Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Interviewing Bassists Stories part 2
- Thread starter Thor
- Start date
- Status
Thanks. I didn't want to look all drama-queeny or sad or heavy or self-important or arty, so my brother and I talked about stuff that makes us laugh while he took the picture.Great photo! I think that's the first one I've seen you smiling and looking healthy in.
Nice touch with the button.
Also, the Cardinal Ghost and Collateral Ghost both hate smiley photos, so in honor of them I had to do it this way.
My mother thought the same thing. She said her first impression of the photo was, "You did your worst, but I'm still here and I'm smiling."
Another failure on my part! That's excellent. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Tom, ive been amazed at your stories and how you write them in a very tasteful manner.
While im in no means a crazy, i've realized that being angry at the world is simply not worth even considering.
Because of my anger issues , i have heart problems and im not even 35!
Putting health aside i cannot wait for the finished product.
Wishing the best to you,
Rob.
While im in no means a crazy, i've realized that being angry at the world is simply not worth even considering.
Because of my anger issues , i have heart problems and im not even 35!
Putting health aside i cannot wait for the finished product.
Wishing the best to you,
Rob.
The main point of my memoir was to banish all the rage, sadness, hate, and self-loathing that prevented me from living a productive life.
The second reason was to try and help people avoid making the same mistakes I did.
Anger is definitely a useful emotion, like happiness. But if you overindulge in anything, it can make you sick. Look at the people we see on TV who are so happy that they're completely insane. Happiness at all costs is just as sick as endless anger.
For me, the anger destroyed my immune system. I've also been on heart medication for years.
I think I'm a changed person, though, because just last night I experienced another horrendous letdown by someone who made a promise having to do with my book and then failed to follow through. (Not Scott Thunes! He's been an angel.) He gave me a litany of excuses for why he completely shirked his responsibilities, refusing to admit that he'd screwed up.
A year ago this would've sent me around the bend. This time, I anticipated his failure and made contingency plans. As a result, I was more disappointed and sad for him than I was angry at what he did to me.
This was someone I admired greatly, and he turned out to be a loser because he bought all his own press and let it go to his head.
The key to avoiding all-consuming anger is really, really hard: Anticipate being let down and prepare for it. Make plans for what will happen if Mr. A doesn't do B, like he promised, or if Mr. C does D, something that is totally unjust and outrageous.
Most importantly, become as self-sufficient as possible, and develop on on-off switch for people. When people do or say certain things, write them off instantly and don't look back. By their words and actions, they've shown you that they're not worth even another second of your emotions.
It's weird, but I find I'm much friendlier and happier by having insurmountable barriers between me and most people. Not everyone, of course, but in the the past I let others determine my emotions.
Now, that's not possible. I'm the captain of my own ship, for better or worse, and I'm entirely responsible for my own emotional well being.
Nah.
Carrot Top. I got asymmetrical deltoid implants, too.
http://www.thedailyrash.com/carrot-top-a-cia-experiment-gone-terribly-awry
Betrayer_Bass
Profanity Fish.
- Sep 24, 2011
- 1,381
- 854
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Spector basses, Winspear Picks, Spector Formula 603 strings
Betrayer_Bass
Profanity Fish.
- Sep 24, 2011
- 1,381
- 854
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Spector basses, Winspear Picks, Spector Formula 603 strings
Sounds good to me, Tom! Any way I can help
PS, if there's anyone out there willing to be an extra admin/poster for this page, PM me Great photo, the button adds a certain.. Something
Tom. It's been a pleasure being semi on the ride with you. When I see that photo in person and read the book and know: "man, I've "talked" to this person and know what he's allowed me to know about him" it will truly be a reading experience to surpass any other so far.
Very happy things are coming together for you. And for puzzle's and not luck's sake.
Very happy things are coming together for you. And for puzzle's and not luck's sake.
Since the book is Talkbass.com's book, maybe members here can crowdsource it.Sounds good to me, Tom! Any way I can help
Great photo, the button adds a certain.. Something
I've been thinking about this. Apparently if I put up a personal page, it's limited to 5000 followers, but if I do it as a business (a book, for example), it can be unlimited.
Maybe if anyone who's a member of Talkbass.com wants to become an administrator-poster of that Facebook page, that might be the best way to do it. Let everybody pitch in.
Sure, it might get insane, but that would be part of the fun of it. Flame wars and craziness breaking out all over the place! Also, I'm not going to have a lot of time to administer a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a Web site, and be a full-time writer.
I could pay someone to administer the Ghosts Facebook page, but I'd sort of rather let the readers here all have a chance to do it, since it's their book as much as mine.
Just a thought. I still can't make sense of the new Facebook. It seems really user-unfriendly compared to how it was a year ago.
PM me with your e-mail address (unless I already have it; I've gotten hundreds of e-mails, so I apologize) if you want to talk about it.
Thanks very much.
You'll love the book. I've written it to be as entertaining as possible. There are some pretty grim things that go in in it, but I kept the same tone I had here on these two threads.
And wait'll you see the photos...
Another thought: setup a Thomas Wictor forum using software like TB does. You can brand yourself and monetize the brand instead of letting Facebook get all the advertising income.
You could have sub-forums for each book and maintain discussions about music, military history, or whatever else you want. That way you get people visiting your forum as a part of their daily interwebz routine thus possibly generating monthly revenue for you utilizing Google Ads and pushing all your past/current/future books.
You can then connect your website to Facebook/Twitter and become a social media entrepreneur.
With a Facebook page, you can push readers to your own site.
Just like your posting on TB, you can continue on your own forum.
If you haven't seen it already, check out writer Seth Godin's site. Also, BrainPickings.com is interesting as well.
The only problem is that Ghosts is the only book with mass-market appeal.
I've really fallen in love with the idea of letting every member of Talkbass become a moderator of the Ghosts Facebook page. I don't think it's ever been done, and it could lead to some really amazing chaos and fun.
I've been talking with Kyle, the guy who started the page. I think the thing to do would be to give him final say over everything, but to me it would be fun to turn it into a kind of Wikipedia in which all hell can break loose at any time.
As soon as I find out a little more about how Facebook works, I'm going to approach the owners of Talkbass and ask if they can send out one mass e-mail to everyone signed up here, with instructions on how to become a moderator on the Ghosts Facebook page.
After that, everyone would be free to pass the information on to other people they know and trust.
I'd have my Web site and Twitter account, but the Facebook page would belong to the people whose idea it was for me to write the book. You could make it into whatever you wanted. With lots of people posting information, photos, links, music, videos, etc., it could become a valuable resource.
Someday, if I end up writing more books with mass-market appeal, I might start my own forum, but I think I owe it to the Talkbass community to turn the Facebook account over to them and let them make it what they want.
It could be a spectacular catastrophe, which would be just as fun as a spectacular success.
See? That's what I want. I want it to be as insane as my book.Reading this I thought "this is insane".
Where do I sign up?
I've been studying Facebook, and so many pages are so humorless and self-important. They're all about ME ME ME.
This book would never have been written if it weren't for Talkbass, and the book isn't really about me as much as it is about experiences that we all share.
I've gotten easily hundreds of e-mails and private messages about what I've written here, so I really think I need to allow everyone here to have a say in what the Facebook page for the book is. Since the book isn't really about me, and since the process of its creation isn't about me at all, it doesn't make sense for me to have a Facebook page about me.
It should be about the book, which belongs to Talkbass, so every member of Talkbass should be able to shape the page, I think.
Either it'll succeed brilliantly, or it'll make a beautiful fireball as as it smashes into the ground at Mach 7. What convinced me to take this approach was being trapped for five hours yesterday with one of most boring musicians I've ever met. All he could talk about was himself and his social consciousness and "liberation theology" and how important it was to "reach my followers" and "spread my message."
What's important to me is to differentiate myself from people like that, so what better way than to have the most insane Facebook page ever?
My message is "Whoopee!" That's about it.
Oh, and "forty-seven." That's the other part of my message.
The beauty of Facebook is there is no bottom. Your page could wonderfully turn into a never ending train wreck! I'm betting the admins at Facebook are humorless gits who would pull the plug on your grand experiment into social engineering before anarchy takes over.
p.s. I thought forty-two was the answer?
p.s. I thought forty-two was the answer?
- Status
