Blog Archives

Friendship and Lion Head Hats

2/24/2014

This weekend L.A. Lyon was at The Starting Gate in Los Alamitos. The people at The Starting Gate not only love to party, but they are some of the nicest people you ever want to meet! I even got a fantastic gift from one of my favorite regulars, my very own lion head hat!

I decided all pictures had to include the lion head hat. I even let Tsugumi, our drummer, borrow it when he was out on the dance floor doing the Cabo Wabo. Check out the MY VIEW FROM THE STAGE tab to see the photos!

Besides all the fun and music, something else great happened this weekend. Two of the regulars had been best club buddies for years and then a series of arguments caused a huge rift in their friendship. Instead of dancing, laughing and gossiping together, as they had always done, these ladies ended up on opposite ends of the club, not even speaking.

Late last year, one of them started battling serious health issues. So serious that she couldn’t do what she loved best, going out to see live music and dance. Finally starting to turn the corner on her health battles, she was there this weekend. And sitting with her, for the first time in a long time, was her old friend.

The illness had made them see, that whatever had transpired between them, the friendship was worth more than misunderstandings and harsh words.

It also made me realize that coming to see live music, have a few drinks and do a little dancing, has a much more important side. It’s people, coming together to share some fun, some pictures and
just enjoy life and hopefully be entertained enough to forget some of the not so great stuff live throws at us. I am always honored to be a part of that equation.

So here is to friendship, lion head hats, the weekend and many more good times to come!

0 Comments

YES I CAN!

2/9/2014

0 Comments

2014 has been really busy for me.   A week long business trip, lots of L.A. Lyon gigs, adding some new material to our repertoire and just the normal life stuff has not left a lot of time for anything else! My next major project will be that thing that most people hate more than Taylor Swift’s excited face. Doing my taxes!

Last year, knee deep in my financial ruin, and nothing in an extremely tight budget that said, “TAX PREPARATION,” I was at a loss as to how these mysterious documents called tax returns were going to be filed.

I had never, in my entire adult life, done my own taxes. Even with simple income, I had always paid someone to take care of it.

As the years went on and I acquired a small business called L.A. Lyon and properties with mortgages, it got more complicated. I finally ended up at an expensive accountant. I always got a fairly nice return, so although I was dishing out a good portion of it to someone who basically made me get everything ready and appeared to spend about thirty minutes doing actual work, I didn’t really think there was a better way. Besides, there must be some magic he was working to get me those great returns, right?  That’s why he was making the big bucks!

As my finances crumbled I took money out of my 401K to keep up with some bills. Every financial article and advisor tells you never to do this and here is why. When I sat down with my pricey accountant, he did his usual thing and suddenly, instead of a nice little chunk of change to pay him and try to keep my little financial Titanic floating one more year, he handed me a tax return that said I owed the IRS ten thousand dollars. Suddenly paying him a huge fee made me want to throw up in the parking lot in front of his Mercedes Benz.

So last year, with no hope of any return going into my checking account, (still working on that ten thousand dollar debt) and no real budget for any hired help, I was contemplating how I would look in orange serving time for tax evasion. Explaining my dire situation to a friend, looking for sympathy, she
instead looked at me and said, “Why don’t you do them yourself?”

“Huh? I can’t do that. Mine are complicated.”

“Sure you can,” she said. “There are all kinds of programs out there. Didn’t you have to get everything ready for your accountant any way? Receipts, interest, all that stuff?”

“Well, yes I did.”

“And then you went in his office and he asked you personal questions and filled in something on the computer?”

“Yeah.”

“And then the computer spit out your tax returns?”

“Well, yeah.”

“So buy some software, it's not very expensive, sit behind the computer and answer the questions yourself.”

Having nothing to lose, I gave it a shot. And guess what? It wasn’t that hard! Plus, without 401 K withdrawals, I got a nice return to apply to my tax debt.  The same amount my fancy accountant had gotten me a couple of years before!

Taxes are not magic. Very few things in life are. We get it in our heads that there are only certain people on the earth who are blessed with a gift that we don’t have. How many times do we say every day, “I am not technical. I am not creative. I am not musical. I could never……”

Not everyone has the same aptitude for everything, but everyone is born human and we are all capable of amazing things. Taxes? Anything you really need or want

0 Comments

UNPREDICTABLE PATHS

2/1/2014

0 Comments

I spent this past week at a work conference. The best part (besides doing a little go kart racing as a team building event!) was I had the opportunity to get to know some of the people I interact with every day. One particular story really struck me.

My co-worker has a degree in research and got an opportunity to work for a company researching teaching methods in schools. She lived on the east coast, but the job required her to move cross country to Texas. She knew almost no one, but in need of a job and wanting to stay within
her field, she took a leap and went.

Just days after using most of her savings to make the move, she realized she had made a horrible mistake. She got off to a rough start with her new boss and as the weeks went by, it got worse. Less than two months after the move, she was let go.

She knew only two people in her new town. Her savings was pretty much depleted, so a move back was not a possibility. Out of work, with no support system and her confidence at an all time low, she fell into a deep depression.

One of her two new friends encouraged her to apply at his company. There were some training positions available, but she resisted. Her degree was in research, not training. Research was the path she had chosen and it was the path she was going to stay on. She was absolutely certain.

Weeks went by and her little savings got lower and lower. Jobs in the research field were not materializing, so she finally relented and applied for a job at her new friend’s company.

She did not get the initial position, but a second one opened up and she got it. The company was looking for someone who could assist the training department with statistics, produce reports, and basically research their training methods. In addition, she was responsible for creating training materials. Although not a “research” job per say, she found she loved doing something a little more creative that still allowed her to use what she had gotten her degree in.

“It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me!” she shared. “Had I stayed in research, I would have been so average. I would have gone through life on auto pilot, never really getting the
opportunity to shine and touch my creative side. I never would have known how strong I really am.”

I left the conference with new respect for a co-worker and gratitude for the unpredictable paths in life.

0 Comments

Friendship and Lion Head Hats

YES I CAN!

UNPREDICTABLE PATHS

Archives

Categories