I recently took my first “Mancation” (no women, just guys, being manly, together), courtesy of Chevrolet. They selected me and three other Texas bloggers and gave us each a free hotel night, some spending money, and a Chevy vehicle for a week – in my case, a red 2011 Camaro convertible (awesome!).

For my Mancation, I took my son, Jordan, and his best friend, Judd, to Port Aransas for an all-day deep sea fishing trip at Captain Kelly’s Deep Sea Headquarters. We took lots of pictures and video, and I put it all together for posterity’s sake (home movies, evolved!):

We had an absolutely awesome time – thanks, Chevy!

If you enjoyed the video, do me a favor and please, PLEASE vote for me on the Chevy site and help me win a “victory Mancation” and go again! There’s no registration required – just 2 clicks of the mouse.

My son and his best friend have launched their new blog, MLG Bound, which chronicles their journey towards becoming professional Halo 3 players. We had fun this weekend plugging my laptop into the big screen in the living room and watching the Halo 3 matches from MLG Anaheim. I have to say that even though I stink at Halo myself (I’m happy if I get one kill in a game), I found watching the matches much more exciting than I expected.

I think pro video gaming is a huge growth area. Consider that on any given night, there are over 200,000 people playing Halo 3 on Xbox Live simultaneously. Over 5,000 of those are on the MLG lists. Think there’s a market there? And it’s only getting bigger.

Now to just figure out how to tap into it… any ideas?

My stepson Jesse is constantly coming up with great ideas and sharing them with anyone who will listen. Occasionally they’re both original and brilliant. Sometimes they’re just one or the other. Sometimes they’re…neither.

My son Jordan captured Jesse on video sharing some of his ideas and sort of mashed them all together. Enjoy! (BTW, this was my son’s first solo film for his Media Tech class).

Copy this. Blog this. Tweet this. And most of all, do this yourself.

I’ve already posted about how brilliant and compassionate my son is. If you haven’t already read it, please read People Used to Stand for Something.

Well, he amazed me once again. I was sifting through his photo albums on MySpace and something caught my eye:

Right in there with pictures of skateboarding, dogs, dirty sneakers and other craziness is one powerful image of something my son feels strongly needs to change. He was even clever enough to figure out how to embed powerful music in the comments (Flobots – “Stand Up”).

I asked him if this was something he’d seen someone else do or if he’d come up with it himself. Turns out it was his idea.

An idea that needs to spread.

Can you imagine the power of millions of MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Bebo, etc., users devoting just a little bit of space to a cause that they believe in? Yes, we need action, but action comes from attitude, and attitude comes from awareness. If we all make the effort to raise awareness with our friends about the things in the world that must change, more action will result.

Please help me spread the meme. It’s simple.

1. Find a powerful image that embodies the cause you’re most passionate about.
2. Create a gallery in your favorite social networking sites and name it “Change It”.
3. Post your image(s). Optionally accompany them with inspiring music and links to sites where people can get more info, donate or volunteer.
4. Make it viral. Include a link to this post in the comments. Here’s a short URL you can use: sn.im/ChangeIt
5. Help spread the meme. Blog about it. Tweet about it (use hashtag #ChangeIt). Tell your friends.

Also, feel free to post a link to your Change It gallery in the comments here.

Change it.

For extra credit, can you spot the butterfly?

My son is brilliant, OK? We homeschooled him through middle school, and this is his first year in public school (in the fine arts magnet program majoring in theatre). Last month, he wrote his first actual essay, and I have to say, I was completely blown away. I actually cried, in fact. Let me know what you think. By the way, the last line (don’t look now) was given to him as the “prompt” for this essay, i.e., it had to be included. What would you have come up with?

People Used to Stand for Something
By Jordan Allen

Two men sat across from each other at a table. One of the men was dressed in all white, and appeared as an elderly figure.  They had no surroundings, there was nothing around them except for white.  They sat a while, and eventually, one of them spoke.

“I never thought about the possibility I might actually talk to you.  I always thought that I might make it here, but the idea didn’t occur to me that we would actually exchange words.” 

The other figure didn’t speak, or respond, he only nodded in response. 

“I’ve seen so much in my life, sometimes I feel it was too much, at least since the war started.  I used to be an innocent child.  I never knew much about — anything, really.  As much as I hate the people who started the war, and the fact that it ever happened, I will admit that I learned so much, and it’s sort of comforting to know I got something out of all this, even though I lost so much.” 

“I feel like — this war started off with a purpose.  The men who originally started the rebellion had some sort of purpose, some sort of cause.  I think that somewhere down the chain of command, something got messed up, and someone broke the chain.  Somewhere along the lines, I believe somebody overcame their own thoughts of morality, and gave into a driving force so much more able to drive someone’s will — power.” 

“People used to stand for something.  People used to be about something that was right, at least in their own minds, but these days, I guess it’s not about following your dream, but just doing whatever gives you the most money and power.  I don’t think anyone should have to lose their family, or live on the run for years with no one else.  All in solitude, going village to village, knowing that at that village people might try to kill you, because for all they know, you could be a soldier.  And all at the age of 15.” 

The elderly figure dress in white who had been sitting silently across from the Sierra Leonean started to frown, feeling empathetic for the man.  The man’s eyes became glossy, and reflective.  “Please continue,”  he said to the man, who seemed relatively calm in telling his story.

“The war started in 1991, so many people died.”  The two men sat, looking at each other, both of them almost completely dead faced. “We didn’t think it was that serious.  People never assume that something so terrible can happen to them until it does.  They came to my village in 1992.  Some people had already left, they had no idea where they would go, they only knew it would be better than here.  I heard loud explosions and gunfire when I was awoken in the middle of the night, I ran outside with my family into chaos, houses were on fire, people were running and screaming in every direction.  We just started running, we didn’t know where we were going, but neither did anyone else who was running.” 

“My family — they were killed in the attack.  I felt like I could not go on.  To lose everyone you love so closely, in such a quick moment, it’s just horrible.  When something like that happens, you almost lose the will to live.” 

The other person sat in silence, just listening, letting the man talk about what he knew he had been wanting to talk about for so long. 

The man continued.  “I managed to escape, I ran until I couldn’t anymore.  I was so shocked I didn’t know what to think about what had just happened until I had been running for hours.  When I stopped and looked back at it, I was horrified.  I became horrified at the monstrosity that humans, just like me were capable of.  I believe it would have been one thing if these men were doing this for something they truly believed in, some sort of cause, whether it had been bad or not.  But these men fought for something so much more simple, something so much more trivial, something that has driven humanity to do the most despicable things since the beginning of time — money.  These men were not part of a rebellion, they were part of something that just wanted power. They didn’t care about taking down the government, and fixing the corruption they had. They were no better. They were only scum, no better than the government they intended to overthrow.” 

“I spent months in the jungle, I learned to sit and be okay with being uncomfortable.  I became used to dealing with the uncomfortable heat, and humidity.  I learned how to sit with an itch, or in an uncomfortable position when a snake is staring at you.  I learned to sit, and enjoy the weird noises of the jungle at night.  It’s underrated, you know?  Being able to sit, and just be.  Not worrying about entertainment, or even worrying about your problems, to just sit and be is the most soothing feeling in the world.  I eventually found my way out of the jungle, but, I feel like I secretly didn’t want to leave.  I felt like it was the safest place I could be for the time being.” 

“I got out of the jungle, and on my path to escape, I came across many villages.  Some had already been attacked, some were alive and well, and completely unaware of what would come to them if they would not leave. 

You know — I forgive, all of the people who fought in this war.  The soldiers, they never knew what they were doing.  The commanders brainwashed them, and I believe it is sick that the only people you can trust to protect you, to feed you, to give you shelter, are the same people that would kill you if they sensed that you would betray them.” 

The other man nodded in concurrence.  “Forgiveness and release is the first step in inner peace.” 

The two men smiled at each other, and then the man continued.  “At the end of my journey, I arrived in Freetown.  The year was 1998.  I had been running for 6 years from the rebels.  The relief, knowing that I was sort of finally — free, was the second greatest feeling I had ever felt.  I knew that here, I could perhaps get a job, and maybe pay for escape from here, but the knowledge that my family was dead was very heavy on my heart, and it was still so hard to continue.” 

“I walked around Freetown, searching for a generous soul, who would let me stay in their home until I could get on my feet.  Eventually, I found someone who was kind enough to let a complete stranger stay in their home, I will never forget them, and I do truly appreciate them for providing me with that.  It was another refugee from the war, she had two sons who were 8, and 12.  She lost her husband in the journey.” 

“The very first night I slept in Freetown, the rebels attacked.  I was asleep when they lit the house on fire.  I awoke in the night and tried to escape, but the smoke was too thick, and fell unconscious.  Even in unconsciousness, I was still aware of what was happening around me, I could feel the heat, I could smell the smoke, and the burning flesh, I could hear the gunfire, and the cries of innocent people in the streets, but I didn’t feel the pain, in fact — I felt nothing, the only thing I could think, or feel was — It was a pleasure to burn.”

People Used to Stand for Something by Jordan Allen is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sure, I stay up ’til all hours of the night sometimes. But I also don’t usually get started ‘til about 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning and am out of pocket for a couple of hours late afternoon. And I try not to work on Sundays. Here’s why:

perrybelcher: What’s the biggest dream you ever had?

ScottAllen: @perrybelcher Had? To write a great book and become a successful public speaker. Next!

ScottAllen: @perrybelcher Next BIG dream? A home on Lake Austin. Here’s my current pick: is.gd/kLw7

ScottAllen: Anyone want to loan me $5M?

artalacarte: @ScottAllen you just need to work harder!

artalacarte: @ScottAllen or smarter!

ScottAllen: @artalacarte Nah…my son’s 14. Time with him >> big house on the lake. I can get the big house any time. Can’t get his childhood back.

artalacarte: @ScottAllen Beautiful! Enjoy it while you can…