I bet you didn't know that I was the Vice President of my class at Indianola High School. Yep, it's true. In the daze before California. Almost everyone voted for me (it's really true!) but the person who became president (no names) sold more drugs than I did. Yeah, I'm still fuming about it. It's no fun being Number 2 in America ... ha,ha! I really thought that I represented our class best, and wanted to do some positive things for us all. And I did: the first thing I did was to hire my own band for the Homecoming Dance. Yeah! We were awesome ... any Tempest II fans out there?? But I decided that politics was for the birds, and turned my passion towards music. I was sad that I only got runner up. But the thing is, I realized something invaluable from the whole ordeal. I really did. It was:

A lot of people like me. Some people don't. AND THAT'S OK.

Yessir, it's basically just ego to try to be Number 1 all the time. Think about it. Out of all those people who ran, and I almost won! Seems to me that something can be learned from each and every human being on the planet, not just the cool people, the rad people, the bad people, the good looking people, the rich people, the stars, the star-fuckers, well ... you get the picture. To listen, instead of trying to "out-do." Good leaders listen to their people. Period. Be yourself, people! Come what may. And I realized too, that to try and think that EVERYONE should like you, is just ludicrous. And it's not healthy. There is no such thing as a person that everyone likes ... How many people out there are putting on faces, just to make other people like them more?! Pathetic! I was never any good at that one. Never could fake it, still don't. I am who I am and you can take me like I am ... or you can shove it! Why are people so fucked up?? Partly because they're so concerned with trying to show everyone how together they are, how un-fucked up they are. Fiction! Bee yourself. And guess what, sports fans: Low and behold! People actually will like you BETTER when you just 'fess up and act like yourself. This goes for Kings and Presidents of high schools everywhere (and small countries, too). I believe in the basic good-ness of people, and I believe we would all be in better shape if - yeah - we wouldn't be in this mess if we all just trusted each other and spoke our minds, and told each other, HONESTLY, how we feel. At the risk of looking like a boob ... yes! At the risk of pissing someone off ... yes! Time to turn this ship around. Get real - get human. Enough already. -Todd

P.S. Another time I was pissed off about only getting the 2nd chair trumpet in the Swing Band, until the very-clever-band-director whispered in my ear, "But Todddd ... the 2nd trumpet player gets all the SOLOS ... " Ahhh, very cool. In my haste, I hadn't seen that I'd been given the best place! To show my thanks, I often showed up late ...