Motivation Monday - The Inaugural Posting

Good morning, everybody!  I suppose that you're probably logging in expecting to see a blog about movies today on account that it happens to be Monday.

Well, it is true that today happens to be Monday.  But if you're looking for a movie blog, you're going to have to wait until Saturday, because the changes that I promised were coming have already arrived!

Just to catch you up to speed, I made the decision some time ago to make the third anniversary of this blog a very special one.  And, one of the ways that I plan to make the anniversary very special is switching up the theme days.  And just to refresh your memory over the brand new schedule that goes into effect today, I'll repost it.  Remember, black means the days remain unchanged, blue means that the theme days are switching days, and red means brand new theme topics. 

The brand new schedule is as follows;

SUNDAY - SUNDAY JUKEBOX

MONDAY - MOTIVATION MONDAY
TUESDAY - TUESDAY TIMELINE

WEDNESDAY - WHO AM I WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY - TUBE TALK THURSDAY
FRIDAY - FOODIE FRIDAY
SATURDAY - SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Now, this probably leads to the next question.  What exactly is "Motivation Monday" all about?

Well, remember how a couple of months ago, I decided to take part in an Internet chat show with a couple of my friends?  It was a talk show entitled "MOTIVE2CHANGE", and it featured myself and my friends CARINE and JOSH talking about a lot of different topics that the youth of our world might be experiencing, and offering them lots of tips and solutions for getting through it by sharing our experiences.

But wait.  Notice how I wrote that in past tense.  Why would I do that?  Has the show been canceled due to lack of interest?  Did we run out of topics to talk about?  Did we have a huge fight and we're now constructing tell-all books about how horrible the partnership really was?

Well, the short answers to those three questions are no, no, and absolutely not.

You see, the theme for "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" is all about change.  It's the third anniversary of the blog, and in order to keep things fresh, I wanted to try some new things. 

And, on our Internet chat show, we're trying some new things too beginning with a new addition to our hosting panel as well as a name change reflecting that addition.

Beginning with the episode of the series that I will be posting after this little blurb is finished, you will notice a fourth person taking part in the show, and I would like to welcome our newest host JONATHON for joining us on this, and hopefully more episodes of the series.  We all agreed that by having a fourth person on our panel that it would offer up some more depth to our discussions, and also open up more dialogue for us to talk about.  It's also good for keeping the show running because if one of us were unable to make it for a show taping, there would always be three others who could take over in a pinch.

Now, as a result of adding Jonathon to our discussion panel, we realized that the name "MOTIVE2CHANGE" was a little bit redundant.

Hence the decision to make the show title "MOTIVE4CHANGE" instead.  It fits, it incorporates the number of people hosting the show, and the name change still reflects the message we want to provide! 

(SLIGHT SECRET REVEAL:  Keep an eye on the brand new colour scheme for the new Motive4Change logo.  You might see it sooner than you think on the blog...)

So, before I post this week's episode, I want to post links to the other four episodes that were previously taped, as well as the subjects that each program discussed.  Remember, there was no episode posted on Easter Sunday, and episode #4 was delayed a couple of days due to illness.

EPISODE 1:  PUBLIC SPEAKING (3/30/2014)
EPISODE 2:  ACCEPTANCE (4/6/2014)
EPISODE 3:  FUTURE ASPIRATIONS (4/13/2014)
EPISODE 4:  SELF-WORTH (4/29/2014)

And now join us for the fifth episode for the newly renamed "MOTIVE4CHANGE".  The topic?  Future Goals!

Remember, you will now see a brand new episode of the chat show every Monday from now on!  I hope you enjoy them!

And, you know, just going off on a slight tangent that is loosely linked to the topic of the show...when I first began this blogging venture close to three years ago, I never expected in my wildest dreams that it would even make as much of an impact on the Internet.  I thought that at most, I would get a small group of regular followers who would check in at least once a week, and that would have been fine for me.

Well, I can honestly tell you that three years after I started this blog, I have clocked in my 300,000th view from a variety of people in several different countries!  And, before some of you accuse me of being responsible for more than half of those views, I will state that the United States accounts for more than half of the people reading this blog...a statistic that this Canadian is blown away by.

Again, I just want to state that having all of you continue to read this blog and my ramblings about pop culture, and the occasional bout of self-reflection trying to work out why there are some days in which I have been questioning the paths I have taken throughout my life's journey so far...it makes me realize that writing is the best possible way that I can communicate with people, and that your interest in this blog makes me realize that there's a lot more that I can do with my writing skills.

I'm not the same person I was three years ago.  I was looking back at my entries that I wrote when I first started this blog, and I was amazed at how much my writing style has changed since then.  I think that I've changed and adapted my writing style enough so that I sound more mature, and I'm certainly finding myself getting more and more creative.

I guess that's part of the reason why I'm more open to making these changes to the blog.  I think I've done the blog long enough that I feel confident that these changes will help the blog grow even more.  And, it's not unusual for me to come up with more plans to make this blog special...and who knows?  I may end up having the courage to take some of these life lessons learned from pop culture and writing a best-seller one day. 

Hmmm...that may not be such a bad idea.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being a part of "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE.  These past three years have been great.  Let's make this year the best one yet!

(SLIGHT SECRET REVEAL #2:  Don't get too used to that logo...)