I'm taking a comedy class right now, and here's the thing we are working on - who is our comedy character - what aspects of our character do we want to amplify or exaggerate? Are we someone completely different than who we are offstage?
It occurs to me that I am perhaps a story teller rather than a comedian. I'm wordy. I like to use big, fun, precise descriptions. I try for brevity and fail.
I was taking the class to help fill a gap in what I perceive to be my strongest skills versus the ones I have to use every day, but don't give me a lot of satisfaction. I am feeling like maybe I oversold myself on the ability to entertain.
This time last year, when I was looking for a new job, the message I kept getting, at least as I read it was, "You're not a writer, or creator, you're not a manager, you're not a thinker, or a planner. You are a facilitator. Now, get up there and bang your cymbals".
And that's what I ended up doing. So, earlier this year, I said, well, OK - I'm a performer - that's how they see me, and OK - I'll scratch that itch. So I took Musical Theater camp and it was delightful. And comedy class has been great - except that I feel pretty unfunny. I mean, I feel hilarious right up until class when my jokes are just not that damn funny. I did a lot of work on them this week, and I feel pretty good about them. We'll see.
I will say, I think I am at my funniest when I'm incredulous and manic. Which, fantastic - very authentic. I was talking to several people on the phone over the weekend, and I was pretty doggone funny. Of course, they know me and love me to begin with. Anyway - that's just one small part of the bigger picture.
Piper is hanging in there, though I can clearly see the downward trajectory as it is happening. I feel like we may be close to having to make the call. It's hard, but that's part of what goes with the privilege of getting/having/loving a pet.
We're also starting to prepare for a trip in late November. Should be interesting. It's not a locale I'd have picked, but now that it's happening, it looks like it should be fun. More on that to come.
It has finally started to cool down - at least in the evenings. Apparently we'll get up just a little over 90 later this week, but it feels more like fall.
I went to the cabin over the weekend - it wasn't as productive as the last solo trip - at least in some ways - but I got things done, and I have some plans in place for more work. So, I feel pretty decent about all that. There's some weirdness going on there - political posturing and rules and regs nonsense. We all want the same thing, we just have different methods of achieving it. That's my take, anyway.
But it's exhausting - and so is driving ten hours in a short period of time. Crazypants! Thankfully the traffic was mostly painless.
So, I just wanted to check in. It's mostly fine. I'm fine, no really.
Honestly, I am mostly.
ae
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