Monday, December 31, 2007

The Beginning

Given all the counsel we get about keeping journals, I think it's time I did something to get in action. Of course, according to Pres. Eyring's conference talks, part of this isn't supposed to be for me, but for my posterity, so I figure, why not make it a blog and save myself the time. Who knows-in 20 years my kids may not know about half of the things that I'm talking about, but at least I'll still be around to answer any questions.

I guess the best way to start would be to recap 2007. When I started out the year, I was dating(I guess I use the term loosely, since it was a long distance relationship) a girl in Kiev(see what I mean?) and had my ticket in hand to go see her. Irony of Fate Software was moving along(slowly, but it was moving), even after some disappointments in the investor front, and I had just completed Team 2 of Landmark's Team Management and Leadership Program and was about to jump into the Causing the Miraculous seminar(which originally was going to be the Money seminar, but I guess they changed their mind), during which I shared profusely regarding the two main focuses in my life at the time-my girlfriend and Revolution's Dawn(and the lack of funding for it). There was someone on the production team who helps businesses get funding, and he agreed to work with us. Well, that lasted for a few months until he decided(as did several of the investors he talked to) that we hadn't done enough on the project for free yet-which isn't reassuring to a generation that's already neck deep in debt-I guess Tony Benn and Michael Moore are right-anyone who's that deep in debt can be easily controlled because their survival depends on not making any trouble(BTW, if you haven't seen Sicko, stop reading this and run, don't walk, to your nearest video store and get it).

The next few months didn't look any better on the investment front, since both the Small Business Administration and John Assaraf's partner both seemed to concur that we have to suffer the indignity of working for free while being the bitches of day job employers before we "deserved" to be invested in. So I figure the answer lies not in trying to convince the wealthy that we deserve it, but convincing the less powerful to rise up in organized rebellion. To answer a question posed to me on Linkup, my answer is yes-humility is bad and revolutionary justice is good.

Well, anyway, enough about my gripes about the wealthy, because that's going to take me down a dark road I don't feel like going down right now. Anyway, my trip to Kiev was wonderful for the most part. Liza and I got along great for the most part, and I was sure she was the one. So, in Independence Square in Kiev, I took her hands, and I was about to ask, and she promptly told me not to ask the question she knew I was going to ask. Then the next day, she insisted on taking me to the International Branch, insisted that I not tell people that I was there to visit her, and then even left me there and went to the Russian branch instead. But again, we seemed to click so well during the rest of the trip that I thought nothing of it. That is, until a couple weeks later when she emailed me and told me that she didn't think it was going to work out and she was breaking things off. Just in time for me to start the Introduction Leader's Program and have to listen to Nancy Zapolski tell Sophie to be her possibility without a relationship every single week for six and a half months. Yay(At least Liza is the only one of my exes that I'm actually still talking to...)

Yes, the Introduction Leader's Program-for the second time since 2002. I did it thinking I would have an easier time using all the distinctions I gained through two years of the Team Management and Leadership Program, but that turned out to not be the case. I figured I could just enroll a bunch of graduates in having home introductions and not have to produce guests all on my own, and I figured I could dodge the bullet of phoning agreements with the abundance of guest room opportunities, not realizing that, unlike the first time I did the program in Boston and Philadelphia, that signing up to assist on the night of a Landmark Forum Evening Session or a Special Evening does not guarantee that you will be in the evening session, and they still expected me to smile-and-dial for three hours(and then they put the kibosh on calling graduates!) Well, I finally did get comfortable with talking to people and inviting them myself rather than just leveraging my efforts to have already outgoing graduates do the inviting for me, but it still wasn't enough to have them register. Knowing the difference it could make wasn't enough. Wanting to make a difference wasn't enough.

Wow, this is sounding like a negative post. Sounds like 2007 really sucked...

In October, right before my completion event of the Introduction Leader's Program, I started the Money seminar(finally! :-) ) which was very appropriate, since most of the setbacks going on for me are somehow tied into finances. And conveniently enough, out of the Money Seminar is how I discovered Market America! Finally, an income system that actually allows people to succeed together rather than one set of people using another! Just what I've been looking for! And something that I can do on my own schedule, rather than being at an employer's mercy! The products are good, they can actually benefit those that use them, and there isn't one person in charge over everyone else. Now I just have to get myself plugged in with the initial investment, but even that is very much a "pay-it-forward" system.

I also got my hypnosis certification at the beginning of the year, and I've been talking with this one Russian girl who's going to BYU-Idaho, and she seems interested, although she periodically talks about how unsure she is. I guess I'm a little skiddish myself wondering if she's really that interested or if she's going to get cold feet. We'll see. I'm historically not very talented at changing girls' minds. But at least she likes some of the things that other women didn't like. And besides, I start the Relationships seminar next week-if I got Market America from the Money seminar, who knows what I'll get from that one? :-)

I should also be starting a video game programming class soon. My Aunt Florence has already said she's willing to help me with that one. Of course, I would need to finally get my Macbook DVD drive repaired. Fortunately it's still under warranty, so it's just a matter of figuring out when I can afford to be without the thing for a few days. But at least I managed to steer my family into supporting me in a video game creation career instead of becoming a network engineer. I tried that test, and I had a hard time with it, despite my extreme intelligence. I suspect I just wasn't motivated to steer myself into a long term corporate career. Hence another reason I want to make Market America work. :-)

Well, that's my first post. I hope to be writing each Sunday. Hopefully that will allow me to remember the significant points without bogging this down with minutia. Keep posted. :-)