Here I present to you a four-part series where I share with you my journal from my travels. I travel a lot, so I thought I would start seriously blogging about it. Here we go! This is the third installment of this series.If you didn’t read part 1, click here for the link.  Here is the link to part 2 as well. Last, here is the link to part 3. 

Day four of my trip started off at the brink of sunset. My friend Shepard and I got up very early and prepared for our trek back northbound to Seattle.

Since I travel for life experiences and meeting people native to the city, I do not travel to spend all of my money on food, and luxurious tourist experiences. Before we left, I ate all of my leftovers from the previous days. Have you ever had mac and cheese for breakfast before? It is an amazing breakfast food.

The drive from Portland to Seattle is to die for. It is quite the opposite drive from Minnesota to Chicago, where you have to drive through that atrocious state called Wisconsin.

The trees, mountains, rivers and these tiny log towns were quite the sights to see. Being from Minneapolis, a region where there are no mountains, I really came to appreciate mountains for the first time in my life. I saw mountains many times as a child, but that doesn’t process in your brain during your youth.

Road trips are great. The way you pack, talk, pass the time and create memories together creates a beautiful experience. Shepard and I made the most of it, that is for sure. When we arrived in Seattle, we stopped and parked the car at Angle Lake Station, hopped on a train to Pikes Place Market, and explored the city.

Prior to the trip, I stole a tangerine from Shepard’s cabinet. I knew he wouldn’t care, but I needed it for travel survival purposes as I was down to less than 100 dollars. Remember, I left for this trip with only 300 dollars in cash.

Why am I so daring?

After me and Shepard went our separate ways, I worried if he was going to get back to Angle Lake because he had no money for a train ticket. That only meant that he had to try to sneak on the train without getting caught.

Granted that I do this all of the time when I travel, I have seen people on trains in Germany get arrested. This is serious because I see the same in other countries as well. Please make sure you pay for public transportation.

Due to that, I have not heard from Shepard since I last saw him.

I wrote about Shepard a while back. Here is the link to the article that I wrote about him.

As I walked back to the hostel, I became anxious about whom I would meet that night. A night in a hostel with the right attitude can lead to a great time.

The hostel that I stayed in was the Green Tortoise Hostel.

This place is great. They had tacos for dinner, eggs for breakfast, and the coziest rooms. If you have ever traveled in hostels before, you would know that a lounge is a great place for stimulating conversation with foreigners. Lounges can introduce you to people from all over the world. On this trip, I met people from Australia, Germany, England, and Canada. From the US alone, I met people from Georgia, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Dallas. Lounges are insane.

That was quite the night.

Then the night had to end.

On my last day there I knew there was only one thing that I needed to do to make my voyage out to Seattle a little bit better than any other excursion that I’ve been on.

I went to see the Bruce and Brandon Lee gravesite. It is essential that you pay respects for Bruce Lee, the definition of a legendary dragon.

The man was a superhero, he could do thousands of pushups, and he invented a new form of Kung Fu called, “Jeet Kun do.”

Bruce Lee is a whole other topic of conversation, but yes if you go to Seattle, you should see how surreal the feeling to be around in the presence of these two men. Why? Well, they are both legends in their own right.

Bruce Lee was the first ever international movie star, who brought the east and west together, and that is why he is a top 50 iconic legend in my personal bias opinion.

After my spiritual upbringing at their gravesite, I headed back to Pikes Place Market to further explore the culture there. As I was walking up and down the market on both sides of the street, I noticed that there were only four fish markets there, so the folklore of the major fish markets that you have to see diminished for me. This is because I had this pre-conceived idea that the whole market was going to be fluttered with fish and people throwing them around like they were baseballs.

The funny thing was that if you purchased a fish, they would ship it back to you, which answered my question as a tourist if you were to buy a fish. I always thought if you bought a fish that it wouldn’t make any sense because it would be difficult to cook it right away. But, it all makes sense due to the tourism demands.

When you buy a fish or any seafood, you give the showmen of the fishmarket your card or cash, then they put it in a tennis ball, and they slide it in the ball and throw it to the cashier, then the cashier gets a fish thrown at him and packages it. Then he or she throws the ball back, then BOOM, you have a fish sent back to you.

You would think that it would be a lot cheaper to buy fish there, but you are buying the experience and the novelty of having a fish from the famous market in Seattle.

Ironically, I met a girl from St. Paul and she and I got to talking. She was super cute, and her name was Abbie. She told me that she moved out to Seattle because she fell in love with the markets and wanted to be around that atmosphere all of the time. She loved her job selling fish, and that was ever so inspiring. Abbie was a show woman about fish and could throw a mean tennis ball.

Although I didn’t purchase any fish from her, she gave me a lot of free smoked salmon because I used my charm to swindle her for free stuff. Just kidding.

This is where I smirk and do an eyebrow raise or two.

After my final hurrah at the market, it was time to finish my wine in my hostel and prepare to go home.

In conclusion, most people travel for food, luxury, Instagram posts, or any of that basic stuff. I travel for survival. I travel for thrills, meeting characters like Issak, beautiful people who give free front row tickets to Intelectual Digital Music Concerts, and for the challenge.

Yes, I want to find those lost evenings and last minutes when you are in a foreign city. I went to Seattle with only 300 dollars in cash with no credit cards, and I made it work even with no sure place to stay. I couldn’t have done it without the fantastic people that I met to make this happen. Although this is not the first time that I have done this, I had to make sure that I documented it so that I would be able to give people a new perspective on how to travel outside of the box.

When you put The Zos in the corner, he will come out victorious with all of the best stories to tell.

I live life for experiences like this, as some of us should. This is why I travel every three months to learn about myself, life and most importantly people and their culture.

May my words inspire you to do something amazing.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

As a writer, I try to challenge myself every day across as many mediums as possible. Poetry, memoirs, fiction, screenplays, and you name it. I take my craft very seriously to be as dynamic as possible to be able to write for anyone or commit to any project at any given time. Here is my latest challenge where I will be rewriting long copy for company websites, which is a form of brochure advertising.

Here are my takeaways thus far from examining what poorly executed long copy is:

Five Key Takeaways of what Bad Copy is.

1. Asking more questions than giving solutions
2. Bad use of adjectives and too many words
3. Bad call to action (CTA).
4. Narcissism (Me Me Me).
5. Asking for money right away.

Solutions to Bad Ads.

1. Choose sensory adjectives that convey a clear meaning
2. Omit Superlatives like “Very or One of a kind”.
3. Don’t use the “Ly” in your words
4. Don’t use basic descriptors, use descriptors that apply to the industry.
5. Take your time and don’t be sloppy, get second and third opinions.

Here are the three examples of long copy that I will rewrite, and the reasons why they are not well executed.

1. Mass Mutual 

People visiting this site are not interested in you, and they are more interested in what you can do for them. Leave out the company history on the front page. People want to know what you can do to help them and etc. This tells me nothing.

Rewrite:

• Title: MassMutual Nebraska
• Subtitle: Growing Your Financial Portfolio
• Replace “Who We Are” with “Let’s Get Started”.
• The short paragraph below:
  • Whether it is your Roth IRA, 401k, or your overall stock portfolio, our analysts provide professional insight into the marketplace, making well executed financial decisions to grow your wealth. By understanding your goals and financial situation, we are able to increase your wealth with our proven detail-oriented design strategy. No client has a one size fit all financial situation, and that is why we tailor to your needs in order for our analysts to maximize your wealth, propelling you for financial freedom for the future.

2. Rareloop

Here, we have a terrible call to action. What do you even do? I need to see what you can do for me. There are too many fluffy adjectives such as passionate, expert, and crafting. This is an excellent example of lazy writing because it is evident that the copywriter wrote what came to mind. I don’t even know what products that they make.

Rewrite:

• Enlarge the size of the name of the company. It would be better if they put it front and center of this page.
• Change heading to “We Are Online Media Masters.”
  • Pose a question or statement.
  •  How Can we Enhance your Digital Presence?
  • 1. Create a Mobile Application.
  • 2. Web design.
  • 3. Branding.
  • 4. Logos and Graphics.
  • 5. Video.

Our well-experienced media specialists will craft your brand to stand out from the rest. Partner up with our team, click here, and we will get started on how we can bring out your company’s fullest potential. Let’s begin.

3. Email marketing from an unknown source.

This is a prime example of brand narcissism, “Me Me Me.” There are too many unnecessary adjectives that do not pertain to what they are selling. Do you also see that I do not even know who this email is from, what company it is, and why they are writing to me? This is way too long, and horribly written because it seems as if it was written one time. If you are going to take the long writing email marketing approach, we need to remember that people will read good writing even if it is very long. The design of this email looks very amateur, and there are many websites that can make your outreach look very professional, without the design being obnoxious and outdated like an AOL email back in the early 2000’s. The design makes me feel like it is from a foreign prince who is urgently emailing me asking for money. People have seen this wording, and bragging before 1000000 times. Ten years ago this would be really cool and catch people’s attention in the email world. 

Rewrite:

• Title: “Multiply your Profits with Effective Copywriting Techniques.”
• Subtext: Introducing our groundbreaking eBook, “$1,000,000 Copywriting Secrets.”
• Paragraphs and Main Message:
  • Would you like $1,000,0000 worth of copywriting secrets so that you can market your products and services effectively online? Copywriting is the most critical skill because your ad copy acts as your online salesmen who generate your sales. Our proven copywriting method will increase your product profits and revenue. No matter how great your product is, it is vital that you pair it with a good copy because, without it, your company will disappear amongst your competition.
  • Our online eBook, “$1,000,000 Copywriting Secrets”, a groundbreaking guide for your brand to be in control of your business and the profits that it generates for you. With our innovative methods, you will be able to create sales and earnings at any time. Write like a professional copywriter, and it will enhance your company’s results. It is as easy as that. Copywriting is the simple solution to separating your business from your competition.

In conclusion, I am no expert when it comes to long copy. This was merely an exercise, and since I have completed it, I have come to realize that this is a skill that I want to develop a prowess in for the future. If you have any thoughts, ideas, or comments on how I can make my long copy better, please comment below as I am still learning the tricks of the trade.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

People with bipolar disorder have strange tendencies, one of them being that we can hear voices in our heads which talk to us while we are in our manic or depressive cycles. Some people even think they are talking to either God, the dead, themselves, or in my case Duke Lagos, my manic alter-ego. Yes, I hear his voice, making me one of the rare examples of bipolar disorder that has this strange sensation. This is very common when someone is manic and is not taking medication. It is even rarer that people are able to talk to these voices but, that is not the case for me. At this point in the dosages of my mediation, I can still hear his voice because I am on a low dosage of Gray Poopon (Lamictal), an anticonvulsant, which means that it is a mood stabilizer.

There will be times where Duke talks to me, but as I continue to document my journey with Gray Poopon (Lamictal), it is only a dramatizing personification that I portray to express down to the deepest root of the authenticity of what bipolar mania can do.

Duke Lagos voices racing thoughts in my head, the energy that keeps me awake all of the time, the power behind my creative productivity, and his words are usually comforting. I really don’t have conversations with him, but it is his spirit that lives within my manic mindset, and that is why he is a personification to me. This exact concept applies to Depressive Dave as well, my depressive alter-ego.

Remember, the two characters are merely energies or auras that I personify in my book, “Summertime Mania.” Call them voices if you will, they are only a personification of the person I become when I am severely manic or depressed.

People with bipolar disorder have strange tendencies, one of them being that we can hear voices in our heads that talk to us while we are in our manic and depressive cycle’s. Some people even think they are talking to either God, the dead, themselves, or in my case Duke Lagos. Yes, I hear his voice, making me one of the rare examples of bipolar disorder that has that. This is very common when someone is manic and is not taking medication. At this point in my dosages, I can still hear his voice because I am on a low dosage of Gray Poopon (Lamictal), an anticonvulsant, which means that it is a mood stabilizer.

There will be times where he talks to me, but as I continue to write this documentation of my journey with Gray Poopon, it is only a dramatizing personification that I am portraying to express down to the deepest root of the authenticity of what bipolar mania can do.

Duke Lagos is the voice of the racing thoughts in my head, the energy that keeps me awake all of the time, the power behind my creative productivity, and his words are usually comforting. I really don’t have conversations with him, but it is his spirit that lives within my manic mindset, and that is why he is a personification to me. This exact concept applies to Depressive Dave as well.

Hearing voices doesn’t mean that you are crazy. This happens to a lot of people, it could be your conscience, a monster, a friend, or an alter ego. Crazy is never a right word to describe anything at all unless it’s you winning the lottery.

Psychiatrists have said that writing down the voices that you hear help your state of reality during manic and depressive swings, and that is why I will write down my interpretations of what the two alter egos are telling me. Don’t be alarmed with what I am telling you about myself, these are just subtle personifying dramatizations that will help you understand yourself or a loved one.

I really hope that during my journey with taking Gray Poopon I can feel less of that spiritual energy from the voices in my head. As I am working on improving my physical and mental health, I really hope this all goes away or neutralizes because I never want to transform into Duke or Dave.

All I want to be is me, David Z.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

Discovering new music has always been challenging for me. Other than hip-hop, I don’t discover new artists through Spotify or iTunes. The main reason is that I’d prefer going to find artists through live performances. Therefore, my discovery of artists has been very surreptitious. Frank Turner, Dante Marsh, Brianna Kocka, and Beans on Toast are a few names that come to mind. At this point with my formula for music discovery, there is this fantastic band named “Ocean Alley” from Sydney, Australia, who are on their first ever North American tour. This six-piece band represents the true spirit of what being a musician is all about.

Whether it is 50 people or 5,000, they love playing shows, traveling, sleeping in motels or strangers houses, and they live to do it all again the next day. That is what being a traveling musician is all about. Rehearsing, promoting, writing songs, and putting every ounce of blood, guts, sweat, and tears into something that is bigger than you is very bliss.

There is a lot of beauty in that.

I discovered Ocean Alley through my roommate who is very good friends with their tour manager, who gave the both of us free tickets. Most people should know that I have a good attitude and that I like to say “yes” to new situations. Regretfully, I was 45 minutes late to their hour-long set. But, immediately they caught my ear. They are the perfect blend of reggae fusion, rock, and psychedelic music all rolled into a six-piece band, a sound that I have never really heard before or even resonated with me until I saw Ocean Alley live at the 7th Street Entry.

Not only were they sonically pleasing they were also aesthetically pleasing as well. Every one of the six had represented Australian swagger, having long hair, wearing vans, and portraying to me what the Aussie surfer-rockstar lifestyle was.

Under their independent label, Ocean Alley in Australia has a huge following and a strong fan base. The saying “big fish in a small pond” applies to them, because in America they are probably playing in front of crowds between 30-100 people, giving it all they got in tiny cramped clubs, on stages that can barely fit six people.

But, you can tell they love every second of their first tour in America. Through the energy that they put out to the audience, it felt as if they were excited about starting from zero in the world’s biggest music market. Like most bands, they had to start out playing in basements at parties and small venues, and then they made a big name for themselves. It takes courage, humility, and a great attitude to put yourself out there in a different pond that is bigger, more saturated, and scarier because you are a foreigner.

Remember, no one ever get’s to the top of the mountain by falling there.

But, they didn’t seem to care. The amount of fun the band was having after the show with their new fans was very inspiring for me. From the two songs that they sang when I was there, they inspired me to pick up my guitar, perform, and to write songs again. Which I recently have been doing every day.

I’d love to release my own seven-track EP in the future.

I don’t know how many people they connected with the 30 person audience, but they struck a chord with me.

“Yes” is what I said to this new situation, and I was rewarded. Ever since I discovered Frank Turner when I was 19, I vowed to go to shows no matter how late I would be, and if I am early, I’d always stick around for the opening acts because you never know who you will discover on accident. Like Frank Turner, Ocean Alley was a small special and astounding discovery for me, in which that I hope other people can have with music and art. That emotional content is only exclusive to me and is something that I can barely describe. This feeling makes my soul sing because no one knows about them, and I am excited that I can introduce them to all of my friends with blazing enthusiasm.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

 

 

Here is a small excerpt from my up and coming book, “Summertime Mania”, which is the second volume of my series, “Conquering the Gifted Curse of Bipolarism”. This is a real-time memoir of the changes that I go through with prescription medication to aid my Bipolar 1 Disorder. This is a documentation of slowly discovering powerful interior and exterior changes while taking medication. This is extremely personal information where I provide brutal honesty regarding my fears, current life adversity, self-betterment, and the quest for finding balance.

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7/22/17

For years I have told my therapist that Kanye West is Bipolar and severely suffers from it. She says that it is illegal for a therapist to diagnose or even talk about someone who isn’t a patient of theirs regarding their mental health.

But, I am not a therapist. I know that someone is Bipolar the minute I meet them because it takes one to know one. Right?

 

Kanye’s themes of his music has always hinted at us that he has bipolar disorder. His lyrics consist of how he talks about power, hitting his massive lows and highs, talking to God, the level of creativity that he has, and for every album that Kanye has put out he has continually reinvented himself with a new alter ego.

Chronologically, there is the student, dropout, certain alternative lifestyle, graduate, heartbroken, magnum opus genius, God complex, sporadic, and now we Bipolar Kanye West. Simply put, there is Old and New Kanye.

With his history of mental breakdowns, erratic behavior, thinking that he is a God, outrageous spending habits, and genius creativity, Kanye has always given us an inside to mental health.

As I predicted about his bipolar disorder, I know that he will come out with an album in the future that addresses his mental health because he always refers to divinely speaking with God and his superpowers. His lyrics can be contradictory from album to album, and most importantly he reinvented the wheel by using sad music with happy lyrics and vice versa.

These are all significant signs that show that you have the gifted curse of bipolarism.

Last, he has the biggest ego in the world, and so do I. Kanye says that no one is a fan of him and that if you are, that you are indeed a fan of yourself and no one else. This is very true of all bipolar people. We do cool things in life just like Kanye does, and we can never hide anything or fake who we are because that is not how the genetic makeup of how the chemical imbalances of our brains work.

His attitude and arrogance make him so appealing to me because I can relate to him a lot on that aspect.

I am calling the shots, saying that he has Bipolar disorder and with his rapid recurrences of mental breakdowns that he will create an album based on mental health.

When this happens, it will be during the summertime, and he will be producing many works of art. Hence, summertime mania.

This new album will be his new personification, his alter-ego, and the “Newest Kanye 2.0”. Everyone will rethink their opinion on him once he shows his greatest vulnerability.

People with Bipolar disorder are very clairvoyant, and that includes Kanye and me as we have seen in his lyrics time and time again.

When this happens, remember who told you first. The Zos did. So, remember, “The Zos Knows.”

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In conclusion, with his new album, “Ye”, being released last Friday (6/1/18), I successfully predicted that he was going to put out an album about mental health. Clairvoyance is one of the many superpowers that bipolar people have.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon