- Conan O’Brien, Last Episode of Tonight Show

Short post. It’s been ages since the last one, I know. Lots of great stuff happened since. Life feels…different. Though it takes a moment of reflection to observe it…

So last night I was out with a buddy. It was a Sunday (yes, we were out on a Sunday), and we had just left The Ranch after one too many rounds of Jameson, courtesy our local bar staff. As we were walking down Lavaca St, he tells me: “You know, you’ve progressed a lot. I remember how you were 4 months ago..”

I replied: “Really…you know, sometimes I just don’t see it…”

He said: “You know what makes it especially difficult to see progress? When you keep comparing things back to those one or two great moments. It kind of makes you think that you’ve been doing a lot worse than you really are.”

It made me think. It reminded me of that old adage:

Excellence is not act, but habit.

One of my favorite salsa instructors told me she got good by going out dancing almost every night for two years straight. She loves what she does, and now choreographs  shows with a couple of dance troupes in addition to teaching several classes during the week.

I also know a professional video gamer (female, I should mention). She was into Counterstrike when she lived in Africa, and trained 10 hours a day with her team. During the first two months she had only one kill. She eventually made it into championship matches with her team.

A lot of getting to where you want to be is strictly hustle. And when you don’t see progress, it makes it real easy to just quit. That’s why it’s so important to remind yourself of how badly you desire something, because then the smallest of progress you know is always a step towards your goal. Sometimes it will take a friend to point it out and encourage you. Sometimes you just gotta recognize and celebrate the small victories.

I’m sure I’ve missed some goodies…leave a comment if you think of an awesome song to add to Extreme Mix Vol. 5! Songs characterized by dance, pop, dance pop, europop, epic ballads, and anything with epic buildup and key changes.

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Extreme Mix Vol 5

Amy Grant – Baby, Baby

Wilson Philips – Hold on

Nicki French – Total Eclipse of the Heart Dance Mix

Debbie Gibson – Only in my dreams

Robyn – Show me Love

Donna Lewis – Always Forever

Real Mccoy – Runaway

Taylor Dayne – Tell it to My Heart

Mr. Mister – Kyrie

Toto – Africa

Marky Mark – Good Vibrations

Enrique Iglesias – Escape

Celine Dion – That’s the Way It Is

John Parr – St Elmo’s Fire

Electric Light Orchestra – Twilight

C&C Music Factory – Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

Debarge – Rythm of the Night

Technotronic – Move This

Vanessa Carlton – Thousand Miles

Dream – He Loves U Not

La Bouche – Be My Lover

No Mercy – Where Do You Go

Nsync – Bye Bye Bye

Enrique Iglesias – Don’t Turn Out the Lights

Haddaway – What Is Love

Jon Secada – Just Another Day 

Outhere Brothers – Boom Boom Boom

Vengaboys – Boom Boom

Enrique Iglesias – Rhythm Divine

Culture Beat – Mr. Vain

Real McCoy – Run Away

Le Click – Tonight Is The Night

Tag Team – Whoomp! There It Is

Backstreet Boys – Everybody

Spice Girls – Say You’ll Be There

Backstreet Boys – The One

Mariah Carey – Fantasy

Nsync – I Want You Back

Aqua – Barbie Girl

Peter Cetera – Glory of Love

Real Mccoy – Come and Get Your Love

Cyndi Lauper – Time After Time

Ashlee Simpson – Pieces of Me

Crazytown – Butterfly

Spice Girls – Two Become One

Coolio – 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)

Backstreet Boys – Larger than Life

Technotronic – Pump Up the Jam

Real Mccoy – Another Night

Five – Lights Go Out

Scatman John – Scatman

311 – All Mixed Up

Eiffel 65 – Blue

Vengaboys – We Like to Party

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And…my favorite scene in H&K:

– Unknown

“Indecision may or may not be my problem.”

– Jimmy Buffet