Missing Pieces

Recently, I have been having the same conversation with a friend over and over.  Ordinarily, I would hate repetition.  I cannot stand hearing people repeat themselves, especially in the course of the same conversation, but this situation is slightly different because the discussion has more of a life-focus, and the discussion has mostly been on where he is in life.

This week, however, I feel as though we reached an epiphany in his situation.  He is an artist, and what we had previously diagnosed as a mental hang-up in his ability to follow-through and complete work, I now believe is simply a creative barricade.  The only hang-up is disappointment, so his only choices are either releasing art that he is not behind or waiting until he can figure out the missing pieces to get his art to match his mental vision of it.

It sounds like a roadblock, but this week, I compared it more to a mental Rubik's Cube.  My basis for comparison was not very hard to reach.  From March 2005 until January 2008, I used to record matches for a local wrestling promotion.  I did a lot of work for them, including ring announcing, writing promotional material, and calculating rankings, until the company ceased operations in September 2009.  There were various degrees of accomplishment throughout the years, but the thing I consistently enjoyed the most was filming the matches.  This footage was often sent to larger organizations when the performers were looking for work, so my footage was viewed by several top talent scouts.

Beaver & I "like" working for IZW.

Unfortunately, for the past two years, watching these matches made me sick to my stomach.  I could not bare to watch any footage without going through a wide range of emotion (and none of them positive).  I dismissed the feelings as being tied to the death of Peter Goodman (one of my favorite wrestlers in the promotion, and the best friend of Lil' Nate, who is my second favorite wrestler of all time).  There was a long story behind my time with Impact Zone Wrestling, in fact I think I wrote 10,000 words about it a year ago in the hopes of resolving some issues.  It didn't.

However, I recently had a breakthrough and I have been thoroughly enjoying my footage again lately.  The difference was that I found a way to upload my footage to YouTube.  Not just a way, but a very simple way to take what I have already done and to put it on YouTube for anyone to view.  Since that time, I have been watching the footage, analyzing it like I used to do, and deciding what I want to put online.

The problem is that I had been trying for the past few years (if not longer) for a way to get what I have done online, but nothing ever worked.  Even the most expensive programs, some I've even purchased, did nothing for getting my footage online.  To explain it in technical terms, I have my footage as .VOB files but YouTube will not load those files.  My first thought was that I could simply rename the files from .VOB to .AVI or another coding, but my computer dismissed that attempt.  Thus, began Plan B, and then Plan C, Plan D, Plan E, etc.  For months, I've ignored texts from Lil' Nate because I was so disillusioned with the matches that I did not want anyone to see them.  In my mind, my footage was not any good.  If only it were as easy as renaming the file.  Instead, it became some complex puzzle where everyone had an idea but no one had the solution.

"The Match of Matches" is YouTube.

This week, I downloaded a couple of programs through which I should have been able to rip my DVD-R and recode the files, but even those programs were not compatible with my .VBO files.  As part of my research to find a solution, I came across a lousy YouTube clip in which the person simply renamed the .VBO files to .AVI successfully.  The video itself warned that not all computers allow it, but I figured that, since I had been trying everything else, I might as well try everything.  It failed.  At first, anyway.  Then I realized an important difference, which was that I was trying to rename the programs on my DVD-R whereas the video had the files in a folder on the desktop.  It made sense to me why that would make a difference, and it was worth a shot.

As it turned out, it was worth more than a shot: it was priceless.

The amazing thing was that they were the same steps that I had first tried, but one minor difference prevented it from working and not working.  One of the folder options had to be changed to permit it.  After that small change, the floodgates opened.  Now I can put any match from my IZW library online in a matter of minutes. All my disappointment vanished.  I am proud to share these matches with anyone who seeks them out or happens across them.

The comparison is one I feel as though my friend has been facing, as though all he needs is to find one more piece of his creative puzzle, and then he will have his own mental Rubik's Cube solved.