Bradtastic, Unravelled to the Core.
Brad Chin
Hey everyone!
Welcome to my new personal website!
This blog is a little bit of an experiment. For those of you who know me, you’ve probably seen (or heard of) Bradtastic Premier (aka bradtastic.com), my current and soon-to-be ex-personal blog — turned “business blog.” There are many reasons for this change-up; it’s something that I’ve thought about for well over one-year now, but more-recent events have given me a little extra motivation.
A while ago I “unveiled” Brad Loves Us, a somewhat undirected attempt at creating a personal site. The only major problem was that the domain was originally purchased and setup to do something entirely different, and thus, the domain-name wasn’t my favorite (nor first pick) for a “personal site.”
Wanting to show United States solidarity and pride as well as benefit from the obvious domain hacks (such as “del.icio.us” — Wikipedia entry), I thought about what other .us domain names appealed to me. I thought long and hard across several weeks, not wanting to make similar mistakes a second time.
I’d resolved, “Henceforth, I shall pre-plan my planning phase before implementing anything.”
Well, not really…
However, I did think about what I was doing, how much writing I was producing versus “releasing” (… to the public), and what a “personal blog” really meant to me and what kind of content would end up there. I wanted it to be humorous; I wanted to laugh about it some, use it as an outlet — relieve stress — whatever… I wanted to make others laugh and relax. Life is serious business so much of the time; short, painful and confusing. Play shouldn’t be.
In the past, I’d treated my blogging with essay-to-thesis-like discipline…
I was taking my entries too-seriously — it wasn’t really blogging. Since then, I’ve read several books on the subject (and on the subject of “making real money” with blogging — hah!) and decided to follow some of the advice. I didn’t want to prep, plan and outline my entries all of the time. I didn’t want to stress about my personal blog.
Ditching the formalities.
I’m not overly “square” and I’m not politically-correct. I love some things and some people, like a few, too… and hate a lot of things. And people. I hate a lot of people. There, it’s been stated. I think if most people were honest, prejudices, hate and anger would come spewing out.
I’m not violent (really… c’mon.) and I don’t act publicly on my previously-stated-hatreds… most of the time. In the classic Dennis Miller style, “I don’t want to go on a rant…”
but sometimes…
Sometimes, things need to be said — and that said, when those time arrive, I find it best to insert snippets of ingenuity, go high-voltage with the humor, and heavy-dosage with the hyperbole.
Like I’d said before…
…many, many times, time and time again — life is short, hard, and stressful. Work isn’t always a friendly thing, and right now, most of us — first as people, then friends, families, societies and as a Nation — are struggling, battling, and constantly being tested. Bombarded by
- bills we can’t pay,
- taxes we don’t think we can afford,
- government policies we may disagree with
and beyond that — scandals, affairs, corruption and crime… negativity isn’t really what’s needed. Hate seems so wrong; like “stealing candy from a baby,” or “kicking a man while he’s down.” There’s not much need nor room for complaints, so I’m not planning on cursing and ranting about every little annoying thing in each entry at this blog. To do so would be to flagrantly disregard our predicament, unfair, and… unfunny. I believe that honesty is important, however, so I will call things as I see ‘em.
The platinum-lined night skies…
For those of you who don’t know me, you have a little bit of background. To add to that, I’ve felt eosophobia in the past (strong dislike, mild fear of the sunrise — like a sense of dread with the rise of a new day; the end of night), I’ve been identified as a “psychic vampire” or prana taker by a Rabbi, I prefer the darkness and have a disability caused by chronic shoulder pain plus medications’ side-effects.
But I haven’t lost faith.
I can feel the strength of others; I feel as though I can tap into that energy to help manifest the incredible. I have hope — I feel the presence of a guiding-force and something beyond what Science can currently show us. Though I see and feel the bad, awful and evil in this world, I know of a stronger force within our capacity — a source of good and purity with which we can fight back, against the wrongs and hardships we face.
I believe in it.
Yes, I know of anger… and yes, I know of hate. However, I know also of love, and have felt the spirit and presence of grace.
Those around me will survive and thrive… because that’s what we do — we believe… and we feel. Together, we aren’t afraid.
I know that this entry hasn’t been the most “informal.” I know that I’ve started-off with a more-serious tone — inasmuch as it could be called “excessive,” I didn’t want to have to write a rambling “about” page ne’er to be seen by the many…
And for (mostly) that — “entry one” exists as a partially-stated raison d’être.
It won’t be the norm.
At the moment, I’m trying to get other workstuff done and I have other things to write and publish. More on that later. Thanks for following my little journey.