In Retrospect

Wow, the year has come to an end and I had my share of struggles and minor victories. Even as I write this, my throat is sore and I have a nagging cough. In the last few weeks, you may have noticed a decline in the volume of material that I have produced and perhaps even a decline in the quality as well. This I can attribute to just being sick and having less times as work has picked up.

I want to first of all thank the regular readers and contributors. I also want to ask for forgiveness for not being very active in leaving comments, especially lately. As I get more time, I promise to be more engaging. I have been inspired and have learned alot from the many bloggers that have very unique points of views.

LOOKING BACK
I'm always curious to know why people blog in the first place. Think about it. 99.99%of the Bloggers here have to do something besides blogging to "pay the bills". I'm no different. So why then do I blog?

Here is my blogging story. Before I blogged I was and am a great fan of stand up comedy. I think it's one of the purest art forms that there is. In my early 20's I used to go to "Tortilla's" in Montebello,CA. to watch the comedians tell jokes. Sometimes I would even go by myself and just enjoy the performances.

I saw many great comedians there. I saw Felipe Esparza, (Most Recent Winner of Last Comic Standing) Alonzo Bodden, Jeff Garcia, Willie Barcena, and countless others. On Several occasions a little known boxer named Oscar De La Hoya would frequent that place. It was bizzare to go to a dive bar and see his lamborghini in the parking lot!
True story: I took a piss in a stall right next to Oscar De La Hoya.

I remained a fan of comedy. Many years passed and I would buy comedy c.d's and DVD's and see comedians on the internet but that was it. Then one day I went on a business trip to Philadelphia and while I was there, my girlfriend (that I lived with at the time) left me. I came home to an empty apartment. It was pretty traumatic but I had my family for moral support. I ended up living with my sister for a while until things got better.

During this time I had more time for myself and I asked myself, "What do I enjoy most? I concluded that it was comedy. I joined Meet Up and joined a stand up comedy group. I studied stand up more and I eventually wrote a bunch of abstract one-liners until I had a routine. I began performing at several opem mikes. I would get nervous and do shitty but I enjoyed it.

At one open mike, a pretty known local comedian saw my routine and said he liked my stuff. The next time I saw him he said he would pay me if I wrote for him. I was making money writing jokes! Hollywood here I come. I got paid several times and then it stopped. I don't know why. I then got lazy and stopped performing. Meanwhile that comedian is very active and performs all the time and has mad connections.

During this time I was also very interested in writing monologue jokes like I do on this blog. But before putting it out, I had to see if I could do it. I looked at the jokes of other comedians that do monologue jokes like Conan, Letterman, and Bob Zany. At first it was very difficult and time consuming.

THE NY TIMES HUMOR BLOG
The NY Times used to have a blog called Laughlines that would allow writers from all over the world submit jokes and if they liked your stuff, they would post it on their site and since they are The NY Times, the exposure was huge. I sent in my stuff and at first I wasn't chosen. But then I became a regular and this gave me confidence that I was o.k. Then some business guy/gal at the Times decided to end that blog. It was a sad day. But I had gotten used to writing on a regular basis. Thus this blog.

MY BLOG
I still wanted to do jokes but I wanted to add personal stories and observations as well as videos and pictures. The site is stll evolving but I'm constantly looking to not bore the reader. In the future I plan on adding more stories and perhaps do joint projects with other bloggers. I'm open to suggestions and feedback.

2011

I'm glad the new year is here. 2010 was filled with financial hardships. unemployment,depression,insomnia, and laughter. At the same time, tragedy is the flipside of comedy. Even in the midst of my depression, I sought refuge in humor. When I had my health scare, I relied on humor to get me though the day. Things are getting a little bit better. I'm working. I still have this blog and I still have the desire to create. I will also get back to stand up comedy as well and I'll try my best to add more videos as well.

Why blog?
Instead of answering that question directly, I'll answer by way of an illustration.
A while back I attended an open mike at the Gypsey Den in Santa Ana, CA. It is a coffee shop. The open mike was pretty much just musicians on their guitars that played from their hearts. I was inspired to witness these performers put their hearts and soul into every lyric and stroke of their guitar for 5 minutes. It was a small place and the crowds wasn't that big. On top of that, they weren't paid. The reward was in something unseen. I blog for the unseen. May you continue to laugh and ponder in 2011.