Inside Studio JRy: Breaking The Silence (Part 2)

Good evening friends!

How are you this evening? It's Monday night about 11:00 pm as I type this and I'm sitting with a half a cup of lukewarm coffee and settled creamer, iPhone to my side and 70s Lite Rock playing on the stereo.

I had the chance to take a gander at the ratings for this very blog from our last entry "Breaking The Silence (Part 1)" and astonishingly, that entry broke the record on this blog for being the most read entry. It does not surprise me, I have to say!

I love that you all have such an intimate view into my life. I really do. Now, the part is that I don't like nosey people or people that try to pry into my business.

I feel like blogging became such a big deal to me because I was always writing in a journal or writing a column or a poem and I wanted to take the facade down of being a stuffy writer or a fashion writer years ago and open my life to people that not only came to me in the salon, but to strangers on the internet that sometimes find my adventures more fascinating that sometimes I even do.

In the age of reality tv and tweeting, there are no secrets as you know!

Now, to get back where we left off: I talked about moving on from someone very close to me and I think that mostly the ratings were due to people wanting to know the "juicy" details and sadly, even after I re-read my own blog, I can't say that there's any. In fact, even when I try to divulge the naked truth these days, I try to hold the other person up with a little dignity because I know I would want the same... even if he is just some dirty son of a bitch!

LOL.

So, onto what I've been up to:

1. COMEDY

I have taken up a few new things that make me very happy and one of them is stand-up comedy.

I literally just got the whim one time to attempt it and failed miserably the very first time. I have now after some time (about six months) have my form down and have found my voice. I laugh because what I used to tweet and say in blogs I now save for the mic on Wednesday nights and I have to tell you: that's a fun hobby to me.

I don't have aspirations of being Joan Rivers in the next decade, but I also don't knock others for being passionate about pursuing it as a full-time gig!

I think if you're a good writer, have a great grasp of the English language and timing, you're gonna be fine. The performing aspect is where people fall flat! You HAVE TO bring energy and you HAVE TO be able to read an audience and get them involved.

Years ago, before I was an art school student, I was a performer! My background was in improv comedy and writing screenplays and original scripts and performing one-man shows. I was also a dancer when I was younger and as I step on stage Wednesday nights, I channel 16/17/18/19 year old Josh and relive it the energy of being funny and getting someone's attention for five minutes.

When I worked hair shows and classes and present at events locally, I still get the same sense of accomplishment.

For me, once a week, I still get butterflies.

I like that. I like the feeling of having a rumbly tummy and sweaty palms before going up. I LIKE telling inappropriate jokes and having wine with the crowd after and talking. Their smile radiate back and I love having that energy given back.

Laughter to me is one of the purest forms of love. Comedy has brought back my love of performing.

2. BLOGGING

I have to be honest.... taking a 10 week break from blogging felt good. It also affected my tweeting and facebooking habits. learned that social media is just that! It's fun, but REAL people is where it's at!

Yes, I love the attention!

Yes, I love that people read both blogs.

Yes, "Rockstar Slums" has 30,000 readers a month.

I love a more honest form of blogging though. I love THIS essay style of writing and do not love the product reviews or magazine-style format anymore and have decided that come fall 2014, I will be ending "Rockstar Slums" officially.

There's two reasons for this:

1. The Studio JRy blog is where my heart is at and more honest to WHO I AM (you're reading that now) --- also, I want to finishing editing my manuscript officially this year and too many projects and people have stifled the creative process for me.

2. "Rockstar Slums" was named by the person I described in the last entry. I don't want to continue on with a project that reminds me of him. I think I want to end on a high-note and end shortly after my birthday next month. I think it's time to search for another column opportunity as well... I would like to shop the idea of a new column to a few publications and freelance for a paper again or a larger blog as a contributor.

3. FRIENDS

I have so many beautiful friends in my life right now and I love that I don't have to see them everyday to be happy to see them. I also want the opportunity to date and relish the moments of enjoying someone's company.

I don't believe that good relationships start with a hook-up or a drunken evening. You have to get to know someone and become friends first.

Those same butterflies I get during comedy are the butterflies I want when I write a piece or see my friends or my date when I'm out...

So, honestly, friends, I guess what I can say as part of breaking the silence, I also want to break some habits.

I want to enjoy life for real. Not just on the internet or behind the chair. I have built a brand for 8 years now and will continue to do so (it comes easy to me!), but I want to start enhancing the intimate areas in my life....

How bad could that be?

Not bad at all, I say.

-J

Inside Studio JRy: Breaking The Silence (Part 1)

Good evening friends,

I want to start this entry first by saying I'm terribly sorry for abandoning you as readers. There's so much that has gone on in the last 10 weeks that I want to inform you of that I have shared with friends and selected clients and family members.

SECTION 1: PERSONAL

10 weeks ago, I made a decision to no longer continue a connection in my life that was so deep to my heart I thought I would die. In fact, the eggshells I walked on in front of and around the mere verbiage involving this person became so toxic that I knew that the last outburst, rant, sadness and scrutiny posted online about me would be the last exchange I had with this person.

This person had been a rock for me for six years and I truly want to thank him for always being my go-to person and being such a kind soul in the time that I knew him.

A lot of the time I treated this person as my other half, when in fact, we were nothing really. All you had to do was ask him or watch his actions and know he never really appreciated our bond I thought we had.

Sadly, I changed myself and lived in sometimes crazy mental states due to his reactions and hurtful words.

I do want to take this time to switch it up now and tell you: of the six years, I enjoyed 90% of the time we shared. If you ask him, you will receive jaded, sad stories and not a large amount of compliments regarding me or my behavior.

To him, I was rich, spoiled, a brat, an alcoholic and a creep. I don't agree with any of his statements and refuse to label myself any of those mentioned.

For me, he was smart, intellectual, beautiful and amazing to talk to. He was also an arrogant prick. HE knows he can be and prides himself on tearing peoples' feelings apart and making them hurt as he often does in his daily rants, sad social media posts and disregard for his family and those that supported him when it mattered most.

To sum it all up, six years of friendship, I still am happy we were friends and want him to stay healthy and safe. I hope someone shows him true love and is there for him while he grows into an adult.

After making the decision to purge his number and put pictures away and cease contact, I started evaluating everything else in my life: finances, my business and my connections.

SECTION 2: BRANDING

For those of you reading this that are clients of mine, you know that I chose to resign from the Joico brand in February 2014. I no longer felt that they had the intention to utilize me and I saw three of my friends take other brand opportunities and I also sought other representation and connection.

In April, we successfully started the conversion process to Wella color and by June, we had began carrying three exclusive brands in my salon! Wella, Aquage and GKhair are all professional brands that do not sacrifice integrity to please the public. They are TRUE to the professional and that's what I need now. I feel there was some direction lacking at the my last brand. The focus on education left and with that, I saw more beauty blogs, more ads, more diverted product and more horrible fantasy color that I just can't stomach.

To me, every brand has a responsibility to its education team to keep us in the loop and not just pamper the asses of LA and NY. Middle America and the rest of the world matter too!

It's not all fashion week and InStyle ads! It's about the hairdresser.

The art of hairdressing is NOT FOR EVERYONE!

So, as I bid farewell to Joico, I knew I was going to lose some connections and some support and I only gained more from my industry friends and Rockstars + Lambs has seen some of the best exposure and profits it's ever experienced

SECTION 3: FINANCES
In January, I began budgeting my finances harshly and have studied the art of being frugal. As a 30 year old man, I make a very good living and sometimes found myself wondering where my money was at?

How can someone as smart as me not have money in the bank?

Well, I began taking lunch to work and cooking at home again--- that was like paying myself an extra $300-400 a week! I noticed the difference immensely!

In March, I fired my accountant of six years and began searching for new financial management. I also fired my merchant credit card service provider and took control of my finances with a nifty little device called "Square" (you've read about it!)

I also updated the salon's database to a fully operating electronic database and began tracking color usage and even re-evaluated pricing and portion control.

All of this has added to thousands more in my pocket, better inventory management and MORE retail in the salon.

I cannot tell you how good it feels to pay people off, pay debts off and begin saving and living again.

SECTION 4: NUTRITION
It's been about three months since I made a 90% switch over to pescetarianism full-time. I can't shake fish fully yet, but my goal is to be a functioning vegetarian in the next few years. I still believe in a "free day" and when I am with family on Sunday, I say "anything goes"!

If it's meatballs, hand 'em over! If its bacon, that goes too!

It's one day a week eating land meat! That's much better than 7 days of allowing multiple flesh and corpses to decompose in my gut... imagine!

My mood has changed!

My emotions are level.

My stress is nearly non-existent.

......10 weeks have taught me to be good to me and take care of me.

So, for now... I want to tell you all: I needed the space away to live. I also needed to digest my spiritual and emotional divorce.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF THIS ENTRY, that's enough for now.


-Josh