Polycast 100 was quite awesome

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I thought it was going to be run a little differently, including the introduction I got. I was a "mystery guest", and I thought everyone would be trying to guess who I was, so I had a few lines ready to go. But, most likely thanks to technical difficulties in getting connected to the call, Dan gave away who I was before I could get on, so I tossed out the silly voice and impersonations and just did a few gags I'd prepared in advance, riffing on Phil (The MEAT in Team) and Maki, our Nikki Reed impersonator. (This one, not that one.) Or would that be impersonatrix? I don't know that works. And I got one on KMad. I just thought of another one, but it's too late now. Maybe if we're ever on a show together I'll remember it and hit her with it.

It was a lot of fun, and when he releases the final version, I hope he keeps most of it in. Once again, I want to applaud Dan for his technical achievements, and this time I also want to applaud his assistant, MLS (sorry, I'm terrible with names) for keeping the show going so smoothly.

When it comes out, I'll be sure to let you guys know.



There were a few good gags in the chat window, but because of my computer set up, I had to close the chat window while I was on the Skype call, and then when I left the call, had to bring the chat window back up, which took a few mins, so I missed out on some good chat. I also had about 10 minutes where I was completely off-line due to my internet connection going down, but thankfully not during my appearances.

One thing I did catch right after my scheduled appearance was over and I got the chat running again, though, was that one of the guys who'd been on before me gave me a really cool compliment, but he was kind of chastising himself at the same time. He said, "I wish I could've been that funny and interesting."

Thanks! I appreciate the vote of confidence.

If I may, I'd like to suggest that you don't need to lower yourself to praise me. One of the many things I've been doing with my life lately is finding out where I'm sabotaging myself. If I had given a compliment like that in the past, it would have been meant as sincere flattery, but at the same time, it would have been a put-down for myself. I've spent quite enough time putting myself down and ignoring people who tell me how great they think I am. I was afraid to be "full of myself" or something like that, but I know now that such talk, when done over the course of years, especially one's formative years, robs us of our self-confidence and our ability to realize that we DO deserve to be on the Earth.

There are plenty of people who don't think the rest of us belong, and most of us just go along with it, wanting to get along and not make any waves and avoid getting beaten up. I don't worry about that so much any more; I don't keep my opinions to myself as much as I used to. I don't mean that in a brash way, I mean it in an assertive way. I have a right to be here and take up as much space as I take up, and if you can't deal with that, that's your problem, not mine.

So what I want to say is, when offering thanks, you can offer them from a place of strength and self-worth. You can say, "you were very funny and interesting," without having to demean yourself. Your praise was intended as a gift, and I thank you for it in the spirit in which it was intended, and I hope in the future, when you offer such a gift to others, it will be a much better one that comes from someone who is confident, instead of someone who feels like they need to treat themselves like dirt to fully appreciate me. Would you rather have the thanks of a man who is at least your equal, or would you rather they come from someone who isn't even that much? I'll take either, of course, but I'd prefer it from my equals and betters, and I'd prefer it if you allowed yourself to be my equal or better.

(For those of you wondering, one of my friend is the world-renowned Savvi, a thought adjuster, and I'm trying to put some of her teachings into use and share them with others so we can all say more positive things about ourselves to ourselves.)

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Today is Polycast Day

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Greetings, y'all! And welcome all you dang foreigners from other countries. Dear Lord, be with our guests and prepare them for the butt-whoopin' they are about to receive! - Jeff Foxworthy, Intro to the Redneck Games.

I'm so excited! Today is Polycast Day, and I'll tell you more about it in a minute.

I should be congratulated because I'm finally caught up on the ebay shipping debacle! Last weekend I sent three boxes of goodies to paying customers, and somehow the post office managed to undercharge me, so instead of just sending the boxes on, they spent more than the difference to send them back, which, of course, cuts into MY costs and credibility too. And since I was out all weekend, I didn't have any way to take care of it until Wednesday. But I did manage to get them in the post, with the proper postage this time, and thsoe of you who bought box-games from me will be getting them soon. (They have NOT come back here, so they must be getting shipped.)

Also, I may have found a replacement to get the rest of my stuff listed. I was hoping she'd be coming over this morning, but I haven't heard back from her yet. She came over yesterday to check out the size of the job, then provided a BRILLIANT solution to the problem.


The problem with having someone else do the listings is that either they have to come here and spend all day doing the job at my place, which is a distraction for me, or they have to take the books to their place, which opens me up to the possibility of having them stolen. One possible solution I came across was to get a deposit, but it feels a little silly to ask for $200 from someone I'm hiring.

What she came up with was to just take pictures of everything while she was here, and then take them to her place and do the listings there.

PICTURES!!!! YAY!!!

So even if she ends up flaking out on me today, I'll have a much more attractive solution to the problem for the next person who responds to the ad.

So yes, folks, the rest of my stuff WILL be going up soon, probably with pictures. There's only a couple things up right now, but that WILL change SOON. Stay tuned to my auction listing page!

Next up, I finally have a business card! Email me and maybe I'll send you one. Then you too will be able to find out what I'm doing for a living that's convinced me I no longer need to hold on to a bunch of games I haven't been able to play in over 6 years and is helping me to change my life even more.

And finally, what you've been dying to hear, today, one of my Canadian buddies, Daniel "DanQ" Quick, is doing a LIVE Polycast show. Why live? Because it's the 100th episode! Join the celebration of this major landmark, and bear witness to some exciting special events, most of which he's not telling anyone about until the show starts.

Dan does a bi-weekly podcast in support of his favorite computer game, Civilization 4, and he calls the show Polycast. I've appeared on 3 shows already - the third one is due for release any day now - and it's a blast to be a part of it, plus it's really interesting to see how good he is at editing. If you listen in to the show today, you'll get a sense of what it's like to record one of these shows, and then if you listen to an episode - I think he intends to do an editing job on this one and release it, just like any other - you'll notice that he does an AMAZING job. Dan really should do this professionally, he's that good at it. Please join me in doing everything possible to encourage and support him in this.

Dan also produces TWO other podcasts, also related to Civ4. I'm not 100% sure he does the editing for them, as he's not a regular on them, but he probably does.

Click here to attend today's LIVE 100th episode extravaganza, which will run from 1:00 pm EDT to 3:00, and may run a little long since he's never done a live show before.

Click here to see his list of episodes. Even if you have no interest in Civ4, the first 5-10 minutes and the last 5 minutes or so are usually pretty funny. Intros are everyone's chance to (try to) be funny, and he tacks bloopers and stuff on the end.

Click here to see the official announcement he made on CivFanatics and a few of the responses. (He's got another announcement page somewhere with a lot more traffic on it, but I don't know where it is off hand.)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you later.

Damien Walters... DAY-AMN!!!

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This guy is freakin' amazing! And whoever put together this video of his talents did an outstanding job as well. I totally love the music, though not all of you will. If you thought Parkour was cool in that James Bond movie, Casino Royale, you're gonna be flabbergasted by this guy. Check this video out:

YouTube - Damien Walters Showreel 2009

I found this out because I finally broke down and got on Facebook (here's me), and one of my friends from the Navy, that Guy guy, had this linked up on his page.

I've been hunting around looking for other old buddies, and managed to find a few. But after the initial burst of activity, what would be the point in continuing to play with it? So few people do, and this site here has plenty for me to keep busy with. But I might just try friending Damien, maybe offering him a job.

Today, I've been busy writing an outline for a movie script. Based on something I wrote several years ago, it's actually a complete story that got wrapped up in another, larger story. It's just about the right size that it could be made into a decent action/thriller movie, and Damien looks very much like the kind of guy I envisioned for the role all those years ago. I just hope he can act! (And if not, I hope he knows someone as good as he is who can!)


 In other news, this is quite possibly one of the funniest Family Guy clips on Earth.

So here's the story.


You're minding your own business, taking care of your kids, one of whom is twice as smart as you are but afraid to let you know it, when your stripper wife is killed in a housefire, leaving you even more destitute than you already were. But since you can't be sure she was in the house, you look around, trying to find out for sure if she's dead or if she's safe somewhere. You try to ask the Secret Service, who've been spying on you for the past couple weeks because of some counterfeit bills you had to pass in order to feed your kids, what they saw, but they take off before you can get to them. Something about looking insane probably scared them into running you over with their van. After some digging, you find a clue that she might be alive, and where she might be. You track down the guy who may have been the last person to see her alive and find out, not only did he kidnap her, but he burned your house down, hoping you would be killed. Some unfortunate house burglar must have set off the traps and that's whose body was in the wreckage. You beat the crap out of him until he tells you where your wife is, and it's a race against time as you speed across Chicago to save her before she's sold off into a white-slavery ring and lost forever to some dude with more money than God and a taste for exotic women. Can you get there in time and kick enough ass? Will your children be sent to an orphanage because you couldn't accept her loss? And can you ever reclaim the life you once had before you were thrown out on the streets?

Find out in : "Get Momma Back"

This is a segment of a huge story I wrote about 15 years ago. My friend Natalie (who is also my biggest fan) has been telling me that another story I wrote would make for a good movie. Yesterday I got something in the mail from a guy trying to teach people how to write better scripts, and expressing interest in getting some made into films. That sparked the idea; I've been looking for a short (for me) story that I could write that would be worth making into a movie, and wham! There is was! I've been thinking about how to reuse all that old writing, and this is one way to do it. I've got quite a few other stories that work alongside this one that can be written up just as easily.

Of course, the trick is to write it. At least it shouldn't cost much to make.

There's a bunch of chasing and fighting and stuff, and Damien would be perfect for it. If he can act.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. I'll mention it again as I get stuff done, I'm sure.

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More RPG books went up

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Here's the list of items available.

A lot more will be going up. I'm working hard to find someone to get this taken care of in the way I expected it to be taken care of in the first place.

With the way I just slammed Asus, I wouldn't be surprised if they declare war on me and start slamming me back, so to head off any of that, you can check my feedback, ask any of my customers or regular readers anything you want about me, and of course google for me and find out what kind of person I really am. (Hint: I used Sidewiki on their site after posting the flame directly below this post.)

I don't usually take stands like that, or even flame others, but really, charging my shop guy for something that's still in warranty, and not even sending me the computer I asked for, is pretty freakin' low, even for a faceless corporation. After all the garbage I've dealt with from them for the past 4+ years, I doubt I'll ever buy another Asus product again.
But anyway, there's a lot more that's going to go up in the coming days, both here and in my list of auctions, so keep an eye out. I've got a guest writer promising to start posting, among other things.

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It's Official: Asus doesn't Honor its Agreements

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You've probably heard of Asus before, right? They make some really neat stuff. Motherboards and laptops and Eee machines, oh my! In many ways, they seem to lead the pack in providing the newest features, and seem to be designed a little smarter than most. But unfortunately, there are several areas where they have a serious lacking: Customer Support and Quality Control being chief among them.

If you have a problem with one of your Asus products, which you will, don't count on getting it taken care of in a timely manner, and in some cases, not at all! Let me review a little history and I'll show you why I'm sick and tired of that company's poor excuse for customer service.

About four years ago, I needed a laptop to replace the wonderful Compaq I'd bought second-hand off someone. I wanted one with a big screen, and in the PROPER 4:3 ratio, not this absurd 8:5 or 16:9 that they can't seem to decide upon. All my pictures and wallpapers are 4:3, but I needed the big screen to be able to see my GPS program while I was driving my truck. Asus was the only company that made a laptop to the specifications I needed, those specs including the need to have 2 USB ports and a power connecter that were NOT on the right side of the machine, because that side was resting against the seat-back so I could see the display. Even a year ago when I was going through a nightmare trying to get my laptop fixed, I still couldn't find any other readily available laptop that met these conditions. (You can't get a proper-aspect screen from anyone any more.)

Right from the start, I got hit with bad service. It took them several days longer to get the computer to me than they said it would, and my dad had to rush it up to me because I was leaving to be on the road for the next month, and had already had to leave home. That's a story in itself for later.

That computer broke pretty quick. It took a while to get it replaced, but eventually they did replace it. Over the past four years I've had about 5 different computers, not counting loaners from the computer shop. Asus laptops don't last very long at all. They're not made well. The one I'm currently stuck with was not the model I asked for, but it's fallen apart as well, getting dead pixels within a couple months and one of the keys broke and the case is cracked too. Asus doesn't want to fix these simple problems that I've complained about for six or seven months now.

When my power jack broke last year, it was one hell of a hassle to get it fixed. Their repair network database seems to be filled with people who have no connection to them whatsoever, and in some cases, doesn't even have a proper address. I went to about 8 different "repair places" in 3 different major metro areas before I finally found someone who could actually DO the job. Thank God my company didn't notice the hundreds of extra miles I put on the truck in pursuit of getting this problem fixed. And thank Him again for inspiring the techs who did the job to hurry the heck up and do it quickly. (They also cleaned up the inside of the computer so it ran cooler again for a while.)

But now, we're up to the same tricks again. My laptop is broke again. I want it replaced before the abysmally-short 2-year warranty runs out. I've been on their case for about 3 months now, as it expires next month, and they're changing their story every time we call them. Their site has a lot of nifty looking computers, but apparently you can't buy them. I chose one I wanted, and after some runaround, was told they don't make them any more. But they're STILL up on the site! Now they're making the shop BUY a whole new computer, which isn't really even the one I wanted, because they claim I'm out of warranty.

Hey, I know exactly when my warranty is up because of all the hassle I got trying to get it fixed last year. They were very clear that it ended in August of this year, but somehow, even though I've reported THREE MONTHS AGO that I need this piece of trash replaced, it's suddenly not in warranty.

This is hardly the first time I've gotten MONTHS of runaround from those people, either. In the four years I've owned an Asus laptop, I've probably only gotten to use a working one for about three years. Yes, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of TWELVE MONTHS those guys have been jerking me around. If I had a high-priced lawyer in my pocket, I'm pretty sure this kind of thing would come to a sudden stop.

But I don't have a lawyer. I have you guys, and you guys are even better, because when you spread the word about the business practices of a company like that - long periods of runaround, horrible quality control, refusal to honor warranties, extreme incompetence, and what I can only describe as bait-and-switch tactics - they're gonna sit up and take notice.

Why would I tell you about this instead of just hiring a lawyer? A lawyer would protect just MY interests, and get just ME a new computer one time, one that will still be shoddily made. But when I let YOU guys know what's going on, YOUR interests get served because they have to fix their problems for ALL OF YOU if they want to stay in business. I might get a new computer out of them if I send a lawyer after them, but if I send you after them, we ALL get better computers and better service.

If you would like to be part of encouraging a faceless corporation to change its ways and honor its agreements with you, or to at least make a product that doesn't break so readily that they only offer a two year warranty on it, please let your friends know what's going on. Friends don't let friends get ripped off by crappy companies.

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It's not over yet

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The fire sale on my gaming collection is still going. We've gotten about 1/3 of all the books put on Ebay over the past couple weeks. Some sweet stuff went for some really low prices, and the rest of it is lined up to go. I'm heart-broken that no one wanted a Star Wars movie poster puzzle, but eventually I'll relist it and be sure it's got a picture with it. My helper has promised to put more items up tonight and tomorrow while I'm at my business meeting, so we'll see if she really does.

I just sent off several packages to the winners from last week. Sorry it took a little longer to get them sent than I thought they would, but they're in the mail as of a few hours ago. Then I had to go and mark all those items as shipped, leave feedback, and of course, thank each person for their help in getting my teetering bookshelves cleared. One day soon, it may be possible to dust!

All the boxed games I intend to sell are gone. I'm holding on to Munchkin 1-5 sets and my recent-edition Axis and Allies game for now. I have dreams of playing it! We play Munchkin now and then. But I've still got a ton of Traveller stuff, GURPS stuff, some Challenge magazines, and a few Battletech items. And after that, I've got a few other treats in store for you, so keep on checking out my list of stuff, right here!

Thanks!

I'll be posting some other stuff soon too; I'm way overdue for something not related to getting rid of my gaming stuff. Frex, I redid the TrueFacts because apparently WYSIWYG doesn't strictly apply to internet applications. When I added a few new truths, I also needed to add another picture to balance them out. Somehow, it broke the page! Shame on you, Lacey! The only way to fix what broke was to change the way it looks, but at least now I won't have that problem again, AND different screen resolutions no longer see something totally different.

I also created a whole page for my Civilization 4 contributions, now that Blogger supports that. Check it out! There's a list of pages toward the upper-left corner. Right now there's only the two: my Civ contributions and the main site.

Be your best!

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The Beat Goes On

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And so does the fire sale!

I hired on someone to help me list my items while Ebay was having their free-listing sale. I was expecting to get everything listed over the course of last week, but apparently she's not swimming in as much free time as I was lead to believe, so things are taking longer than I thought they would.

Rest assured, the items that were listed are only a fraction of all that's going to be available once it's all listed.

Here's the list of items still available.

A lot of good stuff has gone for cheap already, and more is to come.

We're combining shipping however you'd like and shipping via USPS. If you want it different, just say so.

Thank you all for your effort, and I'll let you know how it goes.

Putting my gaming stuff up for auction on E-bay

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Hey everyone! A few days ago, I decided it was time to cut the cord. Over the past 15 years or so, I've been collecting all kinds of cool gaming goodness and books and other stuff. When I moved down here to Florida almost six years ago, I had to part with a lot of my stuff, primarily my Amiga and Commodore stuff, plus my model railroading stuff. We had a big house auction, at which I got rid of some of that stuff, including a TON of very valuable computer magazines and software, not to mention the computers themselves.

I took it like a man, but man did I hate to throw that stuff out. At the time, I didn't have the resources to find good homes for it all.

This time, things are different. This time, I've got the power of the internet behind me, plus a friend is helping me out. This time, my pride and joy will go to good homes like yours.

Up for sale we have things like:

Megatraveller - nearly complete collection from GDW
Traveller The New Era - damn-near complete collection, I think maybe it IS complete
Marc Miller's Traveller (T4) - most of the books
GURPS Traveller 3e - so very close to complete it's not even funny, some of them quite rare
GURPS 3e - assorted books, I don't even remember which ones, but lots of them
Traveller Novels - I think I have all 3 of them
Battletech - All kinds of stuff for Battletech!
Robotech - All kinds of Robotech stuff too!
And a few other tidbits. But that's not all!

I was a big-time playtester at Eagle Games back when it was run by Glenn Drover, and I've got most of their early games, like the Civilization Boardgame my group used extensively and with which I created my legendary ACR3 (Alternate Combat Rules), which are still available over at Boardgamegeek.com. My Age of Mythology set is a customized set in that it's got all the components needed to play a NINE PLAYER GAME. Better, my Attack! and Attack! Expansion game is also customized and you can play with up to TEN PLAYERS! Use it for those big gatherings at the game store.

All of these boxed games were personally handed to me by Glenn Drover himself, so there may still be some DNA samples of him if you want to try to clone him and play the games with him. Also, I'm pretty sure Sid Meier breathed on my copy of Civ at least once.

EVERYTHING up for sale is in EXCELLENT condition, LIKE NEW, unless it says otherwise. There are a few books I got from other people, primarily in the Megatraveller range, which weren't in good condition when I got them because they were used heavily. One book was de-spined and put into a binder, but I've thrown in some free campaign notes and blank world sheets and stuff. The boxed games might have one or two pieces missing or damaged; as I recall, a Spearman took a bullet for me.

This is virtually my entire collection of gaming material, in outstanding condition, now available to you because I need the room to hide bodies, I mean, my bookshelf was about to break.

I'd like to thank you all very much for so many years of gaming goodness. If anyone wants mbe to autograph something while I'm only a few days away from becoming famous and my autograph becomes worth millions of dollars, I might be willing to do that if you ask nicely and get my PA to pass along the request. She will of course do her best to combine shipping to save you as much as possible.

Thank you, bid early, bid often. Here's the list of what I'm selling, check back often, as my PA is adding to it as she gets the chance.

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Bob Parsons is a friggin' genius

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BobParsons.me :: Bob's 16 Rules

This is kind of a follow-up to yesterday's post.

The day before yesterday, before taping my third guest-spot episode of Polycast, I had the most ape-stonkingly-awesome idea for a website. Something that almost literally spoke to me. Amazingly exciting! Dudes, I could hardly contain myself during the show, and when it comes out, you'll see I'm pretty excited, that this was the best show I've been a part of.

So I jumped onto GoDaddy.com and started to get it registered, along with a few other awesome domain names I've been thinking about lately. But a problem reared its ugly head, and due to technical matters, I wasn't able to complete my transaction before Polycast taping began.

Once it was done, though, I called up GoDaddy and got some help getting my problem fixed so I could make my purchase before someone else could come along and steal my ideas out from under me. About 10 years ago, when I registered this domain name (Mopjockey.com), I had queried to see if TheDS.com was available. It was, but I needed to think about it. I came back a couple days later to make the purchase, and BOOM! IT'd been snapped up, and by a cracking-for-profit group, no less! They've since wandered off, but I had to choose something else, and that's why you're on mopjockey.com, which is a far better domain name than theds.com anyway.

The tech support guy was great. I had talked to another guy earlier, and he was also great, but because I thought I'd figured out what I was doing wrong and didn't have the time to let him help me out, I cut the call short. But the guy who helped me out with my problem was great, one of the best tech-support people I've ever talked to, and I've talked to more than most of you combined.

So I get my super-cool domain-names bought, and he even grants a request for free domain-name privacy for mopjockey.com since I was buying 8 names at once. (I now own 10 names! Woo hoo!)

I browse around a little and find out that the guy who founded GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, is on the same kind of kick I'm on, and doing a great job of sharing what he's discovered about how to be a success.

Not only has he posted that nice little list which I linked up there at the top, but he also posts a semi-regular video blog about the subject. Awesome!

If you've got any questions about what Bob is talking about, you can ask him, or you can post it here in the comments to this thread, or you can head over to my forum at forum.mopjockey.com and that way we can have a big ol' discussion so everyone can learn.

I'll tell ya later what domain names I got when I've got them ready for primetime. I worked on logos all night. I'll also link up my episode appearances for you at some point so you can crank it up to 11 with me.

Be your best!

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Other articles that you'll find interesting or helpful:
Hey baby, what's your sign?
What you should know about the military before you join
You Might not Know the Value of a Dollar

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New Gullwing Does Barrel Roll in Tunnel

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New Gullwing Does Barrel Roll in Tunnel | The Daily Capitalist

Holy guacamole!

A friend of mine sent me this video, and I had to immediately post it; doubly important since I totally slacked off for the past 33 days. Okay, not TOTALLY. I did get a lot of personal work done, bought a bunch of websites, and signed up for something that's finally going to start making a HUGE difference in my life and the lives of those around me.

We're all taught from the time we're teachable that the only way to live your life is to go to school, go to college if you can afford it, get a job, and work 40 hours a week (or more), hoping one day you'll save enough money to retire on.

People are starting to figure out the flaws in that plan, and they're rejecting it more and more.

But they don't have any other solutions, so instead of being ground down to the bone by 40 years of unappreciated work, they are instead shiftless losers stuck with their parents, without a decent job or marketable skills and no idea how to get out of the trap because no one will take a chance on them because they don't have a solid work history because no one offered them anything worth working for. It's not so much that we're all collectively lazy, it's that there's no inspiration out there to be the most we can be.

But I've found a way to change that.

When you're on an airplane, they tell you that if the oxygen masks pop out, you need to put YOURS ON FIRST before you try to help your kids. While you're fighting your panicking kids to help them, you're going to pass out and die, and then so will they. You might not be so lucky to have a friendly neighbor behind you who is willing or able to help you before you die. BUT, if you put YOUR mask on first, now you don't have to worry about passing out. When your kids pass out, they stop fighting you and you can put their masks on BEFORE they die. POOF! You all live! Well, assuming the plane doesn't crash, but you get the point.

This is the same thing. I've gotten into something incredible. It's my oxygen mask. Once I've got it put on and I'm breathing, then I can help those around me to get theirs on. And then they can help those around them get theirs on. Before you know it, everyone's saved!

This is the basic principle behind some of the things I've discussed with my friends and family over the past year or so, but I've been struggling to find that one key ingredient that gets the mask to pop out, and now I think I've got it.

Before I got to this point, though, I had to understand a couple things. First, I needed to understand that there was a need for the mask. Then to know that the mask really does exist. And then to know that I can have the mask. And finally, to know that I deserve to be able to put the mask on ONLY if I can figure out how to get it. It's a stretchy little metaphor, but it works pretty well. You can't save yourself if you don't know you're in danger, if you don't believe saving yourself is possible, or if you think someone else deserves to be saved more than you do. If you don't want to be saved, you don't deserve to be saved. That's how the world works, and I'm not ashamed of that. I cannot force anyone to accept my help and I will not waste my efforts helping someone like that when there are others out there who can be helped and want to be. It's heart-breaking sometimes, sure, but that's the way it is. That's the only way anything is gonna happen.

I met a girl last year who has everything any of us would ever want. She's pretty, has men begging for her attention, makes more money than I do (but not for long), has a career she enjoys, and is the envy of her family. I really liked her as a person. On the surface she's very happy, but talking to her and studying some of the things she's done, I could see it written all over her that she was still missing some very important part of her personal happiness and fulfillment. Her career wasn't where she thought it should be, and she was stuck pitying herself, thinking she was the victim of bad luck or that she wasn't desirable enough or some other pile of road-apples. I could see the solution to her problem so easily, but if I'd just given it to her, she wouldn't've understood it. She would've thought I was just being a nosy jerk trying to tell her how to run her life. If I'd had more time so she could get to know me and see what kind of person I am and that I've gone through the same feelings of self-doubt she has and that I've found a way out of it, I could've given her some advice she'd've taken, and maybe by now she'd be someone who participates regularly on this site.

I have another friend who changed her life and is far more satisfied with it. She doesn't let people walk all over her any more, she does what she wants with her life, and she's proud of herself and her accomplishments. She's building a business right now and one day you'll have her products in your home. I'm proud to say I'll've had a hand in making that happen, though a small one, and I'll be equally proud to say she's having a hand in my own success. She's also one of the biggest fans of my writing.

Keep your eyes on this space. I'll have more for you soon, something you can take to the bank.

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