I’m constantly getting questions about my Music and wondering when I’m going to create a new C.D. but the fact is - I don’t have much time to do any recording anymore. I used to love recording after work or even before work a few years ago and could write and record an entire album in a matter of weeks…

Yeah, back then I loved writing and it came so naturally that people never believed how quickly I wrote songs. They thought I had someone else write some of my songs or even worse - covered songs. I’ve always had non-believers until I proved them wrong. They couldn’t believe I could write quality lyrics so quickly and easily. I’ve had people offer me money to write songs but - for some reason - I didn’t even like the term “ghost writer”. I wanted to get credit for every word of every line of every verse of every song I wrote. It was more than a passion at the time — it was my life.

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I found this site called “A Million Profiles” earlier. I didn’t understand what it would be about because the name implies profiles but it’s a blog… So, I figured it out. It’s another one of “these sites” that are trying to earn a set amount of Money, links, etc. But this one is different!!!

I actually never get involved with sites like this - even when they Invite me (Which this one did) but this one was created for a LIFE cause. What I mean by this is it wasn’t created to make someone rich or get someone alot of hype… this one was created to earn Donations for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation which is definately a great Foundation. Having family members die from Cancer (2 and another is about to pass) and having several friends pass away from it as well - I am definately going to give this site a spotlight and hope others will check it out!

So, stop reading my nonsense and go check it out: A MILLION PROFILES - HELP FIGHT CANCER - BREAST CANCER DONATIONS! 

I truly hope this site takes off and creates the buzz and the donations it was intended for.

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You know those types of people… the ones who want credit after-the-fact? They come in late and act like they were part of the team who helped to succeed? The ones who want credit for doing absolutely nothing?

There’s a ton of them in this world and they lurk around every corner. There’s really not much you can do about them other than try staying as far away from them as possible. I know… I know… you might have never expected the ones who become Monday Morning Quarterbacks to be the ones closest to you. But, the fact is - everyone loves getting credit. Unfortunately, some people think they’re allowed to “take credit”.

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I’ve always hated that quote… or that saying, to be exact. But it’s just a perfect fit for a recent request from a “friend”.

So, I have this friend… we’ll call him “Dennis”. He calls me up and asks me if I can do him a “quick favor” for his Girlfriend (we’ll call her “Daria”). So, me being the nice guy, I say “sure, no problem”.

What a mistake… this little problem turns into a f$cking nightmare.

See when Dennis called me I had just been told by my Doctor that I needed to get an EGD, Colonoscopy and a CATscan, along with Bloodwork. Why? Well, if you know about Cancer - that’s pretty much how you catch cancer. So at this point I’m pretty nervous about finding out that I DO have Cancer, right? Who wouldn’t be? The worst part is when I tell my doctor I have to reschedule my appointment and all the sudden he says “NO!” and tells me I HAVE to get these done. Yeah, that makes a person feel better, right?

So now I’m feeling like crap mentally and then Dennis’ ‘little favor’ turns into a huge project. He gives me this little GoDaddy Template to create a membership site in and within the site there needs to be a Video that plays as well as a Gallery. Okay, not a problem but the fact that he gives me this sh*tty looking, FUGLY Template does not do me any good. But apparently Daria believes he created the site and it would hurt his feelings…

…what the hell do feelings have to do with making money?

So, I start rebuilding the site and Dennis tells me “great!”. I get the Template and a NICE Logo going and show it to Dennis.. he likes it and Daria starts bitching about how the site has changed. Uhhh… so I ignore it as Dennis seems to be the one in charge at this point since he is the one who will control it and Market it, right?

Wrong… apparently Dennis lets Daria cut his gonads off and takes control. Now she’s bitching and leaving me Voice Mails at 1:00 A.M. on my phone. I ignore the first 2, the first night. I don’t have time for her site anyways.

Now, she’s calling me while I’m trying to finish up a PAID project! She’s not just leaving me a message - she’s BITCHING ABOUT THE FREE WORK I JUST DID FOR HER. Apparently she doesn’t enjoy a REAL site and believes the last 2 months Dennis spent on the GoDaddy Template is more important. So, I delete the messages and continue to work. Then Dennis calls me asking me why I don’t just change the templates out. I explain to him that I can do that but the Video won’t look right, the site will be very ugly and small… all the honest truth’s, right?

After we hang up I go back to work… again, here come the calls. OH MY GOD! LOL

So, the site is up and running now thanks to Dennis… I won’t ever do a friend a “favor” again due to this girl. Talk about an ungrateful “w*tch”!

How can people ask for favors only to b*tch about the free work you’ve just done? I don’t get it. Well, yes, I do.

See… the great part about Sales and Customer Support (once you merge these two aspects of Business) is that the cheaper (or free) you work for people - the more the people will complain. This is why I choose to charge slightly more for the work I do now… I try not to do work for a “good price” because the honest truth is - I feel my time is way too important to deal with Customer Support on a daily basis. So, the clients who I choose to work with will not only get a great end-product - they also get Customer Support for the price they pay. I feel very confident in my work and realize that the way I choose clients (now) will result in much less Customer Support for the simple fact that I choose clients who know their Business and know how to handle the day to day routine. It may not make sense to some but the ones who don’t have a successful offline Business tend to blame the lack of business on their Web Campaigns. Most new comers truly believe they can create a website and they’ll have a huge surge of traffic stampeding to their site the minute it goes up…

…most likely what they believed would happen when they opened the doors to their offline business.

So, before you start working on a project for a friend for free or cheap - think again. Ask them to “look online for other developers” and try to stay far, far away from the project JUST INCASE. Unsuccessful people like to point fingers at whoever they can when they fail.

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Today I’ve decided to lose a best friend. I’ve had this friend since 1994, which is when we met. Me and her actually grew close enough to start dating in 1996 and we didn’t really break up until 2001- 2002′ish (on and off).

We’ve always been best friends at heart, no matter what. She was a beautiful person inside and out and had alot going for her. She never met a person that didn’t like her…she had one of the greatest personalities I’ve ever seen (unlike other girls I’ve been dated! ;))

The problem is - she, like so many others in Southern Cali, turned to Drugs for happiness and “fun”. My Best Friend, along with many of my closest friends, became addicted to Speed aka Meth aka Tweek aka “sh!t”. The first time I heard about it (around april of 2002) I thought “no big deal… she’ll get past it.”

Unfortunately, I was wrong. The addiction is still going on… but when I first seen her since hearing about the addiction in the Summer of 2002 (I was visiting from Texas) I could actually “see it”. You could see it in her eyes, her skin, her attitude and the way she talked. The grinding of the teeth, picking at skin, etc. It was just disgusting. I couldn’t even stand being near her at the time. Everybody that had become addicted to it continued to try to contact me to hang out and kick it.

I eventually hung out with everyone atleast once but damn it was tough. I absolutely HATED seeing what the drug had done to everybody I cared about. Within one year it seemed that I had no more normal friends… so many in the past had became strung out on one drug or another but these were my closest friends. These were the people I NEEDED to see. Now they had become people I could not stand to see..

…It was like being in a nightmare.

Zombies… exactly what these people (my old friends) reminded me of. They walked around and could barely remember what they were doing now because their minds were going out of control. And these were my best friends… the only reason I had stayed in California for all of those years.

Almost every day of my life for approximately 6 years were spent with this girl, my best friend. There was hardly a day that went by that I didn’t speak to her. Even during the worst times of our relationship - we still continued to talk. Most of my favorite memories in life were spent with her. We had so many fun times in life and those memories will never be forgotten.

But unfortunately, now I’ve decided to give up. I feel like I can’t continue to worry about people that don’t care about me or my opinions or even their own families opinions.

It’s really hard to imagine I’ll never see that person again…basically like they’re dead. I hate to talk like that but they act like it. There’s so many people in this world that are struggling to live…then there’s those that are pushing death. I would rather tend to those who are struggling to live… those like My Uncle who’s currently dying of Cancer and might not be here tomorrow.

I don’t feel like I’ve wasted time but I do feel like I’ve wasted my breath.

Hopefully people wake up and realize what life gives them…

Don’t get me wrong - if she cleans up and seems to be sober and “eyes-open” to life, I’d love to keep her as a friend. But my confidence is wearing thin on people lately.

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