So here is my presentation for the TEDx event at Towson U. I went into depth about my life and experiences, hoping to inspire others. It is a little long but I had a lot to talk about haha! There are parts where I step out of the shot, but because I had an easel set up and was drawing on stage as I presented. Here you go!
A little update on my life. A few weeks ago I was asked to do a TEDx presentation. The organizers wanted me to come and talk about…my life. My life’s story apparently is inspiring to many people, which I still feel weird about lol! My life is my life, the days go by just like anyone else’s. Now I am perfectly comfortable getting out and dancing in front of thousands and hundreds of thousands, and being in front of the camera, but this was DIFFERENT! I was so nervous, because honestly, I never really had to stand and talk about my life before. I had butterflies, and the room was filled with leaders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, etc. I spoke from my heart and My mind, and I told my story. It was a very exhilarating experience! I am very grateful for the experience and it opened my eyes. I would not be where I am today if it were not for every thing I have experienced in my life, and the people in it. We spend so much time looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes we forget to see the people and the things that are in the tunnel with you. Life is short. I will share the video of my presentation once it is available.
Also an update. A little while ago I was chosen to compete in the “Under Armour Spine and Venom Challenge” (see my older posts). Well I ended up winning First Place! Prize was 5 years worth of shoes. WHAT!!! That is a lot of shoes!
Now some of you know me and some don’t, but I wear my shoes down to the SOLE! If I like a pair of shoes, I will walk, run, and dance in them until there are holes. Even when there are holes I will still continue to dance in them. So back to the prize, what am I going to do with all of those shoes? Well, I don’t need them. I have a pair on my feet and there are people out there who don’t. I decided the best thing to do was to donate them to Charity. I contacted the representative at Under Armour and told her my plans. I am grateful to have the fine things I have in my life, and the people in it.
There is no need to be greedy, because materials mean nothing if you have no one to share them with. I always think about what would happen when I die. You don’t take anything with you when you die, you leave it all behind. Why not leave something positive. I am not just talking about leaving behind materials, but inspiration. I was given the opportunities and experiences for a reason.
Anyways, here is my video again for all those who want to see it again.
Stand By Me.
When I was younger, I used to love watching the power rangers. I loved how they had Giant Zords that combined together to form a Giant alien fighting robot, Megazord! But I had a weird thought…since the zords were pretty much animals/dinosaurs, what if they weren’t robots? How was megazord look with all of those creatures combined!? well I drew it out! I present to you all….THE ORGANIC MEGAZORD!
for the background story of the video go here:
I was selected to be a part of a challenge thrown together by under armour. Under armour decided to select a few hundred people, whom they consider “influencers”. These are people are in some way respected and considered an influence in their respected scenes/fields.
The challenge was for us to take the shoes given to us, and to upload a video. Under armour would select the video with the following requirements: Impact, creativity, and view count.
With this challenge at hand, I had an idea in mind. Not a new idea mind you. This was an Idea, a story, and a vision I have had for a while. Some parts were taken from my own life story, and some parts I envisioned while listening to Ben E King’s Stand by me.
I didn’t want to be like any other challenger. I wanted my video to be different and to share my story with the world, taking advantage of under Armour’s opportunity.
I reached out to my good friend Chris Bivins and pitched my idea. He was on board and loved it so much he wanted to be a part of it while bringing in a friend, Lee Tamer.
I had written the story on an old piece of paper, and typed it out to them via Email. We then started production and ended with chris spending days and nights editing. We were ready to upload.
The story is dramatic, triumphant, and at the same time tragic.
There are many stories, movies, and shows about dancers/athletes. Many of those stories end up with happy endings and show wonderful side of that lifestyle. This can be unrealistic and take a way from the human factor of the dancer/athlete.
I wanted to show that life is not always fun and games, and no matter how wonderful winning, trophies, money, and love can be…Our actions can change that.
Sometimes in life we make sacrifices to be where we want to be.
Sometimes in life we are so focused on a goal or a better life, we forget the things that are around us, and the things that help get us to where we want to be.
We become blind to those around us because we are always looking ahead. In my video, the main character starts with everything a person really could ever need or have. He has things that some could only dream of, love.
He gets a taste of something new, and a new vision/goal appears. He trains to better himself as a dancer and athlete yet as this progresses, and as he becomes more successful, he starts to neglect the people he loved. The more he wins, the more he devotes himself to training, taking away time from his girlfriend. Tired of being neglected, she leaves him.
Now heart broken, he drops into a depression. He soaks in the fact his girlfriend left him and he was the one responsible. His dog, offers unconditional love. Throughout the journey, the dog, always supports his master. Seeing his person depressed, he feels as though bringing the shoes back to his master, will re-spark life. The opposite happens, because seeing the shoes, The man only sees what is responsible for losing his girlfriend. He blamed dancing and did not take responsibility for his own actions.
Alas, out of anger, the man takes the shoes (as the dog follows happily) and throws them into the street, wishing to rid his life of this so called curse, but he doesn’t realize what he had just done.
The dog playfully follows the shoes (thinking it’s fetch), and tragedy happens, The man now has nothing left.
As the man pays a final visit to his best friend, he feels the spirit of the dog within the shoes. The man is compelled to put the shoes on to honor his best friend one last time. As he dances he realizes that his actions is what caused these events to happen. He was blinded by the greed of winning and success, and he forgot about the ones who loved him.
He walks away, never forgetting what happened, and to allow his strength to be a better person. Never again forget the people/ones in his life, and be blinded by attention and success.
Ladies and gentleman, here is the video:
Lately I feel as though there are a million and one things going on in my life. It is one big juggling act and I wish that life was more simple, but would it be as rewarding if that were the case? As “Atomic Goofball” I am a free minded, free spirited, fun loving character! Leave it all at the door and unleash pure energy on the floor. Lately I haven’t been getting into character. I work a full time job and I find myself needing to take care of my priorities. While my friends are out partying, dancing, and having a great time, I worry about making sure the bills are paid, and if they are paid I need to make sure that I’ll be ready for the next onslaught of bills. I always think about what my friends and crew think when they are bonding and hanging out, but im not there with them. I don’t want them to think I hate them or I am not a “fun” person anymore. I just need to prioritize and stabilize myself.
I also have a girlfriend who I love dearly. I try to dedicate myself to her and make her my priority. When I was younger I would always put dancing…acting…etc first. I just didn’t care. That was my life and I was loving the attention. Now, if I had to choose, I choose my girlfriend and family first. I learned from my past mistakes and how horrible neglecting loved ones can be. I am not perfect and I have made tons on top of tons of mistakes, but like b-boying, if you fail, you keep trying until you get it. If a move or style is worth your time, effort, sweat, and tears…you KEEP trying until you get it. That is how I am with my relationship! I mess up and do things I regret but I will keep trying until I get it right and good enough to be her’s…to stay her’s.
The point of this rant is, you must know your worth, and the worth of what you love. Life is full of complicated things but if you take a deep breath, pick and choose your battles, you can become stronger and a better person. Take on one task at a time with quality rather than take them all on just to knock em out.
On a side note, I won a free trip to the bahamas! random luck i guess! When i decide to book my flight and what not I’ll make a nice blog and review about that haha.
well readers comment below, tell me what stresses you out and how do you juggle your life. What helps you? THANKS!
Ever since I was a little boy, I LOVED transformers. My family didn’t have that much money so I didn’t have the toys I’ve always wanted. My dad would buy me a transformer once every few birthdays and that meant soo much to me! It was another special bond between my father and I. I developed a huge love for transformers. I always looked at the toy store ads at new transformers and spent hours at the toy store looking at the new transformers I wanted. I always dreamed of having a little collection but more so, I wanted more transformers for my current ones to play and do battle with! I started draw my own transformers and even started making my own out of scrapes. I become quite crafty and made new armor pieces and upgrades to my current ones. This saved my parents money and made me happy!
Fast forward to now. I always remember the days my dad presenting me my transformer toys. The image is vivid to me. Now that I am older and I have money, I can start my collection that i’ve always wanted!
My most recent purchase was a Superion Maximus, re-released under the “revenge of the fallen” line. This is a combiner made up of the aerial bots (this guy usually sells for over 100 bucks online) This is what he looked like originally went i bought him:
he was used and missing pieces, but even looking beyond that, he wasn’t the “BEST” looking combiner (even though i always thought he was badass)
So to give him a beefier/better look, a 3rd party company called “Fansproject” released a couple of upgrades for him
So this Fansproject upgrade kit is totally awesome, but expensive! This kit costs 160-225 online and even if you had the money to spend on this kit IT’S SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE!
I wanted to upgrade my Superion, but there wasnt a way for me to get this kit, so what do I do? I make my own.
I sacrified some other toys that were already damaged or i didnt care for anymore
I used megatron’s legs to make the feet upgrade for Superion
these are superion’s dinky little feet before:
and now after:
I used movie star scream’s thighs to make Superion’s Forearms
Fitted the legs and now fitted the forearm upgrades
shaped them and primered the forearm pieces:
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/14.jpg[/IMG]
I used movie Brawl to create a shield/weapon for superion’s left arm
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/BrawlAFP.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/8.jpg[/IMG]
He is starting to come together!
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/15.jpg[/IMG]
I made the right arm weapon BEEFIER! gave him a RIFLE, I even added megatron’s weapon for a shoulder cannon
Added a shoulder shield for the left arm:
here are some of the individuals with the armor upgrades i made, some of them are kind of corny but…hey what do you expect?! im an amateur!
here’s the TEAM
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/16.jpg[/IMG]
ALL ON! except hands…i need hands.
[IMG]http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr107/atomicgoofball/3.jpg[/IMG]
OK well that’s all for now! it took me a Day to do this and I still have some more work to do with him, I have to measure out some poseable hands, maybe a set from a Gundam, and I want to custom paint him and his parts. Let me know what you think! give me some feedback (positive would help haha) and thanks for reading!
-atomic goofball
