Life is a funny, funny thing.
Last night I realized how my life for the past two years might have been extremely different. And I only type this here because I don't have many places I can share this complete story right now. But I have to tell someone. And you guys won't hold back the utter derision I need for having it this good.
If you don't know, I worked on a cruise ship for two contracts as an actor. One did the Love Boat ports of call -- Alaska and the Mexican Riveria. The other went around the world.
Both contracts were very good for me, but I could tell that the cruise line was tiring of the product I was a part of. I didn't see much more of a future in it. The company only had two ships at this point, and only one had our acting troupe aboard fulltime. The ship that did the world cruise only had us aboard for the world cruise, and when the other ship got to the Mediteranean and cancelled the contract of that group, I figured that was that.
In October of 2006, I had done a couple of shows here in Dallas and found a really great job. Just as I was about to start it, the acting company called me up about some business and then asked if I would be interested in going back to the ships. I could have said yes, but the job was great with great benefits, and like I say, the cruise ship was getting tired of the actors. I chose security and said no.
A few months later I found out that some acapella barbershop quartet had started working on the ships, and so that was truly that, and wow, did I ever dodge a bullet.
So I thought. I just discovered last night that our acting company was putting the quartets together. The person who asked me about going back never said anything about barbershop quartet. She probably thought that my being an actor, it would be a step down to just go sing. But she didn't know that back in the Bible college days, I was a part of one to promote the school. I love four-part harmony. If she had told me about the singing group, I would not be typing this today, but I would STILL be on the ships. I would have dropped that job in a heartbeat.
Instead, I'm in this great job now with great benefits, living rent-free with my uncle who just got a divorce -- well, rent is taking care of his dogs and housesitting when he's out of town. PLUS, he has no further ties to Dallas and is ready to move to L.A. to be closer to the office, and still needs someone to take care of his house and his dogs when he's out of town. In other words, I'm about to move to one of the centers of my chosen industry, with a great job already lined up (my current job has an office in Burbank I can transfer to) and great benefits, rent-free (well, I might have to pay some rent in L.A.) AND use of his frickin' company car, gas card included.
None of that L.A. situation was foreseeable when I made the decision in 2006, none of it. It is simply odd to see a life I might have had and would have enjoyed greatly. If I weren't in such a good place now, I'd have regrets about this. But then again, if I hadn't found this tremendous job, I would have said yes.
And the other part of this story -- while doing the Love Boat ports of call, we docked in L.A. (well, San Pedro) frequently, and I moved heaven and earth to get to the new Tut exhibit that was there at the time. But I had to rush through it, and never got to see it again. Last year, the Dallas Museum of Art announced that it had scored the Tut exhibit as a sort of encore. I would be able to see it anytime I wanted to by getting on the light rail.
The opening date? October 2008 -- the month my uncle now expects to get the go-ahead to move to L.A.
Life is a funny, funny thing.
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You can take the heart out of the hooker but you can't take the hooker out of the heart. -- Frankenhooker
