As most of you know I have been living the good life of gainful unemployment for the last month or so. I was supposed to teach but decided I didn't want to so in a very landall like fashion quit before it started. That of course left me with the ever so unanswerable question to try and answer, "What was I going to do instead?"
Today, I received the phone call that offered me full time employment as a project manager for the company that runs the camp that I worked at when I first arrived here. I will be overseeing the recruiting for their summer staff. The job will require a lot of travel to various bay area colleges which should be fun. Also, the company is growing rapidly so there seems to be some upside there as well if all works out for the future.
While living the good life was fun, the money was sure to run out eventually. I guess I'm back to being a working stiff like the rest of you. Well, on Oct. 6th that is. I still have a few more weeks of "vacation."
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Comedy Is Weird
Every time I go see stand up I always like the comics who tell jokes, but don't mind stopping their planned set to talk to people in the audience or acknowledge something else that is going on in the room. Last night I basically went into a 4 minute open mic with about 1-1.5 minutes of a very rough joke planned. I didn't bother to refine and edit this joke because I've told it about 100 times over the course of my life and people always laugh and so I was sure it'd work, get everybody in the crowd to like me and I'd be able t move on to use the last 3 minutes to get to know my new friends in the audience.
This joke, which kills in everyday laugh, hardly got smiles. I am not one of those comics who is so nervous on stage they stare at their feet and so while making eye contact with audience members its a strange feeling to have people look at you so blankly while telling a joke. Should I stop half way through? Should I press on and hope that it gets better? Should I cry? All of these options run through my head as people are not laughing.
Then, at a part of the joke that I don't find the least bit funny but simply links to another part, everybody in the crowd laughs. Really? I think to myself and also ask out loud. That's the part you guys thought were funny? And then they laugh at my surprised response to their laughter and they're back on my side. This awareness for what else is going on in the room is what I was hoping for out of last nights set. So, maybe my joke was stupid but maybe it worked out anyway?
But that's the weird thing about stand up. You can prepare and rehearse and start your set with material that you think is solid gold and sometimes it kills and sometimes it bombs. Sometimes the same jokes that got crickets on Wednesday gets laughs on Friday. It really makes no sense and is incredibly confusing for a comic. Especially a comic that over thinks everything like I do. The best you can do is try and write the best jokes you can and then hope for the best?
I gotta go move my car for street sweeping.
This joke, which kills in everyday laugh, hardly got smiles. I am not one of those comics who is so nervous on stage they stare at their feet and so while making eye contact with audience members its a strange feeling to have people look at you so blankly while telling a joke. Should I stop half way through? Should I press on and hope that it gets better? Should I cry? All of these options run through my head as people are not laughing.
Then, at a part of the joke that I don't find the least bit funny but simply links to another part, everybody in the crowd laughs. Really? I think to myself and also ask out loud. That's the part you guys thought were funny? And then they laugh at my surprised response to their laughter and they're back on my side. This awareness for what else is going on in the room is what I was hoping for out of last nights set. So, maybe my joke was stupid but maybe it worked out anyway?
But that's the weird thing about stand up. You can prepare and rehearse and start your set with material that you think is solid gold and sometimes it kills and sometimes it bombs. Sometimes the same jokes that got crickets on Wednesday gets laughs on Friday. It really makes no sense and is incredibly confusing for a comic. Especially a comic that over thinks everything like I do. The best you can do is try and write the best jokes you can and then hope for the best?
I gotta go move my car for street sweeping.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Update. I'm bored.
I guess the original purpose of this blog was to keep people updated on my life. Instead, what I have been writing about, rather sparsely, are my opinions on useless things. But, I guess that's what blogs are really for too. So, here we go. I'm bored, I ran out of coffee and I already ate my daily breakfast of two Trader Joe's Banana Waffles. (I highly suggest these if you've never had them. Better than Eggos, especially with maple syrup.)
About mid-August I finished writing a book. Some of you may know this already. I had a good friend edit it. I did a round of edits. I painstakingly put the whole thing in past tense because apparently I lack the skill of consistently writing in that tense. I changed everyone's names, except mine. I brainstormed clever chapter titles. And now, it's probably about as good as it's going to get. With some guidance from a few writers. One a friend, one a sort of random contact, I constructed a query letter (two paragraph sales pitch) and emailed it to about a dozen literary agents. So far I have been rejected by three. My favorite part of this process so far is when the rejection letter is clearly a standard form letter that points out that it is standard form, apologizes for that fact, but rejects you just the same. Two of the three have been in this format. I am staying positive because I only need one agent to say they want to represent me and then I only need one publishing house to agree to make me a billionaire. Or, at least a published writer. At this point I am now in the holding pattern of the literary world. Playing hurry up and wait. Every time I check my email and it informs me there are new emails waiting for me I get both excited and nervous that it's going to be either someone asking for sample chapters or another rejection. So far, it's mostly been spamed porn.
Let's see, what else is new?
My new bike, which I need to review for those other bike geeks out there, is acting beautifully. I have been getting in a ton of base miles and hopefully I can train through winter with the same dedication and get myself out of the death race of cat 5 crits. The club I was planning on riding for next year posted a notice on their website saying they weren't taking new racing members for 2009. Which is odd since a few of their members invited me. If the notice is true looks like I'll be racing by myself. Which, in the grand scheme of things, just means I'll save money on new kits and membership dues. Nobody in amateur racing uses team tactics anyway. It's always every man for himself.
If I don't hear back from the job I interviewed for today I have to go get a job. I have no idea what this job will be. A new rock climbing gym opened up down in the Presidio. Maybe I'll work there. When I quit the teaching job before it started I had the realization that spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what I was "supposed" to do was a waste of time. I never come up with any good answers and when I do come to some sort of conclusion only to change my mind about it months later it causes me an odd amount of grief. Basically, I have no idea what I want to do. I want to pay rent. I want to have money to go to the bar if I feel like it. I want to be able to save a bit as well. I'm starting to get bored with so much free time from not having a job so I want to have something else to do. I think pretty much any job I could find at this point would meet those qualifications. We'll see what happens.
Where's this indian summer everyone talks about? Doesn't seem to be getting any warmer or sunnier to me.
About mid-August I finished writing a book. Some of you may know this already. I had a good friend edit it. I did a round of edits. I painstakingly put the whole thing in past tense because apparently I lack the skill of consistently writing in that tense. I changed everyone's names, except mine. I brainstormed clever chapter titles. And now, it's probably about as good as it's going to get. With some guidance from a few writers. One a friend, one a sort of random contact, I constructed a query letter (two paragraph sales pitch) and emailed it to about a dozen literary agents. So far I have been rejected by three. My favorite part of this process so far is when the rejection letter is clearly a standard form letter that points out that it is standard form, apologizes for that fact, but rejects you just the same. Two of the three have been in this format. I am staying positive because I only need one agent to say they want to represent me and then I only need one publishing house to agree to make me a billionaire. Or, at least a published writer. At this point I am now in the holding pattern of the literary world. Playing hurry up and wait. Every time I check my email and it informs me there are new emails waiting for me I get both excited and nervous that it's going to be either someone asking for sample chapters or another rejection. So far, it's mostly been spamed porn.
Let's see, what else is new?
My new bike, which I need to review for those other bike geeks out there, is acting beautifully. I have been getting in a ton of base miles and hopefully I can train through winter with the same dedication and get myself out of the death race of cat 5 crits. The club I was planning on riding for next year posted a notice on their website saying they weren't taking new racing members for 2009. Which is odd since a few of their members invited me. If the notice is true looks like I'll be racing by myself. Which, in the grand scheme of things, just means I'll save money on new kits and membership dues. Nobody in amateur racing uses team tactics anyway. It's always every man for himself.
If I don't hear back from the job I interviewed for today I have to go get a job. I have no idea what this job will be. A new rock climbing gym opened up down in the Presidio. Maybe I'll work there. When I quit the teaching job before it started I had the realization that spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what I was "supposed" to do was a waste of time. I never come up with any good answers and when I do come to some sort of conclusion only to change my mind about it months later it causes me an odd amount of grief. Basically, I have no idea what I want to do. I want to pay rent. I want to have money to go to the bar if I feel like it. I want to be able to save a bit as well. I'm starting to get bored with so much free time from not having a job so I want to have something else to do. I think pretty much any job I could find at this point would meet those qualifications. We'll see what happens.
Where's this indian summer everyone talks about? Doesn't seem to be getting any warmer or sunnier to me.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Big 10. So Big it's 11?
The Big 10 has got to be the most over rated conference on a yearly basis. I am not really a USC fan and I don't take anything away from them because let's face it, they're good, but Ohio St couldn't go in there and score a single touchdown? This happens every time any of the big, powerful, Big 10 schools play a non-conference game against another school that actually has a decent program. They always get crushed. On a yearly basis you always hear the apologists saying that the Big 10 has to recruit different types of athletes because they have to play in the cold and blah blah blah. I'm sick of hearing it. The Big 10 is awful and until they start beating some teams outside of the Big 10 I'll continue to say so.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Open Letter to Lance Armstrong
Dear Mr. Armstrong,
I'll keep this brief. Don't do it. Contador is faster. Nobody wants to watch you get bottles for him.
Sincerely,
Landall Proctor.
I'll keep this brief. Don't do it. Contador is faster. Nobody wants to watch you get bottles for him.
Sincerely,
Landall Proctor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)