Hi Lovely Simplerista,
I'm completely obsessed with Lady Gaga these days. I started reading a short bio about her, not sure why, but I did, and I mentioned something that stuck with me to my voice teacher, Lorraine, and then Lorraine started telling me her story of meeting Lady Gaga (of Stefani), and how Lorraine had just known, right away, that she was going to be a superstar, mostly because Gaga had seemed like she just knew. There was neither self-aggrandizement nor fake humility. It was just matter-of-fact. I'm going to be a superstar.
Turns out, she studied fame intensively. Andy Warhol, it turns out, was a student of and obsessed with fame: How is it created, what does it mean, how to manage it. Lady Gaga studied Andy Warhol. And in just a few short lives, she went from living in a dinky $1100/month apartment on Stanton, a mere five blocks from where I live, and doing burlesque and heavy metal and hairspray burning shows, to selling out Madison Square Garden.
I went by her apartment building the other day. Stood in the doorway and tried to channel her energy. The more I learn about her, the more amazed I am. I think I first heard about her in 2010, and immediately fell for her music, but didn't really take her seriously as an artist or know much of anything about her until now.
And I'm blown away by what I learn. She's really something. She touches something deep inside of me. A pain, a sadness, a longing, a love, a beauty, a desire for expression. So many things all at once.
And the fact that it all happened within spitting distance from where I live makes it even more fun and interesting. I checked out where Andy Warhol had his Factory on Union Square as well. I love this city so much.
Here's a few resources I found valuable:
In California for the Conscious Business Network
I'm on San Francisco right now, for the Conscious Business Network retreat. The first retreat was in January, this is the second, and the third of the year will be in September. If you're interested in learning more, and maybe joining us for the next one (or this—we begin on Friday near San Jose I think), email me, and I can tell you more. It's been invaluable to me so far.
New Features in Simplero
You can now change the contact associated with a purchase, participant, or affiliate. This is useful if it got hooked up with the "wrong" contact record in the system.
Fixed that in auto-responses if there were no first name, we'd say say nothing. Now we say "reader" instead.
And a handful of small fixes.
I've written a bunch of guides, so take a look here and see. I bet you'll find something useful just from glancing over the headlines.
Random Links from around the Interwebs
An animated history of 20th century hair styles.
Security
The glass is already broken.
Have a great week!
With love,
-Calvin
Lady Gaga: A Briefly Told Life