No, I'm Nothing Like You

I found myself this morning on the unfortunate path called Memory Lane. I find it absurd to be reminiscent or take too many trips down that particular lane.  While taking that trip I usually find that the people I was once ridiculed by have turned into everything they once seemed to hate. They ruined their lives by doing nothing with it and are now everything they told me not to be. The hay day of their existence was apparently somewhere between 9th and 12th grade in high school. Where they tortured me for being fat, lazy and lackluster.

Looking back I find them where I left them. In the same town they were born in, fat, lazy and lackluster. They look old. There are lines on their faces and those old looking dents. These people are the same age or even a little younger than me. Meanwhile I am light years behind in the aging department. I've done more in my life than they ever have. I've abused my body with substances to the hilt and yet somehow maintained a less abused look. I wonder if that is because I actually lived my life instead of circled around the black hole of what many call a home town.

Those from before who really bother me today are the ones that are dead. There's still not been such a nagging feeling as knowing someone who is on the same timeline as you has expired. It always bothers me, at least for the first few months around their death. Once I have exceeded their expiration date and am far enough away I start to feel a little better. I even feel better about myself in a survivor mentality.  Even though I know I could get my ticket punched at any time just like they already have. Another one bites the dust and I managed to live longer than they did. Meanwhile I know that feeling is about as valid as winning a Bingo game. It's all random and you had little to nothing to do about it.

In the end I am so happy that I have nothing in common with these people other than the human condition. Remember the ones going on about how all we do is be born, pay taxes and die? Well, I'm pleased that there is a hell of a lot more to my existence than being born, paying taxes and dying.

In the words of Macy Gray, "get up, get out and do something." I may live. I may die. But I got up, got out and continue to do something. And I always make sure the RECORD button is on while I do it too ...

Listen to The Fabulous D Show every Sunday night at 7 PM EST / 12 AM GMT right here atTheArtistD.com. Where we try to give you the anti-opinion and the opposite view with whatever truth is left that we could find from the underground collective. Every episodedownloadable now, right here, direct from me to you without interruption from anybody I don't want you to hear.

Fight the Man, the Man Creeps In

If you don't think it could happen to you, think again. That's what they say. They aren't so off. It's ridiculous to me that no one can have a soap box on the Internet without The Man creeping in. It's why I try at every turn to make the platform mine. That is, the one I own fully and outright. How bloody convincing are you going to be if you post a vlog about anarchist freedom when the first five seconds of your stream is interrupted by a commercial about voting for a politician? How much of a fitness guru are you preaching that you don't need fancy diets or work outs while the feed has a commercial for an energy drink or "how to get a six pack in six minutes." You aren't a rebel. You aren't a maverick when the host of your video interrupts you with a billion sponsors.

Back in the day it used to bother me when there were other people's advertisements surrounding my blog or video. Now they are inserting themselves in the video and nobody has anything to say about it. This is my site, my videos, my platform and I'll be damned if I'm going to take the easiest way to get the word out. Which is why the word doesn't get out. Because you're over there going to the biggest video site or the most popular blogging site to get your fill.

Every week on The Fabulous D Show I try to put together something a little anti. That's anti-whatever. I'll start by Googling for the opposite of what everyone thinks about something. It's hard to find. They've buried us on this Internet contraption. Try to find the truth about a Founding Father or some real statistics on drunken behavior. Good luck!

If you're any bit of anybody anywhere you'll take the time to figure out your own platform. At least use platforms that do not put content in to your own! That's horrific. A practice that should have never been allowed to become OK. I can't believe you've let these ads appear at the bottom of your vlogs. I really can't believe you have allowed an advertiser five seconds before your fans hear what you have to say. I can't believe you stopped designing your own site with your own message where you can control the ads, all because nobody does that anymore. And I can't believe that with all the free internet radio stations on this planet you've sold yourself to an easy format owned by some other guy.

Listen to The Fabulous D Show every Sunday night at 7 PM EST / 12 AM GMT right here at TheArtistD.com. Where we try to give you the anti-opinion and the opposite view with whatever truth is left that we could find from the underground collective. Every episode downloadable now, right here, direct from me to you without interruption from anybody I don't want you to hear.