An Urgent Message

As some, most or all of you are aware, over this last Summer I spent the better part of July in New York during the heat wave filming a high budget indipendent film with a multitude of other aspiring actors mixed in with seasoned professionals and pop culture superstars, like Bryce Wilson, Chingy and Robert Miano. The experience was an unforgettable one and I learned a lot about the industry, made some fantastic friends and had a spiritual walk-about. But now it is time to pull back the curtains.

If you haven't been following the website closely, you'll be as surprised as I am to find out that they're now selling premiere tickets for the films first debut in Nashville Tenessee. TDS Productions has rented out three IMAX theaters and they've already sold out one, with another half-full. So now it's crunch time. I'm putting this out there so that all who are interested have a chance to buy a ticket before they're gone. It's giong to be loads of fun, all the stars will be there and the after-party I hear is going to be off the chizzain! But most importantly, it would mean so much to me to see any or all of you guys at my big premiere. This isn't a once in a life-time thing for me, but it most certainly is the kick-off. I've never known of any production of thie magnatude to be open to the public, so there's a lot of precidents broken by this project, which is one reason why I believe so strongly in it.

So if you're planning any vacations out that way or you've been wanting to take a break for a weekend and go somewhere, please seriously consider coming out to see all of us in the production and show your support for "the little people" who you always ask to remember you when they get big. This is their moment to shine, so show some love!

Here's the info as I have it:

The theater is the
Regal Opry Mills IMAX
570 Opry Mills Dr
Nashville, TN 37214

Ticket prices are from $40 - $300 depending on the package, and each one comes with several freebees ranging from soundtrack CDs to pictures with the stars to VIP passes to the after party. The Platinum and Diamond packages also include audition passes for the next production. That's right, you get the same opportunity as I did to impress the gurus and land a lead role in a major motion picture! You get to audition before the big boys get to audition and take it from me - an aspiring actor who did it - this is an absolute bargain deal that you won't find anywhere else.

Hotel accomidations - if booked now - are as low as $47 a room and airfare is as low as $150. So for about $250, you can take a vacation for a few days, see a killer sweet movie and party with the big stars! This is something you absolutely can not miss, and if you do, I'll never forgive you.

So, if this is something you're seriously interested in, let me know and I will get a booking agent to contact you or get you a number to reach them and you guys can close the deal.

But please remember: THESE TICKETS WILL SELL OUT!

I am now back from my ocean voyage and while I was gone, I missed the big push, but they are looking to sell the last ticket by November 30th and they are serious about this. You can't take them to task on it because they've already proven themselves. They said they'd make a multimillion dollar movie and they did. Now they say they're going to sell the tickets to see it and they damn sure will. So don't be left behind!

If you go to watch, bring a boob to get autographed.
If you go to audition, bring a monologue.
If you don't go at all, bring kleenax because you're going to be crying about this for a long time!

Peace out and (as Tariq says) See you in the movies!

THE SYSTEM WITHIN

Tony "Wise" Good, is an internationally famous model. He fought his way out of the inner city and rocketed straight to the top. He had it all... the career, the trophy wife, fame, fortune, and all the luxuries that come with success.

But his swift rise to the top did not take him high enough to protect him from the sudden fall he was about to experience. The corrupt corporate world, the government's support and participation in that corruption, and the jealousy and greed of people he thought he knew best, all lead to a rapid downward spiral into a living hell.

On the surface, "The System Within" will entice the audience with the sounds and style of the fast forward urban community. Beneath that surface we discover all is not what it seems when you are working in the system. Behind the facade and covert liaisons portrayed in the film, it becomes apparent that we all are captives in society and when we think we know the way out we can get trapped by the system within.

Wow.

If you haven't had a chance, run on over to Quixtar Blog and take a look at the recent posts.

Holy crap. I've never seen a finer group of sniveling rotten tomatoes in my life, ever. I wonder what a get-together with them would be like. Bunch of bitter naysayers patting eachother on the back for being so bitter, maybe? I like my parties. They're fun. These people don't seem to be fun at all. They seem like negative fun. If I were stuck with one of them on an island, I'd probably want to shoot myself in the soul.

Crossing Over

This month has been freakishly busy. I haven't had a single weekend where I had nothing to do or-for that matter-an ounce of free time. My birthday was on the 5th, the first weekend of the month. But for those of you know read my other blogs, you'll know that I spent that weekend driving to Atlanta for some silly wedding endeavor my cousin was participating in, wherein she married some guy she knew for all of two weeks. Wow. I'm glad that's over.

Last weekend I drove down to Winter Park to audition for some films at Full Sail. I have no freaking clue why I bother anymore, though. I'm about five times better than the actors I've seen them cast (I have one of their DVDs) and yet they never cast me. I drive frickin' four hours for a handfull of auditions, give it my all and they give me the shaft. I'm this close to saying "Screw 'em" and moving on to UCF. Might be less emo-angst projects over there anyway.

This weekend I finally get to celebrate my birthday. Planning a big party which has hogged my current week. And then next weekend is ProScout, a massive convention where a couple hundred actors and models gather in front of about fifty or so agiencies. It's a hectic few weeks but it's worth it. Unfortunately it means that my blogs (and my show, even) have been neglected.

That and I got this Xbox for my birthday. Man, I feel my soul is about seven pounds lighter.

I've also been caring for my ailing cat, who's getting really old. I mean, there's just a lot on my plate right now, so hopefully when March is all over I can get back into the full swing of things.

---

At our church, we were watching a Lisa Bevere video, Kised the Girls and Made Them Cry or something to that effect. It's a series of lessons on abstinence and the teachings are really solid. It clearly made an impact on my class (I teach the youth group on Wednesday nights) and so we've have many a fantastic discussion and I feel we're really reaching them, which is good because there are a lot of girls in my class-very young girls-who have gone down that road of sexual promiscuity and it's really sad.

But this isn't about that.

In the first lesson, Lisa spoke about how it's important to not emphasize on the dangers of sexual promiscuity so much as the beauty of the prize at the end if you wait. I'm oversimplifying to an enth degree to get to the crux point, so bear with me.

What she said was that children needed more than warnings. "They need a dream."

It kind of hit me really hard because I suddenly realized just how important dreams are to us, not just children. If you are a Christian, imagine your faith without the dream of heaven, or God or the glory of his coming. It'd be pretty glum and I can't think of why anyone would ever want to follow a belief structure like that. Christianity has a faith, a hope and a dream of the final coming of God in all of his majestic wonder on white horses and recreating the world in his image and we all live for eternity with him and there won't be a single tear shed afterwards.

To go down to a more Earthly level, imagine life without success. And in that, I mean any measure of success. Imagine going to school without the future of a diploma or the diploma ammounting to anything. Imagine a corporate ladder without any steps to climb. A date with a beautiful girl and you know nothing's going to come of it. Nothing has value.

It kind of pains me to even think about it.

The thing is, everybody needs a dream. Everybody needs it. People who have no dreams often find themselves in dark and lonely places or suicide. I'm not trying to exagerate an issue, I'm being serious. I think God created us this way, to dream, to need to dream so we would never be happy with just being.

So why am saying this? Because there seems to be this large opposition to the promotion of a dream in the business. People say it's overhyped. It's all about the dream. "Get real." "Wake up." "Life has no dreams, only degrees of labor."

I think Life is a dream. As a matter of fact, I know it is. It was a dream manifested by God and it is a perfect dream. We are God's dream. And just as we were created in the image of God, just as we are his dream, so do we need to dream.

Am I saying that we should dream of money? No.

But we should dream of success.

Benjamin Franklin had a dream. Our founding fathers had a dream. Martin Luther King had a dream. Neither of these were of holy stature, yet we don't attack them.

People are wanting to help people. These people in the business, are there to help others. And their dream is to become successful in this business. So what if you don't like it? It's their dream, and in order for them to continue their persuit-just like anyone else-they need that dream.

What are you dreaming?

It's Over

I know it's cliche to say, but it's also customary to do: I've put a lot of thought into this post. Perhaps not enough to drag it out too much, but certainly to post it. I had meant to post this a long time ago, but then I had that dream.

Why I got off the phone with my upline, he had two things to make clear to me. First was that he had no ill-will toward Quixtar and didn't want me to stop working the business. The other thing he said though, and this was what stung me and has not gone away, was to "watch what you say." Advise to keep me from making Quixtar upset at me and deleting my account. I appreciated the warning.

But I don't like people telling me what to say, or what not to.

If you know anything about me, you should know that I speak what's on my mind. I believe that the Freedom of Speech is a humanitarian right and not something that should be exclusive to Americans. So when somebody tells me to watch what I say, I get a bit edgy. I don't like that.

I don't like being in the position where I'm verbally on the defense. If I have something on my mind, I want to say it. But sadly it's come to a point in my business venture where my word could spark some fuses. My upline said he knew about my blog, said "they" knew about my blog indicating AllianceNet. If they know about it, who knows who else is reading this and just waiting for me to say the wrong thing.

So how's this for the wrong thing: I don't care anymore.

As of right now, my IBO number means zero to me. Sure I'd rather keep it, but if they're going to try and use it as a threat to silence me, screw them. I will say what I want when I want and if that brings about my termination in the business, that's no sweat off my back. I can get accustomed to the mundane storefronts again. I'd rather not but it won't kill me.

So let this be declaration of open season on me. Quixtar, if I really piss you off that mucg, go ahead and cut the cord. See if I care. I'll be sure and let everyone here know when you do. It won't help your image, I'll tell you that much.

So What Does This Mean?

Well, really it doesn't mean a whole much of anything except for that I could care less what they do to me after I make the following few posts over the next couple of months.

I'm still buying products. I'm still selling products. I'm still an IBO, that hasn't changed and I'm not looking to change it. So I guess the title of this entry was a bit of an overstatement. I'm still in the game. This blog wouldn't be that usefull if I weren't.

Mom was pretty upset when she found out I was accepting my fate. "Where am I gonna get my detergent?" So this is for mom, really. Mom, this is for you.

In other news, you should all watch I ♥ Huckabees. Verry good film.

Midnight Prophecy

I haven't been around and there's a reason for this. I was going to make a post about it because it's kind of important and very much relevant to this blog, more on it later, though. As I said, today I intended to make a post about it, but then last night I had this weird dream and I simply had to put it up first. Some of you intelligencias may have more luck at making sense of this than I do, though I have my conclusions.

Anyway...

So it takes place at my parents' church we have set up in our office building. We have a lot of facilities in our building, really: a school, a sleep clinic (recently installed) an accounting firm, a military technology center, a home health care center and our church.

Well the nice people from OASIS (again, more on this later) apparently rented out our church for one of their small meetings they hold on occasion. This one happened to take place on Wednesday. We have church that day and I guess whomever authorized the transaction didn't tell anybody because the people from church are there and the praise team is all getting ready.

Well, I'm sitting in the sound booth watching this ticking time-bomb, because I always run the sound booth. And I'm watching the host step up-nice guy-and introduce the speaker. And everyone's just listening intently. I can tell that the people from OASIS know who the speaker is and are eager to hear what he has to say because they're enthusiastic about the business. And then I can see the church members waiting intently because they think it's some new pastor and nobody has a clue. My dad, I can see his face, at first he's excited about the hype. He looks over to Jerry (our pastor) thinking this is something he put together. And then I can see Jerry on the other side of the church looking over at dad thinking it is something he put together. Our leadership communication is akin to cavemen drawing animals on rock walls. A lot of people make decisions and nobody knows what's going on until Showtime. It's not cool, but it's just how things go in small-time organizations.

So then the speaker finally steps up and starts ranting and raving and even preaching about the business. First he talks about how life is a miracle and how God is awesome and so the church goers are all immersed. But then he moves on to the product line and it's like a deer in headlights. Confusion all around and for a few moments, the audience is speechless, motionless. I can even see my dad trying to figure it out.

Finally, he does, but he doesn't. He doesn't know that OASIS paid money to rent the room. He just thinks they're barging in. So he stands up and begins heckling the speaker. The speaker tries to talk him down, but it's no good. Then the church goers start attacking, verbally and pretty soon the OASIS people lash back. In a matter of minutes, it's all chaos and I'm at the helm, looking through the glass window in the back of the church as civility slides out the air vent. I look to Scott (my dad's right hand guy) who's with me and he shrugs helpless.

Things begin to turn violent and I look down at the soundboard. The praise team is still on stage in the back, now standing confused. They're the only bunch that hasn't spoken up on either side of the argument. I know the decision is mine. Do I turn up the speaker's mic or do I start the music for the band to play to? There is this moment of considering and finally I make my choice, thumbing the play button on the CD player. Music blares through the monitors and that's the game.

The speaker, defeated, motions for his entourage and makes a final statement to my father, wishing him well and then he leaves. My dad nods and steps back.

And this is where it kind of got interesting.

I turned down the music, thinking it was over, but then some guy from the OASIS team, some younger adult that I have no idea who he was, turns back and runs up to the podium. He turns to the audience and says something like "You are all nothing but a bunch of crabs in a bucket, always trying to drag someone down when they want to succeed in life. I see you've made your choice, your personal hobbies are more important than success and freedom." I can see the anger and the passion in his eyes and I shake my head because I know that he's wrong. I know that these people are just good people who thought they were coming to church and then things went south. They don't want to keep anybody down, they just want to do their religious duty to God and the whole thing with the business hype and the plan and the products was like Pharisees with their market in the temple. I mean it made sense, at face value.

But then he leaves and someone from church who I didn't know immediately ran up to the podium and screamed back, "We made the right choice! They're nothing but a bunch of cultists who worship the god of mammon! Greed! Gluttony! The green of money!" And she went off calling them Satan's religion and a din of liars and scam artists. These things I also knew to be false because I knew the people who came for the OASIS meeting. I knew many of them personally and that did not fit their description. The woman then continued, "They have their organization and we have our organization!" And for some reason, I knew that she was meaning some sort of corporate entity yet she was referring to the church, like a lot of these big churches who have preachers on payrolls like they're some company. The audience got wild again. I could hear their hate, I could feel it fill the air and it made my skin crawl.

I abandoned my post and ran up to the front and waved my hands trying to calm them. I couldn't get to the podium because the woman was still there, so I just raised my voice over everyone and said "How is this any different than them? This is our body. This is God's body. And he didn't put us here to lash out and condemn other people. He put us here to love."

And then stoned went flying. The lady at the podium shouted me down. The people in the rows of chairs shouted me down. I looked and saw that even my parents were shouting me down and so I left, beaten and hurt.

I didn't meet up with OASIS. I knew they wouldn't take me after what I'd done to them. I just went away. I felt alone, abandoned and for what? I woke up with that question unanswered and the dream has been on my mind all day.

Despite the emotions of it, I can't find it in my heart to consider it a bad dream. On the contrary I rather liked it. Of all my dreams this one seemed relevant to my life and I think it taught me something. What it might teach someone else is however entirely up to them.

An Unanswerable Question

Here's to you, David Robinson:


Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa whoa whoa!

Ok, enough of that.

My future plans for the business, for Quixtar, for my life and my persuits of happiness are still up in the air and I'm taking every step lightly but with confidence that I'm making the right decisions for me.

These past few days (weeks even) have been a blur and I am finding myself more and more exhausted as the sun keeps turning. It's a pendulum, really. In a couple of days I'll gradually get back into my groove and stay that way for a bit and then swing back. That's fine by me. I'm still young, I can handle it.

Let me just clarify a few things for the Quixtar lovers and haters that read this blog:

First of all I really appreciate it (even when I don't show it) that you waste your time with me and the rantings I have to say. It says a lot for somebody to give somebody else attention so don't think your contributions to this blog go unnoticed. I simply haven't thought up a plaque to send out to my active readers. :P

Secondly, there are some things you should know about me. I am an actor. I am a musician. I am a son of a successful businessman who has a corporation outside of Quixtar to follow up on every day because there will be a point in my life where I will take the reins and I do not want to do so blinded by ignorance through the years which could have been avoided. I'm paying as much attention now as I can so that I can be ready for when the time comes.

I have my own dreams and aspirations in life just like anybody else. Me being an IBO makes me no different from anybody else out there and so I have my strengths and my weaknesses, my wants and desires. I am a human being, blah blah blah.

My dream is to become an actor. That's it. A successful actor in the film industry. Funny how that has absolutely nothing to do with Quixtar or even my father's business. My parents are still overwhelmingly supportive of me and for that I am eternally greatful. So why stay in Quixtar? One reason - I enjoy it.

I enjoy being an active IBO. I enjoy promoting the products and establishing relationships and learning. I have grown so much through what I've got from this business called MLM and I have been able to apply it to my judgements of other things outside of Quixtar, such as my father's company. The friendships I have established may not be everlasting ones, but they are healthy ones and through this business I have also strengthened already existing relationships. I don't give all of the credit to Quixtar. A lot of it goes to AllianceNet and the simple Network Marketing system.

I enjoy doing what I do and so I keep on doing it until I stop enjoying it. Just like this blog. And, honestly, I'll probably keep this blog long after I quit Quixtar, assuming I do quit Quixtar, which hasn't happened and doesn't look like I will any time soon. Time will tell.

And that's the other thing. The primary lesson I learned in prospecting was Timing. It's all about Timing. Almost everything is about Timing. And you don't know where it is or when it will hit, but when the time comes along, the only thing you can do is go with it. If there comes a time for me to leave the business or this Blog, well I'm sorry. Won't be any hard feelings and I may even be back, but Time is Time and there's nothing I can do about it.

I'm not leaving now, though, so don't worry. Not going anywhere yet. Except maybe to bed. Because I'm really tired.

No Hard Feelings

I don't hate Quixtar. I don't even dislike them. And I still shop on their website and sell their products. This post isn't about me.

I got a call recently from my upline, who works closely with Joe. No, I'm not going to name names and I'm not going to say how close - you're just going to have to trust me. And when have I ever lied on this blog? I don't lie. Not on this blog and not off of it. Lying is bad for business, any business. He works right up alongside Joe. He's been a keynote speaker an MC and made several speaches in several conventions. He is well known by all in AllianceNet and a good friend to Joe. And that's all I'm going to say about him personally.

He gave me a call the other day, asked how I was doing and what I was doing. He knows what I'm doing but it's only polite to start a conversation with small talk. I jumped straight to the point and brought up that I knew he and Joe and the others had been given the boot by Quixtar. Here's what he said:

Quixtar sent them a twelve-day notice. The next day, they terminated their business. No conversations. No other warnings. Just 24 hours and zip they were gone.

When I expressed how upset I was he calmed me down and said, "It's all right. Look, none of us are mad at Quixtar. Quixtar is like a big guerilla. And do you know what you do with a big guerilla?"

I said, "No."

He said, "You get out of the way."

He made me smile then and we talked a little more and here's the deal... A lot of people who don't know Joe Land and don't know AllianceNet and hate them on the sole basis that they are (or were, rather) part of Quixtar, have said a lot of things about them and this situation. And one of the things that has risen is the idea that somebody's going to suit. Well shut up. That's not what's going to happen.

Quixtar gave them the axe and by contract that's all they can do. And given the fact that many of us live in Right-To-Work states, it's questionable that they can't even do that. But guess what, nobody cares. Joe doesn't care. AllianceNet doesn't care. With integrity, they nodded and bowed out of the room.

AllianceNet wishes Quixtar well without any ill feelings. Even my upline warned me to watch what I say just so I can continue being an IBO in Quixtar. He's watching my back because he doesn't want me to fail at a business he still sees as ligitimate. There aren't any hard feelings at all. Disappointment - yes. But I think there's a fine line drawn between that and Distaste.

Everybody sigh, shake your head and move on. There's nothing to see here!

Oh, I beat Max Payne 2 a while back. Guess I should have said something. When my new memory chip comes in, I'm gonna pop in Mafia. So many old games I need to actually play! Grrrr