Do You Have a Personal Relationship with Joe Janes?
"Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?"
Ordinarily, I just avoid the spiraling pit of nonsense discussion that entering into this question/trap opens up. I know that the fact that I do not have a personal relationship with a long dead carpenter who, in legend, resembles Paul Bunyan crossed with Smokey the Bear is going to start a pseudo-psychological debate about my life and the void that I have in it.
Not this time. Just not in the mood.
Wonder Woman Movie Leads to Gender War and Potential Human Extinction
Living Two Lives is Like Walking on a Razor's Edge
It points out that I live two lives every day: the one that engages in face-to-face conversations and takes walks in my neighborhood and has a beer (or two) with people, and the other that is immersed in the screens in front of my face.
Move with Purpose (or The Removal of Unnecessary Motion)
One of my personal favorite shorthand directions when working on a staged play I stole from my second ex-wife.
"Move with purpose."
So simple.
Translated it means that if you are going to cross from point A to point B, have a reason to do so that connects with the character's life in the play. It funnels down to mean that all movement, down to scratching your face or tying your shoe needs to connect with your purpose. As an actor, it's an extremely helpful tool as I have a tendency to move around a lot with no function other than I just have lots of freakin' energy.
Notes from the Post-it Wall — Week of May 28, 2017
• When I see an American flag as a decal on a pick-up truck window or a bald eagle presented as frightful and violent instead of regal on a decal, hat, t-shirt, etc., I get a little nervous...
The Rhetoric of Separatism
The fecundity of division is easy. Is someone black? They go in the Black Category. Wearing a blue uniform? Racist Thug Category. White? White Supremacist Category. That rhetoric, however, is only good for inciting division. And division is the opposite of the solutions to create and maintain a fair and just society for every single one of us.
![I Believe... [Snake Plissken vs Johnny Castle]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1495729173355-S1I538S5QTP0NZ13MXYE/yorick.jpg)
I Believe... [Snake Plissken vs Johnny Castle]
Is Emotional Labor the Same as Working Construction in Your Dreams?
There is a misconception going around that having a conversation about difficult subjects is hard. That the very idea of sitting down with someone who vehemently disagrees with you is so taxing that the potential results of common understanding and forward momentum are simply seen as not worth the effort.
I'm not buying it. And I don't even like Heineken.
I Joined Quora and Now Am Filled with Despair
As a piece of the freelance journey and in a desire to increase my online visibility (online presence and freelance work go hand in hand these days) I was advised to join Quora. Quora is a a social network where people can ask questions and, ideally, receive answers from experts on the subjects.
In principle, it works. In practice, I have been struck that either many of the questions are generated by robot or there are just too many lazy, stupid people in the world for me to be able to grasp.
The Moment Before Blowing Out the Birthday Candles
A birthday wish is not something to be taken lightly. This is not a simple loose eyelash or a shooting star you’re wishing upon. This is your birthday wish and you only get one for the year. It needs to count.
Worker Bonuses, Fresh Ingredients and No Advertising
My experience has indicated to me that money (and the focus on business over quality) is like red onions. A little bit is a nice addition to your burger but even a bit too much makes the whole sandwich taste like nothing but red onions.
There is a way to make millions without losing your soul to the Greed Virus.
Notes from the Post-it Wall — Week of May 21, 2017
• Some of my Facebook friends are trolls. Some of my Facebook friends troll the trolls. It can be fun to watch the fight play out but it also reminds me that some of my friends are real pricks.
The Rabbit Hole of Sewage and Unrestrained Horror
In the dawn of the New Era of Emotional Primacy, the concept that our emotions are the most intelligent approach to decision making is just as shortsighted and just as completely chuckleheaded. As I've written before, in a world of Kirks, we need a few more Spock's. Spock generally walked the Good Captain through the consequences of his poorly thought-out actions.
Our Two Children
Yet, there’s a part of us that will rejoice in Donnie’s failure. It will cease further damage done to our nation, and in a way, it rights our wrong. But we still have Hillary to worry about. Hillary is the kind of daughter who loves her parent just enough to put us in an old folks home so we won’t get lonely in our dying days. But it’s the old folks home right off the highway with the orderlies who sweat in our soup.
Ce n'est pas votre vie (This is not your life)
Perhaps the desire to have an omnipotent god floating above and beyond us is the desire to have some being see and record the objective truth, untainted by human memory or the traps of ego or of believing that which you choose to believe rather than what is true. An idea that somewhere there is an accounting for our mistakes and misdeeds, or silent moments of suffering or failure, the betrayals and disloyalty, the hidden opinions expressed in odd looks or coded phrases by someone or something untouched by our daily grind.
If Trump Is Not Your President, Try Not Acting Like Him
The sudden scorched earth viciousness of doing everything instantly to destroy someone you disagree with is almost comical if it weren't so stunted and counterproductive. But it works for Trump, so why not, right? Or maybe it doesn't work in the long run as we can see four months into his reign.
![I Believe... [Trump vs. Harrison]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/579fa3912994ca0eff850271/1495032455771-PHOJGREQMF8FNY2CPM67/yorick.jpg)
I Believe... [Trump vs. Harrison]
...that the idea of a male romper is more distressing than the man-bun, the endless facial hair and the fake enthusiasm for kale. I may move to Wyoming and live in a cave to avoid modern fashion trends.
Recalibrating the Daily Grind (Like College but With Higher Stakes)
On more pragmatic levels, it's slightly terrifying. In practice, I still have to do things on task that generate income and no one I know is going to pay me to masturbate and eat bricks of cheese while watching Better Call Saul for eight hours at a stretch. The dawning realization is that there have to be rules that I commit to following just like when chained to a public radio cubicle inches from the little twat I trained and who finally found the backhanded courage to impale me in the spine with Sharpies.
This time, however, the rules are mine to create.
This New Job is Making Me so Emo, I Could Cry
In less than one week, I will show up to an office with lots of cubicles and paid time off for its employees, a Human Resources Department and company-wide team building events. This is a full-time gig. It’s a W2 kind of gig. I haven’t had a gig like this in almost seven years. And I’m looking forward to it in the way 16-year-old David looked forward to going on a date with that girl who finally showed some interest in him. And I’m an emotional goddamn wreck over the whole thing.
Bay Leaf Game Theory (and Other Lessons from My Mother)
When I was a kid, we weren't exactly flush for a lot of my growing up. Granted, I wouldn't have known it because my mother often worked several jobs to feed my sister and I. My mother would not let us wallow in the bucket of self pity that she saw in others. Whenever we started feeling "poor" she'd grab us up and spend the last of our money to take us out for a big night at Shakey's Pizza. "Poor people don't eat at Shakey's Pizza so we aren't poor," she'd demand.
It's a lesson I've kept with me all my life.
How do you want to be defined? By one action? By some opinion that could evolve? By a mistake, regrettable only with hindsight? Or by the sum of your parts? Okay, do that for other people. Start the trend.