Betterwithpesto

I never thought I would ever, ever be in North Carolina. Why am I here? I'm being compensated for it, and thought it would be a weird and amazing opprtunity.

I'm staying with my boss, his wife, and his baby. Weird? I've actually been living with them for the past 2 months since being an unemployed recent college grad(Chicon Collective bonds you know).

I wish we lived closer to downtown, or at least not along a long 2 lane freeway so I could use a bicycle. But other than that, I've been having fun.

I really wish I was in Austin right now since East is going on. If you don't know about East... it's a week+ long event where most, if not all the art galleries on the east side open up to the public. If you're in Austin... it's a must go.

It turns out that my friend Sarah just started a graduate program at UNC in August. We went to The Station, a place that has 3 different bars, and a restaurant all in one spot. The thing I've noticed about Chapel Hill is that drinks such as bulleit or makers usually run $7-8, which is pricey, but you get double the amount.

I actually really like the vibe of Chapel Hill. It's the size of a small college town, but there's definitely stuff to do.

A guy approached me at a cafe, and asked about my camera. Turned out to be a electronic DJ who was trying to get into photography... we talked for a bit and he introduced me to a place called the Night Light, where they play mostly local electronic and experimental music.

I feel like... I'm slowly losing the ability to focus. I've been severely slacking on everything. My boss(who I'm staying with here) has been sick all week, and that's been sort of a drag. I think I feed off of the energy of other people, if they're focused and motivated, I'll become the same, but if nothing is going on... I'm bound to do close to nothing as well.

Remarks on the previous post

With that being said, there are some things I'd like to address some things about the last post.

I actually recieved a ton of feedback, even without a commenting system implemented on this blog. Most of it was positive, but I had one person who was really put off by it. There have been a total of 2 people that have actually confronted me about content on the blog before. I have a lot of respect for both people, so they do and will continue to have a huge impact of the writing style of the blog.

After talking it over with a close friend, the general consensus is... we're glad that the content is controversial, and that it's raising some sort of emotion with people. Most of the criticism was over how I tend to "inflate" things, but I feel like a lot of the supposed romanticism is real.

In the end I believe that in the end "foodie" is the correct term to use. It encapsulates the ridiculousness of the content of the post.

Also, I wouldn't be doing this if other people didn't see it as interesting. I'm maily putting content out there because I think it's relevant. I believe the content is better than most of the other "popular" stuff I've seen online. You can prove me wrong by linking me to more interesting posts, or by producing better content yourself. The point is, I want to be a thorn in your side. This big persisting internet presence that will irk you to do more. Tell me about your experience at that Michelin starred restaurant. Tell me about your travels to Europe, to Asia. The influential people you met. The extreme exclusivity and spontaneousness of the events that happened. I want to hear about your successes, the results of hard work. Tell me more.

It's way more interesting than the shit people usually talk about.

I'm oddly competitive in a sense. Nothing is going to push me more than those who are around me.

If you want to call me out on this, I have some very real examples, that as much as you think you know about my life, probably have not come across yet cause I haven't admitted it yet.

Without people like Waytao, Nicolai, Jonathan L, and Jane I would be doing nothing.

There have been points where I fucking hated these people due to jealousy, and even felt fear from their actions.

Waytao started by borrowing my camera to shoot photo events and concerts, now he has more gear(good gear), and more popularity than me in the photography industry.

Nicolai is now the primary photographer for ESK events and Qui.

Jonathan L quit a business related job, went to a coding bootcamp, got a beginner rails job, and now is able to get offers at places where I would fail an interview at, all within a year.

Jane has her own food and lifestyle publication now, has an amazingly popular blog, and has a ton of food photography clients.

Recently I've been seeing Waytao and Nicolai every day(when I'm in Austin), and I'm working with Jonathan L on a new project. Jane, still bakes me cookies.

They're the most motivated people I know. I have realized that if I don't do anything, they'll move in. They will be there to eat my lunch. I have no idea what they want, but I want it too. There's no reason to be lazy and jealous since they're good company after all, and there's room for me on the ride.