Thanks to an exploding front tire on I-5 last week I had to push our November show to December. Exciting times! I now have two new tires and an iron resolve to make it all the way to Seattle next time.
The theme will stay the same. “CTRL-ALT-DEL – Stories of starting over”
Last month, when I started writing this, I noticed a document a friend sent me titled, “End of life instructions.” He’s the second person this year to ask me to be the executor of their estate. I guess if you live long enough, people start asking you to take care of their affairs when they kick off. It’s nice that they assume I’ll outlive them. Clearly, they haven’t seen my bloodwork.
One thing I didn’t realize until recently is that for most things it’s probably too late for me to start over. Despite the relentless “it’s never too late” memes on my Instagram feed, it is too late to do a life reset on the big stuff. I’ll never replace David Lee Roth in Van Halen. I’m too old to start parkour. And the window for becoming an overly expressive sign language interpreter seems to be closing quickly.
Luckily, I do have some stories about starting over in the past. In ‘95 I packed up my kid, my clothes, and my cactus collection and drove from Alaska to Washington to start doing comedy. It’s one of the biggest startovers I’ve ever done. When I was 40, I stopped doing comedy and got a real job. I had to learn how to not treat every angry caller as a heckler. I’d just spent 13 years getting paid to unload on any dipstick who said something rude to me. Now I was getting paid to let those same dipsticks say whatever they wanted and at the end of the call I had to wish them a good day. It’s amazing what you’ll do for a steady paycheck and comprehensive healthcare.
But I remember the day I stopped worrying about being able to make rent. Eating all those angry phone calls was worth it. I spent a lot of years afterward wishing I’d started over earlier. Sometimes stubborn is just another word for stupid. Or pride. Or ego. So I started over and changed my life and my son’s life too. I wish I’d done it sooner.
That’s the kind of story we’re looking for at our next show on November 21. Come tell a story about a time you had to start over. Did you start dating again after a rough divorce? Did you get fired after 20 years with the company? Maybe you moved from one coast to the other to leave an old life behind. Whatever it was, we’d love to hear the story and what you learned from it. Did it change you in some way? Did it make you wonder why you didn’t do it sooner?
Whatever story you tell, remember to practice it out loud on as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing it.
All stories have to be under 8 minutes. Stories can be as short as you want but not over 8 minutes. Stories also have to be clean in both language and content. Send me an email if you have any questions about that.
The rest of the rules and guidelines are below:
We have a free monthly online workshop that’s a great place to get feedback on your story.
I’m also happy to help anyone with a story they’re working on. Send me an email and we can set up a phone call.
See you on Thursday, December 19, at 7 pm, at the Chabad of Queen Anne – Magnolia. 1825 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 (Remember, no non-kosher food in the building)
Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com
Fresh Ground Stories 