Six Years

This is one of those Wednesday's where words do not come easy. Little inspiration, little activity, little. So because of this, the makeup of this post is lacking. The makeup, like the stuff girls wear (which is a whole nother conversation in itself).

I was talking to Mr. Scott Weir about this yesterday. It's the realization that there is SO SO MUCH TO DO, but because there is SO SO MUCH TO DO, it causes a sense of overwhelmization and there is NOTHING to do, because you can't fathom the intensity of the situation; denial. There are thousands of things to do, but when I sit here and think of something to do RIGHT NOW, I can't think of anything. This concept may make no sense to you, that's okay. It doesn't make sense to me either.

 Last week was nationball, this maddening game of dodgeball that the entire school participates in. The teams are made up of the entire dorms, so it's like a game of 500 vs 400. Pretty wild, pretty wild indeed. This year was FANTASTIC because not only did our team (OCC - Off Campus Community) completely DOMINATE the playing field and win the championship, but the playlist was OFF DA CHAIN. There was dance dance dancing and then some. It took 45 minutes for the refs to get everybody into the stands because everybody was feeling the BEATZ HARD, dance dance dancing on the basketball court. And there was, as someone esle described it, a "sweat cloud" hovering in the gym. It was at least 400 degrees in there, it was like walking into a scorching, 100% humid sauna. It was great, it was fun, it was worth every second. Here's a video that was put together by our school newspaper, The Chimes:

Nationball 2012 (HD) from Chimes Multimedia on Vimeo.

Fantastic. It's simple.


There's not much else going on. The Bakery is staying hot. It was 107-108 in our living room the other day. 98 in the coolest part of the house and it felt "cool." Walked into the living room and it was like an oven, so it HAD to be at least 107. Unreal.

Been in talks with a bunch of projects and it's getting pretty intense. You know the point where you battle between what you want to do and what you need to do? There are not enough hours in a day. But we've been given 24 so there's no need complaining about it.

Here's an aside.

It's come up a number of times in the last week or so, and after something thinking, I have figured out that I have been dressing up on Wednesdays for SIX YEARS going on SEVEN. That's spot-on incredible.

For those who have never heard the story:


I went to Royal High School in Simi Valley, CA. During my sophomore year, 2007, I realized all the dudes at the school looked the same: skinny jeans, classic vans, and a baseball cap. Everyone. So, a group of us started up Collared Shirt Wednesday: every Wednesday we were going to wear collared shirts, throw a little spin on the horribly-monotonousssssssss Royal High School fashion sense. There a was a group of us, then a few of us, then a couple of us, and then just me. And I kept doing it. Collared Shirt Wednesday. I started adding ties. I started color-coordinating. I started getting funky. Alone.

Senior year comes along and this blog is born for a simple reason: to remember senior year. I started taking a picture of myself on the Wednesday to document that week and then I wrote about the week. It was simple. And it caught on. People started reading, people started enjoying. And here we are today. Six years later. Still dressing up, still taking the pictures.

High school pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.34414107753.57636.714162753&type=3

College pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.143439557753.137074.714162753&type=3


And it's funny, because on one hand, it's like "woah, this dude takes a whole lot of pictures of himself and he's full of himself" but on the other hand, it's like "woah, this dude takes a whole lot of pictures of himself but it's documenting life as it hits." I can TOTALLY see how this blog can come across as pretentious and large-headed. I hope it doesn't. One of my favorite aspects of this blog is the documentation, documenting specific events in my life, coded by a picture to give a permanent connection to these events. Returning to these blog posts is an event in itself, SO MANY MEMORIES embedded that I/we would NEVER be able to remember just off the top of our heads.

You're entitled to your own opinion.



So that's the end of this post. Funny. It turned into more than "This is one of those Wednesday's where words do not come easy." I love it when that happens. And I love that when that happens, it's documented with a picture and a story.

Storytime

 

It's raining and rain is the worst (to put it heavily), I dislike it (to put it lightly). A lot of people disagree with me, they LOVE the rain. I cannot fathom why. Here's my argument. I say to them "Yes, I LOVE the rain too. It's important to water the earth. It's necessary. I LOVE it when I have NOTHING to do and I'm sitting with a cup of hot chocolate in front of the warmth of a fire. In that situation or anything other situation that involves sitting around, rain is the greatest. But when you have to do ANYTHING else, rain is the absolute pits. It makes everything more difficult, it's hard to travel, people drive like 5 year olds, there are accidents, mudslides, your clothes get wet, you can't see because water is getting in your eyeballs, it's cold, it's uncomfortable. How can you say you LOVE that?!" I'm seriously baffled. It makes everything so hard, everything a chore. Going to class is no easy task, it involves protecting your stuff from getting wet, trying to get there without getting soaked, and then sitting through class where everybody is damp in some sense and the musty scent of wet clothes hangs in the air.

I've got one word: yuck.

Just a word: in the end, this is just a rant. Obviously, the rain replenishes our earth, gives an opportunity to harvest, provides clean water, and ultimately is a gift from God. For that, I am grateful.

Well, it's another week. Another week. Another week. Time's flying. Another week. I've been training myself not to blink because I just know that the next time I blink, I'm going to be hanging out in a senior citizens home, recollecting memories from my 83 years of life. Just like *snap*.

It's been made apparent to me lately that I enjoy stories, all sorts of stories, telling stories, listening to stories.  There is something about a story that just makes the world go round, and it's wonderful.  We've all had the experience of sitting in a dull history class, listening to a lecture, when all of a sudden Mr. Boredom himself begins the story of his sophomore year in college when he snuck into the Natural History Museum in order to complete a class project. It is at this point when we start listening. Why do we start listening? Because Mr. Boredom is passionate about his illegal venture.  Mr. Boredom is NOT passionate about history. History is FULL of stories, but if the person telling them is not passionate, well, why would we listen intently? Passion seems to be a pretty important part of storytelling.  Every once in a while, I take a look through the records of this blog. I enjoy using the "Random Post of the Refresh" button in the upper right corner to re-discover the stories of past. In doing this, I've realized a couple of things. 1st: our memories are INCREDIBLE. Yes, we cannot recall any life experience at anytime. But, with a trigger, you can recall any situation like it happened yesterday.  I've learned that this blog serves as an EXCELLENT trigger. At the time of writing, the stories don't seem that significant, because they just happened. But let me tell you, there's nothing better than returning to a story from 2 years back, getting drilled with details, and reliving the situation. And then you share. You remind others of this situation, regardless if they were there with you or not. You tell the story.


I have some stories for you.

I revisited this story from May the 9th: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2011/05/high-five-for-first-kiss-birth-of-viral.html. This story just makes me laugh, I still can't believe it happened this way and I got a front row seat to the power of the viral internet. A GREAT learning experience, a TON of bewilderment, and a FANTASTIC story. Enjoy!

And now some wedding stories, fresh off the press!

Jordan & Danielle Rose: mawwiagefilms.com/​jordandanielle


Jordan & Danielle Rose from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.


AND

Alex & Danielle Blackhall: mawwiagefilms.com/​alexanddanielle


Alex & Danielle Blackhall from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.



These are good stories. So is this one: I saw this video the other day. I was intrigued to say the least. If this were at all legal, this is how I would travel. Just imagine a road trip with a group of musicians.  Can you say "not-only-would-this-be-awesome-to-see-while-on-the-freeway-but-I-would-have-a-BALL-on-a-road-trip-like-that?" I can.




Makes me laugh, each and every time. JAM ON.


Well, that's the post. Hoop, there it is.



Go tell someone a story. Tell them a funny story. Then a sad story. Then a surprising story. Then, listen to their funny story. Listen to their sad story. Listen to their surprising story.

SHARE STORIES!


It's all about the memories.

High Five for First Kiss: The Birth of a Viral Video

This is one of those times, this is one of those times where a crazy story is just waiting to be unleashed.  This week, I experienced something I never thought I'd experience, I'd never imagine I'd experience.  What happened?  Well, let me tell you.

Wednesday Night: May 4th, 2011.  I was perusing Facebook, as usual, and my news feed was fuming.  My eyes scanned the headlines, stopping on a video Ms. Tiegra Boots had posted a minute before.  Most videos make me stop, this video got me to click the "play" button.  I opened up the video in YouTube and immediately noticed it had only 32 views.  32 views?  That's pretty mightily small.  I laughed and proceeded to watch the video.  I watched.  And I watched again.  And again.  I realized something.  This video was GOLD, I had stumbled upon something special, real special.  This short video simultaneously shone brilliance, caught my heart off-guard, finally defined the word "cute," and excited me, very much so, to the point where I began sharing little Elliott and Bowie's first kiss.  This was the video:

  

Now, my first reaction was to share.  So I did.  I showed a lot of people, a lot of Internet people.  I posted it to my Facebook, I posted it to my wedding videography business' FB (Mawwiage Films), and  I made my way onto Reddit.com, a social news website with a MASSIVE fan base and proceeded to post the "high five for first kiss" video under the title "I don't care who you are, this is the CUTEST EVER."  People began commenting, people began voting it up, people began enjoying it.  I watched as the video that had 32 views upon my initial viewing made it up to 1000+ before I went to bed.  I was pleased, I posted something that was getting views!

I woke up in the morning to see it have around 4000.  Wow!  Tripled overnight! People must have shared it! I'm impressed!  The day went on, views started climbing.  I noticed a spike and went to investigate: Super Blogger Perez Hilton (link to post) had posted the video on his blog!  WHHHAAATT!  I'm pumped.  Can't wait.  This thing's ERUPTING.  By the end of the night, the video had well well over 100,000 hits.  I went to bed, who knows what's going to happen while resting in slumber.


I wake up, take a look at the comments, and upon investigation, find this little gem:

My main man, Mr. Justin Bieber, checkin' the interwebs, findin' something he likes, and posts it to all 9,000,000+ of his followers on twitter (here's the link to JB's post/twitter).

My friends, at this point, I am simply awe-struck.  There I sat, 2 short days earlier, watching this 32-hit-ridden video.  There I sat on May 6th, looking at Justin Bieber twitter, thinking to myself "Woah, this is the real deal ladies and gentleman."

I'm going to use the famous idiom: THE REST IS HISTORY.



"High five for first kiss" broke the milestone 1 million views on the 6th, and now sits at (the time of writing on the 8th) a lofty 3,913,298 views.

This my friends is what going viral looks like.  This video about a cute little boy and a cute little girl being all flirty and teasing, eventually leading to a short kiss, their first kiss, in which the little boy, Elliott, proclaims to the entire world through loud cheers that he has in fact kissed Bowie on the lips; this short little video took the planet by storm and will continue.

If I am this excited over this video going viral, I can't imagine what the families of both Elliott and Bowie are feeling right now.  I literally can't imagine, because I have nothing to base it off of.  I know one thing though: they are having the times of their lives.  I'm excited to see where this incredibly opportunity leads you.





This has been an incredible journey.  New surprises arise every day and it's likely not to stop here, it's going to go, go, go.  I learned something big: CONTENT IS KING.  Why does a video go viral?  Because people like the content and they share it.  Yes, the initial plant and who sees it first, getting it into the hands of the right people, all that jazz, it sorta matters, it matters to get it started.  But the real jet fuel is the people of the world sharing the video with their friends.  You see a video, you like it, you share it.  If the content is not sharable, your video's not going to be seen by millions of people.  Content is everything.




So what's next?  Get one of my own videos to go viral.  That's likely not to happen, but hey, it's the next step. Sometimes next steps aren't attainable, and sometimes that's a good thing.




Thanks for reading, have a great day, and always be on the lookout for anything and everything, you never know when something like this may happen.




One last little fun snippet:  I realized later that someone had posted the same video on Reddit before me.  The difference was his video did not get very exposure because he posted it in an apparently obscure sub-genre of Reddit while I just posted it in the "video" category.  Check it out:

Connor, if you're reading this, you know exactly what I'm talking about when I say "similar story."  Thanks GRVeee2!  I can't thank you enough.  And I'll repeat it, sorry to steal your thunder!  I'll just let you know, I've thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout this whole ordeal.