Postcards from the Funny Farm

In the past year I have lost my grandfather and I’ve seen some friends lose spouses and other relations: it’s been rough. I know many people reading this can relate with the death of a loved one. I remember my grandfather, and these other people as so vibrant, so a part of life. Now that they are gone it is sobering to realize that I will never see them again. It has gotten me to thinking about what really matters in life. I first mentioned this “think about what you will leave behind” notion in my past post “So, What Do You Want on Your Tombstone,” and the idea has grown and coalesced even up to now all these months later. It’s become like a lighthouse for me, influencing my choices and making me a better man by the day.

There are accolades at my work to strive for if one chooses to. You can do what it takes and get a small plaque presented to you … etc. Or, you can think about those who have gone ahead of you and what they have left behind that matters. In the entrance to our auditorium at the school where I teach there is a photo case. In that photo-case is a montage picture of the teachers when the school opened in 1985. I was 15 at the time. The teachers in the picture have retro 80’s shirts and most the men have beards. The pattern on the clothes are the kind you just don’t see nowadays. It was a different time but the teachers them were flesh and blood as I am now with my staff. Losing my grandfather got me thinking more about what I will leave behind by way of legacy and less about what I can get out of life while I’m alive.

Leaving something behind is my biggest passion. I’ll admit, while writing blog posts I think about how my kids will one day read them. I think about whether to include all my rants when I don’t see as they will offer them any help in life. I think this is a good filter. This mindset also filters out the drama of my work. When I am only concerened with making a contribution, the gossip lines fade in order of importance. I want to leave behind a model of passion for teaching, for blogging, for guitar and piano and the appreciation of many kinds of music. I want people to be encouraged by what I have done and believe they can do even better. When I think of how animated and gregarious my Grandpa was in his 85 years, I get inspired to live fully. If I can encourage even one other person to do that, then I will feel my life was success. That kind of influence is what I hope to leave behind. If you could leave behind just 3 things, what would they be?

1. ?

2. ?

3. ?

The Fender Telecaster

The Martin “Triple ‘o’”

The Rickenbacker 6-String

The Les Paul

The Stratocaster

The Gibson J-45

The Baby Taylor

The Flying-V

The Martin Dreadnought

The Gretsch Hollow Body

The Fender P Bass

5 String Bass

Rickenbacker 12-String

I just read this article this morning on how Britney Spears’ lawyers are quitting her case. Her story has gone from bad to worse and I guess there is further down to go. First, she got married overnight in Vegas, then divorced. Next, she had kids and married Keniv Federline, then divorced. After that she was filmed with her baby on her lap while driving down the street. Soon after all that, a separation from Federline precipitated her shaving of all her hair on camera in a local salon … no need to email me, I am sure I missed something. What the hell is wrong with this woman? I think I might know.

Imagine a young child, say six or seven years old sitting in a playroom with 20 or 30 toys. Now watch that child play for a while. Next take another child and put them in a similar room with 2 or 3 toys. Give them a few hours. Watch how fast the first child gets bored. I’ve seen it happen and its uncanny. When we have everything we want and more, we tend to have a tough tie making choices on what to do (and/or in the case of the child “play with”). Brit (as she is called in the press) is like the first child. She has more money than she could ever spend and access to anything money can buy. What’s missing? The ability to know what to pick. If she would have had someone holding back her giant payroll when she was younger, she might have better discernment today.

Rich people who fall into scandal such as Britney are victims of “freedom anxiety,” a syndrome where the high number of choices and possibilities actually causes stress and anxiety. Those of us in the middle class who have to get up and work to pay our monthly bills often become jealous of rich entertainers like Britney Spears. This is foolish. Often times, they are jealous of us.

Brittany’s kids are now in the custody of their father and she is gallivanting around with her new beau. I read yesterday that Brit was down in Dana Point last weekend where I grew up. How much of it did she enjoy I wonder? For example, walking down Del Mar street taking in the sights and sounds while shopping and buying snacks is the best part of Dana Point for me but Brit couldn’t do that, not without a disguise anyway. To me, the tension of hoping I get in enough overtime hours to buy the new “fill-in-the-blank” is a happy trade off for being able to be myself and know myself and be comfortable in or out of public with myself.

Here’s the original article that spurred this post:

-Britney Spears Arrives to Give Deposition in Cust...

It has been an amazing 2007 for me at blogging. I have become comfortable with the craft and learned valuable lessons that help me communicate better with my audience. One thing I regret is not getting on the ad bandwagon up to now. I have even criticized it once or twice publicly which I see now was just plain arrogance.

I wanted to share the things I am doing this year from the get go to improve my rating and to hopefully make money on my blog. I still treasure the art of free-form blogging, so don’t expect that to change, but my wife and I both think it would be ideal if we could somehow generate revenue while we do the writing and networking that we love so much.

If you haven’t noticed already, there are now small ads at Postcards from the Funny Farm. I started with Adsense since they were the first to accept me. I am also currently waiting to see if Text Link Ads can sell anything on my site. As income is generated, I will pay back the community by a breakdown of where it came in from and how I did it. Right now there are no earnings.

With all the name, rss, and theme changing in the past months, my Technorati and daily traffic stats have suffered greatly. Some folks who used to comment everyday don’t show up as much, and I understand change freaks people out (I freak myself out in fact!) but the results are always very gratifying in blog content and visual presentation. To those on my blogroll who haven’t stopped in (btw thanks again to the regular die hards who never stopped) I say this: Things are gonna remain static for a while and as much as you can link to content my blog is highly appreciated. As you know, this increases Google “Page Rank” (mine currently is a 4/10 which is pretty good considering) and thereby, advertisers see me as a good investment. Plus, it gets content to a wider audience which, as far as goals go, was my “first love” with Postcards from the Funny Farm. Now, the question of all my posts in a day.

Does this new trend bother you? If so, please let me know. I highly enjoy my blog now as a “Tumblelog” where I am entering short posts throughout the day from various locations (even my phone and camera). I do see one potential problem with it however, finding the longer, more thought out prose articles may not be worth the effort to passersby and they might miss the good writing in between the tumbles. Here’s my solution: A new blog I named after my favorite plate: Cheese Enchiladas. I have back dated posts there from this blog that I see as my best writing and I am future dating new posts to be released on a weekly basis. To those who are bothered by the Tumblelog style of Postcards … but still like my writing and want to keep up, I recommend going to Cheese Enchiladas and subscribing there. You can always check in to Postcards when you’re feeling artsy or just looking for some non-traditional inspiration.

Okay, now for the grand finale as I move into te new year: my projected routine to achieve my personal blogging goals in 2008:

1. Write one amazing post per week on Cheese Enchiladas.
2. Publish once a week on BlogCritics (currently I am working with an editor on a post about the writers strike, I will always link these at Postcards when they are published.)
3. Write on PayPerPost a week (I will host these on Postcards)
4. Post a note or clip on 9Rules each week.
5. Reevaluate earnings with Adsense and TextLinkAds after 6 months (June 2008 - My 39th birthday)
6. Do interviews and guestblogs on other blogs wherever folks will have me.

For reference sake, here’s a list of my online “condos” where you’ll always find me hanging out this year:

Postcards from the Funny Farm
Online diary, Tumblelog, and Photoblog by Damien Riley
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com

Cheese Enchiladas
A Weekly Column by Damien Riley
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com/ecolumn/

BlogCritics
Author Page and Featured Posts
blogcritics.org/writer/damien_riley

Helium
Bio and Featured articles
http://www.helium.com/user/show/47930

9Rules
Author Page and Profile
9rules.com/my/rileycentral/

Damien Riley Tunes
My Original Recorded Music
myspace.com/damienrileytunes

To everyone who reads my stuff: God Bless and have a great last few days of 2007! Keep it fun and relaxed.

Damien

* To interview me or have me guest blog on your site, just email me the idea at: rileycentral at gmail dot com

Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) is from Springberry, Alabama. As a youth he lived in the shadow of his younger brother, until that fateful day when a playful machete fight resulting in “a serious case of being cut in half” leaves their father telling Dewey that “the wrong son died,” repeatedly throughout the film.

-BlogCritics Movie Review

Music DVD Review: Bon Jovi Lost Highway: The Conce...

For Jessica the Rock Chick

Have you heard this song on the JC Penny commercial? It is a cool song. It makes me happy. I found this on YouTube. Very cheesy, but listen to the song, it will make your day!

The history of rock and roll is a history of, certainly, 20th-century America, from there on, anyway. All the cultural impact that it had with civil rights and women’s rights and all that other stuff. Well, this is what’s going to last. This is what’s going to, you know, be here long after we’re gone.
-Van Zandt unveils rock-and-roll course

I got to Angel’s Roadhouse about 9:10pm and saw there were 150-200 people there already. There were a lot of bands lined up and I was the opener at 9:30 with my band of a guitar and vocal chords.




Flashback to the SandBar April, 2006.

It was such a great experience. I had excellent feedback and the crowd really played along with the rockers, including but not limited to a very coplimentary group of emo kids throwing money onstage (yes you heard correctly . . . $5.75 to be exact!) and lighting lighters :)

Highlight songs that I felt really good about:

(all of them but especially …)

Rockin’ in the Free World
Black Balloon
The Remedy
Julianna (The only original I played)

My conclusions: Great venue, great people. A place I hope to play again. Thanks to Shorty, the promoter!

Damien Riley Tunes
MySpace Music
myspace.com/damienrileytunes

Press Release:
Damien Riley is a teacher and freelance writer in Southern California. He maintains a blog on psychology and inspiration and also publishes an online diary. Many of his writings are based on experiences as a teacher.  He is currently available for hire as a freelance writer on any topic.

Longer Bio:

Welcome to “Postcards from the Funny Farm.”  I’m Damien Riley: dad, teacher, author in Southern California. I’ve been interested in creative writing since I was in the 4th grade and my interest in the guitar started even sooner. I started teaching elementary school in 1997 after a run with my band and a try at commercial songwriting success. You can read more about that time and hear the songs on my Myspace page. Now, after 10 years of teaching and publishing both online and off, I am pleased to produce three blogs I update nearly daily. Postcards is my most infamous with a loyal base of readers and new friends stopping by each day. I earned my MA in English from California State University, Fullerton in 1998 where I majored in English. My emphasis was made specifically for future college teachers: “Language, Writing, and Rhetoric.”

I met my wife Sarah when I moved to the High Desert of California in 2002.  Since then we have commenced raising a family with three kids and we became homeowners in 2008.  Much of my past writing has included family stories and they are always giving me new material.

With blogging, or “speed publishing,” what I write is often gone forever after a few hours. That’s why I try to make it relevant and not too long. I think I’ve been successful at that and made it a habit for a while now.  In addition to publishing on my three blogs, I write articles across the web. Here’s a link to an archived list that’s always growing.

My Publishings

There are also a few interviews of me out there on the internet. Thank you again to the blogs who host them.:

Interviews:
Do You Diggit
FuelMyBlog
The Man Page
This Eclectic Life

By the way, here are the other two blogs I publish:

Damien at the Speed of Life

Dynamite Lesson Plan

And last but not least my BlogCritics published works can be found here.

blogcritics.org/writer/damien_riley

I am available for hire as a freelance writer. For more information, please visit my resume pages.

Thanks for visiting,
Damien

* To contact me, use the contact form below or if forms aren’t your thing email me at: rileycentral at yahoo dot com

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