Jay Mathes

Author: jaymathes

  • The Rise and Fall of Facebook

    Take a look at this picture, then read what I have to say about it:

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=33328896&id=48609039
    If you need any proof that the fall of Facebook is near, look no further than the advertisements on the right-hand side of your Facebook pages. There it is in all it’s glory: the moral decay of Western civilization. Yes, fellow citizens of an other-worldly kingdom, Facebook is going the way of MySpace.com. It is now only a matter of time… 
    The only question is: what social networking site(s) will replace Facebook.com? I believe these days are slowly coming to an end – days when people put on their superficial masks and pretend to be online friends with people whom they despise. The non-exclusive, open-arms “friends” lists are coming to an end. The successful social networking sites of the future will focus on specific interests – users will flock to websites that rally around their own interests: “Winter roller coaster riders” and “people with single-jointed baby toes”. The question is: will you be creating your very own profile on “ilovecleaningtoilets.com”???

  • The Dream of an Entrepreneur

    Anyone who knows me knows that I am a type-A individual. I dream big dreams and I have an extremely hard time letting go of them. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had some time to think about my dreams – my goals – and to really contemplate the feasibility of living out those dreams. For those of you who haven’t heard, I’ll lay it out, plain and simple:

    My dream is to perform, record, and write music for a living.
    This is the same goal that I have had since my 18th birthday, with a few, very minor changes in it’s wording.
    In thinking about this singular goal, my mind eagerly makes connections with the reality in which I now live: How am I living out this dream now, how can I in the near- and long-term future, and how can I take steps now toward reaching that dream?
    Well it seems now that the time is right for another, slight modification of this goal. I think that the phrase “for a living” implies that music is the only thing that I “do” to make money. I think part of the appeal of my goal has always been the prospect of working for myself, and maybe that’s more of the sense of what I mean. Maybe I should drop “for a living” altogether. 
    There are, of course, a million ways to earn a buck, and maybe I have what it takes to build a business or two that I can oversee, but don’t run on a day-to-day level: a guitar lessons business, property rental and management, or even something more philanthropic: think a local lawn care business managed and operated as a part of a business class at the high school down the street…
    So maybe my dream has gotten a little bit simpler this year:
    To write, perform, and record music.