Business And Pleasure

Tuesday September 4th, 2007 - Arlington Heights, IL

Another busy and productive day. It was late after the show at Zanies and Warwick and I were hungry so we stopped to get a sandwich after I dropped off Bill Gorgo. Bill has his teaching job and needed to get some sleep or he would have been a welcome addition. We talked about our upcoming session of comedy classes and how we can make them better.

Warwick is marketing major and really does have good ideas about a lot of things so it was a productive session but it got late and I didn’t feel like driving so I spent the night in my old room at the apartment. That place was never my home and it always felt like I was an extended houseguest even though I paid my share of bills every month. We helped each other out financially over the time I stayed there and I’m very grateful for it but I’m out of there now and I’m glad. I needed to move on but one more night back wouldn’t kill me.

It was a lot more convenient because I had a lunch meeting with my speaker friend Todd Hunt. Warwick knows Todd too because he attended the Comedy Conference we did way back in 2003. We became friends and stayed in touch and I always enjoy lunch with Todd.

I have helped Todd with some lines for his speech (he hates it when I call it an act) and he has helped open my eyes up to the possibility of getting into the speaking business. It’s not easy just like comedy is not easy but Todd is a hustler and a marketer and Warwick has an eye for marketing so we ended up spending three hours having a very productive meeting.

We kicked around all kinds of ideas both for me and for him and all three of us had good points and I felt the creative juices squirting everywhere. Hopefully he can use a few of my ideas in his business and I can use a few of his in mine and we can help each other stay in a growth period. Todd is a member of the National Speakers Association and instructs many up and coming speakers in chapters across the country on the finer points of speaking. It’s similar to what I do with my comedy classes and both of us do it because we love what we do and enjoy being around it on all levels. I am debating on whether to join NSA myself. It will be an investment of several hundred dollars and that doesn’t guarantee any work. I am going to go attend one of their meetings and see if I think it will be worth the cash output.

After our late lunch I picked up my mail at the UPS Store by Zanies since I was in town and realized even more that I am not thrilled about living out as far as I do. I’m sure it’s an excellent life for those who have a family but I don’t and living so far from a city I love as much as Chicago is not what I want to be doing right now. Even if I was in a suburb just a little closer to the city it would make my life easier by leaps and bounds. I will be teaching at Zanies downtown at least once a week and I just like living in a city. Lake Villa is about as much to city life as Michael Vick is to animal life. It’s not horrible but it’s not for me.

Whatever the reason was I moved out that far is not apparent to me right now but I have affordable rent and no lease and can move out whenever I want. It’s a good financial trade off for both of us and none of us see each other because we’re all always gone so it’s not a problem that way at all. She can use the money right now and I need to get booked on the road anyway so the lower I can keep my monthly bills the better chance I have to survive.

If I get a chance to move back into the city I’ll have to sign some kind of lease I’m sure. I don’t mind doing that but for now this deal is low pressure so I’ll hang on to it at least as long as I need to get my big idea up and running. That will take a while and if I’m not on a road trip doing comedy I’ll be in a basement in Lake Villa pounding away at my keyboard. If nothing else it IS quiet out there and I’m able to focus on my work and getting it done.

Tonight I had a great dinner with a different woman I used to work with at the Zanies in Vernon Hills. That’s where I met the woman who owns the house where I live and I won’t mention any of their names because I don’t think I need to. The woman I am renting space from doesn’t read my diary but the woman I had dinner with does and out of respect I just don’t think it makes any difference. I have gotten in trouble previously for writing about a person that I didn’t attach a name to but I don’t feel guilty because that’s how I really felt.

The main reasons I write this diary are not to offend anyone. I write about my innermost thoughts warts and all hoping it will inspire someone else who may be on a similar path as I am. It’s not easy being a comedian but LOTS of people want to do it. I tell not only how that is but whatever else is going on personally or professionally too. I know a lot of other people write blogs and a lot of people would have no interest in mine and that’s totally ok.

I do this to keep up a discipline and also to chronicle my turbulent life so in the future I am able to get SOMETHING positive out of it whether it’s me reading it or someone else that uses my experiences to make their own life better. I’m all about paying it forward and I do it whenever I can. My life has been turbulent anyway so why not just tell it like it is? I will keep writing this as long as I am able to type and if nobody else reads it that‘s ok too.

Paying forward is something that is never wasted. Our dinner was delicious but it wasn’t the food that made me want to meet her. I’ve eaten a lot of great food in my life and could stand to eat a little less quite frankly but it was a restaurant that she really likes and wanted to visit again so I was fine with it. The food was really good and we discussed my big idea I have been so jazzed about these last few days. She liked it too and we bounced it around while we ate our food and then walked some of it off in the parking lot and talked more.

She’s a real sweetheart of a person and always was. She’s been feeling down lately and I told her if ANYONE can relate to that it’s me. I didn’t have my Lucinda Bassett tape set I borrowed from Max with me so we drove all the way up to Lake Villa to get it. I think she will get a lot out of it just like I did and if it only cost me a few bucks in gas it’s worth it.

These are the moments that people remember. She is a good person and helps people as much as she can just like I do and just like Max does and just like a lot of people do but in a situation when we need help many times people aren’t around. I wanted to be there just to listen a little and make her feel good about herself and let her know that she is a special person with special talents and is not just another number on a tax form. She‘s a human.

This was a day when she needed someone to listen and tell her she was alright. Does any person NOT need that at one time or another? I sure do, but not today. Today I listened.