The Customer Service Industry!

I graduated from college in 2007! Please hold your applause, if you are not already. The world was my oyster, as they say, I don't know why, but they say it. I moved out to Atlanta Georgia, armed with my college diploma, ready to take on the world, to make a name for myself! I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but big cities are expensive! I did not let costs defray me from my pursuit to become an adult! Well it wasn't the cost of living that defrayed me from making a name of myself, it was the fact that I lacked what many employers call "experience." Well, surely if employers knew just how tenacious I could be, it would certainly make up for my lack of experience, well,  if it were not for the fact that I am such an expert at taking "no" for an answer! 

The great thing about looking for a job straight out of college in a big city is that there are so many opportunities! Sorry, I forgot to to finish my thought, so many opportunities to be turned down, I got excited from all that reminiscing. Eventually I reached the point where I could ignore my mounting pile of bills no longer, and had to get a job to support me while I continue to search for the beginning of my career. I began to work at GNC, slinging supplements to supplement my dwindling savings. If any of the companies I applied to in the beginning caught a glimpse at the loyalty I showed to GNC, surely they would still have passed me over, because I'd still be under qualified. But I stayed at GNC for nearly three years, I had grown comfortable there, maybe that was an effect of the vitamins. As I stayed there I did gain invaluable experience, experience that they can't teach in schools. Did I say 'invaluable' experience? Dang autocorrect, I meant 'unvaluable' experience. I learned the lost art of customer service, and the ancient secret of sales, the secret of course being that retail sales experience does not translate to real sales experience, they have some of the same letters, but the 'T' and 'I' are disqualifiers.  

I did gain work experience though. When I began to set my sights on other employment opportunities my search criteria changed to seeking work in the customer service industry, because that is the work experience I collected. In my subsequent job searches I was comforted by the familiarity of being turned down and passed over for jobs I was not qualified for. It was a reunion of sorts. Finally I reached reached a pivotal moment in my job search, when contemplating jobs I would enjoy having, that I would be satisfied in, and that would hire me, I had a revelation... I hate working in customer service, and I am terrible at it! Why do I keep looking for jobs in an industry that I hate? 

So that's basically the story of how I ended up going back to school.   I am not good at being an adult.

Branson Hipsters!

Branson shall soon be discovered and taken over by the hipsters!! Allow me to show my work...

The cultural landscape of Branson, though most deny the existence of culture in Branson, is so primed for the invasion of hipsters. I can say this, I am a hipster! QUE my wife's eye roll now. Don't let my clothing, attitude, and lack of a curly q mustache fool you, I am ALL hipster! But a lovable hipster! Hold on, This is my first stand up set, I've got to Instagram this... Trust me, I look like Marcus Mumford, watch Community and Dr. Who and I liked Kings of Leon 5 years before anyone knew who they were. So there are my credentials. My hipster resume if you will. But I digress...

As I was saying, as a hipster, I am fascinated by Branson! My wife makes fun of me for it, but I love it! Oh the ironic things you could do!! You could laugh ironically at Yakov's explanation of "what a country" America is (side note, with the craziness in Russia and the Ukraine, Yakov is about to be relevant again), you can cruise the strip on a moped and see all the flashing lights, but go early, the sun isn't down for that long in the summer before everything closes, and you can spend a day at Silver Dollar City! I'm so surprised this place isn't overran by hipsters already! You can be accepted for whatever type of facial hair you currently possess! This is a haven for those in the self-sustaining lifestyle! The make their own food and candy, they make things out of wood and iron, they make their own soap for crying out loud!  And the style and fashion? Walking around the park is like the Portlandia's music video for the dream of the 1890's is alive in Portland! Sorry Fred and Carrie, the dream on the 1890's is alive in Branson! And the gift shop of Silver Dollar City? That's like the Dream of The 90's! They should skip the middle man and just start selling their line in thrift shops around the country. Yes I want a T-shirt that says I have rode Thunderation and survived! Of course I want a Christmas sweatshirt that has permanent glitter on it! One of my favorite times to go is during their Bluegrass and BBQ festival! It's just like Telluride! The only thing missing is PBR! 

But in the end, what I fear will happen is that the hipsters will grow too comfortable. Novelty and irony will transform into reality, and they will never leave. They will buy timeshares, but not the commercialized lofts on the landing, those are for the yuppies, you might know them as posers, they will buy, or let's face it, build, well the lumberjack hipsters anyways, Bon Iver style cabins on Table Rock Lake, and retreat there for solitude. They will say, "wouldn't it be funny if I got a job at the ticket counter for The Duttons?" They will become addicted to going to all the shows, ironically at first, but then they will develop a taste for it. They will begin to identify with The Baldknobbers in theory. And slowly buy surely you can rest assured that the torch will be passed from one set of hipsters to the next (former based on the fact that a large majority of the population have had hip replacements). 

Nerddom

In addition to being a hipster, I am also what many would call a nerd. I realize that the term nerd has just in recent years become social accepted. It was a long slow process, that I have witnessed first hand. It all started maybe when my generation was in, let's say middle school, when it became a funny thing to do to dress up as nerds for spirit weeks. Now of course these costumes were way exaggerated, but they were mostly based on the nerds on Saved By the Bell. Because that is what we watched growing up. Of course we all jumped at the chance to dress up as nerds, because we all secretly wanted to be nerds. We had our nerdy things we secretly loved, now of course it wasn't as exaggerated as the nerds in Saved By the Bell, because we know now that that was a caricature.  The days would wear on and after school we would retire our costumes until the next spirit week, and then reminisce about the time we could reveal the exaggerated version of our true selves. Once the photos were developed we would flip through all the pictures of us with all our friends making stereotypical nerd poses, perhaps someday our children will look back on our pictures and see it for what this pictures really are: Offensive to Nerds, Nerd-Face. When we looked at the pictures we saw that we were, if just for a day, not alone in our nerddom. 

Back in those days true nerds were defined more by their academic interests such as math club and chess team, again, I am basing this almost solely on the nerds in Saved by the Bell, with a pinch of Revenge of the Nerds, a dash of Steve Urkle, and a sprinkling of George McFly, so they were also into the really far out there sci-fi. about the only constant between the nerds of our youth and the nerds of today is D&D, which I am proud to say that I have played. But in those days, we were into things like comic books (my interest in comic books is rekindling, but they are really expensive) particularly for me X-Men. I remember having a really big falling out with one of my friends because he told me, in an effort to try and impress me, which the concept of anyone feeling the need to impress ME seems ludacris, that at home he had purchased a  musical compilation of the X-Men singing popular ballads of the day. AND I BELIEVED HIM, because I wanted it to be true, still part of me wishes it could be true! Every day at recess I questioned him on who sang what song, the only song I really remember asking him about was who sang "I Would Do Anything For Love" by Meatloaf. And without missing a beat he replied, "Gambit, who else?" and my jaw dropped down in wonderment! I was in awe that he possessed such a treasure! Had I done a better job of convincing my parents the need of signing up for AOL and the potential necessity of the internet I could have just surfed over to AOL KEYWORD: Circuit City to search for said album. I should have asked him to let me borrow the cassette tape! So I continued to ask him who sang what song, and I think eventually he realized that there was no such way that such an album could reasonably exist because he had told me like 20 different songs, and each time saying, "Yeah dude, Beast totally sings it and its on the B-Side!" well I must not have been a very good nerd, at least the stereotypical Math kind, because I couldn't see that it just didn't add up. The next day, my buddy comes out to recess to confess to me that he did not, in fact own a tape of the X-Men singing Power Ballads. I feel the need to point out that this was in Elementary school, I know I said earlier that it all really started in middle school, but this particular story took place in Elementary School. So he told me, "Cameron, I've been lying to you, I don't really own this tape of The X-Men singing Power Ballads, I'm sorry. Can you stop asking me who sings "More Than Words" And I was devastated! I took a few moments to calm the commotion of questions rising up in my brain. After a few moments I said, "OK, wow, um... Why did you lie about it?" he told me it was because he wanted me to like him. After a few more moments of trying to piece together this act of betrayal I knew what the next question I had to ask him was. "OK, so you don't really own a cassette tape of The X-Men singing Power Ballads" I took a deep breath, planning my next words very carefully. "Do you know where we can buy it then?"

Music Snobbary

I love music. Let me rephrase that, I love good music.

I have been called a music snob, I've been called a hipster (albeit by my self), I have also been called a music guru, and told I have a good taste in music. Music is important to me, and I take it very seriously.

They say that smell is the sense most strongly tied to a person's memory. For me music very strongly tied to my memories. Listening to certain music can bring back strong memories of experiences or certain times in my life. When I listen to the album About Today by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti I am instantly reminded of driving around Atlanta at night during the fall. When I listen to Minus the Bear I feel like I'm back on the beach. Some music reminds me of high school, some of college. Music I listened to during good times and music I listened to during low times. The song Monsters by Band of Horses will forever be my favorite song because of the close emotional bond I felt to it. The song basically talks about how we have problems, and there are always going to be awful people, and how we try to hide from them. There is a line in the song that says, "Though, to say we've got much hope; if I am lost its only for a little while" its so optimistic in the face of people constantly trying to bring us down. It also helps that its a beautiful song too. I still tear up sometimes when I listen to it.

The point is that music moves us. We relate to lyrics, rhythm and melody. We can connect to artists and feel a kinship to them, all based on their music. These bands become extensions to ourselves, and can be how we express ourselves. We feel loyalty to our bands, and defend them. And if you have ever been told you are a music snob, or even had a favorite indie band, you might have experienced the agony of what its like when your band betrays you...by going mainstream.

It sounds silly, but if you are a music fan it can kind of feel like a betrayal when your band finds mainstream success. I have been chastised for feeling this way numerous times. Why does it bother us so much to hear our beloved band on the radio? I can't speak for everyone but for me its because of a couple of reasons.

1. It changes the band. There have been several indie artists whose music became much more accessible and less adventurous.
2. The band doesn't mean as much to the new found "fans." Your favorite band is like you childhood best friend who just ping-pong table and suddenly has a new found popularity. These new fans are quick to drop your band just as your best friend's popularity is sure to wane when someone in the neighborhood gets a pool table.

I'm not saying that just because you hear your favorite band's song on the radio that they've completely gone "mainstream" just look at Modest Mouse and Radiohead they have each had major hits and it hasn't changed their music.

I turn on the radio today and at any moment can hear bands that I like, that started out as Indie bands, and I start to worry. What if my worry is all in vain? What if the music industry is finally starting to have higher standards. I mean after all, Arcade Fire won a Grammy and Bon Iver was nominated. Maybe we have Internet Radio services to thank for this shift in demand for better music, now that broadcast radio stations are no longer our only source for new music.

No matter what your opinion on music is, I think we can all agree that we are glad Nickelback's popularity is dropping.

Golden Age of Television or My Dream Job

As I have mentioned, and will probably mention many more times, my aspirations are to be a professional writer. I would love to write novels, I would love a job as a copywriter, or an essayist that writes thought provoking pieces, however my highest aspirations, my dream job, would be to a screenwriter for a television show. I know what you are thinking, and yes I do indeed reach for the stars. 

I'm not really that great at small talk, in fact it's a small wonder that I am not legally required to make that disclaimer upon introducing myself to new people. As far as societal rules for talking to someone new, the first question after asking someone their name is to ask them what they do. For a long time I have not really had a good answer to give. "Oh I work at GNC" or "I'm a bank teller" even now, I have a pretty interesting job as a Youth Care Specialist at a residential foster home, however I still always feel the need to include the fact that my real aspirations lie as a writer. Those in which I converse with are usually more well-versed in the art of small talk and ask the next logical question, "what do you want to write?" to which I generally respond, "Anything. Books, blogs, copywriting, and so on, but really I would love to be a writer for a TV sitcom." For whatever reason that generally gets a laugh, and now as I reflect on these conversations I should probably respond to their laughter by telling them that I should use that line sometime in a script. 

Why do people respond with laughter when I tell them I'd love to write for a television show? I know I am not the first to say this, but we truly in a golden age of television. There are so many brilliant television shows on the air today. HBO and Showtime have blazed the trail with shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, The Newsroom, Bored to Death, and now networks like AMC, FX, and more recently Netflix have followed suit with Mad Men, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, and House of Cards. Even half hour comedies are breaking new ground with Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Arrested Development, and so on. 

The truth is, television is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. For a long time there has been a stigma for "top tier" actors to do television. Alec Baldwin made jokes about it on 30 Rock (in 30 Rock made this joke several times, even with a cameo from Tom Hanks), David Cross had a joke about it on Arrested development. It has been seen as a step down for an actor to do television. I read an article yesterday that said that Steven Spielberg is predicting the "implosion" of the film industry. In the article they cited George Lucas saying that with the rising costs of producing and marketing films with the pressure to make them accessible for the masses is producing highly publicized  flops and unoriginal concepts/remakes/sequels while television is creating more ambitious shows for certain niches of audiences. Spielberg said that the more original and adventurous idea for movies are taking their pitches to television studios. People are now opting to stay home and binge watch original serial television shows than go to the movies to see something something safe and predictable. 

I love the long form story telling that comes with television. Consider a television show as a novel whereas a movie is just a short story. Television is becoming so much more than just fodder for the water cooler the following day. Right now on Facebook, Buzzfeed and other sites there are far more conversations about people's favorite television characters than there are movie characters. Why is that? Because there is more time and space to develop your characters, make them relatable and lovable, or vile and complex. When you write a television show, you have the ability and opportunity to create characters that people care about, can relate to and connect with. When you write a television show you have the ability to look more closely into everyday life and show the beauty in the little things without feeling the pressure to make everything on a grand scale. For the majority of people, life is lived in between the stories we tell, and that in itself is a story worth telling.

Plus, who wouldn't want to get paid to sit in a room and come up with jokes all day?

Antique shop (or Thrift Shop to be more topical)

I love where I live. 

My wife and I live in a loft in a community called Commercial Street in Springfield Missouri. It sits along the Frisco Railroad and once upon a time was a transportation and cultural hub in Springfield. It was home to theaters, saloons, factories, elegant hotels, and restaurants. As time went on, as it often seems to do, businesses like Wal-Mart, shopping malls, and large chain restaurants moved into town forcing the local businesses to close their doors, as is often the case. Commercial Street began to decay. From what I am told, Commercial Street became a very unsavory place to visit. And, as many cities are starting to do, a revitalization has begun to bring life and commerce back to downtown urban areas.  Slowly but surely, Commercial street is beginning to rebrand itself as a premier place to live, work, and play. 

As far as restaurants are concerned, we are developing into an international culinary hub. I live across from my favorite coffee shop and cafe called Big Mammas (they have soups and specialty grilled cheese sandwiches that will forever change your opinion on soups and sandwiches) down the road is a Springfield mainstay in Pizza House, a Lebanese place opened up a few months ago, The Artisan Oven opened below me only last month (their bread pudding was suburb), and here in a few short weeks a Peruvian place is opening up on the corner. We even have a local brewery and world renowned chocolate factory.

Outside of restaurants though, it seems that the only store fronts you will find that are not vacant are that of antique shops and thrift stores. I love these shops. The owners are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, some of whom even donated or loaned items to decorate my wife and I's vintage themed wedding. But have you ever stopped to realize the sad irony of an antique shop or a thrift store? 

I know these stores have found a new life since shows like Antique Road show, DIY television, and songs like Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" but really take time to consider the tragedy of the items in this store, or even the fact that these stores have to exist. 

Growing up in Kansas and now residing in Missouri, its not hard to drive through all these small towns that, at one time, used to be thriving communities, to see them reduced to next to nothing. When I was in college there used to be this particular route that I would travel on between my parent's home and the campus that would go through the Flint Hills, that was absolutely gorgeous. On that two and a half hour drive there were approximately towns I would drive through, and three of them are nearly run down. At one point in time, these locations were deemed a great place to live, new houses being built all the time, and I'm sure that each one of those families would never dare think that one day the place they call home, a place where under layers of paint they would find the marks of their children's heights on the wall, is now teetering upon the brink of being condemned. The roof they hung Christmas lights on near crumbling, and the porch and yard they watched their children play in is now littered with broken appliances and overgrown grass. 

It never fails that in each of these small towns there is always an antique shop, selling the last great treasures of these once great towns. Towns like Cottonwood Falls and Matfield Green have been reduced to mile markers and places for weather people to point to on a map for a reference of a storms proximity to larger towns. Yet antique stores persist in these towns, to sell the possessions that were once the envy of the entire community. 

These are objects that people loved, envied, even cherished, things that people saved up money for, things that people designed and built in a factory or by hand, and now they reside, forgotten in a shop, collecting dust. 

Take time to consider, the clothes you are wearing in this instant, the chair you are sitting in, the art on your wall, will either one day be thrown away/destroyed, end up in an antique/thrift shop, or if you're lucky passed down to remain loved and cherished. I know I for one can only hope that if my belongings are not passed on to friends and loved ones that establishments such as antique shops and thrift stores can find them homes where they can find further use. 

Another tragedy lies in the fact that these stores all over the country are closing left and right, with consumers choosing to to consume newer items. I'm guilty of it. It's a vicious cycle. Our precious new items we are so desperate to purchase and consume will also one day face the same problem. 

And so it is in considering the tragic and ironic nature of these store do we realize the futility of our possessions. They are simply objects we own for just a small window of time. The objects we love, we will grow to hate. 

Let us learn contentment. 

[insert cliche post title such as: Cameron Unfiltered or Cameron 2.0]

I realize that I have said in previous entries that this blog would be dedicated to my short stories, however I would like to amend that by saying that this blog, much like the majority of blogs in existence, shall be a vehicle in which I will convey my thoughts, which admittedly is scary, both for myself and for the reader.

Yesterday I began watching a television show called The Newsroom, which is an excellent program, one you should watch however I will not get into that right now. The basic premise of the show is that the main character, Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels) is a very popular TV newscaster for cable news network, whom is recently told that he is journalistic equivalent to Jay Leno, people watch him because he does not bother them. The series basically opens with Will having a very public meltdown at a college forum he is speaking at. Without giving anything away, his programing directer basically sees a glimmer of potential of the great broadcaster Will could become and hires a new Executive Producer to bring the best out of him, in which she effectively does. Like I said, it's a great program, you should watch it. One of my favorite scenes in the show (of all 10 episodes in its vast history) is when Will is engaging with a woman who works for a gossip magazine who is trying to smear Will and his EP. Will gives a rousing speech about he and his crew are true journalists, and she should, essentially. mind her own business. She of course, in a futile attempt to save face, makes some snide remark about said rousing speech and says he will never win, to which he responds, "Eh, I don't care, I'm just some middle-aged man who never lived up to his potential, you don't want to be on the wrong end of me if I ever do."

Don't you just love it when a line from a book or a movie or song or even a TV show just resonates with you on such a deep and profound level? Given, I am in no way a middle-aged man, if anything I am twenty years Will McAvoy's junior, but regardless that line resonated with me. For my adult life (all ten years of it) it would seem that I have lead a very safe life. Much like Will McAvoy and Jay Leno, I live my life in a way so as not to bother people. I keep my views on my personal politics and religion very much private, at least in the blogosphere, and I have refrained from really publishing my writing, whether fictional or memoirs, away from the public eye (or if I'm being completely honest away from even being recorded) for the fear that it would not be good, or that it will bother people, challenge their thinking, or that I will be labeled ignorant and naive.

Ever since high school I have known that I have a talent for writing (in fact those that know me can attest that I communicate far better in writing than I do verbally). I have, on several occasions, received papers back from teachers and professors with notes saying they would like signed copies of my first book (Mr. Belsan, if you are reading this, I vividly remember you writing this on my senior paper, to which I will keep my promise). Since then I have aspired myself to become a professional writer. I still hold fast to ambitions of writing books and perhaps even a screenplay, however sadly, those dreams have been stunted by a conversation I had with a "friend while" while I was in college. I was talking with him about how I wanted to write a book, and his words to me were, and I quote, "What could you possibly have to write about?" I can see now that he was just a pretentious jerk (feel free to add in your own expletive if that helps).

The years following that conversation, those words have haunted me on a subconscious level. What on earth could I have to say that hasn't already been said? Then I did research into the costs of submitting manuscripts into publishers for them to even read it, without the promise of publication, and I became discouraged even further. From that point, I subconsciously assumed the role of Jay Leno, not just in my writing, but also in all other areas of my life. I was just trying to make my way through the world without bothering anybody. I kept my ambitions, stories, and thoughts to myself... and then I watched The Newsroom.

I may just be twenty-something who hasn't reached my full potential, but to that pretentious jerk (again feel free to reinsert your previous expletive. Just like a mad-lib!): well, I won't say something as threatening as Will McAvoy did, but still, I'm about to prove you wrong.

How dare anyone tell someone that another human being doesn't have a story to tell? That their voice is any less valid just because they have not acquired the proper degree, or lived seemingly exciting adventures. My stories and experiences may not make me a sought after dinner guest, but that does not mean that my voice or anyone else who has ever tread this great earth, does not have a story worth telling, worth listening to.

It is time that I stop wandering though life afraid of bothering people with what I have to say.

What if what I have to say is what millions of people have been dying to say but have not been able to articulate? What if what I have to say can resonate with someone as much as the words of Aaron Sorkin through Will McAvoy resonated with me. I'm not saying that my words are profound and earth shattering, but I have a voice and it is my right to be heard.

Welcome to Cameron Writes Stuff Down 2.0


(I realize how cheesy and overused that last line is, and I don't care.)