Category: Me

I’m Baaaaaack

On By tcam83In Life, Me, PhotographyLeave a comment

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Well, hello everyone. It’s been a minute since I last posted, hasn’t it? I know, I know. I have failed you and my intentions of building a fanbase with this blog. I even bought my own URL, lol. Tell all of your friends that theeyeofthetyler.com is where it’s at. Anyway, let’s just blame it on 2020 and the mental roller-coaster that it has been. Am I right? I needed to be in the right head space to take the time and focus.

HOWEVER, I do want to share what went on behind the scenes to help my sanity out for future blog posts. There is a part of me that (every now and then) likes to get organized. This is my mother’s fault for sure, which is probably why I also love post-it’s.

But I digress… Every photo taken from my phone since 2013, every photo from my camera since 2005, and the 500 or so photos I have scanned from growing up have now all been uploaded to Google Photos. This brings us to about 27,000 or so photos that are now available to me at the ease of my fingertips. I have taken the time to add dates, locations, and people to all of these. This has been a very time consuming project, but helped get my mind focused on something instead of the pandemic, politics, life, and missing my life. It also allowed me to save A LOT of time going forward to quickly search for a photo if it is someone’s birthday, or in the case of this blog, quickly reference the photos of a destination or memory for digital inclusion. For example, if I search for me, over 6,000 photos come up. Yeah, I’m humble. If I search Paris, 521 photos come up. Magnifique!  When I search for your mom….. Too far? Anyway, you get the picture!

So that is how I was spending some of my time. This brings me to a quick life update. As many of you may know, I work in promotions for one of the movie theatrical exhibitors. The entertainment industry was and is severely impacted by the pandemic this year (as has been for many industries), forcing many of us into furlough for an extended time. I am happy to say that I returned to work in late August. It took a bit to get used to the new normal and dust off my brain again from a work perspective after 4 ½ months, but it feels soooooooooooooooo good to be back.

Furlough though? Man, that was a weird position to be in. On one hand, sure, it was that rare moment to have time off for myself. I’ve dreamt of this moment! However, it is worth noting that everything I would have normally done during that time, I couldn’t do. The things I would typically partake or spend money on during warmer weather, I couldn’t do and/or was hesitant to spend money on. I am someone that thrives on social experiences, and this was a test to my sanity. I found that I started talking to myself at times. On one hand, I am a gemini, so from that perspective, this should be in line with my personality or should I say personalities. On the other hand, I shouldn’t be talking to myself.

Thus, I kept as busy as I could to keep my mind and soul occupied. I refused to just sit and soak up television. I would have gone down a dark rabbit hole. I was happy to get back into running and work my way up to the length of a half marathon. I stepped up my cooking game. I caught up on reading. I did a few house projects, including rebuilding my closet shelving. Though it is worth noting that my head is what broke the previous shelf. I mean I’m clumsy, but I do like to put my head into things. 2020 didn’t change that, unfortunately. To bring the circle all the way around though, my other project was this blog. So here we are. Let’s get back at it…

As we wrap this post up with a nice bow at the kickoff of this holiday season, I thought I would share a few memories over the past few months to see what I have been up to, and the stories behind them. Please enjoy or roll your eyes. Your pick!

November

  • My holiday decorations are up! Listen, I don’t want to hear your malarkey about Thanksgiving being the go date. It is going to take all of my strength to not be in a bah humbug mood this season when I will not be able to go to or do any of the things that put me in the spirit. Thus, they are up and I feel good about it. Of course, the artistic side of me is very particular and perfectionistic with things looking a certain way and keeping to the overall industrial theme of my place. What you won’t see are bright colors, sparkly things or the kitchy items. I have ONE Santa in the entire joint. He is a stocking and he is subtle. Anyway, enjoy a few photos! 

October

  •  Imagine, if you will, leaving the grocery store with your purchased goods to then have your cart tip forward to where you are now on top of said cart and your items are now rolling away… including bottles of club soda and tonic water. Yep, that sure did happen. By the time I got up a second time (yes it happened again immediately after) there are now 5 cars that are waiting to go through the parking garage… because I am blocking. Was it front heavy? I don’t know. Was there as sensor that was preventing me from bringing the cart in the parking garage? I don’t know. What I DO know though was that I had some healthy marks and bruises for a month!

September

  • One of the highlights this September were morning or evening walks. As noted earlier, I stepped up the running game this year. I also tried hard to get up early and get the day started right by being active. It took a bit of adjustment and getting used to. But it felt so good once I did it. I was able to get a nice morning coffee out on the stroll, and have newfound energy heading in to the work day! Now that it has gotten colder, don’t ask me how this is going. Because it’s not. But that’s none of your business. I will get back in to that when it is warmer and have motivation again to set foot out of the covers. Enjoy these few pictures though from some glorious sunrises, sunsets, and discoveries!

Is there anything you would like to me to think about or post about soon? I have tried varying topics in the past, but it was travel that seemed to resonate most. Is that still the case? I am here to provide and entertain as best I can. I am a one man band, but without a monkey. Maybe one day. But for today, well, that’s all folks. Mask up!

End of line.

Need some music for the soul?

On By tcam83In Life, MeLeave a comment

Okay y’all. It’s been a tough last few weeks with everything that is happening in our country. We have all been dealing with a power keg of feelings as we navigate the late-breaking updates that barrage our social feeds every minute. Oh, and are we still dealing with the confusion and uncertainty in regards to COVID-19? Yep! Additionally, and because of the preventative social distancing measures, I am still on furlough, as are so many in a range of industries in this shaky economy. Sigh.

As we continue to take a stand to what is happening and stand up to the challenges that 2020 has brought forth, it is important to disconnect periodically. We all need a moment in the day to take a deep breath and turn off the outside noise.

A way that has always helped me deal with stress is through the power of music. Songs have a way of connecting with every mood you may be feeling based on your day, your stress level, your local weather and your overall mental space.

Let’s take a step back. From a young age I have always loved the concept of mixes. I secretly always wanted to be a DJ. I remember putting on cassette mixes for my family at home where I would provide broadcast commentary before each song. This progressed to creating mix CDs with the dawn of iTunes. Let me just say that I took this seriously. I would literally sit in front of a computer for a 3 hour time period to strategically determine which songs would be placed and in what order from a beat and flow standpoint. The goal was always to ensure seamless song transition, to the point to where the whole CD sounded like one track. I know, I am crazy.

So here we are today. Technology has changed and we are in the world of streaming. I have, thus, moved this passion to the world of Spotify and am constantly tinkering with creating new and adding new songs to playlists that fit a certain purpose. On a broad level, feel free to explore and follow my profile here, but for now I wanted to dive in to one particular one today….

I call it “Soul”:

This playlist encompasses slow to mid-tempo r&b songs over the last few decades (though with prominence to the 90’s). Representing almost 20 hours of music through 250 songs, these are smooth jams to sit back and groove to, make dinner with, or have in the background with your friends. I personally love listening to my soul mix when it is raining out, or when sitting on the couch with a martini (yes, that’s how I roll). Upbeat hip-hop with this particular playlist, as those should define their own mix. These are tunes that have melt in melody, rhythm and fit an overriding theme of “new love” and “love lost” in their lyrics. So many of these songs bring back MTV memories from growing up, and it has been fun discovering new tracks that I have never heard before that I am now obsessed with.

In nod to the amazing new jack swing sub-genre brought to the forefront by Teddy Riley as well as Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, below are a few of my soul concert pics from over the years:

Janet Jackson
Bel Biv Devoe
Bobby Brown

Music has a way of bringing us together and I hope this playlist provides you with a little sunshine through the storms of stress this year. Let me know your thoughts on the playlist and what songs you like. It is also worth mentioning that if there is something I missed on this playlist, by all means please share that with me. I would love to add it!

Before I go, and in preparation for my next post, I am going to head back and explore one of my past vacations. Is there a particular state or country you would like to learn about? Or would you just like to learn a random funny story about myself from my own journey? Let me know!

End of line.

Featured

What in the world are you doing?

On By tcam83In MeLeave a comment

Great question. I continue to ask myself this with in regards to starting this blog. 😳

As I think about it though, it is also a question that has been asked of me by others throughout my life and not just now. Hmmm. But I’ve gone too far. You may not even know who I am! If that is the case, I truly apologize and let me start over…

Granada, Spain

Hello, my name is Tyler Campbell and I welcome you to this page! I thought I would use this time in furlough to put a dream goal/idea in to execution mode, for better or worse.

The mind and curiosities of this Gemini are always turning when it comes to exploration and creativity. Throughout my life I have always tried to live by the motto of Frank Sinatra and do things my way. Not all of those decisions have been the right way as you might imagine and there have been obstacles that have come along the way in this journey. However, when I look back I know that I have at least taken chances, made a difference, and did what makes me happy.

The purpose of this blog is meant to share some of those stories from over the years, allow me to dust off some of the photos that not seen the light of day in a while, and provide a few tips along the way. These recommendations might be related to some of the places I have been fortunate enough to visit throughout my life, the latest products or songs that are making me smile, or maybe even a recipe that recently turned out well at a dinner party.

I encourage you to play along and let me know what may or may not resonate, what you enjoy hearing about, and what questions you would like me to explore… about anything. This hodgepodgerie is meant to cover whatever these fingers feel like typing away. As much as I yearn to have Samantha Brown’s job, I know there are things that worth discussing besides JUST travel. At the end of the day and with these turbulent times we are all trying to just get through right now, I simply want to post things that allow us all to keep smiling, keep learning and keep moving forward.

So saddle up and let’s begin this journey, for better or worse…

On my high horse then…
Still horsing around today…

End of line.