Twitter Killed the Blog In Me!

Published
by
Bradtastic
on July 10, 2008
in Personal
. 0 Comments

“What’s up?!”

The inevitable question I used to answer in oh-so-many different ways. It’s not my favorite question; it’s occasionally more of a statement, and I don’t always want to share the answer.

  • With close-friends: it’s a phone call or shared in-person.
  • With other friends: SMS or instant message.
  • To all others: a blog post.

ABOUT ONCE A WEEK, I’D HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SUM-UP AND SHARE my life events, stories and work in the form of a blog post. If I had something particularly-important, I’d even cross-post. I enjoyed the recaps, the feedback, the small, semi-insignificant validation that my life has meaning…

this is all in the past.

Now, the web-elite has microblogging; this simple 140-characters-or-less pleasure is significant mental-masturbation, and the death of the “what’s up.”

The process is not only simple, it’s accessible and always-on. (Well, maybe not Twitter… but some microblog is going to be up!) These services can be updated via instant message and SMS; from a PC or a phone, friends, family and others can follow, get notified and update. Almost anything can warrant a change of status: going to the grocery store, standing in line for a movie or a club, meeting someone famous, having the rare opportunity to hang out with Bradtastic… and with a microblog, the whole world could know it.

Not that the whole world would (or should) care. Regardless, these services are so integrated and “status” is so heavily-prevalent, many people are likely still unaware that they’ve bought-into the trend. Myspace has it, Facebook has it… instant messengers have it.

 
Several times last month, I sat at my computer, staring at a blank page, wondering why I couldn’t blog about my life. I finally realized, and it was so simple: I already had.

Explanation of inevitable pain, thwart destruction

Published
by
Bradtastic
on July 5, 2008
in Personal
. 3 Comments

I sometimes do ugly stuff when I’m feeling sick, and I’m past my limits to tolerate the pain I’m always stuck with… I feel bad about it, but when I can’t sleep, can’t eat and can barely move

life then, just doesn’t feel worth living.

DURING THE BETTER TIMES I’ve experienced some of life’s great pleasures and wonderful experiences. I’ve met some of the most interesting people, some beautiful women with wonderful personalities and gorgeous character. During these times, I’m still in pain but I feel great; I’m in my element and it shows.

I love having people come up to talk to me, a group of women during “girl’s night out,” ignoring the groups of men and the pairs of guys (trying to pretend they’re too cool and not interested.)

The guys gawk and can’t understand how this tall, thin and possibly frail, injured, flawed, long-haired, dark-sunglass wearing Asian is getting all of this attention.

I hear “is he famous?” “I think he’s a model,” “I’ve seen him before, he was with that blonde, remember her?” It’s all in the distance… they’re too-timid to move into my territory. I’m clearly under the social-spotlight, and I enjoy the adoration. I don’t own the club, bar or venue… I do however, during these moments, dominate the ground I stand on and wouldn’t want it any other way.

I want to share these joyous memories

I want to document them; without actually seeing it happen, many can’t understand, appreciate or even believe that these stories are true. During these good times, I’m not looking for sex. I’m not looking for love… I’m finding company, personal connections. I’m entertaining and being entertained, it’s as if my soul is taken care-of by these events. The flattery is a welcome ego-boost; arrogant as I am, I know my flaws and I know my weakness…

I know that at almost any-moment, without warning, I can be stripped of it all and I’ll be sent spiraling-downward,

forced to deal with tremendous pain and the agony of defeat brought-on by my condition—no outside force is ever so irrevocably damaging as the side-effects of narcotics and the withdrawal symptoms from not taking them as the mere-shell of the deeper damage, trauma, mixture of physical and emotional pain…

…slowly seething, swirling in a brew, the eventuality always similar or same: I’m going to hurt. It’s really going to hurt.

I’m lucky to have a few great people, willing to sacrifice so much time and energy to help me feel a bit better. It must be difficult to put-out so much with prior-knowledge that no amount of effort will ever FULLY alleviate my suffering. It can be a disappointment to try so-hard and never fully succeed or accomplish one’s goal… this I know.

This, to the great ones who’ve helped me, and continue to help me through: I love you, so very much. Thank you.

“Bradtastics”

Published
by
Bradtastic
on July 1, 2008
in About
. 0 Comments
A long time ago, I wrote the basic rules of my “art of impression,” and because of the “pickup artist” phenomenon and my opposition of all-things “fast seduction,” I’d intended to revisit the subject, make refinements and additions to it, and re-release it. And it would be “Brad’s book, number one.”

Real life happens, however, and sometimes gets in the way.

With the help of dedicated friends and supporters, I’d formulated rough guidelines and rules governing successful interactions. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what to call it, so or the sake of simplicity online, it was “Bradtastics.” There’s a few group pages under that name… my short-term goal is to consolidate that material, but there’s so much of it. Within a few quick months, 89 discussions and one dozen pages, most of it is conversational.

At the moment, I’m leaving everything where it is; if you’ve missed any (all) of it, you can view the different sites, take-in the content, and even add to the discussions. Some of the material isn’t particularly well-written, and though it might make sense to just move on, bits of the content is too important to me to pass up.

I will redraft, rework and repost the entries, comments and tidbits of importance to the art of impression, as well as anything of significant-interest to others in the past. To be completely honest, writing about relationships and interaction for a blog is much harder than I thought it would be… but I’m aware of the importance of the issues and can’t wait for the published book to start sharing.

Also: if you’d like to start-up a discussion with me or my psychologist-buddies… just ask!

Altered Structure

Published
by
Bradtastic
on June 25, 2008
in Personal
. 0 Comments
That title simply sounds better than “making changes to my blog;” of course, proceeding to explain this very-unimportant and trivial fact negates any possible positive-effects… and maybe that’s why it’s important (to explain).

If you’re reading this at bradtastic.com, you’d see that the site has been stripped of the artwork and imagery, most of the previous articles and entries are gone (or hidden, “same-difference” to the viewer), and that I’m finally using K2. K2 is many things, “good” amongst ‘em, but it’s also more complicated. I hadn’t taken the time to test K2 before making the “upgrade,” so I’m learning as I go. It’s a good thing you’re not paying me to read this blog, huh?

A lot of changes are being made. New content, of course… I also started a new sub-site, spill.bradtastic.com for personal stuff, my friends and me. Probably not too interesting for anyone outside of the circles, though I do find interesting web-apps and beta services (every day). I share links and beta codes, but my microblogs (check the sidebar) and Plurk are probably easier to follow than a tumblelog.

It would help me (greatly) to know who reads this blog and why; I can see the traffic, but instead of comments I get a lot of personal emails. Unfortunately, many of the “game-related” or “art of impression” questions are really, really good; I’d like to share the questions and answers with others, I think it’ll help.

Lastly, thanks for dealing and waiting: it’s not always easy, just being a person, with five-dollars-per-gallon gas and a shoulder disability… often I find that working on my blog is at the top of my want list and at the bottom of my need list. Needs vs wants… sounds. Familiar.

The new Bradtastic?

Published
by
Bradtastic
on June 4, 2008
in About
. 0 Comments


I’VE BEEN ILL OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS; unfortunately (for me), the world doesn’t stop nor slow-down simply because I’m feeling the wrath of sickness, the side-effects of narcotics, and the endless-pains of the semi-crippled.

However, because of my illness, I haven’t been able to setup this website as I’d been chatting about at my Twitter and such. Rest assured, I’m currently working on making the updates, upgrades and changes that will make this website a reasonable-replacement for all of the Bradtastics sites and group-pages. I might even link a new, better forum someday soon.

How to get the latest news and “art of impression” tips…

…is really quite-simple. A few days ago (after weeks of Twitter-bugginess and bad-service) I caught chatter about a new service called Plurk. Interesting name, great service. Getting into the action is simple. Finding people at Plurk, well, isn’t.

But all you have to do is click here to join Plurk and follow me.

And leave a comment to let me know how much you care. Who knows, perhaps it may even make me feel better. (Even though standard diagnostic medicine may disagree.)