Dr. Vornoff: Social Justice Bard

[DrVornoff]

I'm nothing if not ambitious, so here are my goals broken down by category:

 

Health

-Maintain sub-12% body fat.

-Put on more muscle

-Compete in a triathlon at least once in my life

-Become an expert chef

 

Wealth

-Earn low 6 figures annually

-Purchase a Tesla Model S

-Have a nice house in a pleasant neighborhood

-Pay off all of my student debt

-Become a national-level mentalist

-Own two venues

-Start up a studio to pursue my artistic interests with friends and partners

 

Self-Improvement

-Speak at least 4 languages

-Become a regular lucid dreamer

-Become proficient at playing guitar

-Become proficient as a vocalist

 

Social

-Date more

-Expand my social circle

-Be a mentor to underprivileged children

 

Travel

-Travel to all 7 continents

-See all of National Geographic's 100 Destinations of a Lifetime

-Try to learn something new from each destination (e.g. music, cuisine, dancing, etc)

 

 

I've got a few first steps lined up already.  For my health goals, I've signed up for my first 6-week challenge here already.  For wealth I'm putting together a new press kit and trying to get myself booked on cruise ships, which will also help with some of my travel goals.  I'm using the Anki flash card system to learn Spanish on the weekends and hope to soon be good enough that I can use Verbling to converse with some native speakers and become proficient enough to hold short conversations soon.  I'd also like to learn some of the Slavic languages so that I can visit the Old Country.  For social, I'm going to more free events in town and just mingling.  It gets me out of the house and socializing, so I see it as phasing me into a lifestyle I'd previously shunned.  I'm very introverted so I have to expand my comfort zone the same way you gradually scale up the weights in an exercise program.

 

It's a long road ahead, but I'm optimistic so far.

[mascota]

Hey, you've got a lot there! I am from Spain so feel free to come and practice Spanish talking to me

[DrVornoff]

Any help is appreciated.  I'm mostly working on Latin American Spanish, but knowing how to hold a conversation in continental Spanish would be nice too.

 

Anyway, spent some time today working on my shows.  My basic show called Mental Marvels is a straightforward mind reading act that lasts an hour.  I'm testing out some new material to rotate in, see if I can improve the show.

 

I've also started work on a steampunk show.  I'm saving up for my costume and writing an alter ego specifically for the show: Dr. Aleksandr Vornoff, rogue scholar and paranormal investigator.  This is going to be a really fun show to do.  Quick note, this is not the first time I've done a character show.  A few years back I did a mind reading show for Pittsburgh Comicon as an original character of my own creation: Doctor Question Mark, Pittsburgh's most dedicated (and inebriated) psychic superhero.  I've been really hoping for a chance to bring that character out of mothballs and do the show again.  If I dig up the picture I'll post it here.

 

I've also finally settled on a presentation for a classic mentalism show called the Q&A act.  This is great because I've wanted to do one for a long time, but I could never settle on a routine that worked for me or fit with my style.  Now I know exactly what to do and I just need to get a little more rehearsal in before I start pitching it.

[DrVornoff]

Got my head shots done.  They'll be ready by Monday and I'm going to hit the ground running.

[SymphonicDan]

Cool, some interesting goals here What exactly is a "mentalist"? Someone who competes in mind sports? If so, I've actually done some of that myself! Although from some of the other things you've mentioned, maybe this is something a little different?

 

I'm also working on speaking Spanish and interested in trying out speaking it in "real" conversation. My language knowledge is good... but it's a different skill to actually speak in the language, and I haven't practised that much and would really like to try. If you want to have a short conversation sometime, let me know.

[DrVornoff]

That would be cool.  I'll let you know when I think I've got a good enough vocabulary to attempt it.

 

As for what a mentalist is, it's a type of performance art.  Magicians create the appearance of conjuring and sorcery, while mentalists create the appearance extra-sensory phenomena.  In other words, psychic powers.  I've spent a long time studying how the mind works and have combined with knowledge of stagecraft to create a show that looks like real mind reading with the occasional clairvoyance and super memory demonstrations.  On that note, I actually do offer memory coaching programs to people to help them at work or school.

 

I cut my teeth as a street magician before I made the transition.  And to indulge in that old theatrical magic I have a soft spot for, I'm working on the steampunk show I described above.  I'm imagining a show involving ghosts, mesmerism, alchemy, oracles in the stars and demonstrations of sixth sense abilities.

[DrVornoff]

Okay, I've got a couple of leads I'm chasing now for my shows.  I have a contact at the Rivers Casino and am going to try to leverage that into a regular gig with them.  Beyond that I have some possible gigs lined up with cruise ships and event planners but nothing set in stone yet.  If I get a contract with the casino first, they're going to take priority.  Whoever is willing to sign on the line that is dotted first is going to get the shows.

[DrVornoff]

I'm hitting a small stumbling block in my efforts in that Verizon really is an awful company.  The cell phone reception in my area is abysmal and now even the landline has decided it only works when it feels like it.  There has to be a workaround because everything here is a number's game and right now the awful phone service is hindering the number of calls I can effectively make.

[DrVornoff]

Made more follow-up calls today and a couple of emails.  I also registered on Pro Cruise dot com to see if that can get me anywhere.  I also need to assemble a directory of Pittsburgh event planners and get my press kit out to them to see if they can't do a little bird-dogging for me.

 

As an aside, I'm really getting into the "Level up your life!" motto.  I've been studying RPG systems and just picked up The Secret World on a Steam flash sale (my only purchase from this sale, by the way) to study how quest design and leveling systems are handled so I can start applying some of the ideas to my day-to-day life.  Here's a couple of videos that got me thinking along those lines:

 

[DrVornoff]

Realized that I said what a mentalist does, but I never linked to my YouTube channel to show the video I made.

 

[DrVornoff]

I like my hometown, but it does a number of things that drive me crazy.  This week I tried to get my press kit to the Gateway Clipper, which is a set of river cruises in the city.  I called up their office to find out who to send my press kit to, and was informed that the marketing department does not give out their emails to the public.  Seriously.  I explained my situation and how my press kit is all digital with video online.  I was told that I would have to make a physical copy of everything with the demo reel burned onto a DVD and sent via snail mail.  What, does their marketing department still use rotary phones, too?  Am I going to get an interview and find the guy I'm talking to is Amish?  The kicker was that I couldn't even get the name of who would be reviewing my press kit.  I would have to send it to the front desk and just assume it would go to the right person.  Which is the business equivalent of sacrificing a goat to pray for rain.

 

I love Pittsburgh, but this Good Ol' Boy mentality the established businesses have is why we're so slow to grow and adapt with the times.

[DrVornoff]

I've decided that after this month I'll quit the mastermind I'm in.  It's not paying off for the time I invest in it.  Everyone has the best intentions, but they're not familiar with how the entertainment industry works and it's just not a good use of my time anymore when I should be putting my nose to the grindstone on getting more gigs.

 

Speaking of, I have 2 gigs lined up for August.  One doing my Q&A act at a local tea house and another doing my mind reading show as seen in the video above at a free thinkers conference at the end of the month.  Next week I'm going to talk to the Rivers Casino and see about getting booked there as house entertainment.

 

On the side I've resumed trying to learn Spanish.  I practice for an hour a day with flash cards using Anki on my PC.  I'm also re-reading my ebook copy of Robert Greene's "Mastery," a fantastic book that I highly recommend.  I just wish Google Play wasn't so persnickety about saving my highlights and margin notes.

[DrVornoff]

Today was my last day in the mastermind I had been attending. This was the sort of meeting that validated my decision.

First of all, one guy didn't even show up, which sucked because I really liked him and wanted to say hi again. He was working on becoming a professional musician, but he got screwed. Another member of the group, more on her later, tried to act as his publicist, despite the fact that she has no experience being a publicist and totally fucked it up. Now he's depressed and doesn't know where to go from here.

Second, another guy turned his turn around the table into a psychotherapy session as he's going through business and family troubles and is caught up in a lawsuit he instigated and is now too proud to settle. Oh, the woman who tried and failed to be publicist? She was the one who encouraged him to bring the suit in the first place.

Third, this same woman started gushing about her upcoming IndieGoGo campaign. I politely tried to advise caution, reminding her that after I tried and failed I did extensive research on what makes or breaks a campaign. Before I could continue, she snapped at me, "Well I have 2.5 million readers. Could you ever boast such a thing?" The fact that my dad found out that she does not in fact have that many readers, she only thinks she does because of the shitty knock-off tracking software she uses on her site and he's still trying to decide the gentlest way to break it to her, leaving all that aside... Fuck you. That was unnecessarily personal. She's convinced she's this marketing wunderkind and techno-savvy luminary. She's a hack. Generous, yes. But hopelessly insecure and incapable of thinking for herself. She expects me to do a video testimonial about her site for her crowdfunding campaign. After today, she's not getting shit from me. I'm done.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to be visiting three salons/spas a day pitching a new promotional event I've worked out. I also have to juggle a couple other ideas while I'm at it, but I really believe I've evolved beyond what the mastermind can provide for me at this point. I need to stop listening to a room full of wannabes and only one millionaire and pound the pavement harder.

[DrVornoff]

Booked my first TV appearance yesterday.  I'll be doing a segment to help students with studying on a noon show in Morgantown, West Virginia on September 3.

[DrVornoff]

Did two shows this weekend.  The first at a tea house, the second at an atheist conference.  Not a lot of pay, but it's stage time and I got more people on my mailing list.

[DrVornoff]

On a whim I applied to a local talent agency yesterday.  An hour later, the director of the local office called me to schedule a phone interview.  If this works out, this could be a major milestone in my career.

[DrVornoff]

 

[DrVornoff]

[DrVornoff]

Still developing those new shows.  I need to find good venues for them.  Other than that, I'm currently writing a new web series.  I have absolutely no skills as an animator, and I'm a hammy actor, so I'm going to start barebones.  The teleplays for each episode are going to be posted blog-style on my website as they're completed.  Probably about 2 a month.  I already have the first 3 ready.

 

The series is called Soren and revolves around the title character and his adventuring party.  Like Nodwick or Order of the Stick, they live in a world that operates on D&D rules and logic and everyone is aware of it.  It cleaves closer to 3.5 rules than Nodwick did, but isn't as meta as OotS nor does it lean on or break the 4th wall.  Soren is the world's most entrepreneurial mage.  Everything in the dungeon, up to and including the dungeon itself can be flipped for a profit, even if things don't always work out that way.

 

The new page with the first episode goes live later this week.  I really want feedback to make this a good series as I'd like to build up enough of an audience that I can actually put this into production in the next couple of years.  So when it goes live, I hope some of you guys will check it out and give me your thoughts.

 

In the meantime, I'm going on a creative forced march.  In addition to the teleplays for the series, I'm producing more content for my channel.  I don't function well in day jobs having to deal with unsympathetic bosses, so I figure now's the time to step up my game.  I turned 30 last November and I'm not getting any younger.

[DrVornoff]

Had a job interview today, but callbacks won't be for a couple of weeks at least.  I'm stepping up my game to get a video project completed by the end of the month.

 

In the meantime, I'm making progress on everything else by assuring myself that I don't need to make massive time commitments.  Just a few minutes a day on each project that's not drawing down immediate revenue.  To that effect I'm going to be starting video logs for some of this stuff.  I'll be doing the handstand challenge starting tomorrow.  I'll ask my dad to record my first attempt and then see where I am a week from there.  Just a little bit every day to keep the momentum going.

[DrVornoff]

After a lot of struggling and frustration, I finally wrestled Wordpress into (sort of) submission.  Here's the page for the new web series I'm working on.  There are still some bugs to work out, but whatever.  I'm just happy to have the thing live at last.

[DrVornoff]

Second episode of the series posted.

[DrVornoff]

Episode 3 of my web series is live.  The title is "Goth Almighty!"  The party venture out to save a town from a vampire and end up making a frightening discovery in the necropolis outside of town.

[DrVornoff]

Episode 4 is live.

 

Also been updating my social media.  I have to get this content in front of more eyeballs.

[DrVornoff]

Episode 5 is now published.  The party help a fallen paladin on his quest for atonement but find that Lawful Good doesn't automatically mean you're a nice guy.

 

I'm actually pretty pleased with how this turned out.  I realized that Order of the Stick already told the story of a self-righteous paladin who never achieves atonement and I wanted to tell a different story with a different resolution.