Playing around with Ping.fm...pretty cool thus far, but much more to be discovered I have a feeling :)

What Makes You Happy?

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. - Benjamin Disraeli

Or to Charles Schwartz, a warm puppy.

So while experiencing my current state of happiness, I have been questioning what is different about my life now, than 2-month ago? A couple month ago I wouldn't have conceded to being happy. I pretended pretty well. I had a great job, good friends, and supportive family, what could make a girl happier? But for some reason, when things reach a certain level of stability, I get restless. I can't help it, honestly, no control. Consistency, routine, all the things that are suppose to make you feel as though you have achieved something...get under my skin and make me feel stagnant.

So what makes me happy? Change. I thrive under change, even though it scares me. I had a friend, Thomas, tell me earlier today change was "just a matter of breaking through your fears." I feel as though much of what we don't do is because of the fear of not knowing the outcome, but isn't that half the fun?

Ever since then, I have embraced that change is what makes me happy. I have been more committed to being myself in other ways too. I say things that don't necessarily pass through "the filter," attend functions where I don't know anyone, and reach out to people I might have been too afraid to continue a relationship with. I guess you could say I am doing my own little social experiment on myself, and so far I love the outcome.

We'll see how it goes ;)

Might be cliche, but what have you done before that scared you? Did it come out how you planned, better?

Trumpets!

You might be wondering what I meant by "Trumpets!" and thought I might try to explain the joke...so here it goes.

First, I'll let you in on my train of thought. Have been wondering lately why some videos catch on and become sensations and why some wallow in YouTube purgatory. One of my favorite videos is Charlie Bit Me and show it to all friends who have not seen it as much as possible...until I run out of friends. The video on has been seen 57,255,789 TIMES and has 87,455 comments!! I mean, when you break it down the video is of a little kid getting bit by his brother. It certainly happened when I was little, and I'm not famous. Did the parent's know their children were going to be seen by 57 million people, I'm thinking probably not.

So, companies have been trying to break the YouTube code by creating corky videos to promote their product. Wario did a cool thing here, and it worked for them increasing their views by 500%. And the Cadbury Gorilla is still considered one of the most successful YouTube campaigns to date. So what makes a video a success or a flop? Uniqueness is essential, but the hardest to balance. Going too far to one side can mean millions or zero views. By tapping into something people are already familiar with (YouTube or Gorilla) and playing around with people's perceptions (shaking it up or making it play drums) make people look twice, and share it with their friends. It might not hurt to add a little Phil Collin's music ;)

I would mention the ones that flopped, but I haven't seen them.

Finally!!! Here is the video that inspired the joke...let me know what you think :)



Success, flop, funny...???

I know...it has been FOREVER!

I'm sorry, this has been a long time coming. Life has gotten crazy, but luckily in a really good way. In the last couple months I have been diving into the crazy web of social media and loving it. The first real pull towards the medium was while attending BlogWorld in Vegas in September. The people at the conference were amazing, and found was more intrigued by the side conversations than sessions, although those were great too. Check out my 5 minutes of fame (look about 14 years-old, but rolling with it):



While there I was lucky enough to make friends with James Whatley from London, Matt Singley from LA, and Mark Burstiner from NYC. These guys really made my time there a lot of fun, definitely best Vegas experience yet, plus great new friends. Each of them work within the social media space and have intriguing projects on the horizon. Trumpets!

I feel that once good things start happening it is a domino effect. Through James and twitter I learned about an project called Someone Once Told Me. The project takes photographs of people with sayings that have either been influential in their life or just memorable. People are starting to submit pictures from around the world, and I was the first Bostonian! My saying was from my little, feisty Nana who told me the saying below just before I flew to Thailand for 2-months. She was amazing and I think she would laugh if she saw this picture today. So, here it is:
On a more personal note, have official ended all communication with Mr.J, which I think is the best decision I have ever made in my life. So freeing!! Taking control of my life and finding it is OK to be myself is a pretty awesome change...and things are looking up because of it. That is my deep thought for the moment :p

Ok, promise to be more regular with posting.