This is a more direct and obvious aspect to me, as the above image was my primary online avatar for over a year.

I’m not going to open this one with a talk about what Apple is, because let’s be real: everyone knows what Apple, Inc. is.

My first exposure to Apple products was in 1998 during a summer computer camp called Kids Byte at Marquette University. There were brightly colored Mac Computers that we would use to design movies, and we would use Apple software to film and edit our own videos. Considering that I was in Middle School at the time, I had no idea how much Apple products would become a staple in my life a decade and a half later.

My next exposure to Apple computers and products was at my first college, where the theater majors were very Apple savvy, to the point where non-Apple things were snubbed. I had just transition my music library into iTunes, but didn’t quite realize that it was an Apple thing, since I was doing it on my Windows Laptop.

2012 & 2013 were my “conversion” years to Apple as a tech company. I refused to get an iPhone until it could hold all of the music in my library (which was about 35 GB at the time) so it took until the iPhone 4S before I tried it out. I fell in love, and transitioned to a Macbook when my old laptop’s hard disk failed, and I lost nearly everything I had saved electronically at the time.

Since changing over, I have a much better organization to my electronic life, particularly my music library. Not that I ever expect for my Macbook to fail, but if it ever does I’m far, far better prepared to handle it than when my laptop’s crash permanently destroyed 99% of everything I’ve worked on electronically up to that point.

2014 brought my getting Apple TV, which had a major impact on my Netflix viewing habits, my ability to watch the video version of David Pakman, all of my video podcasts, and thus changed my TV habits for the better. I also switched back to iPhone, having done a brief stint with a Samsung Galaxy S4 when iOS 7 came out and before I understood how to use it properly.

Another thing about how much Apple has been an influence on me: Apple’s podcast suggestions led me to discovering both David Pakman and Armin Van Buuren, both of whom I’ve written about on here.

This article gives a nice slideshow about different tech products that Apple introduced to the world that created a sea change in the tech industry.

Here and here are examples of how Apple is also working on becoming a force for positive change in the environment. While Apple is nowhere near perfect in terms of harming the environment, the fact that the company is working to leave less of a footprint on the planet is something that the environmentalist in me agrees with.

Speaking of progressive and liberal politics, it’s been discussed that using Apple products can be a sign of political leaning as well. The implied political leaning has proven to be true in my case, even though my usage of Apple products has had zero impact on my political beliefs. Instead, my political beliefs have played a very tiny role in convincing me to use Apple products.

This is a famous infographic describing a “Mac” person versus a “PC” person:

Click on it for a larger version if you need one. Many things mentioned in the graphic resonate with me.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

What is a Wanderluster?

According to Wikipedia, wanderlust is defined as what the above image says: a strong desire to travel and explore the world. In sociology, wanderlust is defined more specifically by someone who is wanting to have more cultural experiences, instead of merely wandering and traveling to relax.

The above picture leads to a wanderluster who is blogging about her life traveling the world and immersing herself in different cultures. I only just recently discovered her, but her blog is great and resonates strongly with me, since I long to experience many of the things she’s been seeing.

How am I a Wanderluster?

My wanderlust began as “sunlust” in my childhood, when I would go with my family on vacation to other states and different parts of my home state. This was more for the relaxing time spent, instead of trying to have cultural experiences. However, it planted some thoughts in my head to make me want to learn about other lives and experiences. The Red Mill of Waupaca, Wisconsin started my interest in learning about history and what came before me. Visiting relatives in South Carolina, Florida, and Washington State all showed me that there is so much in this country that exists outside of the house I was growing up in.

My next big travel opportunity came in 2008 when the Rainbow Alliance that I was a part of at my first college would travel to a regional conference in February. The MBLGTAC Conference was always held at a major university, so while on one level it was showing me different campuses that I didn’t have the passion to reach out to earlier in life, it also showed me different cultures even in the same region of the country that I had known for two decades. That conference has brought me to:

• Champlain-Urbana, IL (2008)
• Bloomington, IN (2009)
• Madison, WI (2010)
• Ann Arbor, MI (2011)
• Ames, IA (2012)
• East Lansing, MI (2013)
• Kansas City, MO (2014)

The last conference I went to was close enough to Kansas that I crossed the border and very briefly got to see Topeka, KS. Each new city brought a different perspective to me about my own life, and new experiences that I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy otherwise.

One particular conference experience had me cross through the city of Gary, IN. I had first heard about this city while watching a college production of The Music Man, in which one of the songs is about the city. I had done a little bit of research before I passed through, originally getting excited over the fact that the city was a theater reference for me, but eventually it became more about the possibility of a paranormal experience, which I also have something of a passion for. The feelings I had while just driving through some neighborhoods, and the emotions that I felt while quickly taking in the abandoned downtown main street were enough of a moving experience that I’ve always wanted to go back and see the city at night.

This interest continued to build and finally culminated in my permanent move from Wisconsin to Vermont. At it’s core, Vermont is a beautiful state, with so much to see and explore in a tiny amount of space.

As I continue to live in Vermont, my interest in finding new places to see continues to build. I have a Manchester, New Hampshire trip, a Portland, Maine trip, a Hartford, Connecticut, and a Providence, Rhode Island trip all in the works, and I presume I’ll have seen all four before 2017’s end.

The most famous fictional traveler I know, The Doctor, has been the solid rock that keeps my wanderlust growing. His TARDIS (a time machine that travels in space) stood as my primary avatar as a symbol of my continued interest in wanting to go out and explore more that the world has to offer.

What places do I want to explore, and why?

I have an old, physical diary with a few pages of places I want to explore. On the first page, I’ve listed that in each “place to explore” I wanted to see:

• A famous “attraction”
• A theatrical production
• A Nightclub
• A local dining establishment
• A local coffee shop
• Any local, notable Snopesters that I’ve connected with

This reflects on my personal interests in addition to the broad concepts of travel for cultural sake.

Just for the sake of including it, here’s my current working “Places To Wander To” List:

1. New York, NY (Having been here on a high school trip, I want to see this city through my more mature eyes and brain)
2. Pittsburgh, PA (The setting for the US version of Queer As Folk)
3. Boston, MA (So much of New England history has happened here. Also big Massachusetts place.)
4. Portland, OR (For a while I wanted to move here.)
5. Seattle, WA (Having seen this city when I was a child, again I want to see it though my adult eyes)
6. Miami, FL (Having seen this city when I was a child, again I want to see it though my adult eyes)
7. Myrtle Beach, SC (Having seen this city when I was a child, again I want to see it though my adult eyes)
8. Houston, TX (Near the setting for one of my favorite TV series, Reba. I’m also very strongly considering moving here.)
9. Austin, TX (Another good representation of Texas.)
10. Los Angeles, CA
11. San Fransisco, CA (I’m stereotyping here, but this would be something of a pilgrimage for me)
12. Palo Alto, CA (So much of technology is born here)
13. Laramie, WY (To physically see the town made famous by a play, which they rightfully feel doesn’t represent them)
14. Minneapolis, MN (This is supposedly like a sister to Madison, WI)
15. Denver, CO (Originally wanted to see this because it was “near South Park” but now there’s so much more there)
16. Salt Lake City, UT (I feel this is the place in Utah I would enjoy the most)
17. Phoenix, AZ (I’ve been told that Pridefest here is the best in the country)
18. Escanaba, MI (From my love for the stage play trilogy, beginning with Escanaba in da Moonlight)
19. Atlanta, GA (Like Salt Lake City, I feel this would be a good place to start seeing Georgia)
20. Las Vegas, NV (One of the settings for my favorite show in high school, Beyblade)
21. Hong Kong (Same as above)
22. Beijing
23. Kyoto (This is the city where some of the central characters in the Beyblade anime are based on)
24. Tokyo (Having been so into anime culture at one point in my life, I feel this is a given)
25. London (I went here before I was able to immerse myself in so many British things. I want to go back, but as a Whovian)
26. Paris (In addiction to being more aware of French culture nowadays, this was also a brief setting for Beyblade)
27. Rome (Having worked for a self-proclaimed Italian restaurant, and this being a brief setting for Beyblade)
28. Berlin (Both a few episodes of Beyblade, and my absolute favorite stage musical, Cabaret took place here)
29. Moscow (One of the best Beyblade story arcs took place here)
30. Mongolia
31. The Amazon Rainforest (I was obsessed with the game Amazon Trail for nearly a whole decade, this is another given)
32. Czech Republic (As part of my own heritage, I want to see this country)
33. Copenhagen, Denmark (Also part of my heritage, if I ever decide to emigrate from the US, this would be at the top of my list of choices)
34. Scotland (Another valued part of my heritage)
35. Ibiza, Spain (One of the hottest Nightclub spots in the world)

Added In December 2016: Now that I’ve been working in the hotel industry for two major hotel chains and multiple properties, I can say that working in hotels has taught me the skills and given me the tools to make traveling easier and more accessible to me. The “industry” likes to refer to itself as “hospitality” but I prefer to think of the term, “Travel Industry.”

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

What is a Homemaker?

A homemaker is a person whose main job is to stay at home and care for the household and/or children. Wikipedia once again sums up the definition and gives great examples.

How am I a Homemaker?

The absolute core and first reason why I identify with this term is that my number one goal in life is to be a husband and father. I would honestly be happier unemployed but happily married and with my children in my life, as opposed to single but in a time-consuming career.

I have always been very domesticated, beginning from in my childhood when I insisted on joining my mother on her weekly trips to the grocery store. In fact, one of the main ways I relieve stress is by going into a local grocer and just browsing around the isles looking for things to have at my apartment or house.

Virtually all of my career up to this point has involved some major aspect of home life. Working in a restaurant has grown my interest in learning to cook for myself, and using proper methods and styles to improve my own meals. I didn’t work in the kitchen, but I did get to observe many different ways that a kitchen is run.

Working in maid service taught me the gravity of consistent effort it takes to keep a house clean and put together. Everyone has a wildly different definition of what they consider to be a “clean home” and mine has been shaped by learning several different people’s definitions. I’ve taken the time to learn about different cleaning products and techniques, and many people in my life have asked if I’d be willing to come in and clean for them, since my passion for cleaning also stems from my childhood. While being the Stage Manager for my high school Drama Club, I would often find myself cleaning up backstage and organizing things, two qualities that I consider to be my greatest strengths.

My time in maid service also launched a new interest for me: home decor and design. I’ve seen (what feels like) hundreds of different styles and ways to arrange and fill one’s home. I went into a deep discussion with a former roommate of mine about how a home should be decorated, as I’ve been told my bedroom has “looked like a college dorm room.” It wasn’t until long after that talk did I see for myself exactly what they meant. At the time, I was still mentally a sophomore in college, and my bedroom walls reflected my own maturity. It was when I started seeing how people arranged their personal spaces and what they felt was important enough to frame and put on their walls that I started to have an adult concept of professional home decor and design.

On a broader scale, the concept of homemaker is also evolving. Until very recently, a homemaker was generally overwhelmingly female, and the term househusband was a joke made to show how gendering homemaker to housewife was silly. It’s a reflection on culture as a whole that “stay-at-home-dads” are becoming more of a thing these days. This NYT opinion column even claims that househusbands are the future. Michelle Visage has mentioned on the podcast, What’s The Tee?, that she is happily married to a househusband. This Slate article gives one man’s experience on being a househusband, much of which resonated with me.

The other part of the term homemaker that I really like is the gender discussion that comes with it. I feel like the sexism of the pre-70’s is already well discussed – in my opinion women should choose what they want to do with their lives, no matter if that’s a career or staying at home. This belief is one my my values as a feminist. The gender discussion that homemaker hits me with is the social constructs that come with it.

The above image leads to the article where it came from. One of the key things this image portrays is of course, a man in a dress. Much of my experience with men in dresses comes from Drag Queens, particularly one who uses that phrase to describe themself. I am not a drag queen, nor do I plan to ever be one, but the concept of being referred to as “mommy” or “mama” is actually something I’m quite comfortable with. I am very comfortable in my cisgender identity, but this particular piece is the bit of gender fluidity in me, which tends to surprise the people that I share this with, since I haven’t met even a handful of men who are househusbands.

Here’s another article from Slate on homemaking. This is related to the gender discussion in homemaking.

Urban Dictionary’s definition mentions male homemakers being as “the lowest of masculinity.” While there are parts of me that I feel are important to be masculine, this is the part of me that cares the least about masculinity. As I’ve said, I’m not the least bit bothered by not appearing to be masculine in wanting a husband and kids that are my primary responsibility. Understanding how much of a threat this can irrationally be to other men, and still sticking with it is one of the personal traits I am the most proud of.

And in the off-chance I ever were to walk a runway in drag, I’d most likely have a kitchen apron on over my dress.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie

What is a Stage Manager?

Taken right from Wikipedia, which sums it up very nicely:

Stage management is the practice of organizing and coordinating a theatrical production. It encompasses a variety of activities, including organizing the production and coordinating communications between various personnel (e.g., between director and backstage crew, or actors and production management). Stage management is a sub-discipline of stagecraft. Stage managers may use a Stage Manager’s book to help organize the production.

A stage manager is one who has overall responsibility for stage management and the smooth execution of a production. Stage management may be performed by an individual in small productions, while larger productions typically employ a stage management team consisting of a head stage manager, or “Production Stage Manager”, and one or more assistant stage managers.

How Am I A Stage Manager?

I have been applying the label of Stage Manager to myself since 2004, since I was given that title in my high school drama club. I grew more into that role during my years at UW – Parkside and Sunset Playhouse, and since have found that that title applies to so much more outside of the theater world.

The Stage Manager’s job begins by going through the script and throughly researching every line, stage direction, and footnote that they are going to need to understand and run during the course of the show. This step comes in before they even get to the first production meeting or rehearsal. I look at life as very scripted, since many life events are predictable (in my eyes), such as when I’m going to be in school, when I’ll be at work, when specific television shows come on, when certain movies come out, so on and so forth. I’ve arranged my own music library on this concept – that one can predict one’s own life:

#28DaysOfSaving @mintdotcomblog Getting Organized: My 7,332 song music library is organized by the year it was relevant to me.

A photo posted by Lukas Condie (@lukascondie) on Feb 5, 2014 at 12:52pm PST

From there, the Stage Manager organizes their “Promptbook” or binder with all the information related to the show they are working on, which acts as a living bible for the production. I do this with the different aspects of my personal life. I have a binder with all the paperwork related to my car, I have a binder with all the paperwork related to my health, I have a binder with all the paperwork related to my finances, ect.

From an electronic perspective, I look at my cloud storages such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, etc as my e-Promptbooks, with any notes I find on the internet or want to save in my everyday thoughts organized on there.

The Stage Manager monitors their cast during the rehearsal and production process, and I feel the same way about my own circle of friends. I tend to identify as the “mother” of my own groups.

During the performance, the stage manager is “calling” the cues, be they lights, sounds, special effects, and many other types. In other words, they are orchestrating everything is going on using language on headsets connected throughout the performance space. I see life events, online posts, and life moments as my own cues that my mind is orchestrating around me. This is the core of my belief in the phrase “Everything happens for a reason.”

Finally, after the performances are over, it’s the stage manager’s last job to coordinate “strike” or the takedown of the production. I find myself in various settings that are similar to this, such as the closing shift in a restaurant, or moving from one place to another. The more I go through these processes, I better I am able to create closure on my life events, and process them better mentally and emotionally.

At the end of the day, I identify as a stage manager because it accurately sums up how I view my life on a day-to-day level.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lukas Condie