Prostituting Myself, Metaphorically Speaking

You may remember the first day of class; Azor asked all of us to introduce ourselves. How annoying is that? Talking about yourself to a dozen or so complete strangers. Needless to say I was very nervous about it. I always was, I have stagefright, but am getting over it by forcing myself to do things that put me in the spotlight. For instance, I've sang karaoke three times, granted it took me a few drinks of courage but I did it, and I enjoyed it. But I'm getting off topic. But it is also relevant. You may remember me saying the thing about myself was that I self published two books Liquid Dreams: April 2051 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/180-4638960-9558406?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Liquid+Dreams%3A+April+2051 and Jackie Reaper http://www.amazon.com/Jackie-Reaper-Donald-Jensen/dp/1607498731/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330188374&sr=8-1 . Self Publishing is actually quite easy. At first the few Print-On-Demand publishers I checked out wanted several hundred dollars up front. Which of course I didn't have, and I doubt most of us do. But then I found Publish America http://www.publishamerica.com/ , they wanted no money up front, they make their money on the back end, from your sales. What does that mean? It means they will publish your book; you buy copies and try to sell them. My first book I only sold about 40-45 copies, my second book I've only sold maybe 10 or so because I'm not allowed to sell at work anymore since it's not a not-for-profit. This is actually discouraging to an extant. I've got a third book ready to go, but haven't bothered to publish it yet. Why? Because it's hard to sell them. Like I said earlier, self publishing is easy; it's the selling that's hard. You can of course sell to friends and family, and that's about 10 books or so (my second book) but going up to strangers and asking them to spend $15 on one of your books is another matter all together. Maybe I need a few drinks of courage, I don't know. Having friends and family help you is a great way of selling, before my mom passed, she helped me sell a lot, plus the copies I sold at work (my first book). But what you may fail to realize is that people aren't buying your book, they are buying you. So if you can't sell yourself, be a salesman (or woman), you aren't going to sell that many copies. But if you do have the touch that allows you to sell ice cubes to Eskimos, as a friend once said to me, then you're on your way to a decent writing and publishing career. But as for me, I'm not very good at prostituting myself, metaphorically speaking.

If you think you may be interested in buying one of my books for $15, I keep a few in my car. Talk to me before or after class.

The musical chairs

If you would have seen me 10 years ago with my long hair and my heavy metal t-shirts, you could interpret that I was a metal head, and in part you would be correct. I do like metal. But I also like 80's hair, industrial, easy listening, some rap, a handful of country, and some classical when the mood strikes me. Alphabetically, American Head Charge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQjvVjU1fFI is right next Tori Amos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uho2NQw1GY , Earshot  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA5cYjpmRS8&ob=av2e is right next to Enya http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl8iYAo90pE&ob=av2n , Marilyn Manson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ybaiCgOFUQ is next to Sarah Mclachlin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdnm8iU-5c is next to Meatloaf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fAPEUWowEc , you get the idea. But my motivation for writing all of this is to open your own mind to new music. Take the radio for example, I used to listen to 106.5 WHBZ for the rock and metal, but then my kids tuned me into 104.5 WXER where I found Beyonce's "Halo"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC06CMBQLM0 and Katy Perry's "E.T." "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh63nfmb3p0 amongst others. My brother listens to country and while driving around with him I found Jamey Johnson "High Cost Of Living" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiMdb2MnYr8 . The only rap I own is Nelly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hc6vZVylX8 , but I'm slowly expanding that by listening to 103.7 KISS but some of that dance music is sooo annoying. I love discovering new music, it was strange how I found Neon Hitch   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH0GBJEzbgw , I was watching The Lonely Island http://www.thelonelyisland.com/video/the-shooting-aka-Dear-sister and was intrigued by the whole "Mmm whatcha say" so I did a search on youtube for it, and came up with Jason Derulo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBI3lc18k8Q but found in the comments that he sampled it from someone. Someone inaccurately said it was Neon Hitch when in fact it was Imogen Heap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OLQB7ON9w . Another band I accidentally found was Psychostick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMrXMjxB6wk while looking for lyrics for a Marilyn Manson song. I mean how can you not listen at least once to a song called "This Is Not A Song, It's A Sandwich." Besides the above links I will share with you a few select songs from a few of my fave bands, Type O Negative http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD5No_JRrZw&ob=av2n , Mushroomhead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nghUCS6zqIE and Devin Townsend whose musical tastes are as diverse as my own with his heavy metal band Strapping Young Lad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aOy7bEkbCU , his rock/pop cd's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z_UJ0_biJw , and his easy listening stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRVlVhX_Ud8 . That is enough of my musical chairs.

Back to school sale

I can't believe I'm doing this. If you would've told me a year ago that I'd be going back to school this spring, I would've told you flat out that it would never happen. I wasn't happy with my life but I was content. But two of my close friends were going back to school and they kept saying that I should go. At least take one class and see if you like it. Then two of the last women I dated were also going back to school. And then a third friend - from the ever present facebook - said they wanted to go back to school as well. And I'm like wtf! Add into the mix that I got passed up for a promotion at work, and I'm like wtf again! So I'm going back to school, because somehow I am no longer content with my life and the way it was going. Even if I stay at the same job I will at least be able to say I graduated, although given my full time working status could take me about five or six years for a two-year associates degree. At which point I'll probably be then going for my bachelors, spending possibly another five or six years. But now I get "it". What my friends were trying to tell me, what the last two girlfriends had going on, and the third friend from facebook was excited about. Getting an education. Nothing is wrong with getting an education, and I'll add myself to the list of people telling others to go back to school. Telling them to just try it. Take one class and see if you like it. Well, for me, that one class turned into two, and is slowly turning into a degree. And that my friends is my back to school sale.