Saturday, December 4, 2010

Too Much Freedom

Thursday December 2nd, 2010 - Trevor, WI/Bloomington, IL

   I think there can definitely be a condition of having too much freedom, and that’s where I am right now. I have nowhere important to be, all day to get there and nobody to answer to. In theory, that’s the ultimate goal for millions. In reality, human beings need structure.

   Having a plan in place and improving gradually are what real success is all about. It’s a constant process that takes a lifetime to achieve, and in my opinion the only real reason to exist at all. Getting the very most out of one’s natural given talents requires serious effort.

   Right now, no matter how I try to disguise it, I’m living out of my car. Even worse, it’s a rental car. All my worldly trinkets are housed in both a storage locker in Antioch, IL and the Nissan Versa I’ll be driving until I go back out on the cruise ships next Thursday.

   I guess it could be worse, I could be sleeping in the actual car. I’ve at least got a couple of bucks to the good side so I’ll be able to string together some hotel rooms for a while so I can get things together and start to build a home living situation for the next little while.

   For today, I was foot loose and fancy free. I had lunch with Marc Schultz who wanted a first hand description of life on the ships, as he’s booked acts on them for years. His dad’s agency used to book all kinds of variety acts, and Marc took it over when his father died.

   I made some rounds doing bank and post office runs and boring stuff like that but it has to get done somehow and I haven’t been home to do it. Then, since I have to be in Quincy tomorrow night I started to head over to I-55 and see how far south I could get by tonight.

   I was near St. Charles, so I swung by Zanies just to see who was performing and it was John Roy. I’ve always respected John’s work ethic and stopped to hang for a while. He’s always working on new material and television appearances, and treats comedy exactly as it should be treated - as a business. We hung out longer than I expected, but I enjoyed it.

   He’s got the same problems and issues I do in the modern day of road comedy and he’s got the same plan I do to counteract it - keep working as hard as possible. There aren’t an awful lot of people I’ve met with a work ethic like his, and I always enjoy hanging out.

   It was midnight when we finished up, and I realized I had nowhere to sleep tonight. It’s not a big deal, there are cheap motels everywhere, but I don’t like to have to think so hard at that time of night. The spirit of adventure has given way to a desire for some security.

   I wanted to make it to Springfield, IL to be able to see my friend Max but I started to get super tired by Bloomington and pulled off there. No need to be a hero and make it all the way to Springfield, as nobody was expecting me anyway. I feel like I’m a wandering bum with a rental car instead of a shopping cart, and a few bucks in my pocket to be able to get a hotel room instead of sleeping on a park bench. This is not the kind of freedom I crave.

Posted via email from Dobie Maxwell's "Dented Can" Diary

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