brykmantra.com

Yes, it was seven years ago tonight, back in that medieval year of 2002, that I first started a blog, back when 80% of the country had no idea what a blog was.

Oh, those were heady times for us brave pioneers! Networking with other foolhardy cyberdiarists, catching a glimpse of our blog names in a screen shot of a blogroll on local TV news, trying to explain to clueless coworkers and family just exactly what a blog is, posting every stupid little thought that popped into our heads (but without the competition of half the country like on Twitter these days).

Yes, it was almost exactly a year after I started my blog that ABC News named Bloggers their Person of the Year; coincidence? Oh, sure, keep telling yourself that.

My blog was originally on Blogspot, which apparently got hungry and ate the thing, but you can still download my archives in their entirety from a link in my sidebar on the right.

But of course, blogging is passe now, replaced by “tweeting” and “status updates” and “life”. Even I have my Twitter & Facebook & Blip.fm posts funneled into my sidebar here, but I still keep this blog as a central hub for my domain name and blogroll, and of course my “content network”: Original music, photography, video, t-shirts, etc etc etc, plus my own Twitter posts (”tweets” will someday be looked upon as one of the most idiotic words of the early 21st century) and Facebook updates.

Still, it was extremely worthwhile for me to have a blog. It finally gave me daily practice in writing and web page creation skills (HTML and graphics, for instance), opened up several new friendships and networking opporunities, and provides me with a written history of my life for most of that time.

Bonus points: It also gave me a nagging sense of superiority for the first time in my life, as well as bragging rights and a notch on my resume.

One of the most interesting things about blogging was that most of the people reading my personal little blips and rants were all over the country, and even the world. My own family and coworkers were never that interested in my blog, and most of them only read it after they deliberately did something stupid that they knew would tick me off.

THEN they would read it, to see if I was griping about them, but only temporarily.

But seven years is a long time, and the MantraSphere (i.e., my life) is a vastly different place that it was back then.

Probably the biggest event in those intervening years was the discovery, in early 2006, that the bronchitis and pneumonia that I’ve suffered from all my life was caused by a neuroendocrine tumor in my right lung — a tumor which began before I was even born and had grown to 5 centimeters in diameter.

So, long story short, after teetering on the brink of death from pneumonia and losing half a lung to surgery to remove the tumor, and after a long recovery process (mostly because of the havoc that the surgery wreaked on my back and ribcage), I’m now in better health than ever, and haven’t even had bronchitis or a serious sinus infection (much less pneumonia) ever since.

The second biggest change from back then is that I have finally made good on my long-time threat to compose and record music, even being one of the winners of a local music contest this past October! (Did I fail to mention that? Hey, I announced it on Facebook and it showed up in my sidebar. Keep up.)

But you can listen to my music on AloneTone (for free! And get free downloads and ringtones! For free!)

So do that, won’t you?

And there are more changes, but for now, I have to cut this short so I can go DJ in Second Life (another change! Huzzah!).

More later.

… in which we Americans kick off the holiday season with the traditional Stuffing of the Face.

I hope you’ll pause a moment and feel lucky to have what you have, and realize that there were times in your life when you didn’t have it so good.

For instance: Earlier this week, I bought a pecan pie, as required by Texas law, and today, my wife’s customers at the beauty shop gave her THREE more pies — which makes us a four-pie family this holiday.

For which I am thankful.

And this year I have a job which just keeps getting better, and I’m also getting better at my music projects, and my wife and I just celebrated 13 years of marriage, and we have two beautiful and hilarious doggies, and we have an appreciation of life and the arts and entertainment.

And a lot of people don’t.

So look around you and like it.

Feels good, right?

I’ve mentioned this guy before, so you know the drill by now: Up-and-coming country singer Jake Kellen, I went to high school with his mom and his uncle (who is also his producer), I went to college with the guy who financed his first album, blah blah blah.

Anyway, Jake has a new album coming out, and here’s the video for his first single!

The Blues isn’t my favorite musical genre, but I have a new favorite workout song: The Blues Brothers’ Sweet Home Chicago! Check it out, especially the killer trombone solo that starts at 3:57:

That solo is true vindication for everyone who was a trombone geek in high school.

Like, um, me.

I got some sad news yesterday: My mom’s next-door neighbor — a guy from my graduating class — was found dead in his house, apparently from a heart attack.

It was very sudden. He had had friends over earlier in the evening, and they had left thinking he was fine.

Just shows you can never tell.

This also marks the first death in our graduating class, which left high school 36 years ago this month. Other people in the class have passed on, but none of them actually *graduated* with us. Of course, there were only 44 people in our graduating class, but still, that’s a long time to have everybody still alive, especially since three of us have had cancer.

I was starting to think that OHS Class of ‘73 was invincible, but apparently I was wrong.

Now I’m bummed.

Like most people, I find Mother’s Day to be a source of annual consternation: My mom doesn’t need anything, but I can’t let that stop me from getting her something. On top of that, she doesn’t want us spending anything on her since I was out of work so long.

This year, though, I’ve found a nice solution: I’ve discovered that Staples does 24″ by 36″ black and white poster prints for only $2.99!

And as luck would have it, I scanned a lot of my mom’s old family pictures — most of them in black and white, conveniently enough — so it occurred to me to put together a collage of some of those photos and print it out at a mind-boggling two feet by three feet, and the results are seen here.

Also, she recently sent me her favorite picture of my dad, in his Army uniform from WWII, so I scanned it in, fixed all the cracks, creases and holes, and made a huge poster of that one as well.

I think she just might enjoy this more than something she could put on her shelf to gather dust.

Three of my friends (1 former co-worker, 2 Internet friends, all female) are having birthdays these next three days:

First of all, today is the birthday of Kim Novak of Yay! Kim Blog. Kim was one of my first blogging friends when I first started over 6 years ago, and about the only one from that era that I still keep up with. Bonus points: She’s a fellow Texan! Go wish Kim a great birthday, and listen to some of her great music while you’re there!

Tomorrow (the 29th) is the birthday of one of my newest friends, Debra from Atlanta. I met her in Second Life last summer (where she goes by the name of Stephi), and she’s one of my best friends in that virtual world. Bonus points: We were born just 3 weeks apart!

And finally, on Thursday it’s the birthday of Vickie, a longtime reader and commenter on this here blog, and former co-worker at Chucky’s Madhouse, where she still endures to this day. Bonus points: She’s a fellow Texan too!

Happy Birthday to all my friends!

As promised, I’ll start catching up on important developments I haven’t been able to blog about over the past six months, starting with the most recent and the one that’s most affected our lives: The sudden loss of our sweet Molly last week.

We had gotten Molly almost exactly 5 years earlier and nursed her back to health following two surgeries and a possible lack of nutrition due to being fostered in a house with several other dogs.

Molly was the sweetest puppy you could ever hope to know, and was the perfect big sister, first to Schotzy, and, after he passed away in July 2006, to bratty little Bristol.

Last Wednesday morning she seemed fine, but in the afternoon she was having trouble standing, and by the time I left for my evening shift at work, she had no energy and wouldn’t even stand on her own. She was unresponsive when my wife came home from work, and the vets kept her for observation and did all that they could, but by 7 PM, she was gone.

The vet told us the next day that she had had a tumor on her spleen, and that tumor had ruptured. There was nothing that could be done.

We were devastated, of course, but we loved every minute of the five years we had with Molly, and we’d like to think she felt the same. She’ll be in our hearts forever.

You can help us celebrate her life and honor her memory by checking out Molly’s photo gallery on Flickr.

I think I’ll go cry now …

… Is a very very very fine house,
With two dogs in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is better
Coz of you …

It’s hard to realize it’s been so long, but we’ve been in this house for 10 years now. In fact, in was ten years ago tonight that we were frantically loading up the last of our possessions from our old house, driving it the two miles to this house, throwing it into the garage, and hurrying back for more. At about this time that night (around 10), our neighbors were helping us pile things in my truck and unload it over here — a favor for which we repaid three of them, Kim, Ann, and Stacy, by taking them out to dinner a couple of weeks later.

As I recall, we finally finished up about 3:30 AM and got to bed about 4, but didn’t get much sleep before we had to get up and go to work.

I wasn’t really sleepy the next day, exactly. I was just so exhausted I was numb … which was kind of a rush in itself.

We had spent the whole month of August making repairs, since the place was a HUD foreclosure and a fixer-upper, and needed all new carpeting. We got just enough work done to put the carpeting in just in time to move in the furniture, then it was a mad dash to transfer the goods.

It was too late that year, but the next spring I got to work on the yard, which had been horribly neglected. Fully half of the front yard was bare (except for ugly weed grass) and riddled with huge cracks. It took a lot of top soil, mulch and sod, but I got those bare expanses filled in, and our across-the-street neighbor later expressed appreciation for my efforts, since he said we probably improved property values by fixing that place up!

Anyway, it’s been ten years, and we still love our little house, with its roofed-over patio and nice shade trees and sloped living room ceiling …

Here’s to another 10 or more!

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been dabbling in Second Life in recent months, and have even been in job discussions with a potential employer smart enough to see Second Life (and the other social networking sites I belong to) as an asset.

What I haven’t mentioned is something that I’ve been angling to do in Second Life, but have encountered lots of foot-dragging and excuse-making.

This past weekend, however, I began getting more aggressive about my endeavors, and finally achieved my goal:

I’m an online DJ!

On Sunday, I was supposed to have a quick test of my connection at one of the many virtual dance clubs in Second Life (an Irish-themed club, at that!), but the scheduled DJ didn’t show up, so I ended up spinning tunes (figure of speech) for about an hour and a half. (Good thing I had already compiled a sizable playlist.)

And they liked me so much they decided to keep me!

Keira, the club manager, offered me the 5-7 (Pacific Time) slot on Thursdays, so I snapped it up. And today she messaged me that she wants me to do a special theme night on the 27th (we’re going to do a hippie night, but with more than just 60s music).

My playlist on Sunday, and pretty much every time I go on, will be a good mix of new music (the more accessible new alternative and indie music, like Panda Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Portishead, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Hem, and one of my personal favorites, The Go! Team), classic rock (mostly album cuts, not the singles that everybody’s sick of), and a few dance floor crowd-pleasers (like “Brick House” and “Jump Around” — I’m certainly not above pandering).

And of course, Weird Al. You can’t DJ in Second Life without Weird Al.

Anyway, it was exciting on Sunday to get back to my college roots, going back to playing DJ. I always enjoyed to take the graveyard shifts during finals week, when I could ignore the formats and play what I wanted. Usually I could count on the Spook to tap on the window about 3 a.m. and help me get the records on. We’d sit around drinking Cokes out of glass bottles and take calls from the few listeners up at those wee hours.

This feels a lot like that, except with technologies the way they are, I can chat with several listeners at once, get instant feedback, and they can shout out comments about the songs and discuss among each other. As a bonus, I can have listeners in all parts of the world.

Of course, this isn’t anything like having a real radio show. For starters, I’ll be DJing for audiences for about 20 or 30 people tops, and sometimes as small as three or four. Also, this job doesn’t pay, except in micro-tips — although at this particular club, all tips go to a charity, Project Children. (I like the donation aspect; I actually feel productive doing something as frivolous as playing music.)

Oh, and another bonus: I have a fan club!

Okay, okay, it’s just a mailing list group, but I’ve got 20 members so far, and they’ll have my DJ tag over their names while they’re dancing to the music I play.

Hey, I’m out of work; I’ll take my ego-boosts where I can find them.

Oh, and I get to play and promote my own original music!

So seriously, if you’re already on Second Life, come by on Thursday. Again, it’ll be at 5-7 Pacific Time (7-9 Texas time), and the name of the club is Nancy Blake’s West of Ireland.

I could use the attendance boost on my first time in my regular slot.

And tell the host you showed up because you heard the DJ is HOT …

Couldn’t hurt …