2012: Year of the…. Everything
Wow, it’s been forever since I actually wrote anything here. So much has happened and so much to cover so lets just dive in.
Jaw Surgery Update
Well it has been about 14 months since I had my jaw surgically broken. The swelling went away halfway through the summer last year, I never made a post about it though because I was working in New York City at the time and then just kind of forgot. There are still a few issues with this whole thing though. For one, I get random pain in my jaw, kind of like a foot cramp but for my jaw — an annoyance more than anything. Secondly, the surgeon said I might never get my feeling back in the right side of my face/jaw area which kind of sucks. Shaving sucks because of this — feels like my face is asleep and its highly uncomfortable. On top of this, my brain apparently still doesn’t know that my jaw is smaller than it used to be so I constantly wake up with my bottom lip having teeth indents and cuts from biting in my sleep. Overall though, things are back to normal.
Arabic Popularity
One thing that I didn’t expect to happen is my Arabic keyboard apparently blew up in the popularity charts and the internet search results. The comments section is much larger than I ever would have anticipated along with the amount of emails I get from people (thanks for the support!). This in turn has caused people to actually find the rest of my nonsensical rantings on this site which makes moderating this place even more interesting. Downloads of the keyboard are already in the 4 figures now which is impressive in my mind!
Websites
Well, I now own 4 domains! ryanglynn.com, stepzer0.com, rgurl.tk and a fourth which will be revealed in the coming time (due to reasons that will be explained below). In terms of Step Zero, they finally got radio play following the unfortunate death of my dear friend Aric Fleury (who was in the band). Unexpected death, but I’d rather not dwell on the negatives, he would want me focusing on the positives such as radio play and… hollywood! Me along with my friend and other Step Zero band member Martin Harp have been in talks with some people from Hollywood, what all do they want? Not really sure at this point, we have another meeting on Thursday but hopefully it will help Step Zero get some recognition despite their studio album will be the last bit of music they make. It’s rather exciting though especially because I love just watching growth of events like this so I will have to post more on this as it comes out. Ryanglynn.com and rgurl.tk don’t really have much going on (besides this site’s burst in popularity and page rank).
My fourth website is a project/business venture I am starting with some of the most innovative and intelligent people I know. If all goes according to plan it could really change the future of the music and movie industry (which, I really hope it does). With MPAA and RIAA pursuing ridiculous legislation such as SOPA, ACTA and the new one that is under the guise of “anti-pornography” I really want to be a driving force in giving artists (Filmmakers, musicians and designers) more power and taking it away from large organizations like RIAA, MPAA and major labels. I have to thank a lot of my work with Step Zero for this, after putting up with WWE Music Group (sub-label of Warner Music) with Step Zero I just grew more and more despised with how artists are treated. Their refusal to adapt to technology and their refusal to change their business model has been begging for someone to come in to slap them in the face and ruin their abusive fun — I plan on being this change. More details on this later when I am able to actually discuss what is going on.
School
Despite all the fiascoes last semester, I was able to come through with some positives. I was on CNN Headline News last November talking about the ridiculousness of the media and their focus on irrelevant issues. I proceeded with job interviews all last semester and ended up with a total of eight offers (crazy I know!) which was a tough decision, but after much thought, I decided to let go of my top secret security clearance and go to private business. I have become so ambivalent towards government work this past year that I really don’t want anything to do with them anymore. So I accepted a really cool job with Capital One in their IT Security division.
I’m now into my final semester, scary stuff. Ready to leave though. I’m moving to Richmond to work for Capital One which should be tons of fun! I’ll be back to State College periodically though, I’m trying to get on their campus recruiting so I can visit old friends while recruiting for Capital One at the same time. As far as classes are concerned this semester — they aren’t too bad considering I basically only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday. Gives me time to work on everything else I have been doing at least!
Family
Well, my brother is getting married! Should be pretty cool, just a small wedding thing, I could’ve called this about 5 years ago considering his fiance and him have been dating since I was in middle school.
Politics — Thought I was Done With You?
Seriously, every time I think I should just give up on caring about what this country does on its path to self-destruction it keeps pulling me back in with its absurd behavior. SOPA didn’t pass luckily (bit late to the party I know). What irritated me about the protests though is that people were actually mad at wikipedia for taking a stand. It seems like apathy truly does police the populous. It’s so frustrating to see the common American get mad when a free service says “Help us out and keep us from being shutdown”. Are people really that lazy? People got mad at me for voicing my concern over SOPA for the past 5 months on Facebook/Twitter etc. It’s ridiculous how having strong opinions and wanting to protect the freedoms that we have are so frowned upon these days. Why is it that the people who find issues with policies and procedures are the ones who go under scrutiny? I could go on for hours but I wont.
Other political news — presidential election this year, big deal. I only care about the election for one reason now-a-days and that is because of people like Rick Santorum. This man is a freaking lunatic — why is he even in the running!? The presidential election should be between more than 2 parties anyways, but if I could have my way I would make it between Obama and Ron Paul. Ron Paul will not get the GOP nomination though because he isn’t even a Republican. Which brings us back to the issue of why the heck do we still have a two party system? It doesn’t work.
Etc.
I had a lot more on my mind when I started writing this, but as usual, when I start writing I forget what I had planned to write about. I randomly got sick yesterday, not sure what’s going on since I’ve been on and off sick since October, not sure what else to write about so I’ll probably just post again if I remember.