Nothing to see here, please disburse

Originally, I was taken aback (as opposed to being taken OUTback and shot or taken aside and lectured. . . but anyway) by the invite from Brother Seko to post here, but when I thought about it more. . . it just made sense. I've learned a *few* things in my 37 trips around the sun (today is my Worthday - more on that below) the following is a post I wrote last year on the DJ website I hangout at all the time(my wife calls it the "culty" website - http://discjockeyamericaradio.com )and since my well is tapped dry right now, I'll repost it here. A few notes for those who don't know - Mark is Mark Ferrell, a former full-time DJ and now a DJ industry advocate who believes that Talented, Professional DJs should get paid for the work they do, not just for pushing buttons during the 4 hours of a party. Check out the website for more info.


My wife is always yelling at me for one reason or another. This is not to impugn that she's a shrew - more that we're in a three-level townhouse and generally I'm hanging out in the bottom level since my music room, with all my DJ equipment, is down there as well as cable, X-Box and my *cough* "theraputic videos". My daughter Eva feels its her duty to assist my wife in all things, so when Sherri yells "WAAALLLLTT!", Eva tries to yell with her. Since she couldn't say my name when she was first learning how to talk, she would yell out "DAAAA-T"(sounds like "dot").

I say this because my birthday was decent this year - no dancing girls, midgets, moose hoofprints or chocolate pudding. . . I figure I'll wait till I hit the big 4-0 for all of that. This year is was just hanging out with my wife and my cousin for some adult quality time. We left Eva with her grandma and she asked a rather cogent question as she was going to bed: "How can it be Da-T's birthday if there's no cake?"

Eva, who turned three last week, had two birthday parties on her special day - one at school for her school friends and another at home for immediate family. At both of these functions she had cake so of course you MUST have cake for it to be a birthday party. Because of that, my wife, in her infinite wisdom, just surprised us both with a birthday cake, replete with candles spelling out the number 36 so that Eva could know that Da-t did in fact have a birthday and, that we were only waiting for her, so that we could all have cake together.

I am *so* blessed to have them both in my life. New Years Eve is a time of reflection for many folks and I'm no exception. I don't often give thanks for the many blessings I've been given in life. I'm in good health and I'm reasonably intelligent and articulate. I may not be wealthy, but I've never known what its like to have to choose between paying rent and buying food (thanks Mom & Dad). I've got a loving wife and a beautiful daughter and I'm able to do something I love doing and get paid to do it.


Thanks again, Mark, for being an advocate of Getting What You're Worth. Its a dirty job and its unpaid and, like most true leaders in a field, you're fighting against detractors who, speaking from their own fear, say it can't be done until someone does it and then they say "Oh, I knew all along it could be done!" or "Of Course! It was the right thing to do" A great sage once said "Do or do not. . . There is no try!" Mark, your message is directly responsible for my deciding to use the bathroom or get off the pot. I'm looking forward to this time next year when I can honestly say I was a $400 bottom-feeding-weekend-warrioring-pushing-play DJ who didn't realize his worth.

I'm looking forward to this time next year when I can honestly say I fought not only inertia but my own fears - fear of success, fear of the unknown and fear that, quite frankly, I suck and really am not worth more than what I've been charging. I'm looking forward to this time next year when I can honestly say I practiced every day on my vocal techniques and breathing and relaxing in front of crowds. I'm looking forward to this time next year when I can honestly say I joined Toastmasters to improve my performance and the local Chamber of Commerce to improve my bottom line. Thanks again, Mark, Peter, Jon, Jim et. al. for showing me and other DJs that the light at the end of the tunnel is not necessarily an oncoming train.

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