Been refocusing my life on the “arts” the last few weeks. A lot more music and even got a library card. Only book I’ve read so far is Dexter By Design, and merely because I like the television show, but it still counts. Next book is Howie Mandel’s memoirs. It fascinated me because of his life with OCD and my own (albeit minor) experiences with it as well. Less then hundred pages in, but pretty good thus far.

Was reading Dean’s site and he talked about how his books sparked memories for him. While I haven’t read nearly the volume of literature that the English Major has (let’s just say he’s read so much he should be promoted to Colonel by now, *da dum CHING*)… I’d say I have the same feeling about music. Songs, artists all spark memories from my past. Some of the songs really don’t have any specific memory but it never fails to make me think of a particular person.

“Freshman” by The Verve Pipe was my first “song” I ever had with a girl. 7th Grade with Courtney Ross and we danced to it being played by some awful student band cover. Regardless of this one occurrence and we never really listened to the song again together, it stuck. It’s a strange song to dance to, even a stranger song for it to be a couple’s song but hey, we were merely 7th graders.

After that, pretty much just artists in general remind me of my timeline with girlfriends or crushes on girls I’ve had. All-American Rejects (Highschool), Switchfoot (Freshman year of college), The Clarks, Hellogoodbye (Next two years of college), The Format (Post-Graduation) … I still listen to all these bands but when they come on unexpectedly or surprisingly my mind immediately is thrown into the past and they are the initial thought I have. Luckily I don’t have any negative past events that prevent me from listening to music I regularly enjoy. Closest I have to that is any song from Dirty Dancing makes me remember the endless hours (an exaggerated three years straight if memory serves me) that my sisters watched that movie. Nobody puts baby in the corner but when that movie comes on I hope somebody puts the television through the window.

So as I’ve brought music back into my life (both new and old) it’s been refreshing going down memory lane. I encourage others to do the same. Listen to some songs you haven’t in a few years and see what memories they bring up. The soundtrack of your life.

Let’s just keep piling on Tiger Woods. A news report from Wisconsin has a middle school band blaming Tiger Woods for only 80% of their students being able to afford a trip to Disney World. Their “top” fundraising/auction item was an autographed picture of Mr. Woods. Expected to raise $1,500, it only made $300. They’re saying his recent indiscretions caused the price to plummet.

I don’t blame Woods, I blame the school and the children for an awful fundraising strategy. Never put that many eggs in one basket, especially when it’s simply an autographed picture. Autographed pictures are like collecting baseball cards, there’s no real value in them except for reselling. They should’ve sold hoagies or candy bars, which is a proven fundraising tactic.

Now if they had a picture of Tiger Woods and one of his mistresses then those pictures could’ve sold to the highest bidding tabloid and then the band would be taking stretch Hummers to Disney World. Think out of the box kids.

Look, Facebook, I appreciate what you’re trying to do but everytime I login I don’t want to be reminded about my old 10th grade friend whom I haven’t spoken with since pre-9/11. Sure, you started innocent with “Reconnect” or “Write on his Wall” but now all you’re saying is “Talk to Him” … listen, I don’t need your suggestions. I’ll speak to whomever I want to speak with. You want to make friends, you talk to him. He’s a good guy but we have nothing in common anymore. Really I’m only still friends with him because I know if I un-friended him you’d show me to him as a suggestion to add as a friend, and that’ll be an awkward friend request.

You keep doing your job of showing me pictures of people I don’t talk to and I’ll keep pretending we’re still friends with the 300 connections I have instead of the six people I actually speak to. We’re both liars. Don’t act like you’re better then me.

I was reluctant at first. Didn’t understand, didn’t have a need, but since I decided to jump in with both feet I’ve been hooked. Talking, of course, about Twitter.

Most people who haven’t taken the time to look at the service see it as the negative stereotype of self-important nobodies that update with useless information about what they ate for lunch and their disdain for the weather. While those types of things do exist, the entire process is far more revolutionary.

Imagine being alone in your car and seeing something of interest, to you. A car wreck, an interesting looking animal, a UFO. You may make a mental note to tell friend/family member X later that day, but as time passes so does your memory. If you had someway to immediately share with everyone you know quickly and easily, would you hesitate?

Don’t get me wrong, Twitter isn’t inventing the wheel. There are several dozen ways to get messages out to people. Text messages, Facebook status, your own blog, etc. What makes Twitter so appealing is in its simplicity. There arn’t other things to do on Twitter, it’s just that. A way to find out what your friends are doing, and let them know what you are doing.

There are several other side benefits that I enjoy:

* A catalog of my past, history, and creative thoughts. If I think of a writing sample, or an opinion I can quickly tweet it and have it saved indefinitely. Like having a personal assistant following me around taking notes on whatever I want to say.
* News and updates. Much like how RSS feeds allow news sources to pull in from several different other websites, Twitter allows companies, products, news sources to consolidate and simplify the topics of today in less then 140 characters. A quick scroll and you have  a general idea of whats been happening today.
* Cut out the middle man. As much as I love public relations and marketing, celebrities can now bypass all of those filters and have direct access to their fans and followers. Wouldn’t you like to have a celebrity you really like respond directly to you by name (or by twitter alias)?

While it still is in its infancy, Twitter is one of the great innovations of the ’00s. It’s changed the way the world works and people communicate. I’d put it as the biggest thing since text messaging.

Now, Twitter just needs to figure out how they can make money from it.

Been sitting here 45 minutes trying to think of something to write about. Wrote about three different half posts, nothing came out like I enjoyed.

So, just wanted to record my efforts.

Maybe tomorrow.