it's quite funny, really

As many of you know I’ve been on a real creative kick and quite a learning curve recently. That’s not funny. That’s actually pretty cool. It’s been liberating, difficult, spiritual and fun all wrapped in one. From the podcast to the blog, to the website and on to the documentary. I’ve stretched myself and grown in ways that I didn’t know were possible. I am less and less giving a shit what people think and feel like I’m beginning to let out what’s inside. Not all at once, though, because that would be absurd and/or too much for people perhaps. So, slowly and not always so surely I do a little bit more, show a little bit more, create a little bit more and be a little bit more. I am enjoying the process and not forcing things to happen and that feels pretty good.

“ Forget being viewed as a human being or something crazy like that…that’s just out of the question. I mean when I would see other food service friends outside of their jobs I never referred to them by what they did. Imagine seeing your friends and being all “Hey barista,” or “What up, server.” ”

What I find funny…well there are a number of things. However, I won’t list them all here. Rather I’ll talk about a few things I’ve come to notice or possibly conclude about this path I’ve decided to venture down. The first thing- have you ever noticed that when people identify you as something, let’s say a chef for instance, it’s really difficult for them to view you as anything else? Forget being viewed as a human being or something crazy like that…that’s just out of the question. I mean when I would see other food service friends outside of their jobs I never referred to them by what they did. Imagine seeing your friends and being all “Hey barista,” or “What up, server.” I mean it’s pretty funny(odd not haha) that for some reason chefs get called “chef,” all the freaking time. I don’t even work in a kitchen anymore and yet people still refer to me as chef. WTF is up with that? Another thing I find funny is that people have a hard time really supporting one another. I am including myself in this that’s for sure. We want to act like we are supporting by liking a post or giving a “reaction,” on social medium. However, how often do we do that without even doing any further investigation into what the person is doing? For example, I’ve been learning, actually teaching myself, how to use Adobe Premier Pro (video editing program). Now some of you people are probably like “big fucking deal, dude.” Well, if you’re a little bit older and didn’t grow up with computers and you’re l mearning a new skill, guess what… It is a pretty big fucking deal. In any case, I share what I’m doing and post videos that I’ve made and so on. People will hit the like button, probably because they like me and are just like “oh that’s Matt, I’ll hit like.” They don’t take the time to actually watch what I’m doing. I do that sometimes and I know other people do that too, but why? We don’t take the time to support our friends, yet w’ll spend countless hours watching cat videos or people eating Tide pods. Funny in the sad ironic sort of way. Perhaps I’m using humor and sarcasm to hide the fact that I really desire the support of my friends. I’m not quite sure.

Here’s something… how many of you will see this post, read the excerpt and hit the like button without taking a glance at the full post? A majority, I bet. What if I used a title that I knew would get thousands of likes and just did something like this: a;ldskthaw potihgnfpwe vewrqpoi hasy;dlkjl;ktvg neriphyado ;ijytqo wevingqc;lkjsfhtou468t9y598547896587076490746098 in the body? Would anyone see it? Or if I just typed one word over and over, would anyone notice? Even better, what if I put something like “Like this post only if you’re…blah-blah.” That would be funny to me. I started a Patreon account recently. If you don’t know what Patreon is, it’s a site that helps creative people get support for their projects and creative works. I set mine up so as I progress in what I’m doing I can up my game with better equipment and other things to assist in providing better content. Literally, it would cost the price of one nice cup of coffee or cocktail or pack of smokes… per month. Yet people don’t want to do it. Ah but if my name was… (insert already famous person that doesn’t need any support) and I was asking for help with something people would be lining up to give them more money. It’s like with the Notre Dame cathedral burned down in France people were donating to the Catholic church. Huh? One of the richest corporations in the world that doesn’t pay taxes or need a dime and people are handing over cash, hand over fist. But a friend says “hey I’m working on this project, here’s my progress and I would love some support, “ and people are all “nope, nada…no fucking way…the nerve of that guy…can you fucking believe him asking for money…jeez!” Does our own human nature dictate that we are less likely to assist someone we know achieve something better but we’ll give a stranger something because they’re famous? I don’t understand and possibly never will. Maybe I’m just bummed and disappointed that I’m not getting any support from people I know or don’t know for that matter. I’ll just keep plugging along, creating, writing, podcasting, painting and so on regardless because I enjoy it and it brings me joy.

So if you read this post all the way to the end, I want to thank you. I’d also like if you would leave a comment so I know you read…