John Carlton replies:

I do miss the naked pool parties in Newport…

And I totally agree where you grow up shapes you in some way.

I had to look up Cucamonga and Fontana in wikipedia just to get some facts straight.

Some interesting facts about Fontana you might not of known…

- Travis Barker from Blink182 is from there.
- Sammy Hagar of Van Halen grew up there.. and is actually friends with my older sister. His son Aaron and her are good friends.
- Al Capone had a house there.
- The Hells Angels actually formed in Fontana in 1948
- Grady from Sanford and Sons lived in Fontana and went to Chaffey college in Rancho Cucamonga

And I didn’t know Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart both lived in Cucamonga. That’s awesome…

Small world.

I don’t think I could of gotten farther away from the Inland Empire then I am now… Oslo, Norway. A much different place.

Coming to Norway anytime soon?

It’s so funny – when I deal with many people from my adolescence, it’s like an emotional black hole. (I rarely see them anymore… guess why).

Now, my circle of friends is a bunch of people who are starting and pushing forward their own projects all the time. Some projects are big, some are small – but they all come from a place of joy and playful passion, and those folks are vibrant with life, being with them is fun.

Last week I got mad because of a technical glitch that evaporated about 60 hours of my work. My blood boiling from anger and frustration, I picked up the phone to call a friend – five minutes later we’re both laughing and having a good time.

It’s those simple things that make life good or bad – but most people don’t get that.

The world is a madhouse… but being in a madhouse isn’t that bad if you have a couple of fellow friends with common sense.

It seems, at first, to be a light-weight subject… … yet, really, it’s one of the foundations of living a good life. I’m talking about the people you surround yourself with. But not the way you’re thinking….

Great post as usual. There’s definitely something to be said for synergy and laughter. That’s why I feel, well, blessed to have a great group of entrepreneurial friends to hang with.

I’m sequestered in Idaho but recently started helping create and teach a script school for Digital Buddha Studios in Minnesota. I get to work and play with fun, like minded people and write viral video scripts while playing around on the soundstage. This means travel and a change of pace. Good stuff for writers who tend to hermit out a bit.

I’m still buzzing with energy from the great group of people involved in the gig. In fact, when I got back to my home office I decided from now on I’m going to throw laughter into the mix of my success gage. If I’m not having fun while I’m working it defeats the entire purpose of creating the writing life I love. Plus, the funny thing is the experience made we aware of several vampires I needed to slay (well at least remove from my life).

It’s back to basics. Learning, love, laughter, friends, family and of course writing!!!

Thanks again for the food for thought…always a pleasure.

Write on~

Lisa~

Your post hit home for me especially hard.

Someone smarter than me once said “You become the sum of the 5 people you hang out with the most ”

Its something I have preached to my kids and it has bourne out to be very true with them.

Thanks for the insights,
David

I had a very similar youth, with a bunch of friends who were probably some of the best guys you could have around you.

The thing is, I always thought I was a loser but, looking back, I realise I was the only one to think I was a loser.

No one else had any inkling as to how I felt.

I never felt a part of the gang because I felt they were all better than me but, as it turns out, I was very much a part of that gang…

And they, my friends, never thought any other way.

Funny how our minds can play tricks on us, huh?

At the end of the day, it’s how we perceive ourselves that really matters.

If that perception is negative, then we go on through life being miserable and vice versa.

You’re right on man.

You know I remember seeing you and David Deutsch hanging out at Makepeace’s power marketing summit… and the two of you were off in your own little world playing with a piano like a couple of kids who found a new toy… and I just thought “right on”.

The look like “normal” guys haha

But yeah man, that energy is what’s awesome — even more awesome (IMHO) is women with that energy — I could talk/spend hours with women like that — it’s a special type of energy ya know?

Later
Caleb

Thanks…..

I spent my adolescence and young adulthood in the “life of the party” role. Classic psych profile of a stand-up comic; NEEDING the laughs to numb the pain of social anxiety.

They say stand-up comedy is therapy – for the performer. True. But, somewhere along the line I got cured. So, I had to quit. A comic is nothing without that need for a group of dimly lit strangers to love and accept him/her for an hour.

Once that goes, it’s lights up after last call… and the shadowy objects of your desire suddenly have bad skin and spooky teeth.

There is no worse fate for a funny person than to “grow up.”

Fortunately, most of my comic friends never did. They’re still my closest comrades 20 years later – and they still put me on the floor.

Like you say, it’s about that energy. The giving kind.

All the little shit that fear likes to project 10 stories high in the horror movie of our minds is reduced to cartoon through the filter of a trusted friend – and that energy.

It’s like our friend Jack said:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”