Thursday, November 09, 2006

Exhale and Resume Living

I have a glorious job - it’s all about freedom and time. When I’m done writing comedy everyday my brain feels like it’s glowing. My radio clients and I have established nothing short of a lovefest. And check this out: They’re in another state and I’ve never even met them.

The woman I deal with in L.A. is so cool that I can’t even talk about her without getting emotional. She is a high-caliber individual. Somehow through years of following these crazy late-night comedy topics together, we have become great friends - even though we’ve never met. She is the comedy standard. I could write a lot of cruder material and it would sell, but I don’t do that out of respect for her having to read it. Sometimes – even when a joke makes it to national TV – I apologize to her for the subject matter, because she’s a decent person.

When all this fell in place, I would finish the “work” and head out the door. I would wander around, walking miles, hopping on a bus if it came by, going to whatever movie was next up at a movie theater. I would chat with Portlanders, and sometimes drop by where I used to work just to see my old friends. I remember sitting by the railroad tracks one time just because I was in the mood to see a freight train go by. And when one finally showed up, it was excellent.

At the end of the day, the finished sheet would come back from the radio company, and the monologue would play on TV and I’d see how I did. There were many times when a joke would get a big laugh or say something I thought was important, and I'd try to sleep but I’d be too excited. I’d go back to the computer and work on a script or write emails. I’d finally wind down and crash, and though I had tons of stressful dreams about working in banquets, I’ve never had a bad dream about writing comedy. Life was a quiet celebration.

The last few years haven’t been like that. I became so worried about the course the American government was taking that I no longer had the same joy. There was nothing carefree about these times.

Yesterday, it all came back. I finished the work, and felt compelled to go out there. I took a bus just because it came along, went to a movie without checking the times first – without planning it. I rode on the MAX train, which frankly was quite cool. Everything was amazing. Portland looked great, individual buildings looked intense and I wished I had brought my video camera. Later I got hit by a rainstorm so I took a cab home. The driver was brilliant – we had a great conversation about comedy and the close call America had just been through.

The only time I became sad was when I realized that these last 6 years didn’t have to be like they were. See, I’ve been thinking that I had just gotten too old to feel the joy, or too burned-out. Wrong. The Bush administration has been weighing on me. I saw this bunch as a threat to the fundamental greatness of our political system. I saw them as a threat to our liberty. I believe they wanted to use 9/11 to establish authoritarian rule and they almost pulled it off.

The election was a tremendous relief. My wife and I danced in the streets. I mean that. We literally danced in the streets. I feel like I can breathe again, and this country is once more a wonderful place. Yesterday I bounced around and it was just like the good old days. In fact it was better, because it was a good new day.

3 Comments:

At 4:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

YES!

I saw it on faces yesterday... relief.. BUT we have a lot patching-up to do..YEARS..

and Pelosi ...
I didn't like her at first - then I saw her talk... (she is JUST right for this)

...An authoritarian MOM that is gonna spank all those losers and make 'em work without any dinner.

You can tell everything from a person just talking...like you could see America sink into the mire when bush spoke..hehe.... (we have a lot of international embarassment to live-down from him)

so Pelosi said "we don't have TIME to impeach [the known criminals with hundreds of crimes documented on the books...my note here] ... " we have too much to do"... "that's what they want"

CORRECT! Bing!! Rein-in your hate and fix some crap that matters to us..

and I do feel outrage at the 250k people killed FOR NO REASON .. but we have to hurry and make these minutes COUNT... they MAY only be minutes..

At least she has a focus on NEEDS like real min wage increases, maybe real health care help...etc ..how about clarifying the checks and balances..

or I read a guy smashed a voting machine... can we buy him a dinner with a nice bottle of wine..?
Maybe paid with a COLLECTED Haliburton fine?

We have to get busy basically pulling out ALL THE DAGGERS that the creeps thrust into our backs... we are still bleeding...but we have a chance... and 'the Senate' makes it sweeter..

the saddest thing is that we are gonna prolly do a negotiated settlement in Iraq (where there was NO REAL NEED TO GO in the first place) ... we could have done this years ago..

So...how do the families feel about their 'Johnny' ...lost last week ...when we could have 'talked it all out AND LEFT... YEARS AGO..

These souless bastards have a lot to account for..but will have to face other judgement ..


we have things to do here so STEP ASIDE.

TommyLee

 
At 7:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for today's post. I, too, feel exhilarated about the possibility for improvements. Perhaps the US of tomorrow will be more like the US they taught us in school--with checks and balances and justice and fairness. Not that it has ever existed perfectly but let's make things better, starting yeterday!

 
At 8:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can definitely relate.

At first, I couldn't figure out why I can't stop smilling (literally -- it's embarrassing) and then it occurred to me... I have hope...

I know how cheesy that sounds but it's true. I am hopeful. It's not that I even have that much faith in the Democrats, but I'm just so relieved that there is a chance for change.

Yay!

 

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