to read and write.  Apparently, not everyone knew how to do that, so she hooked him up with a merchant.

The merchant’s name is Kamaswami, and he was able to use Sid’s skills in reading and writing for his business, as he was older, and his eyesight fading.

Tiny reflection: The people I’ve couchsurfed with have often connected me with other people…. sometimes other people I can couchsurf with, sometimes people I can do business with, or projects for. My random skill set from all my past journeys (running a print shop, being a 3d animator/video editor/graphic designer/web designer/ programmer/photographer/compositor/motion graphics designer/artist/etc) have all come in useful… despite the many times I’ve thought that I had left those things behind.

Kamaswami agreed to let Sid crash his couch, and he hooked him up with nice shoes so that he could get some action.  Actually, he gave him nice clothes so he could become a merchant and work with him.

Sid’s skills from all the different social circles he’s partied with in the past had made him successful in being a merchant.  Not because he cared about being a merchant, but because he was a good person.  People do business with those that they know, like, and trust… so where Kamaswami was pissed off when Sid would go on a road trip, and not come back with the rice or other supplies he was supposed to get, Sid knew that because he got to know the people – rather than hurrying back upon seeing someone beat him to the sale – that they would be happy to do biz with him in the future, since now he’s a friend.

I think that piece is why I can survive on my journey… ’cause I’m just happy to get to know people… whether I can do business with them right now or not. One day I’m couchsurfing, the next we’re going to NASCAR together VIP Style, the next I’m building their ecommerce site… the next I’m driving through a few states just go hang out with them low-key for my birthday, because they are my friends, and whom I want to spend my special day with.

Sid’s Shramana ways keep him from being obsessed with business, but after a long while of getting it on with Kammie, and kicking ass at business, he starts to forget his former life, starts liking his house and servants, and entertaining people, and gambling…. oh yeah, he totally becomes an addict.

Sid becomes miserable…. He wins at gambling because he’s fine with losing it all… he kind of does this to try and lose it all, to prove that his ascetic ways are still intact…. and regular people don’t deal well with people who are unpredictable, trying to lose, and have a lot of money to gamble.

After years, he sees Kammie one last time, and then skips town, practically suicidal, and leaving all his stuff. Oh yeah… he knocked her up before skipping town- but she had foreshadowed that this would happen, so it’s cool.  And they totally loved each other.  She was in fact that only thing he cared about the entire 20 years he was in the city.  Reflection for all of us:  what have we done that’s against our nature for that special someone?

He woke up after the deepest sleep he’s ever had…. thinking he may’ve died.

Life didn’t suck anymore.  He had nothing, but he was fine with that.  He heard “Om” – you know, that sound you do in Yoga or meditation!  It used to be a big part of his life when he was younger (he actually grew up next to the riverbank, so both Om and the River were a big deal), and now he kind of heard it from the river he was next to.

More interestingly, he had a creepy stalker watching him sleep!  Ok… it wasn’t a creepy stalker, it was a well intentioned Buddhist… which turned out to be Govinda!

Go was now a yellow-robe-wearing skinhead.

Go didn’t realize that it was Sid he was watching sleep… he was just trying to be nice, and protect a passed out dude from snakes, or other nasty critters that may kill him in the woods.  Since Sid was dressed like a rich dude, rather than his old loin-cloth set up, and his hair smelled nice, Go didn’t realize who it was, and that the sleeping guy actually knew how to survive the woods.

Sid thanked Go for watching him, and they said goodbye, but then Sid gave away who he is, by saying “farewell Govinda!” They catch up, and both claim to be on Pilgrimage… but Go has issue with this, as Sid doesn’t look like a Pilgrim, as much as a successful businessman.  I’ll actually use a REAL quote from the book, ’cause it’s awesome:

“I believe you, my dear Govinda. But now, today, you’ve met a pilgrim just like this, wearing such shoes, such a garment. Remember, my dear: Not eternal is the world of appearances, not eternal, anything but eternal are our garments and the style of our hair, and our hair and bodies themselves. I’m wearing a rich man’s clothes, you’ve seen this quite right. I’m wearing them, because I have been a rich man, and I’m wearing my hair like the worldly and lustful people, for I have been one of them.”

“And now, Siddhartha, what are you now?”

I can’t speak for you, but I’d like to think that we’ve all been different people.  We’ve worn different clothes (seriously… look at the 80′s!), had different jobs.  I’ve been fat, I’m currently at the thinnest I’ve been.  I’ve had a nice car, motorcycle, and a nice highrise on the bay in South Beach….. I’ve also worn hideous clothes, and lived in a tiny roach-infested apartment that cost $300 per month while I was studying 3d in california (after the Art Institute).  I’ve been confident, I’ve been shy.  I’ve been happy, and I’ve been sad.  People from my past are often surprised to realize who I am when they happen upon me… the only thing permanent is my corny sense of humor, and my creativity.

Govinda had said “WHAT are you now”– I dig that…. ’cause I deal with that question daily.  What am I?  A traveler, an author, a consultant, an adventurer, a public speaker, an entertainer, a designer, a friend, a lover, a consultant, a salesperson….. our experiences overlap each other, but it really helps to know our values. When we know what we want to be, we can take steps to become that.

Go was confused at that notion.  Like so many close minded people, it seemed to him absurd that one can just ditch one life, and choose another…. That one can go from beggar to rich dude, and back to peasantry… voluntarily… blew his mind.

I deal with this on a daily basis, as I try to help people move from where they are, to where they want to be. Some people don’t believe that they can travel, despite wanting to.  Others make the change- my dear friend Kathryn (whom I only met in early March of this year), is 2 days away from her one-way flight to Guatamala. She just sold her car today.  She will volunteer at some schools there, but also make sure to experience the adventures that the country has to offer, and then head south, until she finally gets to Chille, and then take a cruise to Antartica.  After that is will probably be Africa.  She’s invited me to join her in Guatamala, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, and of course, on the cruise…. not bad for someone who until recently only went to work, and came home.

I believe that people want to live the amazing lives they can have…. but most people are afraid of change.  The Govindas of our lives try to hold us back by questioning our sanity, and introducing a stream of “What if”s.  We have to stay strong, and do what we believe is right… sometimes losing those friends.

Well intentioned friends and family believe they are saving us, protecting us… but often times they just don’t want you to succeed with that new business or relationship (or whatever ) because if you succeed, there’s a pressure on them to better themselves too, and people fear that.  So, if you don’t take the chance, they don’t have to move out of their comfort zone.  This is not all my opinion by the way.  It’s  been discussed by most people who teach the psychology of achievement, and self development.  I say that, ’cause I will not debate you over this…. But the following scenario is pretty much a daily piece of conversation:

Them: Oh my god, I love what you do!  I wish I could travel like that!

Me: You can!

Them: I wish… it’s easy for you to say, but I ____________ (have kids, have a job, don’t have a lot of money, or any of a million other excuses… and trust me, they are excuses)!

Me: But you can!  Watch… just ____________  (logical strategy session where I connect them with people who travel with children, do their job remotely, have no money, but still travel.  I then help them figure out how they can get to travel the way the want, do the things they want, etc… and I give them resources on how to take each step.)!

Generally, they look dreamily at the possibility, then remember their life as it is, as compared to how it can or should be… and decline the chance to live happily.

“I’ll just live vicariously through you!”

I wish Kathryn would blog more often.  The conversations we have on the phone are very exciting and inspiring for me too. Make sure to check out Kathryn’s Blog, The Social Caterpillar. She is a great writer, doesn’t tell the stupid jokes that I take so much pride in telling, and maybe will inspire you in a way that I haven’t been able to.  If nothing else, she’s an awesome person that you can get to know…. one of so many amazing people that if I hadn’t followed my own path, I never would have met.

Govinda took off. He didn’t want to start a fight after Siddhartha had expressed that we change, and can be whatever.

Sid got on his way, and ran into the Ferryman again.  This time he offered to give him his fancy clothes as payment.  The Ferryman was surprised, and finally remembered who Sid was… from 20 years prior.  Sid told him that he wants to apprentice with him. They became roomies, learned from the river, and from their wealth of knowledge, rumors started flowing that there’s these two prophets / wisemen that operate the boat.

They made listening to the river popular.

Everything was peachy, until Buddah was on his way out… as in dying.

Kammie had heard Sid talk about how awesome and enlightened Buddah was, so since she closed up shop after Sid left, she wanted to seek enlightenment by talking to him. She took baby Sid, and got on the road.

I have no reflection about babies… but I’ve seen in myself and others that hope… be it true or false.  The hope that “If I just_______, everything will be better!”

I too can have enlightenment if I read that book, take that course, get on Oprah, make that new demo reel…… the things I’ve heard or come up with is never ending…. It’s also extremely profitable for Trainers/Speakers/Info-product creators… I won’t be a dick and name drop, but I’ve seen friends drop all their money on going to every course that so and so has (at a cost of 5 to 6 figures, that they didn’t have).

Blame can not be placed on those that sell the hope, as if they don’t sell you the hope of an easy solution, then someone else will…. religious institutions included.

It doesn’t all have to do with parting with money.  Some people make excuses for exiting relationships, or any number of things…. “If we have a kid, then things will work out between us!”

*Sigh*

I like the wisdom of my friend Jason Moffatt (who’s house I’m currently house-sitting): Figure out who your teacher is, and don’t check out anyone else until you’ve done what they said.

He’s right… there’s so many recipes for success out there, and many of them work… if you do the work, as compared to starting with them, taking a few steps, and then deciding that what so and so said sounds sexier, so I should do what they said, and not complete what the first person told me.

Jason is one of the most interesting people that I’ve ever met.  He has so many exciting stories from discovering his own path.  He does just fine, does what he wants, when he wants, and is definitely not a stuck up asshole. He’s funny, supportive, and positive.  Currently, he is on a 6 week road trip with an equally funny hottie.  Check out His page, and you may learn a thing or three (and be entertained).

Does it seem like I’m just rewording Herman Hesse’s work, just so I can pimp out my friends?  If you think so, then you’re missing the point!

Other than Jeannie (whom I do not have a page to link to anyways), most of the people I mention are people that I’ve couchsurfed with.  They ARE my close friends, and I treasure them– as part of my journey, part of my life, business resources, incredible people, inspiration, friendship,, and people who keep me going… They are no Govindas!

I also mention them, because I said earlier that I would speak of my couches…. You see, like the Ferryman- whom only after revisiting after 20 years did  Siddhartha discover his name, Vasudeva — our paths have crossed, and often recrossed.

Where I relate to Siddhartha, Jaime (whom is not one of my couches actually) related to Vasudeva.  She brings people to their destination without judgement, whereas I keep traveling, steadily reducing my belongings as I discover more and more truths.

There is a Zen saying, “Every man is my teacher, in that I can learn something from him.” – I have learned so much from these people, about life, business, myself, and every other topic under the sun.  Equally, I am always happy to impart what wisdom I have to offer…. recently, it was offered as showing someone what they don’t want in a relationship… and I learned from that person the same… as well as the things that I do want.  Those Zen folks sure know their shit!

Ok… Siddhartha… let’s fast forward- Kammie gets bitten by a snake, does not get to see Buddah, but gets to see Sid one last time. She dies, he gets the kid. The kid’s a dipshit, and wants to do his own thing, no matter how nice Big Sid is about everything.

Big Sid, who could never really love anyone or anything, finally had something he loved… his little baby… and now he gets to experience the misery that his dad got to experience– loving his kid enough to try to protect him. Until finally the kid runs away, steals his money, steals his boat, and wrecks it.

Despite Vasudeva pointing out to him what a dumbass he’s being, Sid doesn’t want to give up on Little Sid, and tries to find him.  But then he sees the city, remembers everything he’d been through, remembers how he blew his dad off, and never came back…. to pursue his own truth… We’re talking total flashback here…. especially the part about being a gambler, and rich, and having orgies… yeah! I forgot to mention orgies earlier, Sid had ‘em.  He felt ill, and again, remembered the Om, and realized he needed to let the kid go (see earlier cliche about “if it comes back it was meant to be”).

He goes back to the Ferrymen, they live happily ever after… until Vasudeva dies.

Sure enough, as all cliche characters do, Govinda shows up right on time…. and, as previously, he again did not recognize Siddhartha!

They talk of searching, and Govinda says that he’s been searching, and is still searching… and maybe the ferryman (now Sid) has some wisdom about searching.  Sid tells him that he’s just searching too hard.

Like most people who are not willing to take their journey, Go still doesn’t get it.

Sid invites Go to come couchsurf with him, and he does.  I had people that I’ve couchsurfed with come couchsurf with me.  It’s wonderful to be able to return the perspective and hospitality.

Before bailing, Go asks if Sid’s got any teachers or beliefs.  He is floored and in disbelief when he hears that Sid learned from a ferryman, from the river, from a hooker…. He was expecting people more enlightened than Buddha, not non-celebs…. Sid even mentioned the gamblers! Go really thought Sid was messing with him.

Siddhartha gives a wonderful explanation of change and truth… that knowledge can be passed on, but not wisdom.  He gives a ton of examples, and Go just doesn’t get it.  The ending is basically the point of the whole novel.

Speaking of novels, what I intended to be a few paragraphs has now evolved into its own novel…. so I shall end it with my final thoughts (it’s 5:30am, and I’ve been writing this for near 7 hours– which might account for the length of this post.).

When I started listening to the book, I was a bit bored.  I persisted, and got through the whole thing. It grew on me part of the way through, and despite that being only 24 hours ago, the book has grown on my by leaps and bounds…. It has made me reflect on my life. We come and go.  We go through different phases…. teachers and students.  Guests and hosts.  It is an evolution… the seasons of life, some would say.

Like Siddhartha, I felt an itch to find my own truth.  I defied my parents’ concept of what my life should be, and have been on a long quest for truth and inner peace.  I have learned from the various teachers… some of them are not people that others would have expected me to learn from.

On my journey I’ve discovered something… Me! I know who I am better than I ever did.  Because I know what’s important to me, I now follow the path that I believe leads to my happiness, and I’ve learned about Karma, people, and the world, and am a much better person than I was before. I’m a lot more helpful, and a connector.

Despite my many jobs, lifestyles, etc… being in the past, they are all a part of who I am, and still surface once in a while.

We have to be willing to ditch our comfort zones, even if we lose friends, wealth, or other things in the process.

We need to experience everything, so we can have a perspective on it– we need to learn from everything.  The only failure is a failure to learn from a win or a loss.

I could go on and on with lessons I’ve learned… and that’s part of what I’m doing with my book that I’m writing now (you can sign up on the right side of this site).

If you enjoyed this post, share it with whomever you like, and leave a comment.

Remember, you can read the entire book for free on Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2500/2500-h/2500-h.htm – or get it on audio book, or paperback from your favorite reseller.

Thanks Jaime… for being a muse, a teacher, a friend, a connector, and opening my mind to a book that I would probably never have read otherwise.  Amazing what can happen in 1 day.

Me with Adrianne Gonzalez and Kyler England of The Rescues - <3

Writing a book doesn’t have that much to do with writing a book.  It’s been more about organizing information, filtering through it, and learning about the publishing and self publishing industries.  So far, that’s the case.  I had a friend come into town, and she wanted to catch some live music on Friday.  I thought I’d be suave, and make happen what I had happen with my friend Joanna, while I was couchsurfing with John and Julia (whom I met at Burning Man)— we took out some ocean Kayaks, food, and booze, and saw Crosby Stills and Nash over at Humphreys.

Humphreys however had no one playing on Friday, which I found odd, ’cause they usually have quite the lineup .  I don’t mean to be spoiled… but watching a concert by Kayak is more fun than just going to a show.  I like things to be new and exciting, or at least unique. I don’t know any of the San Diego performance spaces, nor do I know who’s playing.  Sure… there’s Google for that, but Google can land you in an outletless coffee bar with no internet (such as Living Room in La Jolla). So, we just went for some good Mexican food.

The next night however I was as giddy as a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert!  I saw Kyler England post on Facebook that she’s recovering from a midnight milkshake, and that the band is on their way to San Diego for the last show of their tour

The band is “The Rescues”.  I’m a huge fan!  They are 4 members in size, and every single one of them has really strong lead vocals skills. They keep switching off on who sings, and they keep changing instruments.

lI found them on TheSixtyOne.com — Click here to go to the The Rescues TheSixtyOne page – and instantly got them stuck in my head.  With each new song they uploaded, I liked them more.  I never actually read their bio until the other night.  Apparently, they’re hot shit!  They’re already being featured on all these popular tv shows, going to the Grammys, etc… You can read it on TheRescues.com.

Anyways… I instantly messaged Kyler (who’s one of the band members, and has such mesmerizing vocals) to get the details on the show.  I didn’t wait for a reply.  I went to their website, checked out shows, and saw that there was one that night at The House of Blues in San Diego.

Grrrr!  Frustration set in!  I’m generally very technically capable, but I was not able to figure out how much tickets cost, or how to get them.  Maybe they sold out!  That would suck… ’cause I really like them, and I never actually thought I’d get to see them live. Here was the chance for that.

Kyler replied that the show was at 8:30, and is a free show!

I was back to giddy!  I get surprised by one of my favorite bands coming to town, and it’s a free show!  It must be all that good Karma or something!

I messaged her to see if I can bring my camera.  I don’t know what the House of Blues’ photo policies are, but I suspected they may be strict.

We left Moffatt’s place shortly after to try and catch Happy Hour.  No problem with the camera as we sat by the bar and feasted.

Personally, my skills at recognizing people in public are fairly horrible.  I nudged my friend (whom I had shown the picture of the band before we left, as I was letting her hear their music), and said “Is that them?  I think it is, but I can’t quite tell!”  I pointed to the big table in the back.

“That’s totally them!”

“Ok… I’m gonna go and say hi, and see if I can take pictures. What do you think is appropriate? Maybe I’ll say ‘Oh my God! *squeal* The Rescues! I can’t believe it’s really you!’”

“Umm… sure.. whatever works for you.”

My friend was slightly mortified as she heard across the restaurant *Squeal* “Oh my god! The Rescues???”

Rob Giles frowned, “No… We’re ‘The Cured’”

“Oh crap! This is the 3rd table I’ve tried!”

Kyler wasn’t at the table, so I explained briefly to the rest of the band that I’m here to see them, am a big fan, and that I’m a pro photographer, have shot Avenged Sevenfold, Wycleff, Rob Zombie, etc… and would love to shoot them if they don’t mind.  They agreed that it’s fine.

I didn’t stick around longer than a minute or two.  I figure if you’re famous, and just chilling out at a table before the show (as compared to signing autographs afterwards), you probably want your privacy/space respected.

The show started, and Garrisson Starr was opening.  Kyler had told me that she was good, so I packed up from the bar, and went to the restaurant stage.  The other show that was a paid show was “The Cured” – a Cure cover band. No offense, but being a full-time cover band just seems like being stuck in artist-hell.  Having to perform over and over on someone else’s work.  *shiver*

The Cure already had their chance last millenium, I was going to see a fresh new band with a much wider vocal diversity (although, I am a fan of The Cure… I lost my Virginity to The Cure, “Just Like Heaven” (and whatever songs followed)).

I didn’t want to get in people’s way, and there were no tables open.  I stood behind the guy at the Mixer, and started taking pictures.

“Who are you with?”

“Ummm… The Rescues. The band that’s going on next.  They granted me photography permissions.”

“Well, that’s nice that they did, but House of Blues didn’t! You can’t shoot in here unless you have all the clearance.”

The guy running the mixer was pudgy, had long wirey hair, and a face that reminded me of Chris Farley.  I kept wanting to call him Chris, and expected him to huff, bring his arms up, and then flex them in front of himself while yelling… sort of like in Black Sheep.

Rather than bore you with a word by word recall of our conversation, I’ll summarize. I asked whom I would speak to to get the proper paperwork, and Chris (I never got his name, so I’m calling him Chris) said that he’s the person, but he’s busy running the boards.  I told him that I’m “just a blogger, going around crashing on people’s couches and looking for cool things to photograph.”  He explained that even if I got the contracts done, the contracts state that I can’t do anything with the pictures… not even post them online.

Let me take a step back here, and explain one small detail: Everyone had their cameras out!  Maybe 1/4 of the audience was taking photos on their point and clicks, and their cell phones.  That’s why I was getting upset.

I mentioned to Chris that everyone’s shooting, and he explained that you can’t stop point and clicks, and what happened was that people would post pics on the internet, and the House of Blues’ clients would sometimes be shown in circumstances they wouldn’t want to be in (Smoking weed? Snorting coke? Screwing on the table? It’s a fucking restaurant, and is lit… what is someone going to do that’s so horrific?), and then House of Blues had trouble, so they just canned Photography all together…. with Professional cameras.

I don’t get it!  At all!  What’s the difference between a pro camera and a point and click?  Both can take photos of a House of Blues client snorting crack off a hooker’s ass mid-show!  My 70-200mm lens at least can zoom in close enough to where I only shoot the band, and NOT the fiends that House of Blues clearly attracts.  Chris’s logic was not making any sense to me. He even refused to let me get portraits of the band… i.e. I zoom in, and get nothing but their faces.  No.

“Well, I guess I’ll just put this away then.” I took my camera, and went to look for my friend, who had gone to the bathroom.  I explained the dealio, and found out two seats against the back wall.

“You know I’m going to take photos, right?” I can’t help it! Since I was live-Tweeting/Facebooking what was going on (You know… being mature, calling them “House of Blows” and stuff like that), someone said “can’t you just enjoy the music?”  My response was:

“no… I couldn’t JUST enjoy the music… not while I had my whole backpack of camera gear…. It’s like bringing a tennis ball outside with your dog (that loves to play fetch, and is jumping backwards on 2 legs ready to play fetch), and then not doing anything with it… not one throw… the dog will be quite unhappy! I’m a photographer…. … See Morenot only professionally, but instictually. I have to shoot. It’s my nature, ESPECIALLY if it’s something that I appreciate. I try to capture it. Kyler England is so beautiful, and her voice lifts me away to another place….. the entire band is super-talented, all 4 of them with a mastery of voice and every instrument, and together, it’s magic… so not being able to shoot that, while I have all my gear with me… straight up torture…” — but that response was after the show, when I got home and checked FB.

My friend agreed that if I get kicked out, she’d take my bag with her upon leaving.

I saw Kyler, and told her what’s up “What? Our tour manager was told to tell House o Blues that you had permission.  Well… shoot anyways, Guerilla style!”  — as if I didn’t think she was awesome before

My plan was to shoot from the back of the room, and as they announce that there’s only a few songs left, I’d get closer to the stage, and shoot more.  I was going to shoot behind Chris’s back.

Things got easier.  Chris left the room, and some skinny tall dude took over.  I was shooting more, but not as inconspicuously.

After a few seconds, I got bored of shooting from the back of the room.  I wanted Depth of Field!  I wanted portraits!  This was not good enough… if I get kicked out, so be it!

The restaurant was actually adjacent to the bar area…. there were no doors between the two, just archways you could enter through.  There were red felt curtains that could close up, but were actually bunched in the open position.

I started shooting from behind them, but I could only get good shots of half the band– despite that they were better shots than from the back of the room.  I went back to the back.

Over the next 20 minutes, I kept shuffling around… getting closer and closer.  Finally I just said fuck it, and went immediately behind the guy at the mixer. NOW I was getting good shots.

As the evening progressed I got closer and closer, to the point where I was leaning against the stage, and shooting…. i.e. I had the absolute best seats in the house, and no one was doing anything about my shooting.

“Act like you’re supposed to be there, and people will think you’re supposed to be there!” — This philosophy has worked many times in the past.

Chris walked right past me as I was on the floor, front and center.  He didn’t notice me, and I scurried back to the back of the room.  I took out the 32GB memory card that had all the pics, put it in my pocket, and put a smaller 8GB card in the camera… just in case I get busted and they try to wipe my card.

Chris left, and I finished up the show.

The lighting was dim, and I couldn’t use a flash, so as not to piss off the band members or the audience.  My lenses are F2.8 at worse (‘cept my 180mm, which is an F3.5), meaning they let in a decent amount of light, and at a high ISO, can shoot in the dark just fine.

I walked out of there pleased. I got to watch a show that I really wanted to catch, and I got the pics that I wanted… despite being forbidden to…. which made it that much more rewarding.

When Kyler found out that I swapped out cards, she laughed and said “This isn’t your first rodeo, eh?”

I’m thrilled to say that The Rescues were incredible live.  I’ve been to some shows where the band just did not sound as good as the studio (Counting Crows 1997- I’m guessing they had too much pot and pain killers… everything was 1/4 tempo), but The Rescues did not disappoint!  It was great to see which ones of them produced which voices, and which ones played which instruments.

They had all switched up all through the show, and sometimes teamed up on the drums.

Here are the Forbidden 96 for your enjoyment (punchline afterwards)

All that, and I still didn’t get a single audience member doing a single illicit thing!!!!

(Take it away Jules):

I felt like a fraud.

So I learned to fly an airplane.

At 50,000 feet I thought:

“A fraud is flying an airplane.”

So I crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat.

I docked at Cherbourg and thought:

“A fraud has crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat.”

So I took a space shot to the moon.

On the trip home I thought:

“A fraud has circled the moon.”

So I took a full page ad in the newspaper and confessed

to the world that I was a fraud!

I read the ad and I thought:

“A fraud is pretending to be honest.”

Jules wrote that in 1929, and 81 years later I am relating to his poem.  In fact, I think many people I know can relate to this poem, but I can’t speak for others (Though, I do love publik speaking, so if you want motivational , leadership, or business stuff, the contact form is at the top of the page).

One of the smartest, and wealthiest friends of mine said “You’d make a great copywriter! Just start charging $5,000 per salesletter, and then raise your rates after you got a few.”

“But I don’t have any copywriting clients.  I mean, I’ve included copywriting into my fees when I’ve done websites, brochures, and even some catalogues…. but entire launch campaigns and sales letters…” I took a giant chug of the rest of my Guinness, so that I wouldn’t have to finish that sentence.  I’m not really a stout beer – or any beer – kind of guy, but when being social with multimillionaires that are happy to let you pick their brain, do as the romans do.

I didn’t have to finish the sentence! My friend came to the rescue with jolly voice, “Ori, you know what makes someone a copywriter?”

“Ummm… what?”

“They say that they’re a copywriter!  That’s it!”

“But… don’t they need to…. I don’t know… show their skills?”

“Well, yeah… you need to be able to write your own ad… but people will pay you.  I’ve seen some shitty work go out for $5,000 all the way up to $100,000.  I’ve seen ________ (well known copywriter- name ommitted) crank out absolute shit, at $30,000.  It didn’t convert at all!  And I’ve seen your writing, you could easily do that, and convert.”

*blush* Well, I do enjoy writing… That was a year and a half ago that we had that conversation in that dimly lit bar.  I still haven’t posted my skills as a copywriter. It’s not really the kind of writing I want to do on a full time basis, though, I can see enjoying the occasional piece.

These days I’ve realized that I really enjoy writing.  I recently discovered David Sedaris thanks to my older brother, and I am fascinated by his work.  I’ve listened to his audio books, which are so great as he reads them all.  In fact, if you search, you can find recordings of David live at Carnegie Hall. He can also be found reading on NPR (National Public Radio).

His stories are amazing! He can take a moment, or a few decades, and make you feel as if you were there, viewing the experience through his eyes. After just one book of short stories “When you are engulfed in flames“, I felt as if I knew David!  I feel that I knew his sarcasm, his family, the places he’s been.  More of the people, and his little neurosis than the places… but the attitudes of the places are well conveyed.

I tried to learn from what I liked about Sedaris, and incorporate that into my own writing.  There are elements in this piece, and definitely elements in my “Happy Father’s Day Indeed” post (which apparently, possibly because of my new understanding of what I liked in Sedaris’ work, has become quite popular.)

I am now thinking that my book will be many chapters that are each a short story, where I hope I can share the experience of what it was like through my eyes… as David does in his stories.  My mood has been affected by his stories… whether a growl, or having to pause to wipe the streak of snot that shot out because I was laughing so hard while jogging and listening to Sedaris at the same time.

So the thoughts invade:

Who are you to write a book?

Why would people buy your book?

What’s so special about you?

But, it’s not even about writing my book.  It’s about living my life!

There is no way that the people I consider my friends would be my friends if I didn’t have something to offer.  If I was boring, dumb, unhelpful, and uncaring, they would have nothing to do with me. But despite knowing that, my brain still doesn’t feel that I deserve them.

Yes, I don’t feel I deserve the things I have… including my friends.  I do not know why.

My older brother suggests maybe I check out a therapist.  I’ve never been to one, and I don’t know what to think about it.  I can however see how “I don’t deserve what I have” can be a very limiting, and self-sabotaging belief.

I have 5 days (including today) of my cleanse left.  Some would say that it is a tough thing to complete (30 day, full body cleanse, including raw food, juice fast, etc…)

My reflection would smile at me, as I’ve lost at least 14 pounds.  I don’t have a scale at my current location, so have no idea what I weigh now… which is probably a good thing.

Then I started P90x yesterday, and my reflection stopped smiling.  All of a sudden, I felt fat again.  I know I’m not, but I feel like I am, because my 1st day of a difficult workout routine yielded less pull-ups and push ups than I thought. Back to self doubts “Oh… well.. why are people following my blog, I can’t even do more than 6 close-grip pullups!” (6.5 actually, followed by 4 on the next set).

My friend Kathryn said that I’m being too hard on myself… again.  I replied that this too shall pass, and that thankfully the start is generally the low-point.  I then forgot that I did P90x that morning, and I went for a 10 mile jog… which became a 10 mile jog/walk…. I was not happy with my speed.  I was again told that I’m too hard on myself, and that many people can’t even go 10 miles… especially on the same day as doing P90x.

My last attempt at doing P90x ended abruptly when I was traveling from Austin to Dallas, and was couchsurfing at this warehouse…. “What? You’re going to do pullups instead of helping us set up for this kegger?”

I’ve managed to sustain myself while traveling for 3.5 years…. some would say that’s a difficult thing. My list of activities is interesting, and many people keep telling me they wish they had my life.  But it never seems good enough to me.  And that is why I shared that poem.

Jules Feiffer basically says that no matter what he did, no matter how grandiose, he still felt like an impostor.

I did day 2 of P90x today (Plyometrics), and I was actually fine with my performance… and I’m now going for a 4-5 mile jog (I just love the sun here in La Jolla).  I need to get my running speeds to a competitive level, as I have a 185 mile relay race in July, in Seattle.  I’ve never been to Seattle or run a relay race.  I’m excited about both.

I said to a friend today “I think even as a millionaire who’s traveled the whole world, published multiple books, and has 6-pack abs, I’ll still find issues with myself.”  You hear about those rock-stars or supermodels who “Had it all!” and committed suicide… I’m not sad, depressed, or anything like that. It’s just that once I do something, I’ve done it, and I move on.  The glory is gone.

As I said to a friend the other day “An air freshener only lasts so long.”

I’d love to have a conversation with Jules Feiffer. In the meantime, if you have your self doubts, read that poem again.

I see it as a reminder that we’re not alone.  That we can do anything we want, regardless of what those annoying voices in our head tell us. Thankfully, the rest of the world doesn’t see us as we see ourselves.

Off to squeeze those 4-5 miles in

ARGH! Who knew a book was tough to write? Well, I guess everyone, ’cause not everyone does it… but once you get started, all these little details come up:

What do I want to gain out of having this book published?

What do I want the feel of this book to be?

What format should it be in?

Which ones of my stories should I include?

**As you read this, I’d really appreciate if you leave me comments below, and let me know your thoughts on what I should do with the book.  Maybe some goals for it, maybe a style, maybe your favorite adventures that I’ve had.

The questions keep coming up.  Perhaps they are a distraction. Every answer makes for a different book though!  For example, there is not much bigger of a joy for me than convincing someone to grab life by the balls, and have an adventure!  Maybe some call it living more passionately, but whatever you call it, you can see it in their eyes (or perhaps imagine that you’d be seeing it in their eyes if you were there in person, for those times you have to save someone’s life over the phone)– the pupils dilate… their brain already imagining how much more fun they’ll have.

I keep bragging about Kathryn, who before meeting me has never been drunk, and was not even going out locally with her friends.  She’s come back from a road trip from Dallas to New York – sometimes detouring intentionally from the path she should take… there was even some driving on the sidewalk — and is now in the process of selling all her stuff, as her 1-way ticket to Guatamala is for July 5th.  I’m so excited!

Another one is Chris.  He wanted fifteen minutes of my time, but I turned it into one hour and fifteen minutes. He was concerned about going to the Phillipines, as he’s never really left New York.  Isang the virtues of travel, of worldiness, of exploration, and of course… of learning.  There is no failure other than not learning from something… worst case scenario, you learned you don’t like the Phillipines.  By the time I was done, there was no fear left, and Chris said he felt like a kid in a candy store.

The other night, right before I unplugged from the world, I got a call from an old friend… we caught up for a bit, and I’ve convinced her to become a food blogger, pursuing her passion, without taking away from her duties as a mother of 3.

There is a happiness that comes from doing what we feel like…. and I take great pride in inspiring that, or devising the steps to pursue that.  It’s possible for everyone, and I’m sure you’re wondering what the damn point is… well.. I would enjoy doing motivational speeches.  Probably to a younger crowd, to save them from doing what they’re told, or are supposed to, and drive them towards doing what they want to, but may be scared to, as it’s not “What everyone else is doing.”

This goal can be achieved regardless of having a book.  However, having a book can help. So, if that’s one of the goals, then I should probably leave the drug reeferences (a typo… or is it?   ) out of there.

One of the goals I never even thought about is money.  There are many authors throughout history whose entire income was based on sales of their books.  Money was never something I tought about with this book.  Perhaps it’s the whole “Funnel” thing I’ve learned so much as a marketer– free or inexpensive item to get them interested, then something that costs some more, then something else slightly more pricy, then the expensive thing, then the grand daddy of all expensive things…..

Money would be nice, but I think for me the actual achievement of having focused long enough to write a book is a pretty big one.  Maybe my parents can then actually have something to brag about to their friends. “Why Ori?  Sure, he’s doing well.  He just published his book. Here we just happen to have an extra copy” – reach over to large pile of books, and give one away “It just got a great review in the New York Times!  What’s YOUR kid doing?”

At the time of this post, I have no clue what they tell their friends.

A friend of mine who is a fellow ENTP saw that I was unplugging, and wanted to share his wealth of knowledge on productivity for ENTPs.  This is based on his years of research and experience.  It was a great chat which I recorded. I had figured out a lot of these things myself, but never realized I was doing them as a system.  It was great validation to hear from a fellow ENTP.  I really like other ENTPs…. if you know any, send them this way!  “The Girl” was an ENTP…the 1st one I’ve ever dated… what a ride.

So, Jason (the above mentioned ENTP friend) had mentioned that to avoid a task falling into “boring” – which is the biggest enemy an ENTP can have – you need to realize your goals for the projects, think big and day dream about it.  This is a bit different than the usual “vision board” and other things that the secret tells you to do.  I love daydreaming!  I have not thought of these goals like that.. I had already thought of goals for the book, but I had not thought to actually think about them past the logic part.

Yesterday I jogged to the beach (yes, my feet are back to normal after my accidental marathon) to sit on the sand, and think of some goals for the book, and to day dream.  What a great assignment, “Daydream”

My older brother called me.  We’re polar opposites, and I often walk on eggshells.  He’s a lot more polite and proper than I am, has a normal life– though, he’s amazingly good at it- and is actually about to leave for Greece.  I didn’t want to have my thoughts ripped apart by logic (as I was on a mission to daydream)… but this call went well.  He mentioned that he sees my book as a series of unrelated (other than the fact they’re all from my journeys) stories told as chapters.

He recommended I check out David Sedaris.  One of my couches, Pope, had been the elf in Santaland Diaries.  Pope is awesome- she’s an alternative model, leads a burlesque troupe, acts, plays roller derby, is a costume designer, and leads all sorts of cool underground activities in Nebraska.  I still have an elf-hat from that show… I think that’s illegal or something, as I’m Jewish.

Barak (my older bro) said that I have  a similar style to Sedaris.  After downloading a few of his books last night, and falling asleep listening to them, I think that having a style similar to Sedaris is a wonderful wonderful compliment!  I truly am enjoying his random stories.  Each chapter in “When You Are Engulfed In Flames” is a different story.  The first one is about how paranoid of germs his sister is, and talking about his friend’s mom, and her love of helping out.  It just works.

He tells stories of a childhood baby sitter, he tells a story about going to the zoo in Australia to see a Dingo, he tells stories about clothes.  They’re all so random, and he captures moments and people. He makes me smile, he makes me sad.  I will buy his whole collection when I have time to go through more of it.

I decided — after talking to Barak, but before listening to Sedaris’ work — that I would just start calling people that know me well, and ask their opinion.  A lot of people thought that I should do it that way, or that I should take the best of blog, and fill in extra details.

My friend Jimmy wanted to hear of the places that I go to that are not necessarily on the tourist guides.  Maybe the lessons I’ve learned.  Sweet! I wanted to tell the lessons I’ve learned!  He suggested I tell them anecdotally.

Barak had said that I shouldn’t mix genres.  He sees my book as being for entertainment.  I certainly don’t see myself competing with Timothy Ferriss’ “The Four Hour Workweek” for a how-to guide!  That guy is pretty OCD, and has many many case studies. I look up to him, but I don’t see his style being my style.  He also had income coming at $70,000 per month, where as I have to improvise on a regular basis.  If my book is entertainment, then I shouldn’t make it a lessons book. His example of lessons book was “I came from Israel, became a fat kid here, and here’s the lessons I’ve learned to cope with the cross cultures.” (Which is my story actually, but not really the one I’m writing).

I had originally thought I’d just make it a big mix of the people, places, lessons, and things I’ve come to believe as true because of my travels, with a little bit of how-to, and jokes.

Barak said I don’t have to tie everything together.  I have a talent and tendency to tie things together… so… here’s an example… a few real stories from my travels.  I’d love to know what you think, as I think they tie together really well…

****

I often get asked if I’ve ever had any bad experiences…. you know, couches I’ve stayed on where I”ve been freaked out, scared, abused, killed, raped, etc…   Since I often get along well with all the freaks and geeks, my answer is generally “no!”  Though… there were two couches that I left on a bad vibe.  I’m not sure what number I’m at now, I believe it to be around 170, but I’ll take the time to do an exact calculation later.  If I’m at 170, then 2 is a pretty damn low number!

Why were they bad experiences?  Well, for one, I didn’t like the way they treated their wife and kid. Both of them knew each other, and that should have been a warning, despite that one was in San Diego, and one was in Detroit.

Nick had sold his wife’s Nikon camera, bought a Canon camera for himself with it, and wouldn’t let her use it.  In my professional opinion, she is a much better photographer than him!  Nick had connected me with Dan.  Nick had also connected me with Gary Whiteside, who had let me use his studio to teach a creative photography workshop at.

I was motivated to teach the workshop because of T. Harv Ecker’s “Life Directions” workshop, which I was given for free as a bonus when I bought some of the coaching, and Guerilla Business School.  Life Directions was the event I drove out from Florida to California for in January, and Guerilla Business School was the reason I made it back to Florida by March.

I didn’t care for Life Directions, thought GBS was pretty impressive, and I’ll even go as far as “Life Changing” as that’s where I discovered internet marketing.

One thing was clear though, if you have an idea, take action!  So, I announced that 2 weeks from then I would have my workshop, and I did.  I had 20 attendees.  10 for each day.  It was very rewarding to have people who have been shooting for longer than I am alive give me money to teach them what I know, and then hearing from them that in one day with me they learned more than they learned in the past decade.

I showed them how to use a can of hairspray with a lighter as their lighting, rather than fancy studio strobes.  The image later became of a girl fighting off a 20 foot tall frog that has massive fangs, using a can of hair spray and a lighter.

Why did I mention Gary in connection to Nick, while mentioning that Nick was not a good couch? Because a year later one of my students informed me that Gary had been charged, and then later convicted of 51 counts of child mollestation!  Yuck! He seemed like such a nice old man!

The 2nd day of my workshop, I was invited by one of my students to come to a party they were having at the manor. Since I was feeling that Nick just wanted me around so he could pick my brain non-stop about Photoshop and photography, I took Mike up, and went to their party, rather than returning to Nick’s.

Mike had a large dungeon at his house.  This was a bondage type of party. The majority of the people were also runners who are part of the Hash House Harriers, “A drinking group with a serious running problem!”  I got an awesome photo of me tied up, and a dean of a prestigious university holding a knife to my throat…. but I was fatter then, and the rope really brings out my man boobs… so I’m not crazy about the pic.

One of the cool things about this party was that I got to interview Dave Cummings, the world’s oldest active professional porn star!  Yeah, this guy was 66 years old at the time, and banging 18 years old all day and night… they’re all nymphos, and would even be doing it off the clock.  He had the funniest stories about Ron Jeremy.  I still have to upload that video!

Since I was heading out east the next day whether I had a place to crash or not, I was pretty excited when Mike tried to connect me to another hasher in Arizona.  That would be a bit of a drive, but nothing too bad.  I was kind of sad to leave their house, as it was in the hills, and felt like a resort.  I had a gorgeous room.  Their whole house was just beautiful, with large gray stones, well chosen furniture, and of course, if I knew much about it, I’m sure I could compliment their lovely dungeon.

Their friend called me back and said that he can not let me stay there, as his dog is having health issues.  I said not to worry about it, as I am a dog person, and would much rather he look after his dog, than stress over a guest and a worried dog.  He was appreciative, and said he’d connect me with some people further on my drive.

Meanwhile, I had gotten a hold of Janet, whom I met at life directions.  She did say that if I was in Arizona I should look her up, so I did!  Janet showed me around Nogales-Sonora, which was a border town with Mexico. I arrived at night, and my GPS tried to take me into Mexico! In fact, I was warned to watch my Roaming signal, as I may get billed “out of country” if I get too close.

I pulled over on the side of the road to call Janet, and ask for directions.  It seemed I had gone too far.  She told me what road to go on, but the road I was on split into 4 routes.  There was a jeep approaching, and I thought I’d ask them which way to go. This was not the best idea.

The jeep belonged to border patrol… as did the 5 other jeeps and suvs that showed up to surround me!

Apparently, this area is known for drug dealers and coyotes (people smugglers), and my pulling over on the side of the road to make a call next to the border for 10 minutes, in the dark, in an suv that’s filled with stuff seemed a little odd.  In fact, I was sweating bullets, as there was a bit of weed in the car! Not enough to be considered a smuggler, or even a serious smoker… but you hear stories.

These people started asking me all sorts of questions about who I am, where I’m going, why I’m here, etc… I told them the truth, showed them my GPS, gave them my business card, and even showed them my phone’s call logs.

I’m not sure what it is about my business card, but I do love to give it to figures of authority.  So far, I must have been pulled over, and given it to probably 5 cops so far, and have always gotten out of trouble.  There may be a lesson there about having an interesting story.

They let me go, and I went on to meet Janet.  I stayed with her for a little bit.  We did go into Mexico one night for some Mexican food, and to explore the local shops.  This was no Cancun, so I was fascinated.  Janet is into the artistic things in life.  She is involved with the community and its galleries.  I went with her to see Mark Wood (a violinist who’s played with Billy Joel and Aerosmith) and Laura Kaye (a singer/songwriter who’s sang with Aretha Franklin and Lenny Kravitz) as they did their program called Electrify Your Strings– where they go around the country, and make kids in orchestras and bands feel pretty damn cool.

It was fascinating.  These kids truly were amped up!  They performed many rock songs, and had spraypainted their hair all different colors.  This was clearly out of the ordinary. I got to do a quick interview with Mark and Laura as they left.

I got to see my first Roadrunner in Arizona.  Janet took me to Tubak, an artists’ colony, and a fascinating place to photograph.  I always did like the cartoon, though I was always rooting for Wile E Coyote.  Seeing a real bird like this was odd.  He didn’t say “meep meep!” or stick his tongue out at me.  It looked more like a large chicken with freakishly long legs… and it did take off in a cloud of dust.

My next stop was in fact the connection that Mike’s friend had made for me!  The Reeders in Tombstone, Arizona!  Tombstone is a town that’s known for western films… the whole Wild West thing took place there, and the Reeders were part of the Vigilantes — the historical reenactors that make up the vast majority of the town’s economy, since it is a tourist attraction.

They performed amazingly, and I got to hang out during rehearsals, and even grab some grub at Vigilante Hall.  It really did feel like a trip into another time.  Their costumes are very authentic, for example, the little girl who’s an actress there is not allowed to do an open-mouth smile, as she has braces… which did not exist in the wild west.

An amusing thing that happened was that they tried to play a prank on me, and pretend as if I walked into the wrong bar…. except, I did walk into the wrong bar!  Some drunk girl walked up to me and started conversing with me, and introducing me to everyone there…. After a while, gut feeling set in that something was wrong, and I dialed Stacy, and watched as the drunk girl’s phone did not go off.  I went across the street to the right bar, but now the joke was in fact over by an hour or two.

As far as Dan goes… the other person I mentioned had come through Nick… he broke my Canon 1D Mark II camera, and didn’t offer to pitch in for the repair… there’s more, but that’s another story.

——-

So… there you have it… a bunch of stories that are tied by a unifying thread.  Too much? Keep going?  Something you’d want to read in the book?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

(Disqus sometimes doesn’t work in some browsers… so if it’s being a bitch, please try another browser!  Thanks!)

I have something really important to tell you. It’s very exciting, and very difficult for me all at once.

I’ve arrived here in La Jolla, CA where the weather is truly amazing, and I am house-sitting for the next 5-6 weeks.

On my drive here from Austin, TX I had a lot of time to think, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the best answers come from asking the right questions. My question that I chose was “How do I make the best use of house-sitting near the beach for 6 weeks?”

I came up with many ideas, but the ones that made the most sense are also the most difficult, and I’d like to share them with you.

I have completed 3.5 years of couchsurfing around the USA.  I’ve met the most incredible people that I could ever imagine.  I have had amazing adventures, where I do things I never imagined or even heard of before (like Bull Poker, or training with UFC cage fighters, or staying at an all girls’ college).  I’ve loved and fallen in love (not at the all girls’ college).  I’ve seen (and photographed) amazing sights.

The bottom line is that I have more than enough “content” to write my book.  I’ve begun writing of this book numerous times, and I generally get distracted, as I am such a social creature.

Ooooh! Someone left me a comment on Facebook!

I better respond to that tweet!

A truck that has giant chicken legs coming out of it?  I better send out a social-media update about that!

I wonder what ________ is up to…. better text/call/skype/tweet/fb/email and find out!

Yup…. as my buddy Peter Shankman says “You may have heard of ADHD, but I suffer from something much worse… it’s called ADOS — Attention Deficit… Oooh! Shiny!”

With that in mind, there are three major things I am going to work on.
1)Writing and finishing my book.
2)Releasing 100 photos a day from my travels!
3)Exercise and be healthy.

The photos will be released in a number of ways– onto Flickr/Picassa and of course blog posts.  I will also make a video of each set of 100, and tell the stories that go with them.  If a story encompasses less than 100 photos, I will tell as many stories as are encompassed in 100 photos.

In case you are wondering, I have hundreds of thousands of photos.  In 2007 alone I took 370,000 photos.

So, if I have all this content, why is this so difficult, and what am I going to do about it?

As I mentioned earlier, I am easily distractible.  So, I am going to do the impossible, and unplug.  I am going to go off the grid! Something that many people say is impossible…. but I think it is possible.  Why?  Because I finally have a sentence that gives me a hard punch in the face, nearly unhinging my jaw, and breaking my nose.

“I don’t want to be that guy that tells about how he’s going to write a book!  I want to be the guy whose book you’ve read!”

I will keep adventuring, have no doubt about that. My plans are to go international: visit my homeland of Israel, party in Thailand, play with dangerous animals in Africa, get my squirrel-suit certification in Switzerland, eat some space-cake in Amsterdam, maybe take a ride with GreenPeace and blow up some whailing ships…. who knows…. the possibilities are endless… but I don’t want to go until I’ve finished this book.

I have hired an assistant whom will check my e-mails and voicemails for me, and forward the uber-important ones to a new e-mail account that I have created (that no one else knows about.  It’s very random, so don’t bother trying to guess it (don’t forget, I own many domains)).  I’ve set up a Skype-Phone so that I can speak to those who need to get a hold of me.

To keep my sanity, I will play with Webber (Jason Moffatt’s dog, whom I am taking care of), try to improve my piano and guitar skills, run on the beach, and learn to surf (Jason was kind enough to leave me a plethora of surfboards).

I will have interaction with the Surfers that are teaching me to surf. I’ve also volunteered to do some photography for a charity event.  Other than that, I plan to be off the grid.  I’ve even informed my parents that they should not expect a daily phone call from me, and that they can start reading my blog to know what is going on — or what has gone on — in my life.

The few close friends I’ve run this by think it is a wonderful idea.  It resonates with my heart, despite striking much fear in it… a 6 week commitment!  6 weeks of not being on Facebook and Twitter!  Trusting someone else to go through my e-mails and voicemails!  Having to finish something big!

It is scary, but I know it is worth it!

I appreciate that you have visited my site.  I am saddened that I have not told you but a tiny fraction of what has gone on… as it takes time to edit videos, to blog, to process and upload photos.  So now, I will finally tell the whole story.

The book will consist of my adventures, the people I’ve met, the places I have been to, how I’ve stayed on the road without “a real job”, the lessons I’ve learned, and the things that I have come to believe as truths because of my journeys.

Please check back here daily, as I will have 100 new images, and god-knows how many stories posted.   Spread the word, leave comments, and let me know which pictures and stories are your favorite, as I will also be making a photo-book of the best images.

Wish me luck!

Ori

—

P.s.  On the right hand side of this blog is a box you can put your name and e-mail if you’d like to know about my book, when it comes out, etc…

For me, regardless of my financial situation (which right now is not making me smile– but that never stops me from grabbing life by the balls and living), I have my wealth… which is the friends that I’ve met through my life.  The people I truly care about, and feel blessed to have in my life.  “Stuff”  I don’t care about… I have a few moving boxes full of it, and even those I don’t care about… just camera, laptop, and a few things to wear.  Oh yeah, and external harddrives to store my millions of photos and videos…. the other 1/2 of my wealth: memories.

So, while I generally enter things going “Well, how hard can this be?” A cleanse can be a really difficult thing, because it brings out something I’m not good at dealing with… emotions.  The last few days have been hard.  My friend Dagny was kind enough to be honest, and ask me if I’ve been diagnosed for being Manic Depressive.  No, I haven’t… but I”m not above it, either.  I don’t think that I’m suffering from that, I think it’s the cleanse mixed with some heartache.  Why am I so confident?

For one, I wasn’t feeling so crazy before I started it. Another reason is because on a hard day like yesterday, I was able to become normal (or close to it) by eating a huge heaping bowl of Chicken Nachos with Cheese and Rice and some spicy stuff.  Kate Buck Jr’s husband is a chef, and so visiting there is always a tasty treat.  I have been able to avoid greasy food so far, but I was in a funk.  It helped…a LOT!  I even made up the following joke to mock myself:  What kind of a dog is always sad? A Melancholy! (For those of you who don’t know me well enough, puns are my favorite form of humor…  so, a Collie is the kind of dog that Lassie was… Melancholy means to be in a gloomy state of mind….  If you can’t get it by now, I can’t do much for you).

I was already looking forward to going to the beach in California.  I wanted to be near the ocean, to have some space from the girl (whom I spoke to today.  Thanks Sam.), and to figure out what I want to do with my life.  While things were good, I was even debating settling down, now the pendulum swings the other way.

Last night, while I was at Craig’s to tie up loose ends, I get this call: “Were you at the house today?” “No. Not since I left this morning, and you were still here.”  “Ok.  Then there’s been a break-in, and I’m calling the cops.”

It was Ceci.  I had just finished house-sitting for her, and all my stuff was at her house.  Not just my camera, but lenses, clothes, etc….  If you recall, in December, I had thrown away, given, or sold all my belongings that I couldn’t fit in my car from my Atlanta home which I never really visited much.  I packed too much stuff in my car, and had to ship one large box to Kate Buck’s house.  I also had stuff from a previous visit to Austin over at Craig’s.  He said that I can keep whatever I want at his house, since he has tons of storage place.

Craig is moving.  Ceci said a while back that I could use her place for storage, since she has a 3 bedroom with a mostly empty garage.  During house-sitting, I moved all my stuff from Craig’s to Ceci’s… so… saying all my worldly belongings are there isn’t far off the mark… then I get a call that there was a break-in.

I didn’t have my camera on me.  I didn’t think I did…. I went to my car, and checked.  Nope, no camera.  Ceci couldn’t find it either, and with that 70-200mm lens, it’s pretty easy to spot.

I walked back into Craig’s and said “I gotta go.  Now.”  He had overheard enough of the conversation to know where I’m headed and why.  “Call me and let me know what you figure out.”

Thank you Chef Morris Buck!  Those Chicken Nachos were still in effect (and Craig had gotten some pizza from Whole Foods, which at this point I had no trouble partaking in)!  My mood was still stable.  So… I sob like a bitch for no reason, but when I get told that $6,000 of gear is missing, I’m ok.  Go figure.

I wasn’t really ok… I just wasn’t freaking out… I was angry.  That’s today’s emotion of the day, by the way.  Less “mopy” and “gloomy”, and more angry.  Though, I certainly am not feeling like a superhero today after the conversation I mentioned earlier, where I was humanely told that I’m not what “the girl” is looking for– which I already knew, but a formal discussion of where things are was not had.  Back to the story… I drove to Ceci’s, and felt pretty drained.  My brain’s had to deal with a lot.

When she got home from her journey, I told her that I suspected that someone had been in the house… because she had left her windows unlocked, and a door was unlocked that I remembered leaving locked.  I generally lock all doors, as my parents gave me shit about it enough times.  The same applies for turning off lights when I leave the room.

Well, seems I wasn’t just being paranoid (though, I do love the saying: Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me)… those people had come back, and taken Ceci’s camera, and harddrives.  My harddrives were just sitting out on the kitchen table, but were not taken.  A portable one was opened up (maybe to see if there’s any valueables in it??) but left alone.

Ceci started to speak to me, and I said that it’s not really a good time to say anything to me, I’m not in a good state of mind… let me evaluate the situation.  I walked into my room, lifted the pile of clothes off the floor, and there was my camera!  Apparently, I had some common sense.  You know that saying “Gut feeling” ?  — well.. it really revolved around millions of years of evolution.  That gut feeling is a survival mechanism, which was originally designed to save you from getting eaten by dinosaurs.  These days it tries to save you from bad dates, and having your camera stolen.  Because I had an uncomfortable feeling that someone had been there, I kept stuff lightly hidden.

If my stuff is missing, I don’t know what it is, as I have too much stuff.  The garage door was left wide open, and a lot of my stuff was in the garage.  They didn’t steal my enema kit for some strange reason :p   They were in a hurry, so probably didn’t take the time to go through the boxes of stuff in the garage.  My lenses were still there.  For those of you who don’t know, decent lenses are the most expensive part of photography.  You can get a camera that will take amazing pictures for a mere $800.  To get the great photos, you want a good lens that lets in a lot of light, and captures a lot of color….. those can cost a few thousand each.  $400, $600, $800, $1200, $1500, $1800— some of mine.

I said it’s ok to speak, and even made sure to say I”m sorry that her place got broken into.  That does have to suck, and I’m not an inconsiderate asshole.  My camera, however, is sort of my life. Ceci is a bit of a photographer too.  I feel awful for her– she lost a camera, and her harddrive which had 10 years woth of photos at 5,000-30,000 photos per year!  My heart breaks just hearing that.

I needed a nap.  Or maybe I didn’t, but I didn’t want to be awake anymore to deal with craziness, or have more bad things or emotions happen.

Ceci was still waiting for the cops to show up to get prints.

I woke up because I heard a voice.  There was some guy there, and I heard someone say “Fingerprints” — it’s probably the cops.  I burried my head in a blanket, and tried to go back to another realm.

I woke up in the middle of the night, I was wide awake… my stomach hurt a bit from all that food of the previous day.  I had also taken a few extras from the digestive stimulator to make sure I’d get rid of that food quickly.  It seemed to be working. Thank god I woke up first, eh?

I wasn’t tired, but didn’t feel like dealing with the world yet.  I checked my e-mail, made a few proofs for a client who had sent a middle of the night e-mail…. back to where ever sleep takes you (I have some theories).

I woke up to Ceci opening her door.  Back to sleep.  I was going to talk to the girl– maybe see her today before I left.  Now that I had to get my stuff elsewhere, I figured that’d be a great way to spend some time…. help me move my shit (probably not the best way to write things after just talking about digestive stimulator, eh?), so I can sleep better at night.  Kate’s house is kind of far, so making one trip with two cars would be better than multiple trips with one…. but she said she was having car trouble, so was going to take her car to the shop.  Hopes crushed some more.  Anger was the mood of the day anyways, so no biggie- “Ok… I gotta figure this out- talk later”

Jesse has a huge SUV, but it turns out was leaving to go look for houses– as he’s been doing for the last few weeks.

Craig’s car is pretty awesome for moving stuff– it’s what I used to carry all those jugs of water from the springs… He’s gotta be at the office.  Kate’s got an SUV, but had already spent plenty of her time yesterday to cheer me up.

I was going to keep making calls to check on people, but then the girl called…. I didn’t have much to say.  My blog had already spelled out everything I felt, and she had read it.  The conversation lasted a little while, but after hearing enough times what I already knew, and what was hurtful to hear (I am a big fan of changing peoples’ lives… but being the guy who helps them figure out what they’re not looking for…. ), I said that I gotta go get my stuff moved (especially since I’m doing it solo now)…. and then I went and wrote this blog post :p

I guess while my mood’s been crazy lately, and I don’t have a pizza or chicken nachos handy, writing on my blog has been theraputic.

I really am off to move my stuff.  But my point is that between needing space, and having a break-in, and the temperature is about to go into the 100′s…. And I’m sure if I was in a clearer state of mind I could come up with some more stuff…  It seems like I’m getting some signs from above to get the fuck outta dodge already.  So… I’m gone!

Off to pack, and then off to Arizona to meet new strangers, check out Sedona, and then go to Cali and figure out what life has planned for me next.

Lock your windows!

Sponge Bob Square Pants died in BP oil spill!

Here’s a fun one to share with your friends!

British Petroleum has a gag order on their staff.  During this cleanup, no one can tell you what’s really going on.  So… all those dead animals, all that failure on stopping the flow of oil…. yeah, they can’t

Click this to see BP's "Oil Spill" ad

talk about it.  Additionally, BP is paying for sponsored ads, so whenever you search for a term like “Oil Spill” their ad shows up at the top, like so (see image on left).

Their BP ad (the one with the yellow background) costs them money for each click.  It takes you to their page, where they get to present the information however they want to… i.e. “BP cares, loves you, are the good guys, and are really making the world a better place…. and a little oil in your sea food is good for you!”

Now, I may be paraphrasing a little bit, but you get the idea.

The sad part is that millions of people do not know that it is an ad.  They search for “Oil Spill” (or any other term relating to the worst ecological catastrophe in history), they see “BP”, click on it, and think they are seeing the real news, and thus believe it.

So, to show BP that this campaign is just a waste of their money, and that people are smarter than that, just keep searching for Oil Spill, and clicking on BP’s ads!  Then just hit the back button on your browser, you’re back in the Google page, and you can click again… rinse and repeat!

Send your friends to this page! With enough people doing this, maybe BP can invest their resources into cleaning the environment, rather than just trying to bully us into thinking that everything’s peachy.

Here! I’ll save you the effort– Just click here, and it will take you to a Google page where you can click on oil ads.

Have fun!