I AM HANNAH’S FATHER. While I’ve been a hands on father for the last 3 years, it’s important to know about me that my little girl, her future, her growth and development as a young person in Chicago is my number one priority. I’m not, however, working on all of these projects to SOLELY make money to support and provide for her. I want to develop the people as well as the industry in hopes of promoting a more open minded mentality behind race-based social interaction in Chicago. In other words…I want people to get over themselves and accept each other on a level playing field. That being said, I am a son, a brother and a boyfriend (to an amazing woman) but most importantly, I’m a follower of GOD. Without Him, I am not able to be ANYTHING on this page.
I AM THE FOUNDER OF A NON-FOR-PROFIT charged with the mission of confronting racial prejudice in Chicago and the United States…FROM ALL CULTURES! Being of interracial composition and all of the events of my life have given me a unique insight into race relations. I have been both, accepted by black and white communities and rejected by black and white communities. I have received love and hate from both sides. My opinion is that we as a people have a lot of work to do in order to help our children LEARN how not to pick up the deep seeded racial prejudice in America and also to UN-LEARN those same prejudices as adults. We will create programming that will work with children and adults in hopes that knowledge, acceptance and love for each other will be spread. (Name, website, mission statement all in the works)
I AM AN EVENT SPECIALIST. My experience as General Manager of a large high-end nightclub/venue has given me special insight, training and experience with executing some of the most elaborate events that Chicago has seen. My resources are abundant for staffing, management and planning of any event imaginable. We are available for hire immediately and can act as anything from a consultant, to staffing company to a full/hands-on management company for the event.
I AM A CONCEPT DEVELOPER. Communicate your vision for your venue and I can begin to assist you with its development. Whether it be a single night’s programming or conceptualizing your concept, I can help.
I AM A SOCIAL NETWORK CONSULTANT SPECIALIZING IN SERVICE INDUSTRY NETWORKS. Creating one of the strongest social networks in Chicago at Le Passage was completely un –charted territory at that time. We have not only created a “Roadmap To Social Networking” but we provide support and training for it’s implementation, management and maintenance. Clearly we didn’t create these social network platforms…but we HAVE developed a way to have them work for you. We create brand awareness and identity using social media and interactive outlets. We teach people HOW to Tweet and Facebook effectively.
VIP Concierge and Host to Chicago – Need a table? Having and event? Want to set up a wristband party somewhere? I have connections all over Chicago and can set it up for you! Simple as that.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Farewell Le Passage
Dear Chicago,
I’m writing this letter as my farewell to one of the institutions of this great city. It’s funny to think that a nightclub could possibly be referred to as an institution but Le Passage has undoubtedly earned that status. For over ten years Le Passage has been the provider of jobs, the meeting place for lovers and “lovers”, the backbone of the nightclub industry and THE trendsetter for the service industry.
For the last 2 years of my life, I had the pleasure of being part of the Le Passage legacy. The story of how I even became the General Manager there is amazing. After leaving my job in June of 2008, I was without a job for almost 3 months. Because of the economy, people were flooding the service industry and filling all of the tipped positions and even with my experience, there were no openings anywhere. After randomly meeting the Assistant GM of LP and me quickly telling him of my abilities as a bartender, he called me a couple weeks later. After my first shift, I was asked to come the following week. The next week, the same thing. The next week I scored 2 shifts. A few weeks later, I got to work the busier bar. Then, a couple weeks later they asked me to be the head bartender. Four weeks later, they asked me to be the GM. I had never managed Bottle service, a front door, a security team, VIP hosts or bussers but there was a great core team there that I could learn from and build upon. They taught me so much and my learning curve was off of the charts. I will admit that it took me about 6 months to get fully acclimated but when I was, we were all able to hit the ground RUNNING!
We built the best team that I have ever witnessed…especially in this business. The team was made up of people that cared about their jobs not because they feared me but because they respected the entire system that they were a part of. It was easy to create a social network of employees that wanted to invite people in and book tables and “promote” because people were part of a FAMILY. I’ve been in the service industry for 15 years and I can tell you that in most teams are not like ours. It’s an anomaly to have a group of service industry personnel that care so much for each other. So much so that when we fight, we fight like siblings; when we have a task, we approach it like a family; when I scolded, I did so like a father. Needless to say, our turnover was very low…and if you got fired, it’s because YOU asked for it.
Tuesday June 8th, my employment with Le Passage ended but my family is still there.
TO MY LP FAMILY: I want you to know that I did not abandon you and I didn’t leave because I couldn’t handle it. I had no idea that my meeting the other day would go the way that it did. I have been frustrated with some things over the past few months and I sent a pretty aggressive e-mail to our owners. I said that if certain things didn’t change then I could not continue to lead this team. I said that my grasp was slipping and I think a lot of you were as concerned as I was having had such a rough shift on Saturday night. It killed me to see you feel defeated. That was why we had that post-shift at the end of the night. While I knew that it was time for me to eventually move on, I had no idea it was going to happen so soon. In all honesty, I think based on my confrontational e-mail and the fact that I was offering to train another GM for them, the owners took that as if I didn’t want to be there anymore. I thought that I would have the opportunity to say goodbye to you all and throw a few more epic parties but based on everything that happened, I no longer have the graceful exit that I wanted. I came in with my planner and my notebook open…ready to make notes and add to my calendar. Does that sound like someone planning to abandon you? I’m sure that given all of the circumstances that this was probably a miscommunication. I wanted to plan my exit, train a replacement, throw some parties and instead, that was received as my “immediate resignation.” I didn’t fight it. I said “ok”, listened to a couple more things, then got my stuff and left. After 2 years, I never expected “the end” conversation to be 8 minutes long. However, the events of one day and one short conversation WILL NOT define my experience as the head of this team.
It’s an unfortunate exit but I regret nothing. I have been proud to serve my staff, my friends, my guests, my owners and even my enemies at Le Passage. I have grown as an individual more than I could ever have imagined possible. I have become a better, stronger leader through my experience. This job has forced me to grab a stronger hold onto God because there was NO WAY that I was strong enough to do this job, at this level, with this intensity, for this long. I pray that if you know me, you know that it’s not me that makes me the way that I am.
I want to thank Three Headed Productions, Matt, Tommy, Jay, Kim Charles and the rest of the office team for this experience. You took a risk on a cocky bartender and I sincerely appreciate it. I’m not sure how you think I did but I hope you don’t regret the risk you took…if you do, I sincerely apologize…I tried my hardest to make you proud.
To my Le Passage family, I love and support you! I will continue to send business your way until I land at another venue. Even then, I will always look out for you guys because I know you have looked out for me. Please keep in touch and don’t be strangers!
LOVE!!!!!!!
Joel David Barnes
I’m writing this letter as my farewell to one of the institutions of this great city. It’s funny to think that a nightclub could possibly be referred to as an institution but Le Passage has undoubtedly earned that status. For over ten years Le Passage has been the provider of jobs, the meeting place for lovers and “lovers”, the backbone of the nightclub industry and THE trendsetter for the service industry.
For the last 2 years of my life, I had the pleasure of being part of the Le Passage legacy. The story of how I even became the General Manager there is amazing. After leaving my job in June of 2008, I was without a job for almost 3 months. Because of the economy, people were flooding the service industry and filling all of the tipped positions and even with my experience, there were no openings anywhere. After randomly meeting the Assistant GM of LP and me quickly telling him of my abilities as a bartender, he called me a couple weeks later. After my first shift, I was asked to come the following week. The next week, the same thing. The next week I scored 2 shifts. A few weeks later, I got to work the busier bar. Then, a couple weeks later they asked me to be the head bartender. Four weeks later, they asked me to be the GM. I had never managed Bottle service, a front door, a security team, VIP hosts or bussers but there was a great core team there that I could learn from and build upon. They taught me so much and my learning curve was off of the charts. I will admit that it took me about 6 months to get fully acclimated but when I was, we were all able to hit the ground RUNNING!
We built the best team that I have ever witnessed…especially in this business. The team was made up of people that cared about their jobs not because they feared me but because they respected the entire system that they were a part of. It was easy to create a social network of employees that wanted to invite people in and book tables and “promote” because people were part of a FAMILY. I’ve been in the service industry for 15 years and I can tell you that in most teams are not like ours. It’s an anomaly to have a group of service industry personnel that care so much for each other. So much so that when we fight, we fight like siblings; when we have a task, we approach it like a family; when I scolded, I did so like a father. Needless to say, our turnover was very low…and if you got fired, it’s because YOU asked for it.
Tuesday June 8th, my employment with Le Passage ended but my family is still there.
TO MY LP FAMILY: I want you to know that I did not abandon you and I didn’t leave because I couldn’t handle it. I had no idea that my meeting the other day would go the way that it did. I have been frustrated with some things over the past few months and I sent a pretty aggressive e-mail to our owners. I said that if certain things didn’t change then I could not continue to lead this team. I said that my grasp was slipping and I think a lot of you were as concerned as I was having had such a rough shift on Saturday night. It killed me to see you feel defeated. That was why we had that post-shift at the end of the night. While I knew that it was time for me to eventually move on, I had no idea it was going to happen so soon. In all honesty, I think based on my confrontational e-mail and the fact that I was offering to train another GM for them, the owners took that as if I didn’t want to be there anymore. I thought that I would have the opportunity to say goodbye to you all and throw a few more epic parties but based on everything that happened, I no longer have the graceful exit that I wanted. I came in with my planner and my notebook open…ready to make notes and add to my calendar. Does that sound like someone planning to abandon you? I’m sure that given all of the circumstances that this was probably a miscommunication. I wanted to plan my exit, train a replacement, throw some parties and instead, that was received as my “immediate resignation.” I didn’t fight it. I said “ok”, listened to a couple more things, then got my stuff and left. After 2 years, I never expected “the end” conversation to be 8 minutes long. However, the events of one day and one short conversation WILL NOT define my experience as the head of this team.
It’s an unfortunate exit but I regret nothing. I have been proud to serve my staff, my friends, my guests, my owners and even my enemies at Le Passage. I have grown as an individual more than I could ever have imagined possible. I have become a better, stronger leader through my experience. This job has forced me to grab a stronger hold onto God because there was NO WAY that I was strong enough to do this job, at this level, with this intensity, for this long. I pray that if you know me, you know that it’s not me that makes me the way that I am.
I want to thank Three Headed Productions, Matt, Tommy, Jay, Kim Charles and the rest of the office team for this experience. You took a risk on a cocky bartender and I sincerely appreciate it. I’m not sure how you think I did but I hope you don’t regret the risk you took…if you do, I sincerely apologize…I tried my hardest to make you proud.
To my Le Passage family, I love and support you! I will continue to send business your way until I land at another venue. Even then, I will always look out for you guys because I know you have looked out for me. Please keep in touch and don’t be strangers!
LOVE!!!!!!!
Joel David Barnes
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Faith...but Not in Man
I'm writing this blog tonight to share with the world what I have learned today. Well, maybe not "learned" but reminded of...
I had a day today that at one point I described to my friend James as "having my faith in Man-kind rattled." Just that statement alone makes all the details meaningless and irrelevant to say the least Through all of the cluttered details and pursuant emotions I was left with a bit of a hole to fill in my own confidence in man.
Because I have and will continue to have such a high standard for the people that I work with, it tends to set me up to be disappointed at times...very much like a father in a family feels. Today, I felt disappointment...because I have put my team on a pedestle even though I know that they are human beings that make mistakes.
I reached out on Twitter and said that I "need help restoring my faith in Man-kind" because I thought that's what I actually needed. I recieved message after message from people who I know and barely know and they were all amazing. (Thank you ALL for them) I was beginning to feel better...people are people, right? They make mistakes, right? That doesn't mean that they are bad people, right?
The last message I got tonight was from my Mother. I have no idea why she was even up at 1am Orlando time but she was supposed to be...clearly. She reminded me of a bible verse that says - "Put your trust in NO man, trust ONLY in God." Little did she know that it was the 3rd time that I have heard those exact words in 2 weeks. For whatever reason, they weren't "perfectly relevant" when I heard them the 1st and 2nd times. My girlfriends sister Dasha sent us an e-mail before we went out of town last week and the entire power-point slide revolved around that exact message. Earlier TODAY, while talking to one of my best-friends, he reminded me of the SAME message.
I'm not a guy that wants to convince you of anything...I want to present you with a few facts though. (per Dasha's e-mail to us)
The shortest chapter in the bible is: Psalm 117
The longest chapter in the bible is: Psalm 119
The chapter that is in the CENTER of the bible is: Psalm 118 (there are 594 chapters BEFORE Psalm 118 and 594 chapters AFTER Psalm 118.)
The center VERSE in the bible is Psalm 118:8 - Which reads "It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man."
HEAVY, right?!?!?! I'm just sayin...THAT is WILD!! There is no more perfect message for me today.
Men and women will let us down...it's what we're supposed to do! We're humans! We make mistakes! I can rest now...knowing where my own personal focus should remain.
Now...people that work for me........need to know that I know that they will make mistakes...they had just better make sure the big ones don't happen on my clock. ;)
I'll probably read 'em a bible verse about forgiveness as I ask them to pack their things and go. ;)
I will continue to pursue righteousness in this world because my little girl needs that of me...she's gonna be let down by a lot of men. (after I break their arms) She's going to need to have all of the tools that are neccessary to make sense of this crazy world.
(I was mostly kidding about the broken arms thing...haha) ;)
I had a day today that at one point I described to my friend James as "having my faith in Man-kind rattled." Just that statement alone makes all the details meaningless and irrelevant to say the least Through all of the cluttered details and pursuant emotions I was left with a bit of a hole to fill in my own confidence in man.
Because I have and will continue to have such a high standard for the people that I work with, it tends to set me up to be disappointed at times...very much like a father in a family feels. Today, I felt disappointment...because I have put my team on a pedestle even though I know that they are human beings that make mistakes.
I reached out on Twitter and said that I "need help restoring my faith in Man-kind" because I thought that's what I actually needed. I recieved message after message from people who I know and barely know and they were all amazing. (Thank you ALL for them) I was beginning to feel better...people are people, right? They make mistakes, right? That doesn't mean that they are bad people, right?
The last message I got tonight was from my Mother. I have no idea why she was even up at 1am Orlando time but she was supposed to be...clearly. She reminded me of a bible verse that says - "Put your trust in NO man, trust ONLY in God." Little did she know that it was the 3rd time that I have heard those exact words in 2 weeks. For whatever reason, they weren't "perfectly relevant" when I heard them the 1st and 2nd times. My girlfriends sister Dasha sent us an e-mail before we went out of town last week and the entire power-point slide revolved around that exact message. Earlier TODAY, while talking to one of my best-friends, he reminded me of the SAME message.
I'm not a guy that wants to convince you of anything...I want to present you with a few facts though. (per Dasha's e-mail to us)
The shortest chapter in the bible is: Psalm 117
The longest chapter in the bible is: Psalm 119
The chapter that is in the CENTER of the bible is: Psalm 118 (there are 594 chapters BEFORE Psalm 118 and 594 chapters AFTER Psalm 118.)
The center VERSE in the bible is Psalm 118:8 - Which reads "It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man."
HEAVY, right?!?!?! I'm just sayin...THAT is WILD!! There is no more perfect message for me today.
Men and women will let us down...it's what we're supposed to do! We're humans! We make mistakes! I can rest now...knowing where my own personal focus should remain.
Now...people that work for me........need to know that I know that they will make mistakes...they had just better make sure the big ones don't happen on my clock. ;)
I'll probably read 'em a bible verse about forgiveness as I ask them to pack their things and go. ;)
I will continue to pursue righteousness in this world because my little girl needs that of me...she's gonna be let down by a lot of men. (after I break their arms) She's going to need to have all of the tools that are neccessary to make sense of this crazy world.
(I was mostly kidding about the broken arms thing...haha) ;)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Over-Communicate
I'm actually up right now because I'm taking my own advise (rare) and blogging because I don't, my mind will turn off until I do. I told a friend of mine, Shawn, that if he felt like blogging, even though it was 4 am, that he should do so...Well, it's 5:30am...and it's time to write.
Since I was young, I talked a lot. I STILL talk a lot! Social networking has been right up my alley because I feel like it is perfect for me! I get to talk a lot...and write a lot...and express a lot...and that makes me feel good. I don't even know who is listening 99 times out of 100. Sometimes, I gotta pull teeth to see what someone thought about what I wrote or something I said. I'm not looking for endorsement or a pat on the back but it's just nice to know that people read it. Twitter has been amazing for me because of how many conversations it induces...sometimes MONTHS after a tweet! I literally saw a guest of mine that I hadn't seen in months and as I was walking him in, he was talking about my tweets about Hannah! He said the most amazing things and I had NO way of even seeing it coming or knowing that he was paying attention!
I've been in a constant struggle between over-communication and under-communication for all my life but I'm writing this blog to say that I fully endorse OVER COMMUNICATION 100% and recommend it for all human beings. We have enough baggage and enough things weighing us down, isn't it nice to get things off of your chest? Isn't it nicer to TRULY heal after being wounded than it is to conceal a wound and let it fester to the point where is DEMANDS your attention? It's painful to clean a cut...but it's the only way to allow the body to properly repair itself. (So many lessons are right in front of our face.)
Some of the arguments against my sentiments have come from people that have criticized me for talking to ANYONE about ANYTHING. I remember a friend in Florida telling me that I was so weird for having a conversation with a complete stranger for hours. Well, I am weird...and that stranger ended up having a lot of insight for my weird ass. I guess the way I see it is that you never really know who has that missing piece for you. You never know who around you is there for a bigger reason than to just "be around".
I will admit that I have used a "better" filter for who I open up to and share some things because as time has gone on, I've been burned...and people I trusted with my words used them to hurt me or mis-handled my trust. Who knows...maybe something I blog about will one day come back to haunt me later in life...who cares. I would rather over-communicate.
Another argument that I hear is that "I don't want to bother anyone with my problems". My answer to that is simply, "you don't think it bothers people when you bury your issue until it explodes all of the place and leaves numerous casualties in it's wake? You don't think that making yourself one of those casualties will affect SOMEONE?"
I don't even think that over-communication is just talking about things that bother you either...that's just a little piece of it. It's sad that people don't even compliment each other because of the anticipation of what that person may have gotten from it. It's a compliment...that should be positive! I have said Hello to people on the street with no response so many times that it's really very sad. I didn't think it was over-communication but I guess somewhere it became that...I won't stop saying Hello...matter of fact, I'm going to get better about it because I think that I have become a little jaded and slacked off a bit. Even if they don't respond, they'll hear me. Maybe if they hear me, they'll say hello next time to someone else.
I'm going to keep over communicating because who knows when I have something that some one's supposed to hear and vice versa. The next blog...LISTENING...that's even harder!! :)
Since I was young, I talked a lot. I STILL talk a lot! Social networking has been right up my alley because I feel like it is perfect for me! I get to talk a lot...and write a lot...and express a lot...and that makes me feel good. I don't even know who is listening 99 times out of 100. Sometimes, I gotta pull teeth to see what someone thought about what I wrote or something I said. I'm not looking for endorsement or a pat on the back but it's just nice to know that people read it. Twitter has been amazing for me because of how many conversations it induces...sometimes MONTHS after a tweet! I literally saw a guest of mine that I hadn't seen in months and as I was walking him in, he was talking about my tweets about Hannah! He said the most amazing things and I had NO way of even seeing it coming or knowing that he was paying attention!
I've been in a constant struggle between over-communication and under-communication for all my life but I'm writing this blog to say that I fully endorse OVER COMMUNICATION 100% and recommend it for all human beings. We have enough baggage and enough things weighing us down, isn't it nice to get things off of your chest? Isn't it nicer to TRULY heal after being wounded than it is to conceal a wound and let it fester to the point where is DEMANDS your attention? It's painful to clean a cut...but it's the only way to allow the body to properly repair itself. (So many lessons are right in front of our face.)
Some of the arguments against my sentiments have come from people that have criticized me for talking to ANYONE about ANYTHING. I remember a friend in Florida telling me that I was so weird for having a conversation with a complete stranger for hours. Well, I am weird...and that stranger ended up having a lot of insight for my weird ass. I guess the way I see it is that you never really know who has that missing piece for you. You never know who around you is there for a bigger reason than to just "be around".
I will admit that I have used a "better" filter for who I open up to and share some things because as time has gone on, I've been burned...and people I trusted with my words used them to hurt me or mis-handled my trust. Who knows...maybe something I blog about will one day come back to haunt me later in life...who cares. I would rather over-communicate.
Another argument that I hear is that "I don't want to bother anyone with my problems". My answer to that is simply, "you don't think it bothers people when you bury your issue until it explodes all of the place and leaves numerous casualties in it's wake? You don't think that making yourself one of those casualties will affect SOMEONE?"
I don't even think that over-communication is just talking about things that bother you either...that's just a little piece of it. It's sad that people don't even compliment each other because of the anticipation of what that person may have gotten from it. It's a compliment...that should be positive! I have said Hello to people on the street with no response so many times that it's really very sad. I didn't think it was over-communication but I guess somewhere it became that...I won't stop saying Hello...matter of fact, I'm going to get better about it because I think that I have become a little jaded and slacked off a bit. Even if they don't respond, they'll hear me. Maybe if they hear me, they'll say hello next time to someone else.
I'm going to keep over communicating because who knows when I have something that some one's supposed to hear and vice versa. The next blog...LISTENING...that's even harder!! :)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Why I Tweet by @JoelDavidBarnes
3 am and it's time to write.
Why do I tweet? That is a very easy question for me to answer because I exist in my own head but I want to answer that for the world. I know where and why most things that bounce around in my head come from and why they come out. I try to anticipate reading my tweets. I have rules that I follow strictly. I try to make sure that my voice doesn't get distorted or jumbled in the letters and words that appear on the computer or on someones phone. I am very careful with what I say and how...I think and rethink a tweet over and over again sometimes and imagine as many different types of people that could read that message and how they could interpret it. I think through the conversations that the tweet could create amongst friends, lovers, co-workers, family, etc. I think about individual people sometimes when I tweet. I think about the fact that my tweet maybe read 10 years from now or even longer. I don't think or write to be "politically correct" so to speak but it generally ends up being pretty close because my values align with similar morals. I think about whether my mother, daughter, family, girlfriend and friends would be proud of me for that particular message or thought. I think about making people laugh. I think about making them think. I think about the ONE person that was supposed to read that Tweet and did...and it was right on time.
But WHY??? Why the heck do I Tweet you say? Why is there an update to my Facebook page SO MANY times a day (aside from the fact that it it's linked from my Twitter account)? How the heck do I constantly think about doing it?
I LOVE people.
In a nutshell, that's it! I love reaching out to people. I love talking to people. I love sharing pieces of myself with people. You never know who's listening. You never know who thinks or has thought about that exact same thought. When you strike that nerve in a person, you have made a connection. I love that connection. I love that I'm able to connect with so many people and so many people are able to connect with so many other people.
People have questioned me as to why I tweet so much and how I am so random. I am sure that people talk about what I do behind my back or think that I'm TOO random or annoying. That's totally cool with me. I have never asked to be understood or heard by everyone. I learned at a very young age that I will not be able to connect with everyone no matter how much I would like to. Instead, I would rather connect with people who want to connect back.
I Tweet because I'm the GM of a nightclub
TRUST me...I know that sometimes I spit off 10 tweets an hour because I'm trying to promote my business or an event or generate buzz around Le Passage. Sorry if you follow me and that's annoys you but it's my job. It's not my job to Tweet about Le Passage necessarily but I have taken the ownership upon myself to make sure that the staff and owners that I represent are able to count on me to make them money. I am responsible for families, friends, my little girl and myself. Twitter is a tool that I can use to take care of my work family as well as my own family. I can give real-time updates on what's going on in an EXTREMELY competitive and fickle business.
I Tweet to make people laugh
It's always been one of my favorite things to do to make someone laugh. I think it actually makes me feel better than the person laughing! I love laughter because it's happiness incarnated. It's happiness manifested and real. It's my firm belief that if more people laughed in the world more often, the world would actually be a better place.
I Tweet to share Hannah with the world
More often than not, people who follow me comment on how cute my daughter Hannah is or something that she did or said was great. Aside from being a proud papa, this is very special to me because of what radiates out of people when they talk to me about this. It's the same amazingly good energy that I initially saw in Hannah. It's pure and it's good. It's astounding to me because it's CLEARLY the same exact energy. A perfect example is a Tweet I sent a month or so ago about when Hannah bumped her head on the couch arm. She whined a bit, turned around and looked at the couch angrily. She proceeded to slap the arm of the couch and say "BAD...don't hurt my Hannah Bear!" I died laughing and I even had tears in my eyes as I sent the tweet out. So many people have come up to me and mentioned that story. It's so awesome to see the same energy come out of them that I had initially felt. As selfish as I want to be with Hannah, I feel like she's too good to horde all to myself. The things I feel for her, the smile that she gives me, the way she runs to me when I pick her up, the way she grabs my face and goes, "Daddy, I love you SOOO much", the way she hugs my big neck with her little arms...all of it I wish for everyone in the world. It's too amazing to keep all for me...
The rules that I follow when I tweet are simple.
- #1 RULE - Stay POSITIVE!
- DON'T CURSE - You never know who's reading your Tweet and I feel like profanity weakens your positive voice.
- STAY RANDOM - I never want people to see my name in a Twitter timeline and think that they know what I am going to say. I don't want to ever be predictable because life IS NOT predictable. I was talking to my friend the other day about my "Twitter voice" and the totally random way that I Tweet. I told him that I AM everything that I tweet about in that random Hodge-podge of an order and that's what I'll stay true to. I'll wake up, greet the world, go to meeting at work, think about a funny thing that Hannah did, give a shout out to my Mommy, ask a random question, promote an event, ReTweet something funny that someone else said, send out a picture of Hannah, say hi to a friend and promote something else.......all in a half hour. Remember, I WANT to connect with people because I LOVE people. I think that I'm on this earth in order to do that. Why? I'll save that for another blog...
Why do I tweet? That is a very easy question for me to answer because I exist in my own head but I want to answer that for the world. I know where and why most things that bounce around in my head come from and why they come out. I try to anticipate reading my tweets. I have rules that I follow strictly. I try to make sure that my voice doesn't get distorted or jumbled in the letters and words that appear on the computer or on someones phone. I am very careful with what I say and how...I think and rethink a tweet over and over again sometimes and imagine as many different types of people that could read that message and how they could interpret it. I think through the conversations that the tweet could create amongst friends, lovers, co-workers, family, etc. I think about individual people sometimes when I tweet. I think about the fact that my tweet maybe read 10 years from now or even longer. I don't think or write to be "politically correct" so to speak but it generally ends up being pretty close because my values align with similar morals. I think about whether my mother, daughter, family, girlfriend and friends would be proud of me for that particular message or thought. I think about making people laugh. I think about making them think. I think about the ONE person that was supposed to read that Tweet and did...and it was right on time.
But WHY??? Why the heck do I Tweet you say? Why is there an update to my Facebook page SO MANY times a day (aside from the fact that it it's linked from my Twitter account)? How the heck do I constantly think about doing it?
I LOVE people.
In a nutshell, that's it! I love reaching out to people. I love talking to people. I love sharing pieces of myself with people. You never know who's listening. You never know who thinks or has thought about that exact same thought. When you strike that nerve in a person, you have made a connection. I love that connection. I love that I'm able to connect with so many people and so many people are able to connect with so many other people.
People have questioned me as to why I tweet so much and how I am so random. I am sure that people talk about what I do behind my back or think that I'm TOO random or annoying. That's totally cool with me. I have never asked to be understood or heard by everyone. I learned at a very young age that I will not be able to connect with everyone no matter how much I would like to. Instead, I would rather connect with people who want to connect back.
I Tweet because I'm the GM of a nightclub
TRUST me...I know that sometimes I spit off 10 tweets an hour because I'm trying to promote my business or an event or generate buzz around Le Passage. Sorry if you follow me and that's annoys you but it's my job. It's not my job to Tweet about Le Passage necessarily but I have taken the ownership upon myself to make sure that the staff and owners that I represent are able to count on me to make them money. I am responsible for families, friends, my little girl and myself. Twitter is a tool that I can use to take care of my work family as well as my own family. I can give real-time updates on what's going on in an EXTREMELY competitive and fickle business.
I Tweet to make people laugh
It's always been one of my favorite things to do to make someone laugh. I think it actually makes me feel better than the person laughing! I love laughter because it's happiness incarnated. It's happiness manifested and real. It's my firm belief that if more people laughed in the world more often, the world would actually be a better place.
I Tweet to motivate thought
I don't need to force my own beliefs on someone but I need to force thought. Personally, I believe that it's God who blesses me daily and protects my loved ones and provides for me. Ultimately I pray that everyone in the world could know the peace that I know because of my faith but I also recognize that force feeding often leads to regurgitation. I'd rather digestion. I know that I am supposed to invoke thought...the answer is out there but it can't be found without first getting turned on to it's existence.
I Tweet to share Hannah with the world
More often than not, people who follow me comment on how cute my daughter Hannah is or something that she did or said was great. Aside from being a proud papa, this is very special to me because of what radiates out of people when they talk to me about this. It's the same amazingly good energy that I initially saw in Hannah. It's pure and it's good. It's astounding to me because it's CLEARLY the same exact energy. A perfect example is a Tweet I sent a month or so ago about when Hannah bumped her head on the couch arm. She whined a bit, turned around and looked at the couch angrily. She proceeded to slap the arm of the couch and say "BAD...don't hurt my Hannah Bear!" I died laughing and I even had tears in my eyes as I sent the tweet out. So many people have come up to me and mentioned that story. It's so awesome to see the same energy come out of them that I had initially felt. As selfish as I want to be with Hannah, I feel like she's too good to horde all to myself. The things I feel for her, the smile that she gives me, the way she runs to me when I pick her up, the way she grabs my face and goes, "Daddy, I love you SOOO much", the way she hugs my big neck with her little arms...all of it I wish for everyone in the world. It's too amazing to keep all for me...
The rules that I follow when I tweet are simple.
- #1 RULE - Stay POSITIVE!
- DON'T CURSE - You never know who's reading your Tweet and I feel like profanity weakens your positive voice.
- STAY RANDOM - I never want people to see my name in a Twitter timeline and think that they know what I am going to say. I don't want to ever be predictable because life IS NOT predictable. I was talking to my friend the other day about my "Twitter voice" and the totally random way that I Tweet. I told him that I AM everything that I tweet about in that random Hodge-podge of an order and that's what I'll stay true to. I'll wake up, greet the world, go to meeting at work, think about a funny thing that Hannah did, give a shout out to my Mommy, ask a random question, promote an event, ReTweet something funny that someone else said, send out a picture of Hannah, say hi to a friend and promote something else.......all in a half hour. Remember, I WANT to connect with people because I LOVE people. I think that I'm on this earth in order to do that. Why? I'll save that for another blog...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sometimes, ya gotta step in dog poop
I just stepped in dog poop. I was annoyed for sure. I mean, who likes to step in dog poop. I was a fresh one too...haha. I thought it was a leaf on the ground. I knew that it was dark and I probably shouldn't have stepped on a foreign object but I gambled...and came up shitty.
Before I could even get my shoe off to walk upstairs barefoot before I cleaned it, I already knew that I was going to write.
Sometimes ya gotta step in dog poop. It's TRUE! Even though we are ever developing and learning we are bound to make mistakes. We're even bound to know that we are making the mistake. How many times have you known good and well that your decision wasn't the right one? Think about it...are you setting yourself up to step in dog poop? Than how can you be so mad about the fact that you stepped in it?
I'm going to do a better job of avoid dog poop...both actually and metaphorically. That's MY decision.
Before I could even get my shoe off to walk upstairs barefoot before I cleaned it, I already knew that I was going to write.
Sometimes ya gotta step in dog poop. It's TRUE! Even though we are ever developing and learning we are bound to make mistakes. We're even bound to know that we are making the mistake. How many times have you known good and well that your decision wasn't the right one? Think about it...are you setting yourself up to step in dog poop? Than how can you be so mad about the fact that you stepped in it?
I'm going to do a better job of avoid dog poop...both actually and metaphorically. That's MY decision.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
To: the person that needs this
WOW! It’s been a LOOONG time since I Blogged.
I woke up this morning with my mind racing a million miles a minute and I was never able to get back to resting…to tell you the truth, I never really fell asleep. My mind wouldn’t let me. It’s like I had too many things to think about and think through to be able to sleep.
I think the main point of me beginning this blog is because I feel like I have a responsibility to people that maybe I haven’t been fully embracing lately and I want to work on that. Not that I’m something “special” to man-kind or anything like that at all…there are just times when I’m supposed to write. There are times that really good ideas and motivations get lost in the spaghetti bowl of thoughts, ideas and emotions that exist in my mind. For a long time I thought that if I shared these facets of myself, that I would be “showing my cards” so to speak. I was scared for a long time in my life that if I let people know the full range of powerful emotions that I felt, that they may in-turn use them against me. If you know what my kryptonite is…why wouldn’t you use it if you were a “bad-guy” to my “superman”. I’m far from being an actual super-hero but I aspire to be one someday! My goal has always been to be a “Renaissance Man”, maybe that’s what they’ll write on my tombstone.
Like a lot of what I write, I wasn’t sure what I was even supposed to be writing about…I just knew that I had to. If I’m getting to the point where too many thoughts are building up in my head, then clearly it’s time for a release.
I don’t have ANY clue who reads these things but I think today, I am supposed to write to someone in particular out there. Someone that feels lost and over-whelmed. With the intention of relating to you, I’ll tell you a quick story about myself.
If I had a nickel for how many times in my life that I have been lost and/or over-whelmed, I’d quit my job and buy Florida, Illinois and probably California! Still to this day I feel over-whelmed…still to this day I find myself looking around and trying to figure out where the heck I am! Matter of fact, I think it’s the only reason that I know ANYTHING on the subject.
So many times I look and reflect on the amount of time that I have sacrificed spending with Hannah versus doing the very difficult and time consuming job that I do. I can’t tell you how many times a week that tears well-up in my eyes because I miss her so much. I can’t tell you how many times a day I think about that little girl. I can’t tell you how many times I miss her each minute. I can’t tell you the feeling that floods my body when I know that I’m going to see her soon. I can’t tell you that it’s OKAY that I only get that feeling a couple times a week. It’s over-whelming. It causes me to doubt myself ALL of the time. If I let it, it could control me…cause me to lose focus…
I think my point is this. Being over-whelmed, lost, confused, sad, distraught, angry, stranded are all NORMAL human emotions…how we deal with them can make us super-human. Channeling the negative energy that is associated with all of these emotions and using that energy for your own good is one of the hardest tasks, but IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE! Realizing that may be the first step necessary to getting out of that ‘not so good’ place you may find yourself in. My Mom always tells me that “God doesn’t put ANYTHING on you that you can’t handle.” For a long time, I had that saying on my front door so that right before I left the house I would read it…everyday for YEARS. Taking the leap of faith to believe that fundamental truth makes ALL of the difference! I promise!
I’ve been in very dark places…sometimes I feel like it’s a constant battle to keep from going back to those places. It’s my opinion, though, that it’s very easy to take your hands off of the steering wheel of your life. It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself.
I am in a constant battle to stay focused and be the best man, father, son and soul mate that I can be. I’d rather take the hard road there…I think it means that I’m doing the right thing!
I woke up this morning with my mind racing a million miles a minute and I was never able to get back to resting…to tell you the truth, I never really fell asleep. My mind wouldn’t let me. It’s like I had too many things to think about and think through to be able to sleep.
I think the main point of me beginning this blog is because I feel like I have a responsibility to people that maybe I haven’t been fully embracing lately and I want to work on that. Not that I’m something “special” to man-kind or anything like that at all…there are just times when I’m supposed to write. There are times that really good ideas and motivations get lost in the spaghetti bowl of thoughts, ideas and emotions that exist in my mind. For a long time I thought that if I shared these facets of myself, that I would be “showing my cards” so to speak. I was scared for a long time in my life that if I let people know the full range of powerful emotions that I felt, that they may in-turn use them against me. If you know what my kryptonite is…why wouldn’t you use it if you were a “bad-guy” to my “superman”. I’m far from being an actual super-hero but I aspire to be one someday! My goal has always been to be a “Renaissance Man”, maybe that’s what they’ll write on my tombstone.
Like a lot of what I write, I wasn’t sure what I was even supposed to be writing about…I just knew that I had to. If I’m getting to the point where too many thoughts are building up in my head, then clearly it’s time for a release.
I don’t have ANY clue who reads these things but I think today, I am supposed to write to someone in particular out there. Someone that feels lost and over-whelmed. With the intention of relating to you, I’ll tell you a quick story about myself.
If I had a nickel for how many times in my life that I have been lost and/or over-whelmed, I’d quit my job and buy Florida, Illinois and probably California! Still to this day I feel over-whelmed…still to this day I find myself looking around and trying to figure out where the heck I am! Matter of fact, I think it’s the only reason that I know ANYTHING on the subject.
So many times I look and reflect on the amount of time that I have sacrificed spending with Hannah versus doing the very difficult and time consuming job that I do. I can’t tell you how many times a week that tears well-up in my eyes because I miss her so much. I can’t tell you how many times a day I think about that little girl. I can’t tell you how many times I miss her each minute. I can’t tell you the feeling that floods my body when I know that I’m going to see her soon. I can’t tell you that it’s OKAY that I only get that feeling a couple times a week. It’s over-whelming. It causes me to doubt myself ALL of the time. If I let it, it could control me…cause me to lose focus…
I think my point is this. Being over-whelmed, lost, confused, sad, distraught, angry, stranded are all NORMAL human emotions…how we deal with them can make us super-human. Channeling the negative energy that is associated with all of these emotions and using that energy for your own good is one of the hardest tasks, but IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE! Realizing that may be the first step necessary to getting out of that ‘not so good’ place you may find yourself in. My Mom always tells me that “God doesn’t put ANYTHING on you that you can’t handle.” For a long time, I had that saying on my front door so that right before I left the house I would read it…everyday for YEARS. Taking the leap of faith to believe that fundamental truth makes ALL of the difference! I promise!
I’ve been in very dark places…sometimes I feel like it’s a constant battle to keep from going back to those places. It’s my opinion, though, that it’s very easy to take your hands off of the steering wheel of your life. It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself.
I am in a constant battle to stay focused and be the best man, father, son and soul mate that I can be. I’d rather take the hard road there…I think it means that I’m doing the right thing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
