Snap Went The Strings Of My Heart

My eldest son, Matthew and I have always had a pretty good relationship, not so much "friends" as two people who can chat and paradoxically, as he's got older, developed a bond where we don't have to say much, at all. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands...and we just kind of "get on".

One of the bases for this relationship is that other than setting a basic moral agenda (don't hurt or use others, don't misrepresent facts etc.) I've never tried to tell either of my kids what was "good" or "bad". No, instead, what I've hoped to engender in them is the capacity to see Life as it is, rather than as what they want (or don't want) to see.

That being said, I've pushed the point for years, that by 14, he and his brother, Jamie, will be "men", in that I'll be unable to exert much influence on them...and they'll have to make their own minds up about all sorts of things:

• friends
• girls
• professions
• universities etc.

...and my job (and really, the only sane thing to do) is to intrude as little as possible. If I'm asked, I'll offer advice but generally keep out of their major decisions.

N.B. This radical, almost heretical parental position only seems to work if you've put in a great deal of work beforehand...and there are demonstrable results which you can trust.

Anyway, as usual, theory is one thing but Life is another...and these holidays gave me a nice little bite on the bum.

You see, for the first time, Matthew, now near 16, had almost no time for me at all, preferring to stay at his mother's place...and thereby to hang out with his "friends"...(a girl?). That wasn't without some guilt on his part but we both understood that he was in the process of "moving away" from me and finding himself. Cool.

So, there I was, promoting that inevitability with some enthusiam for years...and what I didn't expect was that when it happened, my heart would ache. Selfish, silly me.

We talked about it briefly, acknowledged that something fundamental had occurred and then laughed about it. Life goes on, as it must...but you know, Maturity aside, I couldn't help but hear a cruel parody of an old standard, improvised as Snap Went The Strings Of My Heart, ringing in my very human ears for a while, there.

Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart
Judy Galand



Andrew Goulding

By the way, why not check out my
world-first book & pop music soundtrack


The View From Bondi


"...He's hot, he's funny, he's suddenly single..."

"..Sex In The City for guys, as relayed by a comedian/philosopher..."

"...Sensitive, witty, occasionally depraved..."

The View From Bondi Part 2

Following from yesterday's post, here is the second video from my book and pop music album, The View From Bondi.

As I mention in the foreword to the book, the songs appeared spontaneously, much to my surprise. I'm by no means a musician, I'm a pop music fan...and so the whole process of writing the songs and then having the audacity to record them was an incredible experience.

In fact, as a pop music fan, I would most definitely say that if you have the money to burn, creating an autobiographical album such as this is the most therapeutic, bridges- burning experience that you could ever do*. 'Ain't no turnin' back when you've paid that much cash!

The View From Bondi Part 2 (5.25)

Funnily enough, this album led to a much bigger project (covered in my dotcom's About Us page), which has, in turn, led to this moment, right here, right now.

So, I hope you like the video...and then pop over to my dotcom to have a peek at:

The View From Bondi

Andrew Goulding

*Contact my producer, Sam McNally, if you're interested in doing something similar. Sam is one of Australia's top keyboard players, a great guy, infinitely patient and very budget conscious. He's presently based in Malaysia but often gigs all over Asia and Australia, so email him, he's very cool...and knows every decent session musician in Australia to help you get exactly what you're after.

The View From Bondi Part 1

As some of you are aware of, I've released my book & pop music album, The View From Bondi, for sale on the internet via my dotcom but I've now decided to relocate the promo videos from the "sales page", to this blog.

The reason is that I'd originally created the videos to be a mini-documentary, for folks who were prepared to give me their time, hopefully readers of my blogs and visitors from my various sites.

However, with traffic now coming in from sources that don't really know me (some advertising, some viral marketing), I feel that the videos should be away from the "sales" page but accessible if visitors wish.

When The View From Bondi has sold bundles, I'll no doubt have a fancy commercial made...but until then and without further ado, here's the first video:

The View From Bondi Part 1 (6.57)

I'll be posting Part 2 tomorrow so, if you'd care to find out more about my book, just visit:

The View From Bondi



Andrew Goulding

That's The Way It Goes

Background:

I'm sure that some of you are aware that I promote a health drink, Xango, which I believe to be, with the PC, the two great breakthroughs of my life. It's a wonderful tasting cocktail of fruit juices that's been created, essentially, to hide the bitter taste of its prime component, the mangosteen fruit's disgusting-tasting pulp.

My personal experience is that Xango is a truly remarkable product, capable of reversing many of the body ills that plague our society, including some that are considered terminal. Unfortunately no claims of specific health benefits can be made about Xango because it hasn't been evaluated by the FDA.

However, none of the "independent" bodies that the FDA recognizes to perform those trials have reported ANY clinical test results on this remarkable mangosteen juice in the five years that it's been available commercially...and so there's a stalemate. Of course, the result is that the public generally remains, at best, skeptical about Xango...and usually, terribly antagonistic.


Anyway, digging away on Youtube, I discovered a video about a Playboy article about Xango and posted about it at my Xango blog.

What's funny is the time-line of what happened:

1 Playboy decided to do an article on Xango
2 Without having read the article, Xango independent reps started attacking Playboy, fearing that Xango would be maligned
3 When the article appeared, it was fairly non-commital about Xango...but sent up network marketers really well
4 In the end, nobody was much better off because the effects that Xango had on the writer weren't really monitored

Ah well, as I increasingly and wearily look back on Life's wasted opportunities, that's the way it goes.

Today in the world of
Andrew Goulding:

"Oooh Girl"...a hilarious, realistic R'n'B love song

To Stress Or Not To Stress

I just had one of those Yoda/Luke moments with my 13 year old son, Jamie, that I thought I'd post for you to ponder.

N.B.: I'm separated from my kids' mother and see my two boys for two days a week.

Last time I'd seen Jamie, he was crestfallen, realizing as we left for school, that he'd left his school shoes at soccer training the day before and excitedly returned to my place in his soccer boots. He was particularly worried that his mother would go off her brain when she found out (a terrifying experience, let me tell you) as the shoes were only a few weeks old.

I logically went through the possibilities:

• the teacher had probably found them and returned them to the school's lost property department
• ditto for one of his friends or
  
• the shoes were exactly where he'd left them

...and there was only a small chance that the shoes had actually been pinched. That, however did little to relieve him of his depression and fear.

A few days later, I discovered that the teacher had found the shoes and that everything had been hunky dory. So, in the Yoda chat, I was asking about what had actually eventuated...but skewed the discussion towards a short discussion about stress.

I pointed out (as his eyes glazed over) that it's an important part of Life and alerts you to possible upcoming problems. Fear at the wrong time or inappropriate depression can actually waste a lot of energy and take you off your game (by now this eyes were totally glazed over).

Trying to get through, I took his little head in my hands, forcing him to look into my eyes and said:

"...Beware! People will tell you that stress is bad but let me tell you, stress is good, it could save your life at some time...and it doesn't have to lead to fear of depression...it can, actually, help you!"

By then the train we'd been waiting for arrived and the boys got on to go to their mother's. As it pulled out, Jamie showed his thanks for my Yoda talk by squashing his prettyish face, flat against the window.

Yoda Training Luke

Hmmm!

Andrew Goulding

FYI

I'm presently involved in a crazy race against time, trying to set up my internet marketing business, which also involves the piggyback promotion of my book, The View From Bondi.

There's quite a bit of convoluted planning involved in it all but the bottom line is, hopefully threefold:


1 I contact internet marketers to provide three FREE PDF reports to their marketing lists containing valuable, little known info for those niches. The reward? There's a product that list members can purchase for extra info and the list owners get a commission.

2 The list members see my ad. for The View From Bondi and investigate.

A% watch the Youtube videos and
B% actually purchase the book.

However, when A% reaches 10,000 / 100,000/ 1,000,000 or
B% reaches $10,000/$100,000/$1,000,000 (LOL) in sales

I create Press Releases, which periodically alert journalists around the globe about The View From Bondi, who, in turn write about it & create

A2% Youtube traffic &
B2% sales.

N.B.: Each press release will cost $250!

B% is also meant to fund various publicity drives and viral marketing campaigns which I'll design if the finances become available

C% of internet marketers who've downloaded my FREE Internet Marketing PDFs join my marketing newsletter and hopefully earn me commissions as I provide them with cool tips.

Anyway, the first email was sent out the other day to alert internet marketing newsletter owners to their chance to get hold of my PDFs...and here is that very email, which I posted at my other blog.

Andrew Goulding