<editorsnote>Hi, I'm Jen Friel, and we here at TNTML examine the lives of nerds outside of the basements and into the social media, and dating world. We have over 75 peeps that write about their life in real time. (Real nerds, real time, real deal.) Sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the stories!!</editorsnote>
And it looks like we have YET ANOTHER bday in the house. Ewe, this means your parental units were totes boning around the same time. How's that for a menal picture for ya!!
::cough cough:: Either way, step on up Mr. Ben Parr aka the bday boy!!!
I cannot express how much I adore Ben. We met two years ago, almost to the day actually, when I crashed the 2010 Grammys to meet his buddy Pete Cashmore. He is so smart, so talented - but frankly also SO FREAKING COOL!!! He works so hard, and I am so so so humbled that he is a part of the TNTML family - but more importantly I'm humbled that I get to call him a friend.
Me doesn't think, me KNOWS this will be one hell of a year Ben!! Happy birthday buddy!!!
Ben is someone I respect. And I mean someone I really really really respect. When I got his card at CES, I framed it.
Then throughout my travels, there were two other people that I had the good fortune to meet and that I respected equally so I placed them in the same frame as Ben.
I am now in business with two of the three people. The third is Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top however, who had the GREATEST CARD EVER!! It says "Friend of Eric Clapton"
Amazing on so many new levels.
So, that whole creation, and vision board thingie majiee - it totally works. But understand this, visualizing something is one thing, putting the hard work behind it is another.
I sleep for no more than 7 hours a night, and hustle this brand morning noon and night 17 hours a day, and we are now just shy of being 2 years old.
I don't need an award or a breast to pin it on - I GENUINELY LOVE what I am doing, and that is the only thing that keeps me going.
When you're following in your joy and bliss, you're a step ahead of the game because things just "click" and come more naturally to you.
This website is my thing; it's my baby; it's the reason why I am on this Earth.
Go find your thing!!! For me running a website made sense and felt good, so I did it! At the time it wasn't a big decision, I just threw myself at it and kept going because I had my heartbroken and was in a funk in life. Turning 25 and having finished high school 9 years earlier was not an easy pill to swallow. What was I doing with my liiffeeeeeee???
OMG OMG OMG OMG so yesterday was pretty much the greatest day of my life. For REALS!!! I can't fucking believe I made it onto the pages of Mashable!!!! Huge huge huge - but here's how it all went down ...
SOOOOOOOO, as you all know, there is a lot going on behind the scenes right now. I'm basically running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and attempting to stay mellow yellow while being acutely aware that that is an impossibility; bottom line: we're becoming an official business. Seed money, advisors, all that fancy pants stuff - it's going on right now.
Now, I know where I add value - I have really fun, and crazy adventures - and tell stories in real time as a lifecaster; I don't talk tech, I very literally live it. So boom, right there is my value add. When you're looking to build the foundation to something however, you need the support of a team that brings different things to the table.
<tangent> Think about it like this - how delicious would a Thanksgiving day dinner be if everyone brought the turkey??? Pretty damn boring! You need someone to bring the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and omg omg omg the cranberry sauce with the lines around it from the can. YUMMMM!!!! </tangent>
When it came to launching things it was SUCH a no brainer to involve Mashable's Ben Parr. (And very frankly, I was INCREDIBLY humbled he was even interested.) How did Ben and I meet? When I crashed the Grammys to meet Pete Cashmore!! He and I had met briefly prior at CES in 2010, but we actually got to sit down and grab a drink after I met Pete. Seriously, though, can I just say he is not only one of the smartest people I know - but also the nicest. For REALS!! You can't ever be mad at Ben, and for someone to achieve a level of success like he has, and be so effin grounded - wow. Such a diamond in the rough!!!!
Ben then went back to San Fran, and I went on with my life and my adventures in LA - while keeping in touch via social media.
Flash forward almost a year, and we had shizzy shiznat going on with the pilot. (See, it's not just a scripted show - but there are tech components integrated as well.) When it came to building a team for said components - calling in Ben was SUUCCHHHHHHHH a no brainer!! Not only do I adore the dude, but he knows his shit (obviously). So the suits and Ben got to talking ... and we've all been in this nerdy little love affair for the last few months.
And now regarding yesterday, Ben came down to LA for a few days for meetings, and needed a place to crash. Dude, place to crash?! DONE! Mi casa es su casa!!! So he's been staying here for the last few days, and yesterday we were sitting at the kitchen table working, before heading out to dinner together, and I look over at my Facebook page and notice that page notifications were showing up in the left hand navigation along with the group and favorite notifications - I had never seen that before.
I turn to Ben and say hey! when did these start to show up??
He looks at my screen, looks back at his - I don't have that yet!
Dude, because it LITERALLY just showed up on my screen. Like right now.
Screenshot it for me, he said.
Alrite!
I then proceeded to screenshot my screen and email it to him, while he frantically started emailing the peeps at Facebook asking them about it.
Jen, you just might appear on Mashable if this is a new feature.
Wait, me? Jen Friel ... on fucking MASHABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude, if that happens I am going to pee my pants.
Ben shouts over to my roomie - so Julie, if Jen pees her pants are you going to clean it up??
Julie comes storming in laughing - Jen's a big girl she can clean up her own pee.
EEWWEEEE!!!!!!
We all have a great laugh (HAHAHAHAHAA chuckle chuckle chuckle), Ben writes up the post, while giving Facebook an 8pm deadline on getting back to him before going to print.
We go have dinner and talk biz ...
(BEST CHOPPED SALAD EVERRR!!!!!!)
... and by the time we were done eating, and drive back home - I see this tweet:
Literally .25 seconds after it was up, you guys noticed. AH-MAZING!!!!!!!!
So yeah! There ya go! Ben and I were working at my kitchen table, I looked over and said dude! when did this happen, screenshot it, and BOOM!!! Now I'm on Mashable.
Have I said yet that this was the COOLEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME!??!!?!
HOLY FUCK!!!!
Love.
Love.
Love.
Love.
Love. IT!
I can die now.
Well, I take that back - I still have to have Pete Cashmore's babies.
Ugh! Fine - @mostlylisa is incredibly fabulous - fine fine fine, she can have them, I'll just watch.
Wait, that's creepy ...
Are you still talking? Shut up Jen
Alrite, I gotta prep for LITERALLY the biggest meeting of my life today with Ben. For reals, nerds, just do what you love, man. Social media was IT for me!! Tech, people, marketing and entertainment in one package?? Hello, God? Is that you? Ah-mazing! Work really fucking hard, don't ever give up - and watch the magic happen. I've been reading Mashable for at least 3 years now (dudes, it's STILL to this day my homepage) and bam! just like that - now I've been featured on it.
Do what you love. Do what you love. Do what you love.
I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT POINTER SISTERS!!!
Totally not kidding either ... looky looky what he just DMed me ...
Per PopTower: "Mad Love" is a comedy about a quartet of New Yorkers—two who are falling in love and another two who despise each other (at least for now). On "Mad Love" (CBS), Ben, a lawyer, is a hopeless romantic trying to build a relationship with Kate, a beautiful, smart girl whom Ben thinks is the woman of his dreams. Larry, Ben's unrefined best friend and co-worker on CBS's "Mad Love" TV show, is a guy who doesn't believe in love and has a long track record as the third wheel. Connie, Kate's roommate on CBS's "Mad Love" TV series, works as a nanny and finds Larry aggravating...or does she? Larry and Connie have a lot in common, but refuse to let their guard down long enough to see it on "Mad Love" (CBS). The "Mad Love" cast includes Jason Biggs as Ben Parr, Sarah Chalke as Kate Swanson, Tyler Labine as Larry Munsch, and Judy Greer as Connie Grabowski.
"Mad Love" (CBS) is produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with CBS Television Studios. Matt Tarses created the "Mad Love" TV series. The executive producers are Matt Tarses and Jamie Tarses.
HAHAHA oh Ben - this is awesome. Like crazy awesome. He better do a good job, or that mofo will have some mighty nerdy peeps after him. We've got yo' back buddy.
PS. this show doesn't look good ... at all. I feel like its weird casting too ... Jason Biggs, and Sarah Chalke. They're both so quirky, it's kind of an odd pairing.
HMMMM just saw @BenParr post this on twitter ... and was pretty surprised ...
Per Fox: Brace for the worst: You may be a Virgo, scientists say.
There are many newspapers and websites that promise to tell your fortune, detailing where the planets were when you were born and what their future movements suggest about your future. It's called astrology, and whether or not you believe in the signs of the zodiac, you won't believe this: It's all wrong.
Astronomers with the Minnesota Planetarium Society have dropped a bomb on the zodiac, noting that thanks to the millennia-long effect of the moon's gravitational pull on the Earth, there's about a one-month bump in the alignment of the stars. The result?
"When [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, it's really not in Pisces," Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, told the Star Tribune.
And if the sun isn't in Pisces, YOU'RE not in Pisces. Surprise! You're an Aquarius! New zodiac sign dates are in order, it seems.
Much of astrology -- called an ancient and complex system that uses math and science to predict the future -- relies upon careful observation of the heavens. And your astrological sign is based on the date of your birth, something that was tied very tightly to the position of the heavens back in Babylonian times.
"When someone asks you what your sign is, they're referring to your Sun Sign -- where the sun was in the Zodiac at the exact moment of your birth," explains the website of noted astrologer Kelli Fox. As the years have worn on, the position of the heavens has shifted ever so slightly -- but those signs haven't.
Could this be true? Is an Aries really a Cancer -- or worse yet, a Virgo? It's a question for Paul the Psychic octopus, of course. But sadly, the soccer-predicting sea creature died last year. So we asked Kunkle for clarification.
"Ever since astrology began back in 3000 B.C., we've known there were problems with it," he said with a chuckle. "The ancient Babylonians had 13 constellations, for example, so they just threw one out."
Ophuchicus, or the snake holder, was ejected from the charts when the Zodiac was codified at the 12 we know of today, to align it more accurately with the calendar. And Libra didn't come into things until Julius Caesar's time, Kunkle told FoxNews.com.
Seeing stars yet? It all comes down to the 26,000-year precession of the planets through space, he said, noting that a variety of gravitational forces have changed the position of the planets in the sky over time.
Bottom line, the astrological forecasts we've all been turning to may -- gasp! -- not be accurate at all, or at least they may be intended for other readers.
"We're off by about 10 degrees or so, a twelfth of the way around," Kunkle said.
Indeed, most horoscope readers who consider themselves Leos are actually Cancers, explained the Star Tribune. So instead of being courageous, natural-born leaders, they actually are sensitive and emotional -- ruled by moodiness, not innate rulers.
And those folks who have for decades considered themselves Sagittarius, the sign governed by the truth-seeking archer and ruled by Jupiter, are actually Scorpios -- stubborn, passionate people ruled over by Mars and Pluto.
So read with a grain of salt when Sally Brompton advises the Aries that January’s midheaven Solar Eclipse will move you closer to a long-term goal, or that you must keep a sense of perspective, and be prepared to change course in midstream if necessary. Your real sign may just be Pisces, and her real forecast advises you that some mountains can be moved and others very definitely cannot -- your predicament this year is to try to distinguish between the two.
And Capricorns, rejoice! NO need to worry about over-reacting to pressure from the powers that be, as Brompton warns. Instead, turn to the forecast of Aquarius, and know that a major conjunction between wealth planet Jupiter and changes planet Uranus means fundamental adjustments to the way you handle your finances are likely this year.
But whatever you do, keep this in mind: All signs point to fulfilling and rewarding year. For Geminis, anyway.
I don't follow horoscopes, I find them to be rubbish for me anyway. Way too vague, and way too passive to just say that fate decided things.
On another note: It must have been a good horoscope day for the rockers in the apartment upstairs. They've totally been boning for the last hour. Yep ... squeaky squeak squeak. *random foot steps .... random foot steps* ... squeaky squeak squeak.
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