Say Thanks

A brief thought for troubled times.

Things are tough right now and by all indications, things are going to get tougher.

The economy's in the toilet, there are wars & rumors of war and the bad news just keeps on coming.

It makes it really difficult to see a silver lining in the funnel cloud of despair.

But, before climbing into bed & hiding under the covers with a bottle of vodka, take just a minute and think about this...you are not alone.

If you have even one friend who cares about you, one family member you can talk to, one spouse or significant other who loves you no matter what the circumstances are, you are not alone.

Think about that one person (or group of people) who laugh with you & cry with you & miss you when you're not around. If you know without a doubt that no matter what happens, they'll still love you, then you are not alone.

So when things are looking grim & you're at the end of your rope turn off the TV, shut off the computer and call someone who's always been there for you and say "Thanks."

Because of them...you are not alone.

What Are You Doing? Saying Thanks!

When you spend a lot of time around the same group of people, you will inevitably get on each other's nerves. Especially if that group is populated with individuals who have many of the same character traits, interests and intelligence level as you do. When this happens, you find yourself in a classic "Can't See The Forest For The Trees" scenario of forgetting (a) why you like spending time with them and (b) just how talented they are.

Almost 4 years ago, I was asked to join the Associate troupe at ComedyWorx. I never dreamed how much that invitation would change my life. I always thought I would enjoy performing but never thought I'd get the chance. Breaking into local theater is a lot like getting your first job-it's hard getting cast without experience, but you can't get the experience without getting cast. Here was a chance to get the experience while supporting local artists at the same time (and if you don't think improv is or can be an art form, then you haven't seen it done well.)

But aside from that, I've met some of the greatest people I've ever known. People whose talent and commitment inspire me to be better than I am. People who support me onstage and off. People I'm proud to call my friends.

So, for everyone I've shared the stage with at ComedyWorx either at practice or in shows, I am in awe of your boundless talent and limitless friendship. It has been a privilege and an honor to act silly in goofy pajamas with you. Thank you.

And for everyone else....come out & see the best improv in the Triangle. You won't be disappointed.

Shift To The Left, Shift To The Right

One of the things I love about social networking sites like Facebook is the ability to reconnect with people I knew when I was growing up. It's very cool to find out someone you hung out with in high school still remembers you and wants to know what you've been up to.

I've noticed an interesting trend, though, while finding my old friends. A lot of them have become a lot more conservative socially and politically over the years. This, in and of itself, isn't necessarily a surprise considering where I grew up and the crowd I used to run with. We were all pretty much good kids...didn't party, didn't do drugs and were pretty insulated from the evils of society by our parents and Sunday School teachers.

Of course, things change when you get out into the real world. You learn that everyone wasn't raised in the suburbs with a white picket fence and a loving Mom & Dad. You learn that not everyone was at church every time the doors opened. You learn that not all good people are good all the time, just like not all bad people are bad all the time. You learn about life.

Somewhere between graduating high school and turning 30, you become the person you're going to be. After that, your opinions and perception of the world are shaped by your circumstances. How you see things depends a lot on if you're married, if you have kids, if you have a job that pays the bills or if you're barely making it. People who once railed against the system and corporate America decide that eating and sleeping indoors is a pretty good thing and kids who saw the world strictly in black and white discover sometimes there are shades of gray.

I thought about all of this as I read over the profiles of my old friends. Then I realized that I was making radical assumptions about people I really care about based on a bunch of 1s and 0s on the Interwebs. People are complicated, messy and inconsistent...exactly like life. The anonymity of the web robs us of real, human interaction and personal contact.

Just because someone wants to elect John McCain or Barack Obama doesn't define them as a person...it's merely a small part of who they are. To badly paraphrase Walt Whitman "We are large...we contain multitudes."