Greetings Steemit! My name is Jason (online persona 'GiftedGaia') and I was directed to this cyberspace by some friends who are already participating. I've given some thought as to what contributions I could make to this community, and have decided that I'd like to share my story & passions with you.
In reading through some of the introduction posts, to get a 'feel' for how things work here - I've noticed right away that people seem to be open and honest about themselves. I REALLY REALLY like that! I sincerely hope I don't come off as sounding 'egotistical' in my posting here. I'm not married and I have no children - so my story is very much a 'personal' one.. and in the interest of trying to be 'selfless', its admittedly difficult for me to talk about 'myself' - yet I'm gonna try my best to do so in a manner that shares 'who I am' and 'why I'm here' with the rest of this community.
Though living in the year 2016 currently - I consider myself to be a 'Renaissance Man' of sorts. I've been a musician all my life in one form or another, a photographer, and someone who honestly tries every single day to make the world a better place.
As a 37 year old man - I've seen my fair share of tragedies and personal growth because of them. My childhood was fraught with abuse. My father suffered a tragic accident and passed away in front of me. My best friend committed suicide, and not wanting his family to see the gory 'mess' he left - I cleaned up the leftovers after his body had been taken. I've been cheated on and lied to by most all relationships I've been in .. and there was a looong period of time where I walked this Earth wearing those experiences like weights from my shoulders, pulling me down into the muck. And then almost as if in a movie - one day I looked in the mirror and decided I didn't like the person staring back at me.. so I decided to become someone else.
My life today consists of helping anyone I can, in anyway I can. I honestly try to live by the motto "We rise by lifting others". Achieving this task has been presented to me in many forms: by organizing charity events raising money for groups in need in my community, in selecting a 'day job' that allows me to help & serve senior citizens in need, by producing 'DJ mixes' that are filled with positivity and uplifting sounds, and my most recent new found hobby - showcasing the beauty of this host cell Earth and my home area via Drone photography. I feel like my membership here will be a display of my accomplishments regarding these topics.
I suppose I should start with how most people 'know' me - Jason the 'DJ'. Born into a musical family: I've always been a singer, a dancer, a guitar player. In the year 2000 I had a close friend return from an oversees Navy deployment. In the interest of 'hitting the town' upon his visit, he choose a nightclub that I had never been to before. It was a Electronic Music dance club, and not knowing the depths of my own ignorance at the time, I had vast hesitation in listening to what I thought was "Techno" all night. We went, and that night changed my life as my mind was blown away by the people I met & the sounds I heard. At the time I had been a guitar player in an alternative rock band. We had seen some success playing downtown with several shows under our belt, yet there was something 'missing' to me, as I felt completely unfulfilled by the rock bar environment and the people there. The 'Techno' club was the complete opposite end of that spectrum. A total stranger - I was received with gushing outpourings of LOVE! The people present were some of the most friendly and positive souls I had ever encountered. It felt like 'Family' from the start - and I immediately knew that this is where I belonged.
The first time you see a DJ spin records on vinyl turntables, its quite mesmerizing. (at least it was to me) I could not believe that such complicated and full sounds were coming from that tiny record needle. I watched in awe, and the club owner took note of my fascination. He brought me back stage that very first visit, and allowed me to watch from behind the DJ just mere feet to the side. As a musician - I had never seen anything like it. I knew immediately that I wanted to learn this craft.
A short while later I made the investment of $600 and bought my first pair of Turntables and mixer. I respected the craft enough that I pretty much lay in hiding for 4 years, practicing every moment I had free. I took it seriously and did not want to be the DJ trainwrecking mixes, I respected the music too much. I fell in love with that music, and attended any EDM event I could in that time. In 2004 I started to play at friend's houses, during parties, and was by far 'The Noob' in our scene. In 2006 I felt comfortable enough to play at a house party in front of strangers for the first time - and that was the first experience I had where when I successfully dropped a decent mix, and the room exploded. I'll never forget pulling the tone arm off the record just finished with my nervous shaking hands, looking up, and seeing a hundred people smiling from ear to ear - lost in the dance. It felt like 'home'.
2007
Shortly thereafter I recorded my first mix to be released publicly entitled 'In Due Time'. This in itself presented a problem - what's my DJ name? I felt like Music was my religion, and the name needed to have applicable meaning of some sort. I thought it about for weeks, and finally decided that I didn't have the words to explain how this music made me feel. At the time I had been reading about mathematics and came across what's known as 'The Golden Ratio aka The Divine proportion'. An entire other conversation in itself - this Sequence of numbers is discovered to be everywhere in nature and the universe - in almost some sort of divine language that we as Humans don't really understand fully yet. I felt this was the perfect comparison of how this music felt like it existed inside of me as if by some divine placement, yet almost indescribable, and so I settled on the name "DJ Phi".
2010
2011
As DJ Phi - I've had musical success in this area. I've played shows all over the Midwest, headlined events with hundreds of attendees, and held a Saturday night residency for 3+ years at the largest dance club in my hometown. When that club closed in the year 2012 - I was admittedly 'burned out' from being in a bar setting every weekend. The music still meant the world to me, and always acted as a therapy during any point of crisis in my life - but I had lost my urge to be surrounded by drunken strangers and out till 3am every weekend. As opposed to moving the show to another bar venue I decided to change my environment in regards to my performances.
2012
2012
In 2012 I started to start to organize charity themed 'park parties'. While working with the local city park board - I've been able to rent most of the area's BEAUTIFUL park pavilions, booking in DJ contacts from all over the Midwest I had made during my night club days, and now hosting similar events but in the day time with friends/family/children/pets welcome! Every event I've done since then has been attached to a charity cause of some sort. Instead of playing for pay, I now play to raise money/awareness for those causes/people needing help in my area. My friends and I have raised Hundreds of pounds of food for local food banks, Hundreds of dollars in donations for area charities in need, and most recently with the help of a gofundme page coupled with a benefit show we organized, over $5,000 for some friends who lost everything they own in a house fire. This hobby, that turned into a passion, has now marked a visible dent in 'helping others' and 'making the world a better place'.. and I couldn't be happier with those results.
2015 benefit for The Ozarks Food Harvest Food Bank
2016 benefit for Ryan & Erin's recovery from the fire
My adorable Niece 'pushing buttons' :-)
Now that I've spoken about my DJ experience, I feel I should list an example. Simply posting my most recent mix here in this introduction, recorded this month (July 2016), to be followed in other posts by past/future mix listings. Every mix I've ever recorded has come with a story. The story for this one was simply I met girl who I feel honesty comes into my life with no hidden agenda, and even as just friends, her presence feels like the sun is shining a little brighter in my life since knowing her. Its refreshing to say the least as I feel I've experienced years of being taken advantage of by past relationships. I call this one "Summer Drift".
Free DL & Stream Link: https://soundcloud.com/dj-phi/dj-phi-summer-drift-july-2016
Moving along - In September of 2015 while playing at one of the park parties I had organized (in support of our town's Art Museum) I had a friend visit the show with a photography drone in hand. He took some really fun videos that day, placing the quadcopter directly above me while I was performing, and after seeing the videos I decided 'I got to get one of those!'. In January of 2016 I purchased a small FPV quadcopter, and after bumping it into the walls around my home for several months while learning to fly, made an investment in May 2016 for a real Drone. Since purchasing the expensive one I've completely fell in love with this hobby as well. I spend hours outside trying to capture the beauty of this land around me, often admitting that these days my head is 'stuck in the clouds'. Its humbling in some sense to me when seeing a stunning sunset, or the cloud shadows dance across the fields. I purchased this device thinking 'it will be fun to fly as a hobby' and its very much become a passion. I'm still very new to the craft, but feel I have a good eye for framing a shot and have captured some telling examples of why we actually do in fact live in a BEAUTIFUL world.
Playing in the park
Foggy Mornings are my favorite
Sunsets make me smile
I'll post one video here, to be followed in other posts by past/future drone videos. This video is one I took during this year's 4th of July celebration across my home town.
Link: 
And there is much, much more to 'me as a person' but I feel this short summation hits on the key points as to what contributions I'll be making to this community, and why. I look forward to hearing the rest of your stories and hope everyone reading this finds some reason to smile today! Life is short - and we live in a crazy world - yet what you do everyday impacts that world around you in one way or another. I want people to say nice things about me when I'm gone and hope that the path I'm walking today will lead me to those results in time.
Kind Regards Steemit!
Jason (aka GiftedGaia / dj Phi)