My name is John but my friends call me Pham.  I’m a 25 year old male from Chicago, IL and I am a nobody.

Who am I? I like everyone else.  And yet, I’m different.  My friends joke that “I’m special” and say, “Oh Pham” and smile.  In actually, I am different and special.  I am who I am.  I am myself.  I am Pham

I am Pham. I’m someone that many people know or know of.  It is not that I’m popular, famous or funny.  It just happened that way.  People know me before I even know them.  But when I do get a chance to know you, I am very sincere in the way that I do want to know you.  I want to know all of you as the person who you are.  I am genuine.

I am genuine. I do not bullshit or toy around.  What you see is what you get.  I’m honest and true when it comes to people knowing me.  There’s no hidden surface; there is just Pham.  And the genuineness goes both ways because I am genuine in wanting to meet and know you.  I’m not a person who wants connections.  I’m a person who want to create true friendships.  I am a best friend.

I am a best friend. I treat all my friends as a best friend.  You may not consider me as your best friend, but know that I will always treat you as my best friend.  Friendships come and go, but I want to show you that I cherish the time I spend with you.  I care about you and want you to know that if you ever need anything, I am here.  I will be the best friend you need the most when no one else is around.  I will be there.

I am a traveler. Since I am genuine with my friendships, I will travel to see you, hang out with you and catch up.  But I alsowant to see the world and all its wonders.  In the past ten years, I have traveled to 14 different countries.  I just visited my 30th state and hope to see the last 20 in the near future.  I backpacked Europe alone this summer to make sure I complete my goal of backpacking before I turn 25.  I don’t just dream about traveling, I actually travel and see the world.   I seek adventure.

I am an adventurer. I do not settle for the mundane.  I seek for thrills & adventure and the adventure seeks me.  Adventures does not have to be anything extra ordinary.  All it has to be is different.  Climbing a chapel spire at 1 am in the morning and then jumping into a pool with all your clothes on?  That’s an adventure.  Backpack Europe alone because you want to?  That’s an adventure.  Running around the city while doing a scavenger hunt?  An adventure.   I love adventures.  Even scheming a prank is an adventure in itself.

I am prankster. I love pulling pranks.  And as a prankster, I welcome pranks towards me; it’s only fair.  Though my pranks are kept at the utmost highest class possible.  There are 4 rules to which I follow to ensure that a prank is worthy enough to be executed.  Often times, I will plan my prank for weeks (and even months) in advance before I perform it.  Always remember that my pranks will bring laughter to all parties.  It’s all about having fun.

I am fun. Perhaps it’s my antics or even my randomness.  I’m all about having fun and enjoying life.  Life is short and it is to be enjoyed, loved and lived to the fullest.  I love life and it makes me happy.

I am happy. I smile each day knowing that there might be someone out there who is having a bad day.  I hope that my smile would make their day a little brighter.  Life is tough and is not always easy, but if you fight through the hard times, you won’t regret the joy that will come out in the end.  Just remember, it’s okay to be sad.

I am sad. Even with all my energy, sometimes I can’t help but be sad or emo.  Life is beautiful, but in life there are struggles and turmoil.  It is then when I feel alone.

I am alone. I’ve gone through so much in my life.  Not to discredit anyone else’s struggles, but for me, I have been through hell and back more times that I would have liked.  But it is during those dark days that I realized I am surrounded by amazing friends who love me.

I am loved.  No matter how alone I am, I know that there will always be a friend there to love me.  It may not always be the obvious one, but someone will be there to bring love and joy back to my life.  Thanks to them I will always remember how amazing life is and how much I love it.  And with that love, they’ll remind me of my passion for technology.

I am a techie. I am always plugged in.  I love the flow of information.  The technology world has always enticed me to learn and continue to learn.  I transformed a hobby into a career.  But no worries, I will always be faithful to my sociological roots.

I am a Sociologist. It may be my major in college, but I am as passionate about sociology as I am with technology.  Everywhere I go, I can’t help but observe and do ethnography.  Sociology is in my bones.  Culture, subcultures and the communities that it forms fascinates me.  It’s almost as fascinating how my friends laugh at the fact that I’m so white even though I’m Asian.

I am a Twinkie. I’m yellow on the outside, white on the inside.  I may be Asian but I consider myself as Caucasian.  Most of my friends are white.  I can count all my Asian friends in my hands (and they’re Twinkies too).  “Azn Pride?”  Ha!  I do not pretend to know my culture or try to assimilate the two cultures.  No.  I am a American.  I talk like a white person.  I dress like a white person.  I see myself as white and more.

I am a somebody. I am Pham.  But in retrospect to the greater things in this world, I am a nobody.

I am a nobody. But that’s okay.  As long as I inspire others to achieve something great in their own lives, then I know that I have done something great.  Because that is who I am.

Who am I?

I’m a nobody, but I just hope to inspire somebody.

Inspired by the CuriousIllusion.

Did you know that I Tumble?

Here’s a sample of the random awesomeness of the web that I’ve found recently:

Follow me on Tumblr for more.

I love Radiohead and puns.  That being said, this is a punny cover by Wheezy Waiter of Radiohead’s Creep.  Pun was provided by yours truly.  Also, if you recognize Craig, that’s because he’s the lead singer in his band, Driftless Pony Club.

Previous Unknown Music Tuesday:  ChartJackers – “I Got Nothing”

Sadden by the fact that I am done traveling for the year, I cannot complain about an easy relaxed weekend at home (minus a very damaging Target trip) for a change.  From June to October, I traveled outside of Illinois once a month visiting 7 countries and 5 states.  More impressively, I flew 19 times and visited 15 different airports in those 5 months.  As anxious as  I am to travel again, I am also sadden by the fact that this weekend’s Indianapolis trip fell through and next month’s Florida’s trip needed to be canceled.  Though, I can’t complain at all.

Since the beginning of the year, I was thirsting for adventure and long have I waited for the adventure to come to me.  But for a change, I decided to seek the adventure and took a chance.  Going into the unknown, unplanting myself and explore the world that I always dreamt about.  I have no regrets.

The lovely Renee reflected on how she traveled abroad when she was in college.

It forced me to put life in perspective. It forced me to see ME…ME in my truest, purest form.  And it forced me to make adjustments to be the ME that I wanted to BE. I became who I am thanks to five too short months that flew by much too quickly.

I cannot agree more.  These five months have been magical.  I was able to put myself in a new perspective.  Travel to places I always dreamed about.  Explored a culture that I could not even explain the language.  And I forced myself to make adjustments to be the person I wanted to become.  A spontaneous trip to New York City for a blogger meet up, visiting a dear friend in Minneasota and flying to Seattle & San Francisco to see friends who I haven’t seen in years.  I am thankful for those five months that changed everything.

And tonight, I’m sitting in my freshly cleaned (though not fully organized) apartment, relaxing for a change.  The thirst for adventure and travel is ever present.  But right now, I can just be here and not feel restless for a change.  There are many more adventures and trips in the horizon.  Tonight, my adventure is being alive at home because life is beautiful.

Three years ago today, I created this blog and posted my first blog post ever.

I can’t believe that after three years and over 500 posts later, I’m still blogging away.  I never saw myself as a blogger; more because my life is not interesting enough to share and blog about.  Sure enough, you guys still keep on coming back.  You all must be smoking something.  Whatever it is, gimme some!

Well, as we start off my fourth year of blogging, I’m going to quote you from my first blog post:

I am a man of few words…any questions?

Yeah, why am I still talking?

YouTube stars, Charlieissocoollike, Nerimon & JohnnyDurham19 are trying to hijack chart jack the UK Billboards with their single as they raise money for charity.   How are they going to do this?  By using YouTube and asking people to collaborate with them and spread the word.  Lyrics were written via the comments of YouTube then Tom Milsom arranged them.  YouTube auditions were held for band members and a producer was also selected via YouTube.  Finally, everyone joined in a collaborated in a literal interpretation of the lyrics.   Put it all together and this is what you get:

All proceeds will go to “Children in Need”.  Please support them.

Edit:  The BBC is doing a documentary on ChartJackers as they try to break the Billboard’s Top 40.

Previous Unknown Music Tuesday:  Muppets – Ode to Joy (Beethoven)

I was trying to explain to a friend about social media and it got me thinking.  How do you explain social media?  It’s such a wide and open definition that it’s almost impossible to explain and grasp all at once.  Social media itself is very dynamic; the mean of it keeps on changing each day.  What social media was 3 years ago is not necessarily what social media is now.  More importantly, social media has a different definition to each person.

How can we explain it and grasp its full meaning?  Any social media person can go on forever about social media.  It’s because we’re excited about it.  We have embraced it.  It’s part of our daily lives.  And most importantly, it’s something that we’re passionate about.  But how can we best explain to someone who don’t understand it?  And how can we keep our definition simple enough that will get others intrigue by it?  Instead of a long winded explanation, why not limit ourselves to our social media constraints.  But instead of 140 characters, let’s make it one word.

And so I asked.  What better way to ask than tweet out the question on Twitter?

Here are the answers that I have received:

My answer?  I have to agree w/ @doniree and say “community.”

How would you explain social media in one word?

Just recently Twitter rolled out their “lists” feature to everyone.  As people started to use it, I wasn’t surprised when I noticed that I was being grouped into the Chicago, bloggers and 20SB categories.  However, one list that I’m a part of really caught me off guard.  Heck, it made me laugh.

One of my followers threw me into the group “People I will never meet”.  Now I can understand that I’m in Chicago and that person is somewhere else in the world.  But let’s not forget, the world is a lot smaller than it use to be.  Additionally, if this person is a blogger (not yet confirmed), there still is a chance I can meet this person at a future meet up.

With all that being said, what made this list so hilarious was who I was grouped among.  I was put in the company of celebrities and movie stars.  Yes folks, I’m in the same class as John Stamos, Lance Armstrong, the Jonas Brothers and Ellen Degeneres.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s a screenshot:

That’s right folks, apparently I’m a celebrity.  Anyone want my autograph?

Not all artists on Unknown Music Tuesday are real.  Even fictional artists can surely turn heads and crack a smile like this “Ode to Joy” version by no other than Beaker of the Muppets.

Previous Unknown Music Tuesday:  Nataly Dawn – Do What You Want (OK Go Cover)

Now just because I’m Asian, doesn’t mean that I can’t grow facial hair because I can!  It may take me a little longer, but I can grow facial and I sure can grow a beard.  (That’s right Asians, I can grow a full beard.  Be jealous!)  Now granted, it took me four years to connect my sideburns to my chin hair, but I managed to do it.  It took four more years to connect my mustache to my chin hair, but I think this is the year that I won’t have a C-shaped goatee.  Either way, I’m doing it folks and there’s no looking back.  See you in 30 days!