#NerdsUnite: Life Effin' Happens

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Morgan. I met him when he was the manager at the Coffee Bean near my house. See, I was the mayor at the time, and then explained to him one day over a vanilla latte the awesomeness that was Foursquare and a few months (and many more coffees later) we totes became besties and he started writing for the site. This is life as told through his eyes in the keyword of nerd. HIT IT MORGAN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan

December 2010, I took a leap of faith, forever changing my professional destiny. For four years I was stuck in the same old rut- serving coffee to complete strangers for next to no compensation. Through the amazing support of friends Jen Friel and Tucker Gumber (just to name a few), I decided to get up and take control. Within a month, I had landed a job with SpiritHoods doing their social media and have been happily employed as the "Director of Social Media Marketing" for the past year. Yay life!

For those of you who don't know me, hello! My name is Morgan. Not only am I a total nerd, but I'm also unapologetically awesome. There are many of you who don't know me, but I go back a few years. Since taking on my position at SpiritHoods, I've had next to no time to write here on TNTML, but here I am. Nerds need loving too. Enough of this little tangent. Back to the story.

Life effin' happens to me on a seemingly regular basis. For instance,when I was 21 I found out through MySpace that I was adopted. You have to roll with the punches and adapt to the circumstance. Sometimes, when things seem to reach a stale mate, the puzzle pieces seem to just come together. I've lived in Los Angeles for 90% of my life. As much as I love it here, there has been a voice in the back of my head telling me that I need something different. I need a change. In July, one of my good friends (of 10+ years) from NYC came to visit me during 4th of July. I've always loved this girl and she's been an awesome friend, but things went from love to love. How would things ever work out between two people on opposite coasts? In August, I went out to NYC to visit and not only did continue to fall more and more in love with her, but I fell in love with NYC. Could it be that the puzzle pieces, which I never even realized were pieces of a puzzle, were starting to fall together? After spending a few months over on the East Coast, I decided that it this was the change I needed - I'm moving to NYC.

So great. Now that I've decided to move 2,000+ miles, what's the next step? How am I going to support myself. Having known Jen for a few years, I seem to always have her voice in the back of my head telling me, "Morgan, you're awesome. Go be awesome." I have this passion for social media, but what do I do with that. It clicked- I am going to start my own business. Talking about the pieces coming together, I remembered that I had a friend who owns her own PR firm who just opened a new office in Manhattan. After talking with her, not only is she making introductions to some of her clients, she is giving me office space to work out of. I gave myself from October until December to figure out how I was going to support myself in NYC, and I actually met my goal. Social Media, here I come!

Here's where things get dicey. I am making the move into self-employment sooner than expected. SpiritHoods is my first client, and as of now my only client. Wouldn't be a problem, but I am making this transition starting February 1st. Let me tell you, in the freelance social media world, one client isn't enough to support yourself. Like the theme of this post, life effin' happens. Adapt and overcome. I could be scared and paralyzed by the thought of not knowing what I am going to do, but that's not me. It's crunch time and I'm hustling. Despite the fact that it's happening sooner than expected, I welcome this change with open arms.

Don't let your destiny control you; control your destiny.

#thatisall

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My #E3 Experience

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan

The following article was originally posted on the SpiritHoods Blog:

For those of you that don’t know what E3 is, it’s the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Once a year the biggest video game companies get together and showcase all of the big projects on the horizon. Now, I’ve been a jock, I’ve been a musician, but one thing I have and always will be is a nerd. I remember walking up to the TV screen for better aim (yeah, some would call this cheating) with that horrible orange-plastic gun for Duck Hunt. So yeah, I’ve been playing video games for a while.

Wednesday, the 2nd day of E3 started just like any other day. Wake up, run 25 miles, do 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups, and then take my private helicopter to work (I wish that any of this actually happened). I did work-ey stuff as soon as I got there. I might have danced a little bit, but that’s a normal occurrence around the Den. After a couple hours of slaving away, Ashley and his assistant Jenny saved me. “Let’s go over to E3. We have passes waiting.” Little did Ash know, but I was already in his car by the time he finished the sentence. I can move pretty quick when I need to. Fast forward through $25 parking and trying to figure out where to get our passes and you have us walking into E3, me for the first time. I was like a little kid in a candy shop. I didn’t even know where to begin. It was like Vegas, but you don’t have to worry about strippers stealing your wallet. Here was what I saw when I walked in.

Ashley, the seasoned E3 vetran in our group, was cutting his way through the crowd while Jenny and I were stunned at the lights, the crowd, and all the awesome video games waiting to be played. We fought our way to the Nexon booth to meet with some of our business contacts. We made custom hoods for Nexon’s game Vindictus. Last year Nexon just tossed hoods out into their audience and as you can imagine, people went crazy. A little bit too crazy in fact. Punches were thrown, names were called, and I think someone’s finger got bitten off. Madness. They had their own stage where they held raffles twice a day. Here’s Jenny and I hanging out with one of the booth babes modeling the custom Polar Bear we made. 

Day 2 (my first day) of E3 was a lot of fun. We met all kinds of cool people as well as some of my Twitter friends. As day 2 came to an end, my energy was at its end. It was time to go home and get rested up for another day filled with adventures.

I didn’t want to miss any E3 action on day 3, so I showed up bright and early before the actual expo opened with a few extra of the Vindictus hoods, hoping to figure out how to make good use for them. After meeting with the peeps at Nexon, we decided I would run around and hand them out to deserving people wearing Nexon t-shirts. Oh boy, what pressure! I met up with my friend Adam (@violent_gamer) as I needed a partner in crime. We frolicked, skipped, and even did some walking throughout the day. We got some hands on time with a lot of the games. We played with confused pets, blew up helicopters, manipulated the force, and destroyed Alien hordes. 

It was a pretty busy day considering it was Thursday. Nexon ended up announcing that someone from SpiritHoods was at E3 and that they were going to be handing out hoods to people wearing their t-shirts. Holy crap, they are talking about me! I felt like I was famous! Not because people asked for my autograph or anything. It was more because I had people stalking me the rest of the day. I have to give a shout-out to the final guy I gave a hood to. The announcement that I was at E3 was made at 1:00PM. Immediately after, I had people asking if I was the person from SpiritHoods. One gentleman in particular came up to me wearing an inappropriately tight t-shirt. He explained that he was wearing his girlfriend’s t-shirt because he wanted the hood so badly. 4:30PM rolls around, and I run into this gentleman still wearing his girlfriend’s t-shirt. He suffered a day of asphyxiation just so he could win a SpiritHood. I was so impressed I couldn’t say no. E3, I am going to miss you. Until next year, adieu.

#nerdsunite

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Surprise, You're Adopted! (part 2)

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan

Just so you know, I hate using the term "foster." My mom and dad are the ones who put their blood, sweat, and tears into raising me. I might not be their biologically, but they are and will forever be my mom and dad.

Oh my goodness. I know there's been a relatively large gap between this post and the last. This last week has been an emotional rollercoaster like you can't believe. Let's just say the root of it lies with a girl. Sounds about right, eh? So, let's get to the story at hand. I'm adopted and this is how I found out.

If you haven't read part one of Suprise, You're Adopted, you can check it out here. So, I got the message in my Myspace inbox with my two closest friends sitting there with me. I finished reading the message and was just in awe. I didn't know what to believe. I still thought it was just some crazie messing with me... but, what if it wasn't? My two friends and I went out for dinner. As soon as we got our table, I went outside to call the number enclosed in the message. *ring ring ring* I can tell you, I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. I didn't know what to expect. This couldn't be real. She picked up the phone. The second I returned her "hello," she burst into tears. She knew immediately who I was without me even having to say anything. I told her "I'm sorry if I'm skeptical, but I don't know if I believe all of this." She began to tell me what time of day I was born, how much I weighed, she knew I had my appendix taken out when I was 12, and that I recently had laser eye surgery. Holy crap. She told me that my mom had sent her a few letters over the years, filling her in on what had occurred. Holy shit. I ended the phone call, still unsure of what was going on. My head was swimming with all of this. Was it true? What does it mean? I shrugged it off and tried to enjoy the rest of my dinner.

The next day, I had lunch with my uncle. We go out from time to time and already had this planned. We ate, chatted, and had a good time. He's awesome and I love him. He's a total nerd, so we connect :p. Anyway, towards the end of lunch, I told him I needed to ask him a question. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ohmygodohmygod. I almost didn't want to know the answer to the question I was about to ask. "Am I adopted?" Surprised, he just kind of looked at me. "You need to talk to your parents," was his reply. That confirmed it for me. I wasn't angry, sad, or even upset. I can't explain the feelings I was having. At that moment, my life changed. Drastically. 

Working the night shift, I left lunch and went straight to work. I kept busy to try and keep my mind off of recent events for the sake of work, but that was nearly impossible. I took a break to call my dad. "Hey dad, I need to ask you a favor." My parents are the early to bed type. They are in bed at the latest by 9PM. This was a Thursday. My mom had a girlfriend weekend planned and was leaving the next day. My mom has always been the super sensitive type. I didn't want to bother her before she went on her much-needed vacation. "Could you wait up for me? I'll be home by 12:30AM. And don't worry, no one is pregnant." I felt a wave of relief wash over his voice as he agreed to stay up and wait for me.

Alright, so this is another breaking point for me. This is going to be a long story. I'll try and give you the next part sooner. Again, there's so much going on in my personal life, it makes it hard. I just haven't had the motivation to write, as this is an emotional story for me. I can only take so much! Anyway, I'll be continuing soon!

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Surprise, You're Adopted!

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan 

Social media really has changed my life. It’s a huge part of who I am today. I found my current living situation through Twitter. I’ve reconnected with friends I hadn’t talked to in over 10 years through Facebook. My current job, which I love to death, is because of social media. Shit, I’m the Director of Social Media Marketing. Boom! “That’s great, Morgan. What the eff are you getting at?” It’s story time.

A little bit about me. I’m 24 years old. I was born September 24th in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, but raised in Los Angeles. I grew up in as an only child in an amazing family and love my mom and dad to death. I spent some time in public school in my early years, but was privileged to spend the majority of my schooling in private schools. I did spend the last 2 years of high school at an all boys military boarding school called The Marine Military Academy. I wasn’t a problem child, my parents just wanted me to get into a good college seeing as I was slacking in the academic department my first two years of high school. I was far more interested in sports and girls. After dropping out of Texas A&M: Galveston, things with my parents got rather rough. I fought all the time with my mom, as she had high expectations of me. Both of my parents are smart and successful, so seeing me drop out of school was a disappointment. I get it now, but that time period was rough. Although I could write a book about all of my life experiences, I’m here to tell you the story of one specific event.

So, I touched on the fact I was born in Missouri. My parents both lived in Los Angeles at the time, so when I found this out, I figured I just popped out early- while they were on vacation or something. I’m a guy, we’re not known for asking those kinds of questions. Or maybe, it’s just me. Either way, that’s what I thought. So, let’s rewind to the late 2007, early 2008. Myspace still hadn’t been completely dominated by Facebook. I had Cape Girardeau listed as my hometown because I found it cool that I’m not entirely an LA native. Anyway, I got a friend request from this older lady (37 years old if I remember correctly) who was from the same hometown. My thought process was that she was probably new to Myspace and was just adding people who had things in common with her. Alright, I accepted her. We were friends for a few months and she would send me the occasional nice message. I would reply back and just be friendly. Cool. One day (February 22nd, 2008 to be exact) I was chilling with two of my friends. Oddly enough, these are the two friends I’ve known the longest in life. My friend Matt who I’ve known for nearly 15 years and my friend Andrew who I’ve known for 10. Matt had informed me that this girl we went to grade school with had become a porn star. Immediately, we ran to the computer to find her on Myspace to see if it was true. I got to the computer first, so I logged into my Myspace. I had a message waiting for me in my inbox. It was from the nice older lady. Interested, I opened it with my friends hovering over my shoulder and this is what it said:

Im really not sure how to say this or even if I should. Ive tried so many times to tell you and every time I would get scared because Im not out to try to change ur life. I hope that I dont overstep any bounderies that I shouldnt overstep because thats not why Im here.
Did you ever wonder why I found you on myspace and that I was from the same hometown as you? well, the reason is because I'm ur biological mother. All your life (21 yrs)I have waited for you to be old enough to contact me or to contact you and without sussess on my end, it took me this long to find you. I want you to know that Ive never stopped loving, caring or wondering about you. Ive always wondered what u looked like, what ur personality was like, was you happy..ect..when I found u online, I couldnt believe it, after all this time, I finally found you. I sat and cried my eyes out and then wasnt for sure what to do from there. So, here I am.
Please know that it is TOTALLY your choice if you would like to persue this any further and the decision that you make, I will respect. I love you son, always have and always will no matter what! I just want you to be happy in life and for you to know that you are very specially loved.
I have pics up on my profile of my side of the family if you are interested, please feel free to take a look at them. I want you to know that you also have a little brother (full blood) thats 9 yrs old. Atleast you will know what some of your background is. You are amazingly beautiful, which I always knew you would be.

At this point in the message, I started laughing. There’s no way I was adopted. I would have known something. I mean, I have blonde hair and blue eyes just like my mom. No way! I closed the message and proceeded to look up my old classmate. Sure enough, she had become a porn star. Hilarious! I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach in regards to the message. I couldn’t shake it. I went back to the message and finished reading it with my friends still sitting beside me.

Your parents, **** and ***, have been wonderful over the years, writting to me here and there, letting me know a little about your life. They are wounderful people and I love them with my heart and sole. Im not sure how much your parents have told you and I dont want to upset them and Im not here to start a fued between you and your family, please believe me when I say that.
Im not here to make you feel obligated to talk to me, I just want you to know that the option is there. (with open arms and an open heart)Im sure your curious, I know I am and I would be honored in answering any questions that you have. If you ever want to contact me, you can reach me by email, here, phone, or write to my home..heres all the info..
1) email.: *******************
2) address: *****************
3) Cell phone: ***************
I hope that our lives will one day unite but until then, please take care of yourself and be happy Morgan, and know that my heart is always open for you. Feel free to contact me anytime...
Ive always loved you
love,
*********

I hate to do this to you amazing people, but I will have to continue this story later. This is a very emotional story and a pivotal part of my life. I’ve never actually shared the message with anyone and reading it brings tears to my eyes. I am surrounded by love in my life, and I’m very lucky to have discovered even more people that love me. Stay tuned for the next portion of this tale.

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LCD Soundsystem's last show at Madison Square Garden

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan

 

I don't know how many of you are familiar with LCD Soundsystem's music. They are one of the most epic of epic bands. So freaking good! Alas, tonight is their last show ever. My roommate @tgumb bought tickets, flew out to NYC from LA, and is enjoying the show. Lucky son-of-a-gun. Anyway, LCD's last show is livestreaming! Here's the feed so you can enjoy the epicness!

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