Whoa this year has gotten away from me.
My last post was right before opening my first Emerald City show. And am I writing now having closed that show, opening and closing 'Urinetown' with Awkward Pause theater, opening and closing 'Hansel and Gretel' with Emerald City, and starting up rehearsals for 'One Came Home' at Lifeline.
Sorry. For those of you who actually read this and for myself-as I benefit greatly from processing here.
I've learned a lot from myself in the last few months. I'm really good at barreling down and sprinting through business headfirst without letting too much affect me or get me down or tire me out. Turns out, that's not the best for me (surprise!).
Vocation is such a romantic idea. You study and gain experience in a preferred, seemingly perfect, match-made-in-heaven job. Then, finding an awesome company, you work with sensibility, joy, and welcomed challenge. What nobody tells you is that the push for discovering this miracle 'vocation' offers none of the aforementioned traits. In the recent months I have landed some awesome gigs and opportunity has fallen in my lap more than once. I rested easy knowing that I have been booked till April and have not needed to go through the dredges of bombed auditions, butt-kissing, and 'thank you we are going a different route'. Going from show, to rehearsal, back to show, and finding time to sleep in between required me to throw my blinders on and push down the road faster.
The Amish get some things right occasionally. They know how to get from point A to B balancing simplicity and efficiency. But I was the horse pulling the buggy in this case. Slap the blinders on. Only see the road. Get to Wal-Mart to buy sacks of Lays and Little Debbies. The stuff on the side of the road will only distract you.
I don't usually do New Year's Resolutions, but my goal these next months and years ahead is to get distracted. By old friends, by vacations, by intriguing alternative lifestyles, by new friends, by taking time off day jobs, by saying no, by pulling up and parking my butt down in the soft grass, or in the dirt.
Smell the daisies. Even when it is -15 deg.
I guess we always choose our sacrifice. Whether good or bad, no matter how much I try, I can do everything, but that doesn't mean I will gain everything.
