Almost There, Not Here

I truly do love my Social Spaz little area of the Internet. It started with a Tumblr and progressed to the blog you see plus a lot of social networking sites (and a few embarassing YouTube videos) in between. But then...it all just stopped. Well, not stopped but transformed into a different kind of blog with a different kind of vision.

I started Almost There with a desire to be more creative and inspiring. Not that what I wrote here was boring and lame--I just wanted to bring some happiness in the form of grabbing little pieces of everyday love for life.

So, I did a no-no and just stopped blogging for my first born blog, but I didn't forget. I have a plan in the works to get Social Spaz out and about again because, as The Social Spaz I need a more social media/networking/did-you-see-this-on-the-internet outlet.

I won't deny that Almost There is my new, full-time blogging home but I won't leave Social Spaz all alone anymore.

So stay tuned!

A Poor Girl Fix: Nails, Nails, Nails

Here's another article from Almost There!
____________________________________________________________________________

Technically I'm not poor. I'm "budget-conscious." Running a business from home can ware on the ole cash flow occasionally so when I get a comfortable amount of money to spend, my first thoughts don't go to my nails. But I couldn't deny that my talons had gotten a little out of hand and something had to be done.

So where did I go to meet my French manicure needs?

Rite Aid.

Trendy, right? Rite! (See what I did there?)

Somewhere on that there Pinterest I saw a cheap trick to help get that French manicure look without pumping out the dough.

Here's what you need & what I purchased:

• Reinforcement Labels  (those annoying little circles you put around the holes in your paper so your binder can hold it)
• Wet N Wild's Wild Shine nail polish (on sale at Rite Aid for less than a dollar at the moment)
• Patience (I would have bought it but they were all out)

 What you do next is pretty simple but here's what I did to get my nails tipped in silver (because I wanted to be different, duh) and looking simple yet classy.

1.) Get some sweet tea or wine.

2.) Make sure your cat or dog is in another room because they sure want to be all on you RIGHT when your nails are wet.

3.) Clean your nails and strip them of any polish.

4.) Take your clear polish (or clear with SPARKLES) and paint each nail once. Wait until they dry then give them all another coat.

5.) Take the reinforcement circles and put them under the top part of your nail that you want tipped white. My nails aren't that long right now so my tips are bitty!

6.) Take your white polish (or any color you want) and carefully paint the tips of your nails. Don't worry about getting it on the rest of your nail! The reinforcement circle is a nifty little guard! Let it dry and do another coat!

7.) Take off the circles and BAM! A poor girl's fix to a sketchy French manicure!

So there it is! If you have a job where you look at your nails a lot or OTHERS look at your nails a lot, don't be ashamed if you can't justify a mani/pedi in your budget. Instead go to the school supply section of Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS or Wally World and start the fabulous process of a poor girl's fix for your nails!

July 13: Resolutions Update

By: The Owner and Operator of Social Spaz


Here's an update, two days after I started.
For the first part, go here.

Finish First Draft
Can you say heck yes? If you follow my personal Twitter, you've already read that I conquered a big bump of writer's block by listening to The Wombats new album on Spotify. I never listened to them before but something about their sound worked my writing kinks out and I wrote two chapters worth. Now I'm closer to finishing my first draft!

Maintain My Budget

Woops. Is that a picture of my favorite saying on my Nook in a brand new book? Nook book! It is. Not exactly keeping with my budget and it's only been two days. I need to learn self control when it comes to new books.

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

I'm excited to say I finally found an exercise routine that I really enjoy and really seems to work. If you told my middle school self that I'd be jump roping in my living room in my 20s, I would have laughed. However, that's what I do. During commercials of two hour long shows I break out the jump rope and go at it. I'm not going to lie, my legs are sore and I was out of breath really fast, but after doing it yesterday and then today I was able to keep going for three minutes straight doing double jumps. Not impressed? Go buy a $5 rope and give it a try. It works your entire body!

Become More Personal
I am doing okay with this goal so far. I've been tweeting and this counts as a personal blog, right? Not to mention I've been uploading pictures to Instagram. Find me @socialspaz.

Take More Pictures
Mickey (my Canon) is thrilled to be going back home for a few days so we can take pictures of my little goddaughter. She's a natural model and always fun, so Mickey will be getting some camera time after all!

And there there it is folks! A quick update on my personal goals! Check back for more soon! #exclamationmarks #hashtags

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Tyler Snell is owner and operator of Social Spaz. Get to know her on a personal level by following her tweets @professorsnell.

Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

I'm sure having his picture go viral wasn't something 25-year-old Zeddie Little of New York had in mind when he signed up for the 10k race in Charleston, SC. But, by golly, that's what happened. I don't know how many of you have run a race where there was a camera involved, but usually when you're in it to win it you aren't thinking about the photographers snapping away at the sidelines. 


However, Little was primed and ready. This picture became an internet sensation and has been viewed by around 1.4 million people in the past few days. Oh Internet. 


So, having done some research on our Ridiculously Photogenic Guy this is what I've come up with:

• Home boy is not single. He's been dating his girl for five years and has recently moved to New York with her. She's unsure of what to do with all of his "fame."
• He's trying to break into the PR business. If the memes are correct, he'll get promotions just by  saying hello.
• His father's name is Jack Little. (He has very little, jack little.)
• He met his chick at a pizzeria in his hometown of Charleston. 
• Will King, a South Carolina systems analyst, found this picture of Zeddie while looking through his photos of last weekend's Cooper River Bridge 10k and uploaded it because of how different Zeddie looked from the others. Burn? Is it that he's smiling and everyone else is out of breath because they're running a 10k or everyone else is less fortunate in the good-looking category?
• King's friend saw the picture and said, "I dub this man 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy.'" 
• This picture received over 1.45 million hits on Reddit.com
• Little doesn't want all of the attention and is trying to "lay low." (Good luck.)
• A quote from King: "People have been calling me offering me money for the picture so they can use it in advertisements. I'm not selling it because I'd have to have Little's permission. It's his face." It certainly is his face.
• Little's father said that he is very excited for Zeddie.
• "Yeah, I mean he's always been very quiet and very conscientious and never wanted any attention, and I think he's very much deserving of it." He also said that his son is smart and ambitios while also interested in food and someone who is in tune with what's happening in New York. An odd description at the end, but hopefully girlfriend of five years is working on that.

That's it for the internet stalkage of Ridiculously Photogenic Guy. Is it bad that I have seen more people posting his meme than Kony 2012? I shouldn't be surprised, this is a society that revels in the fact that a zombie apocalypse might be nearing and has a slew of #firstworldproblems.

Here are some of my favorite memes of Zeddie Little!

Raptr.com

It has taken me 16 sites to finally have one about something I absolutely love and that’s gaming. Suggested by a friend (Drew Chapman, what what!) the site Raptr.com is a nerdgasm waiting to happen. If you like gaming, you like Raptr.

After you first create your account a little, nifty box pops up and tells you four main features of Raptr.

Your personalized news feed is showcased as number one. Depending on what games you follow, your news feed will suggest related stories. For example, I put The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as one of my games and the first thing I see is an article named "Some Bugs Were Intentionally Left in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D." Then beneath that story was a Black Ops article (which I also read). I love that Raptr did this. Instead of Googling for interesting reads, I get them here and for my favorite games.

The next feature is very Digg-esque. Besides each story’s link (and Link if it’s a Zelda story) there’s a voting option that allows you to say if the article is good or not. The Raptr community can see the votes and, if the article looks like it is getting more ‘nays’ than ‘yays’ users can save their brainpower from reading it.

Also like Digg and many other social media sites, you have the option of sharing with your online community by submitting an URL link. Post game news, videos, screenshots and anything else of interest. If more people like your link, more people will see it. So don’t post a dud. 

The next point of interest is the fact that you can always search for and add more games to your profile. You can also track games automatically by downloading the Raptr client or adding gamer IDs in settings. I personally love this the most. You aren’t a dedicated gamer unless you at least check this out.

Then of course we have the usual social media functions. You can message, you can chat, you can read the blog (which I suggest you do), you can update your status and make or find friends. However, there’s a Games section that’s pretty fun to peruse that gives you more in-depth and interesting tidbits about different games.

Sure, Raptr has similar makings as other run-of-the-mill social media sites, but it specializes in getting the interest of the gaming world. From Black Ops players to CityVille fanatics, Raptr has something for any type of gamer.

Another point for Facebook

Annoying Tweets & Much Thanks

First off, I want to say a big thank you to all of my readers! In less than one month Social Spaz's blog has been viewed 5,000+ and I couldn't be happier!

Secondly, I've decided to do another round of The Most Annoying Tweets soon! Stay tuned and if you didn't catch the first round go here.

Thanks again!

AllConsuming Revisited

Have you ever been consumed by a great book, a catchy song or album, an entrancing movie, or had some food and drinks that were phenomenal? Ever find something awesome and you want to share it but your friends aren’t into the same stuff you are? AllConsuming.com is definitely a site you should join and bookmark.

How the creators describe the site: All Consuming means many things to many people. Some folks take it literally, as in “consumerism”. Others take it to mean being “consumed” by a great book, album, movie or delectable food. Think double entendre with a sprinkle of irony.

AllConsuming lets you create an account and add things that have you are consuming, things you have consumed, and things you intend to consume in the future. Basically, it gives you a fun atmosphere to share the things you love and also find things you may come to love.

For those of you who don’t know, I am obsessed with reading. I can get a great book and demolish it in one sitting. However, the problem I sometimes face is finding that amazing book. That’s probably the number one reason I love this site—the book section rocks. I’ve already gone to the Books page and perused the continuously generated page of user suggestions and found two books I’m about to purchase because of it. You better believe as soon as I’m done I’m going to review them on AllConsuming too.

A really cool feature called the “Should List” allows any user to send you a suggestion for an item for you to consume. Whether it’s a close friend or a complete stranger, a person can send you a suggestion.

Another neat feature I didn’t realize was there until after I joined is that AllConsuming is made to interact well with your 43 Things, 43 Places, 43 People or Lists of Bests account if you already have them. “One site fits all.”

AllConsuming has a plethora of diverse members that are out there sharing their tastes with their peers. As soon as you join, go and search through the Books, Music, Movie, Food & Drink, and Other categories to learn about new and exciting things you may have otherwise never heard of.

TheSixtyOne Revisited

Hold up people. You think you know a site that is awesome for finding equally awesome music? Well you don’t. Here it is, thesixtyone.com.

Thesixtyone, is an awesome site that, from the home page you are already in the loop of new artists making new music. Become a member or not, either way you can still browse through pages and pages of new artists and great music.

When you sign up (which you really should) you go in as either a listener, an artist, or a label. I can’t even pretend to be a music artist or a label so I went with what I know.

From the get-go you dive into new artists and their songs.

The neat thing about this site is how you can navigate it according to your own interests. You can go to Explore or Popular. Popular is my favorite because it has the option of Moods. I wish more sites had this option because sometimes you don’t know exactly what you want, you just know what you are in the mood for.

Another cool thing about thesixtyone, is the Quests part. By completing the Main Quests and the Daily Quests you get exposed to different kinds of music and gain reputation points.

If you have an account you can personalize your own playlists off of the songs you find and like. You can also follow other users, whether they are artists or listeners to see what’s up.

Another point of interest that thesixtyone has, is that while on each artist’s page, little tidbits of info pop up and once clicking on them you can learn more about the person or band. It’s pretty nifty if I do say so myself.

Overall thesixtyone.com is musically randomized awesomeness. Not only is the site full of great new artists but it also is an aesthetically pleasing one at that.

Don’t follow the crowd, better yet, beat the crowd to the punch. Go to thesixtyone.com and see what it’s all about.

LineforHeaven.com Revisited

“Am I going to Heaven?” ”Religion can be fun!”

Want to save your “soul” and become closer to “God?”

Too many “quotes?”

LineforHeaven.com.

LineforHeaven is a social networking site that, surprisinly (or maybe not), many people take part in. Their About page assures you that religion can be fun and any religion is welcome. The concept of this site is for you to save your “soul” and reserve your place in “Heaven” by earning karma points. You can play games, “Bless” people, and interact with your fellow members.

Normally I wouldn’t copy/paste such a big list from their About page but who am I to stand in the way of your salvation? This is a list of a member’s benefits:

• Save your “Soul” and commemorate your passage into “Heaven” with eternal life online as an “Angel”. 
• Meet and talk with like-minded people on your spiritual journey in a fun, light-hearted, non-hostile environment. 
• Be able to bless others, while visiting a “Soul” or playing the Blessing Game, and get blessed in return. 
• Cleanse your “Soul” and be forgiven for your sins. 
• Feel good about yourself by spreading the good Karma, donating/tithing, and supporting worthy social causes. 
• Compare and track your inner worth with Karma Points. 
• Be a part of the history-making, Earth-shattering social gathering. 
• Learn more about religion and religious tolerance. 
• Promote yourself and your work, and get noticed now before LineForHeaven becomes too crowded like MySpace. 

I have to say, I do love how ballsy LineForHeaven is. They are going big and letting you know it.

However my favorite thing about the About AND the site itself is how you achieve getting into “Heaven.” I will copy/paste again because you just can’t make this stuff up.
In Heaven, the most worthy can earn a position next to God. Every Sunday (“Judgment Day”) at 7 PM PST, the first person in Line for Heaven will become an “Angel”, inducted into Heaven, and One Degree from God.
Users who have acquired the most Karma Points on a daily basis will be allowed to touch Heaven.

LineForHeaven.com’s creators are either slightly insane or have a great sense of humor. Either way the site isn’t half bad. I mean, you can play games that forgive you of sin and saving your soul has never been easier. You certainly can’t say the same for Facebook or Myspace.

43Things.com Revisited

Man have I got a crush on this new site. CouchSurfing.org may have inspired me to travel, but 43Things.com has inspired me to do everything else.



43Things is a site that allows people to share their goals, their progress on said goals, and to cheer others on with their own little warfares. This concept is simple, but muchos effective. There’s just something empowering about posting your hopeful life goals, whether big or small, on a site where others can see it and say “go for gold!”

You create your account and get started right away. Make your list of goals you want to achieve and see how many people have made the same goal. You can also make a resolution and have it remind you every month, every three months, or next year that THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO.

Man have I got a crush on this new site. CouchSurfing.org may have inspired me to travel, but 43Things.com has inspired me to do everything else.



43Things is a site that allows people to share their goals, their progress on said goals, and to cheer others on with their own little warfares. This concept is simple, but muchos effective. There’s just something empowering about posting your hopeful life goals, whether big or small, on a site where others can see it and say “go for gold!”

You create your account and get started right away. Make your list of goals you want to achieve and see how many people have made the same goal. You can also make a resolution and have it remind you every month, every three months, or next year that THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO.

43Things is inspiring. A must do.

Lusting after Lists

I started Social Spaz's Tumblr as a place to review social media sites and now I'm revisiting a few of my favorites.

For: People who dig lists

Lists are things your mom makes before she goes to the grocery store. ListGeeks.com are lists that everyone else makes that put your mom’s to shame.

Let’s be real, a good majority of people who use more than the top tier social media sites are, in some form, geeks at heart. Once upon a time this may have been a description looked down upon by society, but now being geeky can be a glorification of sorts. ListGeeks.com may have said description in it, but don’t let it throw you. ListGeeks is clever and fun.

ListGeeks.com is all about creating, sharing, and comparing lists made by you and other members.

Okay, let me go ahead and stop that inner voice from saying, “Why would a website about lists be interesting?” Why would posting pictures and reading statuses of people you don’t really care about keep you enticed for hours on end? Because, with people come diversity and the people on ListGeeks come up with some pretty interesting lists.

I’m going to list you the cool features:

1. You can create any kind of list you want that can be seen by everyone on Most Recent Lists.

2. ListGeeks gives you two numbers on each list. The first number represents the people you are following (yes, you can follow people on ListGeeks) who have made their own version of the list you are looking at. The second number is the total number of people who have created a version of the list. I think this feature if pretty nifty and after browsing through most recent lists I saw the “Zombie Apocalypse To-Do List” and made my own version of it. There were four more version on the site.

3. You can browse the Most Popular Lists, these lists are usually pretty fun.

4. According to the About page, the creators (based in Berlin, Hamburg and NYC) are saying that ListGeeks.com is currently in beta. They are asking their users to let them know if anything messes up or if they have any feedback to make the site better. This is exciting for me for the fact that, since it is in beta, it can only get better. (Please note that I wanted you to read “beta” and “better” as “betta” to be funny.)

All-in-all, I really enjoy ListGeeks. It’s addictive and makes me want to make lists so awesome that people will create alternate versions of them. So if you have an affinity for being clever or if you just want to make a legitimate list about places you hope to visit one day or your favorite songs, ListGeeks is the place.

http://listgeeks.com/socialspaz

PayPal say wha?! conclusion

For those of you who read the troubles that Regresty.com were having (see this a blog) read the conclusion to the fiasco at Registry's blog post- Paypal Update.

Paypal say wha?!

If you haven't heard of Regresty.com you are missing out on cunning sarcasm and humor. I plan on doing a more in-depth article about Regresty getting the shaft by Paypal when they were trying to giving to a charity, but I'm backed up with projects at the moment.

In the meantime, you should visit http://www.regretsy.com/ and read up on the controversy. It's gotten so popular it was trending on Twitter for a while.

#regresty

Buffy: Not just a slayer, but the new Facebook phone?

Yes, you read right. For the past few weeks reports have been dancing around the Internet that Facebook is currently working on creating a phone that has been given the nickname of "Buffy" after the sassy vampire slayer on the WB.

As far as the rumor goes, Facebook has hired HTC, the cell phone manufacturer, to create a smartphone that specifically will revolve around the social networking power house. The article that appeared on AllThingsD.com on Nov. 21, claimed that this will be a modified version of the Android phone and should be coming out in the next 12 to 18 months.

The phone, once again still rumored, will run HTML5--the latest languages for structuring and showing internet content. This will greatly integrate different FB features into the basic platform of the phone. Buffy will sync messages, photos and contacts between your phone and the site.

Facebook has decline to comment directly or even acknowledge that said phone does exist or will exist soon.

“Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social,”  a spokesperson told AllThingsD.” We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”

So...Facebook is making a phone (we'll pretend we know for sure) but will you get it?

I'll tell you what, I don't think I will. I am a hardcore Facebook user and fan but I don't need to purchase a new phone just for Facebook. I can just use my smartphone now and get on to check my notifications and browse my newsfeed.

I'm all for investing in a phone for convenience and efficiency, just not for one or two less clicks to get to my wall or blog.

Mini Post!

Happy belated Thanksgiving and happy Black Friday!

I decided that I would give myself Thanksgiving--Monday off as a mini vacation, because I am about to go into overtime with Social Spaz! So this mini post is just a way to let everyone know I haven't forgotten about the blog!

What to expect in the future:

• Social Spaz is moving! (New office, so excited!)
• The website & blog are getting a makeover!
• Specials and great deals will be offered!
• An event party is in the makings!
• Theme Blog Month is coming!

More information will come shortly! (So many exclamation marks!!!)

Blimey Cow's 'The Truth about Youth Group'

Make sure to read part one here, part two here and part three here!

Check out The Truth about Youth Group!

Here is the finished product! We hope you enjoy it, and had fun reading about the days of work that go into a video that doesn't even clock in at three minutes in length. It's crazy, hectic, and stressful... but it's a ton of fun.

Our thanks go out to Tyler Snell for allowing us to take over her blog for the weekend. We've had a ton of fun and hope to hang around Social Spaz again sometime. God bless you all!

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow Part 3!

Make sure to read part one here and then part two here!

POST-PRODUCTION

Whew! I just hit "render," and this week's Messy Monday video is DONE!

Editing all the footage is honestly probably the toughest part of the whole process. It's definitely the most time consuming. I think a lot of people would be surprised to learn that for just a short two and a half minute video (Like this week's episode), it normally takes somewhere between 4-6 hours to edit.

Culling through all the footage, picking out the best takes, and placing them in order in the timeline takes a good couple of hours at the least. When that is finished, I have a workable "first cut" that will never see the light of day. It exists for maybe 30 minutes while I give my mind a break, so that I can return and objectively look at what I have so far, and what additional cuts I need to make or alternate takes I need to insert. Once I've made those new changes, the second cut is starting to look more like the final product that you see on YouTube. Still not quite there, but we're getting close.

At this point, I usually let my wife look at it and ask her if there are any flow or mood problems that she sees. I ask her questions like, "Does Jordan's vocal inflection or tone shift too dramatically between these two lines? Does anything look to abrupt? Are there any jokes that just aren't landing like we wanted them to?"

Honestly probably the hardest part is parting with jokes that just didn't work. I'd say on average, from first cut to final product, I've shaved off about 45 seconds to a minute of video. A lot of times it's just because the good take we got just doesn't work with the rest of the video, or is too abrupt, or just doesn't sound right with the rest of his thought. The biggest lesson I'm learning about editing while doing this every single week is to cut mercilessly. The shorter and more concise the video is, the better. Never let more than about 8 seconds go by without another laugh line.

Once all of that is done, I watch the video a few times all the way through just to make sure all the cuts are tight, so that the video flows seamlessly. And then I'm finally done. It feels good to have this done on a Sunday night! Usually we shoot the video tonight, and I wake up early in the morning on Monday to start editing. Usually by about 2-3PM the video is finally done and about ready to be posted.

Tomorrow, I'll link you guys to the finished product, entitled "Messy Mondays: The Truth about Youth Groups". We really hope you like it!

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow Part 2!

Make sure to read part one here.

PRODUCTION

Today we shot the yet-to-be-titled video. Before we got started, I printed out the script as I had it, and Jordan and I and the few others that came to watch and help with the video, brainstormed more ideas to help flesh out the whole video. By the time we were done, we'd cut some stuff I'd written yesterday, and then doubled the size of the final product. Honestly, I think it was the most fruitful writing session we've ever conducted that immediately preceded shooting.

So then we began shooting. And the thing about it is- it's hard to understand the pacing and mood until we're actually shooting. It's probably just a product of my own inadequacy, but I just have to be in the middle of actually making the video happen before I can fully understand what it needs to look like. This leads to even more changes to the script (i.e. scraping entire bits that just don't fit once we're actually shooting).

Stressful as it is to find the right mood and pacing, shooting is probably the most fun I have all week. It's just always a really good time. We do it so often now that we've gotten a really nice rhythm. And Jordan and I are able to track with each other- he knows what I'm looking for from a specific line usually without my even having to say anything.

Plus, letting Jordan loose is great too. A lot of times, we have specific lines that need to be said specific ways to set up for the next joke, but other times, I like to just let Jordan know what the basic idea for the next section is, and then hit record. Some of my favorite stuff that we get is the stuff Jordan improvises on the spot. In fact, a lot of stuff for Monday's video was my just letting Jordan run loose with an idea. The balance, I think, is key, and we're getting more comfortable with it with each passing week.

Guest Blog Weekend: Blimey Cow!

**For all of you Blimey Cow lovers, here's a recent interview with Josh (April 30, 2013 to be exact!) over at Almost There! Check it out! Go here!**

Hello, everyone! My name is Josh Taylor. My brother, Jordan, and I started an online comedic video series in the fall of 2005, which we dubbed "Blimey Cow."

We produced about a hundred videos in the first couple of years, before taking a break as I got busy with college, and Jordan got busy finishing high school- slowly coming to a halt as the years past. This last year, however, we slowly began creating new videos, and by the time September rolled around, we were back uploading a new video every Monday.

Though we do skits on occasion, our main focus is on our "Messy Monday" video series which started back in August. Every Monday, we upload a new video wherein Jordan speaks directly to the camera, while he talks about a variety of topics. Facebook , going to the movies, church... you name it.

We have had a ton of fun creating new content each week, but have found it also incredibly challenging to keep the content fresh, fun, and engaging when we are never more than a week from your next deadline.

Social Spaz has asked that that we keep a sort of journal this weekend concerning the creative process surrounding the creation of a Messy Monday video. We don't have a budget. We have a few lights, a camera, and a bedroom. It's definitely not a "professional" production, but it's a creative process we complete every single week now. Tonight, we write. Tomorrow, we shoot. Sunday, we edit.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Prep for the next Monday's video usually starts on the preceding Tuesday. My wife, Kelli, and I begin brainstorming different topics that could be covered. Throughout the week, as I have conversations with other people, ideas, one liners, or anecdotes may come to mind. I keep a big file of various punch lines on a variety of topics to be used when the week, topic, and joke are right. Lord willing, by Thursday we have decided on a topic, and at least a couple of the big laugh lines for the episode- the lines that we hope people will remember long after watching the video, and about which they will hopefully tell their friends. Usually we come up with those laugh lines first before coming to a conclusion about whether or not a topic or idea is viable. Sometimes we come up with one joke, and then make an entire video to work around that joke. I hate wasting a good joke.

The topic this week, as decided yesterday, is going to be church youth groups. I was informed then that a youth group in Clarksville, Tennessee had used one of our recent videos as part of the lesson for the evening. I posted this fun news to Blimey Cow's Facebook fan page, and then quipped, "I guess next week's video is going to be about boys and girls sitting too close to each other..."

It was meant as a joke, but the idea took flight in my head. In short order, I was writing out the beginning of this tentative script. I visited my brother at the college he is attending that afternoon and related what I had written thus far, and he and I came up with more material, which I came home and wrote up. Sharing what was done of the script with my wife later garnered even more ideas.

As it stands, the script stands at about 35% done. Depending on the week, mood, and topic, sometimes it actually helps to have some leeway concerning the content, when it comes to actually shooting the video tomorrow. Sometimes having the entire thing completely done, and then merely tweaked as we shoot, works best. And sometimes having only certain jokes and just a basic idea of the direction, content, and pacing works just as well. It really just depends. And 10+ weeks into this, I can't say that I have entirely figured out exactly how to know which is best, and when. All I know is that Monday's come really, really quickly these days... and most weeks, it feels like we escape with a solid video by the skin of our teeth.

Back to writing for now. I'll let you know how shooting went, tomorrow.