Storytelling

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My First Time Acting Since 1999

I had no idea that a little over a month ago when I threw ramen noodles, instant oatmeal, and old Beanie Babies from the back of my Jeep in the Fort Payne Christmas parade, that I was accidentally auditioning for the upcoming annual Children’s Advocacy Center “dinner and a show” play.

As we slowly rode past what seemed to be the majority of the population of the town in the parade, I was doing my best to shout out anyone’s name I knew, as I sported my ugly Christmas sweater… not giving much thought to how theatrical of a spectacle I was making of myself.

Just a couple days after the parade, I was recruited to be in the play.

Not a coincidence. That was my audition.

Acting was a huge part of my childhood and my connection with the town of Fort Payne. From 3rd grade until my Senior year of high school, I was regularly performing in plays and musicals; whether they were through the local community theater group, or a church, or the school.

Specifically, I am what is referred to as a “character actor”… not the lead. I naturally transform into any version of a character that needs to show up for comic relief. That has always been my speciality.

It is no different for the upcoming “Jukebox Diner”, in which I play two different characters like this:

-An overeager romantic who is on the search for his 4th wife, having just finished a brief stint in prison.

-A grumpy old man who is well-informed of what’s going on in town, thanks to regularly monitoring everyone’s posts on “the Facebook”.

I love the challenge of playing two completely different characters, each with their own personalities and accents, showing up on stage just minutes apart from each other.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t actually been in a play since my senior year of high school, in 1999. So… I haven’t officially acted on a stage in nearly 27 years! But for me, it’s simply second nature to me to do theater again.

We’ve now made it through our first couple of weeks of practice and it is really starting to get fun. Opening night is coming up soon!

Show dates: February 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 14.

To reserve your tickets, call the Children’s Advocacy Center at 256-997-9700.

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Dear Jack: You Are the Same Height as Mommy Now?

15 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

There’s no way around it. I started noticing around Christmas that in pictures now, you and Mommy appear to be the same height:

5′ 6″.

So now, the new questions become A) when will you outgrow her and B) at what point will you catch up to me, at 5′ 9″?

Assuming it helps, I continue to bake you two baked potatoes and cook you 4 eggs everyday when you get home from school… and then you still eat a full dinner after that.

It appears to be helping!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Life with Your New Dirt Bike

15 years, 1 month.

Dear Jack,

You’re one lucky boy. You wanted a dirt bike for Christmas and you got one. Not just any dirt bike, but specifically the one you did all the research on and determined would be the best.

I did have reservations that it might not be exactly what you wanted once it arrived, but fortunately, I was wrong.

It is very clear that this dirt bike is not only important for you in that it gives you the ability to go exploring, but it also means that new friends show up in our driveway to go riding with you.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Getting Yourself Ready for School

9 years, 7 months.

Dear Holly,

I’d say around once a month, Mommy has to drive to Nashville for a day or two for work. When that happens, as is the case this week, I am always amazed at your miraculous ability to care for yourself.

Completely on your own initiative without me ever saying a word, you confidently work your way around the kitchen, putting together your lunch and snack for school.

You get dressed and even brush your hair… as if I’m not even in the room.

Ah, but that will all change once Mommy is back on Friday.

Love,

Daddy

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I Started My Career Exactly 20 Years Ago Today

Now that I think about it… When people ask me what I do for a living, I usually just keep it vague, by simply saying, “I work from home.”

I’ve learned that most of the time, people don’t really have follow-up questions anyway.

What do I do for a living? I work from home.

It was twenty years ago today, on January 2nd, 2006; that I accidentally began my career… as a recruiter.

I hire diesel mechanics (and previously truck drivers) from all across the country for the company I work for. It’s basically a sales job under the division of HR. Every month, I have a monthly quota to fill, but it doesn’t stress me out at all. I am motivated by the challenge. I love what I do!

I never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was more than halfway through college before I landed on majoring in English; after discovering I was the only guy in my entire dorm who actually liked writing papers and actually enjoyed speech class.

Did I have a passion for it? No.

Did it come easy for me so that I ended up graduating on the Dean’s List, despite nearly failing basic college math and science classes my freshman year? Yes.

Shortly after moving to Nashville, I decided to visit a temp agency to see if they could find me some gigs to do, in addition to my part-time job I had unloading trucks for Fed-Ex.

At the end of my first day on the first assignment they gave me, I asked the employer how long the job would be for… assuming the answer would be just a week or two.

Instead, the supervisor for that job responded, “Well, actually… permanently.” So I just went along with that answer for the next 12 and a half years, until the company eventually closed down the office at that location.

At that point, I had accumulated well over a decade of experience, so naturally, another company snatched me up to fill their recruiter position. And now, I’ve been at my current company for over 7 and a half years.

It sounds weird to say out loud: As of today, I have 20 years of recruiting experience.

Now I’m imagining the absurdity of the current version of me traveling back in time to tell the college freshman version of myself:

“Okay, so just get an English degree and then once you graduate college, take the first full-time job you are offered, which will be in recruiting. That’s what you’ll be doing for a living. Oh, yeah… and at some point, you’ll be able to start doing your job much more efficiently by never  even going to an office and instead, working from your house.”

Yeah, that definitely would have sounded like someone from the future talking to me.