Time To Write A New Story

So it’s time to write a different story… I’ve had plenty of time to think… Lots of it… Hell, I have been doing nothing but thinking the last 6 months or more…

So what have I been thinking about???

I’m glad you asked…

First off some of the things which landed me in the hospital for 12 days a few weeks ago… Let me just say… I wasn’t there on a research project… I was there for depression… Not sure why… I guess that was part of the problem… What the hell do I have to be depressed about??? But shit happens and we deal with it…

Dealing with it starts with ditching the story that got me there… We’re not going to talk about it here…

Though you’re always welcome to revisit older blogs here… and at www.viewsfrommyhammock.blogspot.com

For now let’s just say life has been a bit stressful and there were some things I could have handled better… I won’t take the time to rehash everything again… I’m ditching that story…

What I will say is a BIG THANK YOU to the Ramona, CA VFW for all their help and support… The VFW is a wonderful organization and I will ask everyone to support their efforts nationwide for the help they provide veterans everyday…

So what have I been thinking about???

You asked that already… And I’m glad you did… Yeah, I said that already too…

Well… One question I’ve been asking myself the last 6 months is… Have I lost my passion for comedy???

I haven’t done a real comedy club show since January…

Chasing gigs… The business side of comedy is never fun… No comedian likes it… Lack of opportunity used to eat me up… Especially while I was exiled to the Comedy Siberia of southeast Idaho…

But suddenly it didn’t bother me any longer… It took me a while to understand it… Comedy had always been my escape from a life I wasn’t happy with… Career choices and the job that came with it...

Yes, the money was great… The cost… Hmmm… 12 to 16hr days… Rotating shift work… Sleeping when other people are awake… Working when other people are sleeping… And the health problems that come with the stress involved… Not to mention the stress of shitty marriages and relationships that also graced that period of my life…

Being on the road for comedy… I was free from all of that…

But I’m free of that life now… Is this freedom I am living now what I wanted all along??? Maybe…

The Boys are where the new story and the old story will always intersect… The Boys come first before anything… Comedy or sanity…

Living in and travelling in the RV with them, adds to the challenge… Riley is doing much better, but requires extra care… He needs help getting in and out of the RV… I am glad to do it… I’m just happy he is still with us…

The freedom we live now is something special…We are able to go where ever… Whenever… There are a lot of places checked off on our map that I’d like to see… Some new and some I’d like to see again…

Though I am also considering the possibility of taking a job as a BLM camp ground host next summer… It would require spending the summer in one spot, but would also allow for some sense of normality… Yeah, yeah… I know I will never be considered normal…

The camping would be free and I could get something small to drive for runs into a nearby town to check my mail and grab supplies… I was thinking I’d even be able to grow some vegetables and brew some beer…

Something else to think about…

So I ask myself again… Have I lost my passion for comedy???

It actually seemed to come back while I was in the hospital… But I was on good drugs and I was surrounded by other crazy people…

My act has always been somewhat biographical… Is my bout with depression and trip to the hospital something I should incorporate into my act??? 

Well… I have written some jokes about it…

Can it help someone who hears it, if I do add it to the act???

I think back to a gig I did almost a year ago at the Elks Lodge in Walla Walla, WA… After the show an older woman with tears in her eyes approached me to thank me for ripping into my Catholic School education and to tell me about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her own “Sister Mary Miserable”…

I had always joked that there were plenty of men in the audience who had experienced the same kind of relationship hells I talked about… But I never expected something like that…

It really made me take stock of the healing that comedy could provide… All I could think to do at the time was give her a hug…

Anyway it’s something else to think about and consider…

Maybe the real question is… Do I want to do the work??? I’m tired… I really can’t answer that… But again I was excited about it while in the hospital…

I read three good books while I was in the hospital… I’m not going to get all spiritual on you now… But I will say I do have a better understanding of the Law of Attraction now… Maybe not of “prayer” so to speak… I still don’t believe in some old man in the sky… And “religion” is nothing more than a man-made means to control people… But in understanding the manifestation relationship between our thoughts and the Universe…

I am grateful for the things I am seeing, manifesting and experiencing daily… Somethings seem almost supernatural in protection and provision…

I want to say more about this… But it’s a story for another blog…

For now I’ll leave you here… And I’ll ask… Friends, Romans, countrymen, fellow comics and those who may know me well... I’d like some feedback before I decide what’s next… Here, Facebook, email or text…

And of course… Happy Trails to you… Until I write again…