The greatest lesson I've ever learned...

My Dad spent 34 years teaching High School English exactly 7 miles from the house he grew up in.

My Mom grew up across the street from him.

I always thought it was weird when kids would say “I’m going on vacation to see my grandparents.”

I’m like, “wait, what? they don’t live across the street from each other?”

I was also 6 yrs old when I learned everyone in the world was in fact, not Italian.

Maybe I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

My mom got her Masters Degree in Microbiology from Penn State, and spent 30 years working for the NYS Health Department, as a “scientist.”

Colleen is currently filled with more “opinions” (and wine) rather than facts, which yes, makes her the worst scientist of all time.

However, without her, I wouldn’t be writing this to you.

In high school, I was captain of the Varsity soccer & baseball teams.

We won championships in both my senior year, which was not life changing.

I graduated with 250 kids, so if you could write your name & run without tripping, you made whatever team you tried out for.

I was crowned “Lucas Flood, lord of the flies.”

The preferred life path, passed down to all of us, was…

Work hard.

Excel in sports.

Go to college.

Play sports there.

Get a degree.

Find the job you’ll do for the rest of your life.

Have kids.

Retire.

Die.

Based on my current net worth, I obviously abandoned this path after “get a degree,” mostly because I realized it was a crock of shit with no logical basis (other than avoiding poverty).

When it came time to decide what college I wanted to go to, the first questions I asked myself were, “well what sport do you enjoy playing more? what are you better at?”

I never asked myself those questions.

Later in life, I realized that in those moments I had asked myself “which version of yourself do you like best?”

The answer was always: baseball player.

I grew up watching Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees win World Series after World Series.

My Dad would take us down to the Bronx on school nights to see the Yankees play the Red Sox, which I believe to date is the greatest rivalry in sports history.

Grown men, drunk as fuck, beating the living shit out of each other in the stands, purely out of passion for their city.

I was 12 yrs old, living the dream. Glizzy after glizzy, slurping as much Pepsi as humanly possible.

“Holy cow, did you see that Dad!?”

Looking back, it’s easy to love the things your parents do.

You think it’ll make them love you more.

Whether or not those are the things you should center your life around, well that’s the question I later found the answer to.

I chose to go to a school in New Hampshire & get a degree in Journalism.

The school’s parties were better than it’s professors.

When the photo above was taken, I was on the roof of the building behind the SWAT team, watching as a couch burned in flames while tear gas was shot into a crowd of 6’7 frat bros chanting “USA! USA! USA!”

Mind you, this was all in honor of the yearly “Pumpkin Festival.”

The town would light a bunch of jack-o-lanterns on Main Street, count them all, and try to break the record for “most lit jack-o-lanterns in one place…”

They were the only previous record holders.

The school also happened to have a great baseball team.

The only question I really should’ve asked myself leading up to this point, was “which sport can you play better drunk.”

I was cut from the baseball team after a week of tryouts.

Imagine watching a cross eyed, blue mouthed 18 yr old, running around with his tongue out, try to catch 400 ft bombs in left field.

We were mixing vodka with gatorade back then.

Six months went by, and I ended up meeting two guys, each who I’ve spoken to within the past week.

We’ve been friends for 15 years.

They both played soccer.

What You Want vs Who You Are…

While I never would’ve become a professional athlete, one way or the other, I think of Baseball vs. Soccer any time a big life decision comes up.

I take a step back, and ask myself if this is something I truly want, or something I’ve convinced myself I want because I’m still trying to appease this little bubble I’ve decided I must live and die in.

I’m at that crossroads again now.

June 2025 marks 10 yrs in Los Angeles for me.

A lot has happened in those 10 yrs.

I’ve dedicated a decade to music and am now at a point where I’d like to start a family with my fiancé.

For one reason or another, after businesses, brands, recording studios, venues, independent artists, A list artists, and so much hard work, I’ve found that music has never really showed me much love back.

Working hard has never been hard for me.

Deciding what to work hard towards, always has.

I now wonder if music is baseball.

I wonder if I’ve become infatuated with the idea of dedicating a life to rock n roll, to the point where I’d do anything just to stay in the game.

Even if that means sacrificing my future.

Where is the line between manifesting & self destruction?

In any case, I’ve decided that now is the time to let go.

Long live rock n roll,

Lucas