A Hundred Days of Ideas

film_countdown_06In attempting to keep the “plan” for this vlog thing as minimalist as possible (in order to prevent perfection paralysis on my part), I’m not really putting together an editorial calendar.

Sure, once October rolls around, I’ll likely be talking about “seasonal” things (like Halloween, ghosts, and horror films). And when we pass through November and December there will undoubtedly be some sort of “holiday” content. But, for the most part, I’m just planning on rambling on for 3-5 minutes once a day.

Like I said, nothing fancy.

Yet.

What I don’t want to do is bore you to death.

See, there’s really no reason for me to do this if no one other than my mother is going to bother watching it. (Sorry, mom.)

I work best when I’m doing things for someone else’s (potential) benefit. When there’s a chance that what I’m doing will definitely have some sort of impact (hopefully positive!) on someone’s life. It’s why I just about all of my Facebook posts are open to the world. It’s why I’ve (sporadically) maintained multiple public blogs.

Judging by past experience, the best way for me to help myself is to help (or, at least, entertain) others.

Very, very rarely do things I do solely for myself hold my attention for any length of time. Definitely not for 100 days of cranking out content.

That’s where I’m going to need your help.

Since all y’all are the ones who will be seeing these videos first (or, at least, having the option to see them… I’m not going to go all Clockwork Orange on ya…), I want it to be stuff you’re interested in.

I’ve had many conversations with many people over the years–and if you’ve bounced here from my Facebook feed, you’re probably one of those people–and accrued a lot of anecdotes and even some actual knowledge, maybe some wisdom.

This is your chance to pick my brain or challenge me to learn something new.

To help me get out of my comfort zone a little more.

To make this more than just me sitting in my apartment talking to no one. (Which I do plenty already.)

Even better: I actually want some of you directly involved.

Most of my time is spent alone these days. Often, I long for the “good ol’ days” of having a passel of people just down the hall that I can shoot the breeze with at all hours. I see this as a chance to take that idea to a new level.

Many of you do awesome things. Much more actively awesome things than I do. Things that I genuinely think lots of people out there in the world would be very interested in.

So, if there’s a topic you want to talk about–something you’re working on or something that really puts the wind in your sails–I want to sit down with you (either in person or virtually–yay! Technology!) and chat about it for a little while.

Then I want to put it out there in the world.

It may even be neat for a few of us to get together, run our own little panel discussion.

Maybe live.

I don’t know… I’m game for pretty much anything that you’re interested in.

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Something New for a Hundred Days

test_pattern_01Despite outward appearances to the contrary, the last few years really haven’t been all that great.

For a while, I’ve been more than a bit lost. Just kind of drifting about, coasting on momentum built up in years past but, really, just running on fumes. It is, in a word, unpleasant.

In a few more words: I’m not at all where I wanted to be in my life right now. In fact, due to this relatively recent lack of direction, I’m farther from where I want to be than I’ve ever been. Not much that I’ve tried has changed that at all… even less has changed it for the better. (At least in the arenas that matter most to me.)

In an effort to get out of this stagnating rut, it’s time to really get out of my comfort zone and try something else.

Those of you who know me are likely aware that my “comfort zone” is pretty wide-ranging at this point. I have dipped into many different arenas over the years. I consort with a wide variety of “freaks and weirdos” as well as more mainstream people. I can more or less fly through most social interactions with no real problem. The things I don’t do, I don’t do because they’re downright unhealthy or obviously detrimental to getting back on track to being the person I want to be. (So, no, I’m not interested in reenacting The Lost Weekend… or any part of The Hangover. And we’re definitely not talking about anything like Natural Born Killers or Falling Down.)

“But, Kier,” you may ask, “what the heck does that leave?”

Not much that I can afford, that’s for sure. (An around-the-world trip would be awesome, but that’s just not going to happen… yet…)

Part of an abandoned business plan involved something that I never really wanted to do, but would have been integral to the success of that venture. I’m dusting off that part, though certainly not the plan it was attached to. Doing this will put me right where I don’t much care to be, in a way I really don’t much care for in general.

Starting next week, and continuing for roughly the next hundred days after that, I’m going to dive head first into the world of vlogging.

That’s pretty much the extent of the plan right now. (Mainly because I know full well that if I try to plan more, I’ll just spend the next 100 days planning and not doing.)

This is where I’m going to enlist your help.

Over the next few days, I’m going to float a few ideas and ask for your feedback and suggestions. Then, when this all starts, I’m going to want need a wee bit of support in a few different ways.

I’m not expecting what I create to be fantastic right off the top (that quest for instant perfection is one of the things I’m trying to overcome). Over the course of 100 entries, though, it will (hopefully) get better. So, maybe we can celebrate that progress together. Or maybe we’ll just share in the horror of an impressive social media train wreck.

At the absolute least, it’ll be something different.

At the most, well… at the most, maybe something I throw at the wall will stick and get me back on track.

More to come…

GWAR, Cooper and Price, Looking Back on Scandal, History, and A Few Other Things

This entry is part 100 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

This, so the little numbers tell me, is the 100th entry I’ve made in this particular experimental Facebook Feed series.

I was going to say something interesting about it… but it’s been another long day at the office and my brain is kind of fried. I’m also kind of unimpressed with my own performance in these little blurbs I crank out roughly four days a week to accompany the link to FB posts. (Heck, I’ve been disappointed with the lack of interaction I’ve been able to put into even those lately.)

Going into this, it was just a way to force myself to get words flowing out of my fingers again. It’s only been moderately successful. I guess that means I just have to keep trying.

So I will.

Here’s the feed…

Music, Free Broadband in KC, and Stuffed Animals

This entry is part 99 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Yeah… very, very busy day today. Likely a very very busy day tomorrow, too.

So busy that the feed is really sparse.

And, it seems, has ended up being mostly music-related.

But there is that bit about Kansas City, MO, setting it up so that, aside from a $300 setup fee, a whole bunch of their residents can get gigbit broadband free for the next decade (at least). That’s kind of cool.

I know I’ll be very interested to see how that plays out over the next couple of years. Hopefully, it will go well and other places will stop fighting against setups like KC has.

Anyway, here’s the feed…

Unintended Consequences Strike Again, Entertainment Both Classic and New, A Bit of Cute, and a Return to Space

This entry is part 98 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The big news today (for me, at least) was the announcement of the U.S. return to manned space missions.

NASA will once again be shooting humans into orbit (with some help form Boeing and SpaceX)!

Now, that’s not quite the manned exploration mission style I’d prefer to see… but it’s better than nothing.

I’d love for us to set foot on the moon again. To build something permanent there and then use it as a jumping off point for Mars and beyond.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally dig what all the rovers and satellites and probes are doing. Heck, most of them are performing well beyond expectations and gathering great images and data. It’s pretty exciting from a pure science perspective.

But it’s not the same as an intrepid adventurer risking life and limb to go there (wherever “there” may be) just because they can.

Again, that’s not to take away from the utter bravery it takes to step up and sit on top of what’s effectively a giant bomb (that you’re hoping projects all that force in the right direction)… but the whole up and down trip really pales in comparison to that months-long journey to a brand new planet. Or the homesteader heartiness required to set up shop on the moon, setting the groundwork for the entire next chapter of space exploration–a chapter that doesn’t even really start on Earth.

We’ll get there, eventually, I guess.

But I’l really like to see it in my lifetime.

Anyway… here’s the feed.