Well, not to say I had a bad life, because I didn’t, but the holidays are really not a whole lot of happy memories for me. Both sides of my family had issues, and issues with each other, and it’s just basically one long stretch of unpleasantness that I try my hardest to avoid. Most of the big family tragedies happened during this stretch of time of the year as well. As a result, I really don’t get into the holidays. Christmas is now too over-commercialized and the meaning is lost on sales, Black Friday, treks to crowded malls, bad parking and people fighting over stuff that really isn’t worth fighting over. We have a lot of bad priorities and values in America right now, and I’m not sure what it’s going to take to get things back to where they should be.
Of course, suffering from depression doesn’t help.
Even so, I have a lot to be thankful for.
I’m thankful for the the Sacramento Horror Film Fest, who keeps me busy working on various projects all year long for various productions.
I am thankful for SacAnime for being their sound production company pretty much until I decide to give it up.
I’m thankful for Joaquin Lievano, who is an awesome guitarist, who calls me whenever he is on the west coast, to handle his sound requirements.
I’m thankful for working with DJ Anointed. While it’s not my kind of music or my kind of message that the music he promotes is after, it’s still positive, it’s fun, it’s family friendly and it does promote good positive values.(I’m not into Christian music, especially hip hop, but if it helps gives people proper values and a reason to behave properly, it’s all good as far as I’m concerned0
A brief side-note on the above elements:
Doing sound is what I really truly live for, and having repeat clients like this helps me do what I love.
I’m thankful that our latest addition was born healthy.
I’m thankful that all 4 of my kids are healthy.
I’m thankful that my wife puts up with all my crap, including my latest hobby of yoyo’ing.
I’m thankful for a roof over my head and food in my stomach.
I’m thankful to finding YYE to ensure this yoyo thing got started right and keeps me interested, even though I often get stuck on tricks, I keep going.
I’m thankful my sister in law survived getting shot recently.
I’m thankful for another sister in law for flying into town, who was able to stay at my place and feed the dogs and stuff, even while visiting the other sister in law who was shot.
I’m thankful for my two pugs, because no matter how bad things get, all they want is my lap and I feel important again.
I’m thankful for returning safely from my trip to Disneyland. Good traffic and taking turns driving is definitely the way we’ll be going in the future.
We should all take time to be really appreciative of what we have, not in the material sense, but on a personal level. What makes life worth living, enjoyable, and what can you do to either make things better for yourself, but ideally, better for those around you, or even, better for some stranger. I miss doing charity gigs because I enjoy knowing I raised money for some organization that is able to use those funds to help others, or animals, or the environment. I strongly believe that you get what you give, but I don’t give so I can get back, I give because I can. For me, the work is its own reward and I don’t worry about what I might be getting on the back-end.
As such, I am having a good time with this yoyo thing that I’m finding potential avenues for opportunities to give something back, and all it requires is me to find a way to get there. I CAN find a way to get there, so expect to see me at some big contests soon, however, I won’t be competing or doing exhibitions, but I’ll be making my impact know by you not even knowing I’m making my impact known. The end results are that YOU get the best that can be done, and that’s really all that motivates me.
Keep throwing. Keep perspective.
