My Inspirations: Bianca Del Rio

Who is Bianca Del Rio?

Bianca Del Rio is the winner of the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. A self-proclaimed “clown in a dress,” Bianca showed incredible talent while on-screen during the show. In her introduction on the show, Bianca describes herself as “an insult comic like Don Rickles, in a dress, and prettier and not as old.”

Bianca originated in New Orleans and became a premier entertainer there in 1998. She has also worked in New York, with Lady Bunny and designing costumes for broadway. She is incredibly talented and at the premier party for Drag Race she crafted and assembled an outfit onstage in less than 5 minutes.

How did I discover Bianca?

I have watched Drag Race for all 6 seasons, but in those 6 years Bianca has been the biggest standout Drag Queen in terms of inspiration to me. Bianca is what I call “the most fully realized human being I’ve ever witnessed.” Now, I understand that when Bianca is on TV, there’s a certain amount of editing that takes place and best sides are shown more often than not. With that being said, Bianca showed more emotional intelligence than most people I’ve met in my life.

photo tumblr_n54d56Wb9c1qlvwnco1_500_zps35ae9625.gif

What about Bianca inspired me?

Bianca has shown great strength in terms of conscientiousness, which is one of the big five personality traits. Wikipedia defines this as “A tendency to be organized and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior.” Bianca showed all of these traits throughout the season of Drag Race, but also shows this in her live performances as seen on YouTube. Insult comics need to have a competitive yet interactive relationship with their audience, which takes serious self-discipline and real passion for the art.

During the show, Bianca talked about how it’s weird for someone to go around always saying “I love you” to everyone they meet. I used to be one of those kinds of people, but hearing Bianca talk about why it doesn’t make sense to do that got me thinking about it. I’ve come to realize that you can throw around the phrase “I love you” all you want, but the more you make it common in your own vernacular, the less special it can become to the people you really mean it to when you say it. Since then, I have made a point of reserving this phrase for the people in my life who have earned the right to hear me say those words to them.

Bianca also managed to balance her “angry, hateful, cunt” image while also becoming a mentor to the other competitors on the show. Specifically, Bianca was something of a mother/father figure to both Adore Delano and Trinity K Bonet – sharing a waist cincher with Adore and encouraging Trinity to break out of her shell. Bianca has talked about how she’s repeating the things that were said to her when she was starting out and growing/learning. Many things Bianca has said to her competitors that have helped them grow all echoed things that have been said to me throughout the years by various people. Hearing Bianca say these things on-screen helped solidify many of life’s lessons inside my head. In this sense, Bianca has really helped me to grow and become a stronger person.

Bianca at the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 Finale in 2014.

Specifically, in seeing Bianca on TV – from entering the workroom for the first time, through the demonstrations of expertly executed comedy, to the finely crafted costume work, I was given someone to look up to and strive to become. In final 4 months leading up to my cross-country move in 2014 from Wisconsin to Vermont, I endeavored to hold myself to as high of a standard as possible. This continued into my current job, and I express to both my bosses and teammates that I am always striving to be like Bianca Del Rio. In other words – I continue to strive to present myself as professionally and organized as Bianca.

Through the magic of YouTube I can see Bianca without the filter of national TV requirements. It is there that I can see just how strong of a character she is and how solid her comedic art is. In watching Bianca on YouTube, my takeaway is that I need to stay true to myself above everything else. Continuing to “do you” as my boss tells me, is what’s going to continue to take me to greater heights in life.

In short, Bianca has taught (or reminded) me:

To always hold myself to the highest possible standard.
To use language as one of my most powerful tools.
To combat more difficult times with the magic of comedy.
To take a mature, professional approach to my life endeavors at all times.

What does it mean to “Master One’s Craft?”

Many of my other blog posts link to this post for this reason. Bianca is the prime examples of the phrase, “mastering one’s craft” in my opinion. Ever since I started school, from Kindergarten all the up through my college years, the whole point was to find some skill or talent or interest, and constantly strive to perfect yourself in that aspect. In my eyes, Kai is the perfect Beyblader. Charlie Epps is the perfect mathematician. The Tie Guy executes perfect men’s fashion sense. Armin Van Buuren is the perfect DJ so on, and so on, and so on.

I may not have found which craft I want to master, per se, but Bianca’s level as America’s Next Drag Superstar is a good guide to how much I want to master my own life.

Getting to meet Bianca was an experience of a lifetime. It was humbling to know that she took the time to read what I’ve written here, and that she enjoyed it. She added something that I’ve been working more into my life as well: Trust your instincts. They are there for a reason.

Bianca & myself in 2015 – first time I met her.

Bianca & myself in 2017 – her “Not Today Satan” tour, the 2nd time I met her.

Bianca & myself in 2019, for her “It’s Jester Joke” tour. 3rd time I’ve met her.

Thank You, Bianca for being an inspiration to me!

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

Why We Go To Work

So this has been drilled into my head for the last month now, and the advice is so good I decided to put it up on here as both a reminder to myself and to see if anyone else can benefit from it.

We come to work for three reasons.

1. To Make Money.

This is the obvious answer. But we also are constantly trying to increase the amount of money that we want to earn when we go to work. More money means more options and opportunities for us in life. One of the reasons I enjoy being where I am now is that in the long run, I’m making more now than I was about 2 months ago. The one difficult part is that most places don’t have many opportunities to make more on a regular basis, aside from the once or twice a year performance reviews. That’s where the other two factors come in.

2. To Build One’s Reputation.

Very often we forget that every day is a new opportunity to show the world (or at least our co-workers) why we do what we do. Each day is a chance to prove our talents. Each day is a chance to do something new and expand ourselves. I have a few goals at my current job. One is to get as many people as possible to say “he works really hard, I’m glad he’s part of the team.” Another is to try to clean/fix one thing that almost no one else will remember to work on each time I go into work. These kinds of things have gotten me very well noticed and I’ve built my reputation very quickly.

3. To Expand One’s Network.

We live in a world where there’s so much online communication that this may seem like the simplest. But in fact, not many people take advantage of meeting the people they work with on a regular basis and keep those connections alive offline. I have been guilty of this myself, and perhaps it’s cost me an opportunity or two. The point is to always be expanding your circle. It’s about who you meet these days.

Six Simple Rituals

Seen on Tumblr. Source.

Six simple rituals:

1. Drink a glass of water when you wake up. Your body loses water while you sleep, so you’re naturally dehydrated in the morning. A glass of water when you wake helps start your day fresh.

2. Define your top 3. Every morning ask yourself, “What are the top three most important tasks that I will complete today?” Prioritizes your day accordingly and don’t sleep until the Top 3 are complete.

3. The 50/10 Rule. Solo-task and do more faster by working in 50/10 increments. Use a timer to work for 50 minutes on only one important task with 10 minute breaks in between. Spend your 10 minutes getting away from your desk, going outside, calling friends, meditating, or grabbing a glass of water.

4. Move and sweat daily. Regular movement keeps us healthy and alert. It boosts energy and mood, and relieves stress.

5. Express gratitude. Gratitude fosters happiness. Each morning, think of at least five things you’re thankful for. In times of stress, pause and reflect on these things.

6. Reflect daily. Bring closure to your day through 10 minutes of reflection. Asks yourself, “What went well?” and “What needs improvement?”

The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost

road-not-taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This is my favorite poem of all time. Having spent the first 18 years of my life living under a rock in regards to world knowledge, this was such an ideal vision for me. I finally got to put a little bit of it to my life when I moved to Vermont. I continue to be inspired by it, and emulate it’s vision in my own life.

My final thoughts on the WI Recall Election

So for those who haven’t turned on a TV or been on twitter in a while, Wisconsin had an election to either recall the current Governor Scott Walker, or keep him. It looks as though Scott Walker beat history and won the recall to continue on as governor.

I’m not here to talk liberals vs. conservatism. I’m not here to talk about right vs. wrong.

What I want, more than anything else right now is to have this election behind us and get back to being a united Wisconsin again. The hardest part of this has been seeing friends in my FB and twitter feed declaring their support for the one I didn’t support, and me thinking “Oh shit, if they support the other guy, does that mean they support everything they have said? Do they secretly hate LGBT people and want to see me killed?”

And then my brain finally started to kick in. If my FRIENDS didn’t like gay people, would they be friends with me?

I make a big point of believing in everyone deserves the right to their own beliefs and opinion. I also make a point that no matter what – I am a friend first and a political person second (or farther down the list). The only people who I cannot stay friends with are people who believe that I don’t have the right to live because of who I love. Everyone else I can at least get along with, if not more. Friendship and love will conquer everything else in the world, including hate.

Walker talked tonight about re-uniting Wisconsin. I’d really like to see this happen. I dream of a Wisconsin where every business doesn’t display it’s politics over it’s front door. I dream of a Wisconsin where two people on different ends of the political spectrum can be friends, because they are human enough to set their politics aside. I’m going to put some faith in the idea of bringing Wisconsin back together, no matter what the future brings.

And if that reunification cannot come because people cannot get over tonight, and if people stay cut off from each other – let that show that we are a divided nation, and the divided house that Lincoln warned us about in the Civil War is in fact reality.

It’s no secret that I’m very liberal. It’s no secret that I’m gay. Fellow liberals – mourn the loss tonight, and tomorrow let’s go back to work at teamwork on the state level. Conservatives – you won tonight, and I congratulate you. Now let’s set aside our differences and work together for a better, a brighter, and a happier future.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas

September 11, 2011 – My Reflections & Shares

Ten years ago, I was just about a week an a half into 8th grade.

Ten years ago, I was just starting my school day, and Phy Ed was my first period class.

Ten years ago, school wasn’t canceled, but two classes dropped the day’s work so we could watch TV and see what was going on.

Ten years ago, I was a child that has no idea what any of this meant.

Ten years ago, I was big into Poke’mon.

These are just some thoughts about where I was 10 years ago today, when the attacks happened. I hadn’t really hit puberty, and wasn’t even close to having enough maturity to think like an adult about it. I didn’t even know I was gay at that point. But here I am, 10 years later and a far cry from who and where I was back then.

Looking back, September 11, 2001 was the last time I saw this nation united together. It was the last time I saw people forget their differences and work together for the greater good. Social Media was non-existent, so you couldn’t make a post on Facebook or tweet, or tumblog about it. So many things have changed and evolved since then. I certainly didn’t have a blog back then otherwise I’d give a link to it here.

I have seen that some of the far left want us to pass this day over – in respect for those who have lost a loved one on this day. I can respect that idea, but I also think this is the only day where liberal and conservatives can stop the war at home that I feel we’ve been having over the past few years. I’m still proud to honor those who sacrificed today.

I would like to take a moment to share some of the big news items that I’ve been seeing about today. Many of them are social media related, so hopefully at least one of them will give you some hope/redemption/enjoyment/solace whichever you find appropriate.

NBC’s Twitter Account Was Hacked in RE to 9/11.

3 Ways to Commemorate 9/11 By Giving Back Online.

How Digital Technology is Telling the Story of 9/11.

9/11 World Trade Center App.

Stumbleupon Remembers 9/11.

Personally the one that captured me the most was the NBC story, but I’m also a twitter nerd that way. How about you? What are your 9/11 stories?

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

What is a “Snopester?”

So many of my readers / followers have been asking me, “what is a snopester?” Though, usually with snopester spelled wrong. This post is to clear that up.

A snopester is someone who is a member of the Urban Legends Message Board (ULMB), located at snopes.com. This message board has about 1050 people who have registered AND posted at least a few times, though I have found that many people are very active posters here. I am infinitely jealous of them, though I’ve given up my dream of trying to post over 10,000 times. Heck, if I make it to 1,000 by the end of the year I’ll be astonished.

The snopes.com website was founded by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a husband and wife team who live and work in the Los Angeles area. What they began in 1995 as an expression of their shared interest in researching urban legends has since grown into what is widely regarded by folklorists, journalists, and laypersons alike as one of the World Wide Web’s essential resources. Snopes.com is routinely included in annual “Best of the Web” lists and has been the recipient of two Webby awards. The Mikkelsons have made multiple appearances as guests on national news programs such as 20/20, ABC World News, CNN Sunday Morning, and NPR’s All Things Considered, and they and their work have been profiled in numerous major news publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and an April 2009 Reader’s Digest feature (“The Rumor Detectives“) published as part of that magazine’s “Your America: Inspiring People and Stories” series.

To read more of this introduction about what Snopes is, please go here. For Twitter users, please check them out here.

I discovered snopes back in 2002 when a co-worker of my mom’s brought in a printout of this Urban Legend. WARNING, some mildly graphic photos (Snopesters reading this – it’s the “Bear Hunt” legend). I have the link here, because this is the page that started my total addiction to this website. I’ve read about 90% of ALL the UL’s on the site, and at one point had this one memorized! (It’s not only my FAVORITE UL, but also my favorite ghost story)

For a more “tame” example of a UL, please go here.

As for the ULMB, it’s where Snopesters interact. Here’s the thread that should get you started. It’s your standard message board, but also in that fashion everyone gets very close. Not only do we talk about Urban Legends, but PLENTY of other things! Please feel free to browse and enjoy!

The most important thing I can say that makes me a Snopester, is requiring EVIDENCE when presented with some claim. This can be any claim from a news article, to an explanation of some event by a person who was there. The point being, there must be some piece of FACT (scientifically proven) to show that the item is not simply made up and being passed around. Photos are not counted as fact, and many times are actually what’s being disputed.

There you have it folks, the basic definition of a Snopester.

August 2014 Edited to add:

The concept of requiring non-biased evidence to support a claim made has evolved through my discovery and subscription to the Skeptoid podcast. Brian Dunning represents the level of critical thinking that I strive to achieve.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

Happy Father’s Day!

I figured this day is big enough to me that it deserves it’s own post.

Father’s day has a ton of different meanings to me. For starters, it’s my ultimate goal in life to become a father. It’s what comes beyond marriage, beyond any other experience that I will ever have. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m strongly looking forward to my own marriage down the road someday!)

But since that event is several years in the future (somewhere between 2023 and 2029), I focus on my own father and what he means.

For those who don’t know, my father is actually no longer with us, he passed away during my sophomore year of high school. It a little bit more effort than normal (Google didn’t quite catch this link!) but here is where my father is online from now on.

Offline, he is buried in the King, WI Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Mom has a spot right behind him for when her time comes, which I hope is long into the future.

Dad and I have an interesting history. Honestly, I never got to know him very well until after he died. He and I never were able to communicate very well, but the most important thing is that I got to tell him that I love him before he died. I have two older half brothers through my dad’s first marriage, one lives in Florida and one in Washington state. Both of them I miss deeply, and am hoping to reconnect with sometime in the next year or two.

I never really knew my dad in his prime. He had a brain aneurysm when I was only 2 years old, and after the surgery he was changed permanently.

He was the president of Pohlman Studios in Milwaukee, which I believe has since gone belly up. There is no website that really explains who they were, but UW Digital Collections has a nice archive for them here.

My dad was also in the military, during WWII.

This is him during those days. The caption for the source of this photo reads,

“This is a shot of my very good friend, T-4 Thomas M J Condie, taking a break after finishing a tough class. Tom was also sent to Ansco about a year after I went and, together, we formalized the School Lesson Plans. Tom went on to be a very successful commercial photographer (he did Harley Davidson ads for years {until they got really big time} as well as Westinghouse Refrigerators, Lillian Vernon catalogs and many others). Sadly, Tom died two years ago.”

The photo is very far down the source page, hence the copy and paste.

While there is some analog footage of my dad on our VHS tapes, I don’t have any snazzy Youtube videos to post, or other internet-type things to share.

I still love and miss my dad. In reference to this post, I can say that I have seen him a few times. The summer after he passed, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban was in theaters and around the ending Sirus puts his hand on Harry’s heart and reminds him that his parents will always be with him there. I feel the same way.

In honor of today, I would like to encourage everyone to leave a memory about their father here.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

Paranormal Activity, in Reality

So, some of you may be wondering about my facebook status from last night. Here’s the story behind it:

Bjorn and I were out driving last night and I decided to make a quick visit to my old elementary school, Prospect Hill. We pulled up the the entrance towards the back where the gymnasium is, not the hallway behind the old kindergarten room. Bjorn stayed in the car, feeling strongly as though he wasn’t welcome in the place, while I got out and walked up closer to the door.

As I approached the door, I felt a force repelling me from the school. Bjorn as was already uncomfortable enough, and we decided to leave. As we passed, we noted that there was a light on in the school, very stark white in color. Bjorn mentioned the strong feelings of being watched.

We drove back to the house I grew up in New Berlin, and within a block of the house, both Bjorn and I felt a presence in the backseat. We both described to each other the exact same little girl that we both felt was in the backseat. Both of our creeped-out meters began to climb even higher.

When we pulled into the garage, it felt very much like this ghost of a little girl had followed us home and was waiting in the garage. We went inside, and opened up my laptop in the living room. Bjorn felt compelled to stay around the computer desk we have in the living room, not wanting to go anywhere near the garage door again, even though the only staircase to upstairs and the bedroom was across the hall from the door to the garage.

We decided to do a little digging about the history of the school and found the following articles:

http://goo.gl/RTgi9

This is the article about the building possibly being razed.

http://goo.gl/GNoQx

This article was written shortly after, an opinion piece about the abovementioned.

http://goo.gl/TqHjw

From one year previous to the two above articles, the main story about the Military School that was being installed in Prospect Hill.

http://goo.gl/kCPmM

This article is a continuation of the story from the previous, talking about more of the financial ruin of the school.

As we were looking through these, we stumbled upon this, which seemed unrelated:

http://goo.gl/M0Dqq

Bjorn mentioned getting flashes of an old house and a little girl being murdered in it. I recalled from 4th grade (1997) when we had the 150th anniversary of the state of Wisconsin (or some number like that) when there were stories circulating about this old farmhouse, but nothing more specific than that. This morning when we drove back, Bjorn explained that the house in his flash was the house located directly next to the church pictured in the above article.

After we found all of these, we managed to gather up the courage to go upstairs. Bjorn mentioned feeling like this little girl that followed us home followed us up the stairs as well.

We settled down in the bedroom, and that’s when I started feeling faintly like my dad was in the room (for those that don’t know, he passed away in 2003), and Bjorn said he saw my dad shoo away the little girls that had followed us. Bjorn also mentioned a more sinister presence for a short bit, but that one dissipated fairly quickly.

I felt most of these same thing until we got up to the bedroom, then outside of my dad I started losing touch with all the feelings in the air. Bjorn has mentioned that he’s never had this much reaction or feelings about strange presences in his life, which is why this is so shocking to him.

We went back to the school today in the sunlight (with our friend Nicole D. in tow) and both of them mentioned feeling like they were being watched, but more like schoolchildren were watching. I felt nothing during our day trip there. While we were there, we noticed that many of the windows of the school had been smashed, one clearly smashed with a hammer. Many times the smashed glass was on the outside of the building, implying to me that this was something that was trying to break out rather than in.

We looked through many of the windows, but didn’t find much other than the typical left-behinds of maintainence. There was police line yellow tape smattered through the building that we could see, and one door was blocked off completely with it. The stark white light that was in the school last night was no longer on, and I couldn’t find a source for it. We did note that one of the classrooms had fluorescent lights still turned on.

Beyond that, we did a tiny bit more digging at the Library, and I found that Prospect Hill used to be the polling station for Ward 4 of New Berlin, until February 2008, just a few months before the Military academy moved in.

At this point, I’m taking a group of friends back tonight, just to see if anything else stirs up. I keep getting the feeling that there’s an unfinished story there, but beyond that I don’t have a clue. Any information or stories you can provide about Prospect Hill Elementary School in New Berlin, WI would be much appreciated.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

My Reviews: The Social Network

Just got home from seeing The Social Network in theaters for the first time. I can understand why Mark Zuckerburg wouldn’t want to see it, there’s a few things that have been exaggerated about him and his life, plus Jesse Eisenberg adds a few details to Mark’s character that I can hardly imagine that the real Mark has or is.

First of all, what surprised me is that the story is told in memories, meaning that what takes place “now” is the characters in the board rooms meeting with lawyers and discussing the several lawsuits that are going on. I thought that the movie would be about how facebook was created, not told as a memory. It’s an interesting artistic choice, one that keeps the plot moving very fast.

That’s another point – this movie moves very fast, and if you don’t know the real story behind the creation of facebook in reality, there’s a good handful of things that might confuse the average viewer.

Second, the primary buzz (at least when the movie came out) that this movie was about Mark creating facebook as a way to get a girlfriend is a bit bent. Yes, in the movie it does show Mark’s character in a relationship with a girl named Erica, and Mark’s character attempts revenge on her, but he does it while drunk and gets into a bit of trouble for it. Beyond that, the focus isn’t so much on relationships as it is about hooking up. (I do wish there was a little bit more boy on boy action represented, since facebook’s Co-Founder, Chris Hughes is actually gay).

There’s a good number of legal terms that come up in the movie, and anyone who doesn’t have a basic grasp of law and legal proceedings is going to be lost in the terms.

A couple of artistic choices definitely struck me. First, it was a walk down memory lane seeing the old versions of the facebook site on screen. Second, I enjoyed how much sex was emphaised over relationships – I feel that it’s a good expression of how society is evolving in it’s definition of relationships. Ironically enough, this whole issue is a plot point in the movie – relationships and why the relationship status was added to facebook itself.

Third, (and a smaller point) I loved the choice of music. There are no theme songs, per se, but I recognized many of the famous classical pieces that were included.

Fourth, I also enjoyed the pace of the movie. As I said, it goes quite fast, and just like how watching Beyblade motivates me to play the game, watching The Social Network makes me want to blog, to facebook, to tweet, and so much more. Note, I came home and immediately hopped on WordPress to write a blog which will sync to facebook, and to twitter, and to Tumblr, and then a second time to my facebook as a note, and so on and so on. On top of that, I’m building in more features onto my WordPress (As soon as I understand Google Friend connect!) and posting for the second time in a short period. Again, so much pace described above, and all inspired from the speed of the movie.

Fifth, I noticed the emphasis on how college students are performing incredible business tasks from the setting of their dorm rooms. It makes me smile to reflect on how much of an impact that people from the ages of 16 to 28 are having on the world right now, and how much more of an impact they are going to have for the next 60 years! So many things in the world and in life are about the change, and much of that will be coming from the fast paced people depicted in this movie.

Finally, I enjoy the level of knowledge that’s shown throughout the movie. Everyone seems to be an expert on everything, which is easy these days. With mobile and cloud computing, anyone can do a Google search from just about anywhere and get a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips in seconds about whatever they need at any moment. And if you’re at a high speed computer in an office, then you have an infinitely bigger capability of gathering loads of useful information and basically creating a data army to use at your will.

A very nice piece of art, I’d say.

All in all, I’m pretty sure this makes my list of top 20 favorite moves of mine of all time.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie