Sunday, January 8, 2017

New Year, New Journey


Okay – here’s the deal.  I’ve had a blast the last couple years dragging my happy ass to various different TV and film sets and collecting halfway decent union paychecks for my trouble.  And let’s not forget to mention the FOOD!!!
Me on set - Every. Single. Day. Source: http://gph.is/XJxIL3

But as cool as it was to be Union Core Background on a handful of shows, and get pulled for stand-in work on an increasingly regular basis, the hard truth is that I had long ago already been there, done that and handed the T-shirt down to Goodwill.  Or maybe it’s just in storage somewhere – I forget…

Sure – being SAG/AFTRA put a new shine on an old penny, but it still wasn’t my endgame.  It ISN’T my endgame.

Then again – what is an endgame to someone who fancies herself immortal?  (But that’s another blog for another day!)

Fun Fact: All these men are probably fully "spread" Source: http://gph.is/1Jgw4Ka
 
One evening, not too long ago, after putting in an appearance at an unbelievably awkward birthday party for a friend of a friend, I had a supremely Zen subway ride home.  I was actually little-m meditating on the train.  It was supernaturally quiet and I had a big-E Epiphany!  In spite of all the steps I was taking every day to “follow my dreams,” I was no longer climbing any closer to my goals.  It wasn’t your typical plateau, because I was still an object in motion.  The problem was the stairs I had been climbing to reach that next level had somehow, rather stealthily, turned into a stair-master.  This allowed me to continue to go through the exact same motions day after day without getting any closer to my objective.

Mind = BLOWN!

So what was a consciously awakened girl to do?

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. But I acknowledged verbally and publicly that it was time to shift my paradigm.  I just didn’t have the first clue how to make that happen.  And, behold, the Universe intervened. 

Very suddenly, and seemingly from nowhere, I’ve been offered a new job as a nanny to an adorable three-year old child.  It is a Monday – Thursday 9-5 gig.

Let’s not kid ourselves.  The child is THREE.  I get to essentially play 8-hour one-on-one improv engagements four days a week. 

And then I get to have the rest of my nights and weekends free. Just like that. 

If I want to submit for set work on the weekends, I can. If I want to babysit for another family, I can.  If I want to sit on a subway platform accosting commuters with my ukulele renditions of Sublime songs… Oh YEAH, baby!
FB Live footage of me on Uke circa 2014 Source: http://gph.is/1q6V916

But more importantly, I have time to be creative again!  I have time to write, and sing, and uke, and go to open mics, and YIKES – I suppose I even have time to start, um, dating!!!  

All this, because I’m meeting another one of my basic yearnings – caring for a child.

I never expected to make it this far in my life without – well, expecting and then delivering a child or two of my own.  But my journey has taken some pretty wild turns.  I don’t have regrets.  (They’re pointless when you’re an immortal…) But I do LOVE young people and young minds.  I love watching them work.  I love watching them figure out the world around them.  And I love being a part of their journey.

I’m not sure just how long this engagement is for.  It certainly is a new course heading, but I feel like I’m about to start picking up speed again to my next destination.  You know that feeling – when you’re on the tarmac and the plane engines rev harder and louder and you feel your seat vibrating and you know lift-off is finally eminent?

Back in myyy day, this is how we went to space! Source: http://gph.is/2946efu
It won’t be long now until I’m soaring high above everything else, hurtling faster into the stratosphere where I’ve set my sights for SO. Damn. Long!  So that only leaves one question, dear friends.

In this brand new year of 2017, who is coming with me???

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