Last Thursday marked the one
year anniversary of my last day at INL… A goodbye show at the Idaho Falls Elks
Lodge the following night and I was on my way east… Two months on the road
before returning to Idaho… Happy the boys were safe and loved in Port Orchard,
WA…
I spent a week in Colorado, 2
in Illinois including a weekend with my twin sister I had seen once in the
previous 3yrs… It’s once in the last 4 now and that needs to be changed…
Finishing with 2wks with my cousins and best friend in NY before heading west
again… Driving headlong into the “2014 Polar Vortex” in Illinois, Wisconsin and
Minnesota before making “turns for home” and heading back to Idaho… Not that
Idaho will ever be “home”… It proved again to be the comedy Siberia it always
will be… Not enough venues/opportunity and too damn far from most of the rest…
I spent time with many
friends in both directions along the way… Made many new ones and I am thankful for the laughs and
hospitality shared with them all…
With my lease about to expire,
the end of August, in Idaho… I sold my car, loaded the boys and myself into the
RV and headed to Ventura, CA for the Ventura Comedy Festival… Spending a week
in Northern Utah on the way…
Arriving in Ventura to take
part in the festival… I found a part time security job 2am to 6am at a marina…
It’s kind of nice being able to take the boys to work with me every night…
Someone commented they don’t look like police dogs… I said… “They’re
undercover”…
I am doing workshops once a
week and shows once a month at the LA Connection Comedy Theatre in Sherman
Oaks… Including last week’s “Industry Night” in front of bookers and agents for
Commercials, TV roles and comedy… Reworking a big part of my act to fit a newly
defined comedic character… I’m excited about where this can lead…
But maybe in a karmanic (is
that a word) way… The marina job has reminded me…I don’t have to settle for
where ever the winds of fate drive me… I can adjust the sails and steer for
wherever I desire…
Which may be bringing this
blog to the deep and thoughtful intent I spoke of before sitting down to
actually write this…
As we all sit Thursday to say
thanks… There are many things to be thankful for… If you are lucky enough to be
surrounded by loved ones and family… Revel in that… I understand the choices I
have made and the sacrifices that come with those choices… My closest “blood”
is thousands of miles away… Possibly changing that is one of next year’s top priorities…
With how, when and where yet to be determined… Las Vegas is a possibility…
Again recognizing and
acknowledging the sacrifices that come with my decision to chase this dream…To
load myself and my three dogs into my RV and go… I left the second 6 figure a
year job of my “civilian” career…
We live with the choices we
make and I can honestly say I have never been more at peace… High stress came
with those jobs… Death sentence stress… That stress is gone… I feel happier and
healthier than I have in years… I’m thankful for that…
Where this adventure comes
ashore is yet to be determined… But there’s only one set of hands on the sails
now… We won’t be sailing in circles anymore… I am spending the holiday alone
with my boys… Happy in the knowledge that it’s better than spending it with the
wrong person…
I’m happy to report Riley broke
into a huge grin and surprised me with a sprint across the beach at 630 this
morning… Almost like he had been saving it up for me… He’s 12… But he’s still a
puppy at heart… I am very thankful for that…
I’m not sure I said
everything I started out intending to say…But I am going to keep this positive
and end it here… Happy Thanksgiving everyone… For Thanksgivings past, present
and future… Be thankful everyday…
