My roommates need a blog.

My roommates think that blogging is as big of a decision as getting married apparently. I wanted to prove to them that blogging is a simple extension of everyday life. It's merely a way to log the events surrounding ones day and experiences, right? So, anyway, I'm posting this to show them how easy it was to write about a recent discussion.

Another practice session... I guess I'm dancing again? [because I did lay it down for 3 years]

I just got finished dancing my arse off yesterday. For the most part I wasn't feeling it. I am trying to move away from "popping", or "pop-locking" as some people call it, exclusively and moving more into "hip hop". It's hard to define hip hop because there aren't a lot of defined moves that are called "hip hop moves". There are dances that are popular in hip hop videos and in clubs but that's different. I mean the lawnmower was a popular hip hop move at one time but would not look good now. So hip hop really boils down to the interpretation of the hip hop teacher. Anyway, with that said, my video has less popping than just out right hip hop. I also do quite a bit of "boogaloo style" which was my sort of "gateway drug" into hip hop. I used a lot of "quotations" in this post. So without further ado, here is my clip. Let me know what you think. Oh, it lost a lot of quality from my CPU to YouTube so sorry its fuzzy.

American Idol... and David wins!

Cook that is. I haven't watched American Idol much this season, I really don't watch it all that much period. I think that the David Archuleta guy should have won though. For one he's a better looking kid than DC and I think he may have a better vocal range. It's of my opinion that looks take the artist further [i.e. Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry]. As for singing ability, in that last song DC did he pretty much nailed it. I'm curious though didn't Cook lose all three songs last night? I really thought he was going to lose. I'd be interested to see what genre of music he lands in. Anyway, congrats to the A.I. Winner David Cook.

I think I have a 24 hour bug...

Very sick today. I had to reschedule an appointment with a new client because of it. I'm sure that's not very impressive or professional but I really do feel like crap. My head hurts, the dull, dry kind of throbbing pain, my stomach hurts in such a way that I have to remain hunched over because standing straight does not feel right, and I am sore and sensitive all over my body, complete with achy bones. I haven't really eaten in 2 days as a result, which is probably a part of my problem. Here's to hoping I get better by tomorrow since I rescheduled with my client for 10am cst.

UPDATE: Feeling much better, Like I said it must have been a 24 bug. Thank God because I was miserable.

Hip Hop dancing and Me.

I was introduced to dance as a kid, like most that grew up in the 80's, when I saw Michael Jackson on TV. And I remember wanting to be an awesome dancer like that. I didn't really take an interest until I was about 17 and realized that I had a lot of natural rhythm for a 1/2 Filipino, 1/2 white boy. I started watching Michael Jackson videos, hip hop videos, and even the Breakin' movie to teach myself dance moves. I have a very talented friend who did much of the same with the addition that he is a sheer dance prodigy so I learned from him as well. He's one of the most talented choreographers ever BTW. I then took some formal lessons and some workshops in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Tulsa and Kansas City. All hip hop, although I have taken an introduction to tap and an introduction to jazz class. Both are awesome, and I would love to seek out more classes but alas time is my problem. :(

I think I used to be much better but I took a break for about 4 years, at the height of my technical learning, and have lost quite a bit. Here's a YouTube clip of me dancing about 4 weeks ago. It was one of my first practices in 3 years. They are from 3 or 4 different sessions cut together

It's a little embarrassing since I realize I suck... but it will make me want to try harder by putting it out on the internets.



update: just watched it... pretty stinky. I should probably stop trying.

Why is it so hard to get an advertising job in NEW YORK!?

I have been living here in NY for almost a year. I came on a whim with the promise that the mortgage industry would take me from my comfortable salary and double or triple that. Boy was I wrong, and there is something decidedly wrong about those mortgage "chop shops". The lies that were being told to people in order to "close the loan". The mortgage industry was fat and bloated with broods of snakes and vipers. Hunkering over their "leads" like disgusting pigs over their slop troughs. Ughh, disgusting. I thank God in Heaven I am as far away from those vile people as I can be. Which brings me to my point. I'm consistently jobless out here in NY. I have only been able to find temporary gigs, very temporary. This most recent place is very, very unfulfilling. I don't usually say that either, I was at my last job for almost 6 years. You see, I am a very creative person with an extensive background in advertising and marketing. Here I simply scout for new clients by way of sales calls. I would love to have a job as a creative director at a mid-sized firm. A project manager, or even an account executive manager would be great. No more business development for me, I'm tired of the sales calls for the ad industry. I'm considering leaving the ad industry altogether and going the route of film production. I've always had an interest incubating inside of me and since my roommate has joined a film mentorship program it has made me all the more excited about the prospect. I could leave for California in a heart beat to pursue it, but alas money is my problem. So I will stay in the ad industry as that is what helps me pay my bills. The economy is too fickle for me to change careers now. With that said, I have my resume out to probably 8 head hunters and no one can help me land a quality gig. Qualified? Oh I'm qualified, up to my ying yang, but I believe that's the issue. No one wants to pay a qualified ying yang.

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with a head hunter, she had a crappy Verizon job that was in JERSEY. I would have been willing to relocate but chances are that I would have to interview in Jersey which is just a pain. I don't have a lot of consumer branding experience, mostly corporate branding, so it would have been a stretch. IS THERE NO JOB OUT THERE FOR A PERSON WHO IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ADVERTISING AND BRAND MANAGEMENT?

Why I like Obama, but won't vote for him.

I like Obama. He really is a charming fellow. That's saying a lot considering I have never met the guy or read anything he has written and I am decidedly on the Republican side of the vote. He seems to have this almost dazzling effect on me. It's no wonder he's been the media darling. I've tried to figure it out, what do we like about him? It's almost conniving the way I am lured by his smile and candor. He's confident but not smug. He's young, good looking and cool enough that you wish he was your teacher, professor, boss, dad or even friend. His charisma, much akin to J. F. Kennedy's, has given him the ability to draw larger crowds for an election run than has been seen in recent US history. He seems to have all the qualities one would want in a leader: strength, courage, self-confidence, vision and determination. And yes, he does seem to exude this sense of... this atmosphere of "hope". However, it seems as though just as I begin to be lulled to sleep by his sweet song of hope, his scintillating discourse of a world with out problems I suddenly "snap-to", like someone has just flushed the toilet while I was showering in Obama's rhetoric. Thoughts of uncertainty flood my mind and I begin to feel vulnerable and even scared for our future as a country. What about the issues he has been skating around? His Muslim background (our greatest enemy is a radically violent albeit jilted muslim), his true perception of this "White America" (I can only imagine what J.Wright, his one time mentor for 20 years with whom he grew up spiritually, has suggested. White is bad? America is white and so America is bad? Black people are handed the shorter stick from the white man? White Americans owe the Black Americans something? I wouldn't want any of that divisive sentiment boiling in the mind of our Country's leader) and his plan of attack and defense against our enemies (Is he really thinking that sitting down with our enemies is a good idea? Why?). The truth is, I don't feel like Obama has satisfied these issues, these elephants you might say, that have been congregating in my mind. Sure you can point me to transcripts and You Tube videos and show me when, where and how he "addressed" these items but in all of those videos and speeches he seems to methodically and effortlessly skirt around the questions and issues so smoothly that one never notices he craftily avoided them. By the end of his dissertation you feel harmonious inside. You want to hug your dog, call your mother and contact all the people you've had differences with and and apologize. Meanwhile, back on planet earth, back in the USA, the leading democratic candidate has never answered the questions he was posed. Never directly disarmed the proverbial ticking time bomb that is issues counting down in the back of our minds. For some reason we seem to be comfortably asleep with the notion that he, Barack Obama, is at the wheel and will get us where we want to be safely.