You need to believe in what you do. Because if not you, then who? I mean that! The world is callous – it’s moving forward with or without your enthusiasm. Yes, many of us are blessed to have loving family and friends who support us through thick and thin and believe in us. That’s HUGE. But at the end of the day, it’s on you to do what’s needed to ensure your success. Some people live their lives with a chip on their shoulder thinking they’re owed something. Maybe they’re

Harry Potter Mania. I remember it sweeping the nation in the early 2000s. A story that swept up children and adults alike through its well written charm. There were long lines of people waiting for the books on their release days, not unlike what people do today for coveted electronics. Cookbooks naturally followed, with recipes named after either famous characters or certain foods highlighted in the books. And I also remember seeing the news talking about wand making cla

There's a saying out there that goes "you don't know what you don't know". It's simple, yet it speaks volumes when one starts to actually realize just how much is out there that you DON'T actually know. If there's one thing I've learned in life - it's that the more I learn, the less I know. Is that a side effect of learning?? There's a phenomenon described as the Dunning-Kruger Effect that's relevant to this. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the Dunning-Kruger Effect

I've seen it said that it takes 10,000 repetitions of a skill to master it. I've also read that it takes 10,000 hours of time to master a skill. Either way, that's a LOT of work to really become a master at anything. Bruce Lee By those standards, I don't think I'm a master of many things - like, at all. Even as far as nursing goes, I haven't spent 10,000 hours placing IVs, giving CPR, placing catheters, etc. What I CAN confidently say is that I've incorrectly done a multi

I have a busy mind. It's frequently preoccupied and distracted - more often than it ought to be, in all truth. I often find myself thinking about the future; coming up with things I need to take care of, or creatively scheming what needs to happen in my life to continue to grow and have fun. While it's important to have your sights set forward, it's also incredibly important to be sure you're paying attention to the now. It's where you are! It's where life's happening, and

...and watched auditions don't get heard. At least that's the conclusion I've come to. Conventional wisdom in the voiceover and voice acting ethos is that it's bad practice and wasted energy to see if any auditions you've sent have been listened to, marked as shortlisted, etc. Checking doesn't change the outcome. If you get it, you get it. Once you've sent it off, it's now off your plate, off your shoulders, and the ball is in somebody else's court. ...except I still like t

Sacrifice. That's a word that can mean so many things, to so many people. When I think about the word, I envision something along the lines of a block of blood-hued clay. Why blood hued clay? A sacrifice always costs something, and it has to be something that means something to a life. I think in the more traditional sense, religious sacrifices were made with blood. But there are other things that constitute "pillars" to pull from when one sacrifices. Time is a precious c

Stranger danger! You want to talk about a phrase having a whole new meaning in 2020 - there you have it. Once upon a time, I worked at WalMart. Not only that, but I worked at a WalMart located in North Idaho. If you like the great outdoors and nice scenery, North Idaho could be a place you like. Some celebrities have even bought beautiful homes out there to quietly escape to when they need beauty, peace, and solace. But this is not that story. I wasn't a wealthy, private

I'm terrible with general #sports knowledge. I couldn't tell you what teams are having a strong season, and I might even screw up a team's name with the wrong sport entirely. I even grew up in a college town that had absolute zeal for its home team (#GOCOUGS!), despite no real consistency in its ability to win a game of football (as far as I know). Which was actually kind of cool - because I could be across the country and if I see the good old #WSU Cougar logo on a person,

"I do voices!" "My friends say I have a great voice and should get into voiceover!" "I do a really good Solid Snake impression - check it out: METAL GEEAARRRR" David Hayter: if you're reading this, I'M SO SORRY. I love your work in Metal Gear Solid and the X-Men movies were fantastic. I keep trying to send you a (NON-POISONED) fruit basket for the holidays but your manager has blocked about fourteen different phone numbers I've used to try to contact you. (Ahem) If any of th

I was born in the 80s. I always jokingly call the 1980s the ten year hangover that happened after the wild and crazy 60s and 70s. When you look at images of the 1980s on the surface, you have these weird, boxy shapes everywhere…everything looks clunky. The makeup is excessive. The hair is scary – bad mullets, occasional good mullets, super perms, not-so-super perms, terrible mustaches…the list goes on. I just think of a hungover person struggling to navigate their way throug

Blogging. I'm about to show my age here. Last time I had anything remotely similar to a blog, I had a MySpace page. Not only that, but I was convinced that MySpace would beat out FaceBook in the social media wars of yore. I mean after all, you could blog, right? Since then, I've been wrong about many, many other things! But being wrong is not the worst thing in the world. Being wrong and a jerk or an idiot - now you've got yourself an all-American situation on your ha