Driving Myself Crazy

Monday April 6th, 2009 - Kansas City, KS/Chicago, IL

I’ve lost all motivation to make twelve hour drives but that‘s exactly what I did today. It used to be an exciting adventure but now it’s a chore. There aren’t many interesting sights to see between Kansas City and Chicago other than the St. Louis arch but I’ve seen that as many times as I need to in one lifetime. Other than that the main focus is staying awake.

I suppose I could have flown but then I’d be marooned without a car all week and also out the cost of the plane ticket. Smart business on many levels is to shut up and drive but that doesn’t make the time in the car any easier. It’s a 620 mile grind with nothing to do.

Sure, music and motivational tapes are nice but that only lasts so long. It’s obvious after only a few hours why people settled in the little towns all across North America. It was all because they got sick of sitting in that wagon and decided to just live wherever they were. I can totally relate to that now after all these years of traveling. It gets old. Very quickly.

I was going to leave after the show last night but it was snowing and I didn’t want to put myself in that kind of stressful situation. I finished up some work and got some sleep and crawled out of the rack at 5:30am to pack the car. The hotel has a nice breakfast bar and it opens at 6 so I had some cereal and yogurt and a bagel and then hit the road heading east.

A lot of times I’m able to knock out some good work in the car but today my brain just wasn’t in it. I was tired and not up for anything but trying to avoid boredom. I listened to a few motivational tapes and they were good but I didn’t feel the fire like I often do. I did a few crossword puzzles and made some phone calls and thought of ways to stay awake.

Part of what kept me going was a deadline to make it to Zanies in Chicago by 6pm for a comedy class. I made it by 5:40 which is cutting it a lot closer than I’d like but that’s how it worked out. Bill Gorgo is teaching this session of classes but I still needed to be there.

Unfortunately the class had to be cut short because there was a comedy competition that started at 8 between two colleges. It was sponsored by www.rooftopcomedy.com and they asked me to host it. I did it a while back and made a few bucks but I earned every penny.

It’s not easy to host a college aged show because of their short attention span. It’s also a challenge to keep up with the references to things of their generation I have NO idea at all about. It makes me feel old but I agreed to do it and I didn’t complain. Money is money.

There were 15 contestants on the show and actually a few of them had some potential. It could have been a lot worse and actually the audience was very good. There was a mix of more than just college aged people so that made it better. Last time it was 100% students.

One of the kids asked me what it would take to get a booking at Zanies and I said ‘A lot more years of stage time and paying dues.’ That’s not what he wanted to hear. I could see the look of disdain on his face. Let’s see how that kid feels after years of 600 mile drives.