captkevman

Man, it’s hard to believe it’s been over 2 years since I left Apple (& started out on my own)….

For no particular reason, I’ve been really tense and angry for the past day or two. I went to bed tense and angry last night, and woke up the same way. Angela noticed and tried to convince me to relax, but that only exacerbated my tension and anger.

The thing was, I could see that I was tense and angry, and I really didn’t want to be that way, and my frustration with being tense and angry only served to make me more tense and angry. Frustrated, I left for work this morning.

On the way to work, I stopped by 7-Eleven, and I refilled my Bladder-Buster Big Gulp™ cup and got a breakfast bite. The fellow working there was around 60, and having a great time. He was playful and friendly to every customer in the place, including me.

Working at 7-Eleven must be a thankless, crappy job, and I’m sure if it weren’t for the economy, that guy would probably have a nice job at some corporation or contractor or city or somewhere. And I’m sure he must think about that daily, if not hourly.

But he was practically floating on clouds when I was in that store. He was having fun and enjoying his day, and in doing so, he was improving the day for other people, as well. Maybe that’s what it’s all about, after all.

So thank you, 7-Eleven Guy, for teaching me the importance of finding joy all of life’s moments.

I’ve been home from Intervention 2011 for just over 24 hours now, and I just wanted to put down some of my thoughts and experiences before they fade from memory.

So glad I went. Given budgetary constraints, I was seriously considering skipping the convention. With the encouragement of my friend Jennie and when my friend Ben’s plans fell through (and I had some unexpected business on Thursday that helped boost the coffers), it seems the Fates conspired to have me go.

I’m a lousy volunteer. After I registered for the con this summer, I didn’t really know why I was going. So I thought I’d sign up as a volunteer to help with the convention. When I checked in, I told the folks I was a volunteer, and they told me to check in at Operations (Ops). Problem was, I didn’t see any room marked “Ops”, so I helped Ben set up his booth and helped man it for him over the weekend. Eventually, I realized that the “Security/Lost & Found” room was Operations, but by the time I checked in, they really didn’t have anything for me to do. I helped break a room down Friday night in preparation for a dance, but aside from just checking in periodically with some rooms over the weekend and being told they were already adequately staffed, I really didn’t do a whole lot.

I met lots of really awesome people. There were many talented creators there, and some of them were very kind to share some advice and encouragement with me. I collected a lot of cards and flyers, and I hope to go through them this week to find some new bookmarks and add some new contacts.

And one douchebag. I guess they can’t all be winners. As I surveyed the contents of one table in particular, the creator pitched me on his webcomic. I perused the setup and said, “Great. I’ll be sure to check it out,” and grabbed his card. I guess he was disappointed I didn’t buy a book, because as I walked away, he indignantly called out after me, “Yeah, so enjoy your card.” That’s one site I won’t be visiting. (I’m actually sketching up a comic strip based on this interaction. Hopefully I’ll finish & post it).

Know your roommates. I had arranged to split a room with a Twitter friend-of-a-friend. When I got to the con, we met up and I got the room number. I figured we’d meet up later that night when we both wanted to call it a day, but as it turns out, this guy was a hard core partier. Nothing wrong with that (especially within the safe confines of a hotel), but he ended up going all night long. Around 5:30am, we tracked him down and he was ready to go to the room, but by that point, I didn’t want to wake the other two folks who were splitting the room, so I just power-napped in the lobby for about 20 minutes and freshened up in my car before starting Saturday. I was wiped most of the day, but I was still in better shape than some of my associates, so I ended up running the table for about half of Saturday (which was fun, and the main reason I went in the first place). When I made it to a panel that afternoon, I was seriously dragging, and my “roomie’s” mutual friend was there. She saw me nodding off and said she had bought a room for us for Saturday night (my two travel companions also did not have a room that first night - they crashed in hers). Had it not been for her, the con would have rocked a whole lot less. I never got back in touch with my intended roommate before he left to go back home, so I hope there’s no bad blood there.

I like Rock Band. I’d always wanted to try it, but I never had prior to Intervention. They had a great video game room set up, including Rock Band. I didn’t play any “instruments,” but I butchered several songs singing, including Crazy Train, Blue Monday, and Bohemian Rhapsody. But I had a freaking blast. I also played the Kinect version of Fruit Ninja, which was a pretty good workout (at least for this fat boy, compared to the finger-centric iOS version).

I’m definitely planning to go to Intervention 2012. And next year, I hope to take the whole family for the weekend. Angela & the kids would have a blast.

I get very profane when I don’t sleep. I apparently carpet-bombed the place with F-bombs when I was tired. I mean, it’s not like I just walked around screaming F-this, MF-that, but in my normal company, they mentioned they weren’t used to hearing me curse like that. But then again, there was some really stupid drama going on around me during my sleep deprived moments. Oh well — oops.

Gag order. There are several other stories I’d love to share, because they’re funny as hell, but I can’t do so without potentially offending or alienating some friends or new acquaintances (except that one douchebag. I don’t care about offending him). So I’ll just allude to them with some cryptic quotes:

• “C’mon, let’s do this!” <pants drop. then the boxers get pantsed by someone else>
• “This room is so dark, the only light visible is the burning glow of crazy seeping in from the edge of the drapes.”
• “Penny Arcade Sucks.”
• “Crazycakes.”
• “You don’t drink? That’s so crazy. You should really try weed, then.”

So, there’s this formspring thing. You can ask me anything: http://formspring.me/captkevman Y’know, in case you’re bored or something.

As the old saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers.” If that’s true in the figurative sense, I’m anxious to see what May turns into in regard to recent events in my life.

I started to go on and on about why, but suddenly I’m compelled to keep these thoughts private, so I deleted the words I typed. In general terms (as I’ve mentioned before), my marriage entered April in the midst of the greatest trial it has yet endured, and exited it with a renewed energy and sense of closeness that neither of us had felt since we started dating. For at least the past several years, I’ve felt burdened and overwhelmed and angry about many aspects of my life, but April 2011 has changed all of that. I feel a hope and an optimism that I wish to perpetuate for the rest of my days.

As for my business, I’ve been “planting seeds” of sorts, and I hope that May starts to bring those into fruition, as well. I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes.

I’ll keep you posted.