Stuff I think about on Fridays....

I have spent the afternoon thinking about what to take for my continuing education classes for my massage license as the class I am going to take this weekend does not qualify for those credits (the original class I signed up for did, but since I was not able to take that class, this was the next best thing). This search inevitably leads me to my obsession with taking a three day Shiatsu course that I have been wanting to take for, um, two years now and then I begin to consider finishing my massage education, taking the next 250 hours, then the Shiatsu would be included in that. I think about all the jobs in the world, all the people who need all different kinds of things done to them and for them and wonder, which one of those would I be good at? So far, these are the professions that I think speak to my personality, not in any particular order: writer, photographer, location scout, teacher, nurse, editor, massage therapist, human resources, and marketing. I have looked into each one of these in some way or another, excited about each one at some point or another, probably when I have been upset by another phone call where I was called a bitch or collating something or whatever.

I would love to go back to school, but right now that is not financially possible. This is one of the main underlying issues surrounding this to begin with. Although I am proficient in a number of what are now called "soft skills" - people skills, communication and leadership skills, management and organizational skills that would make Martha Stewart proud, they do not exactly read on my resume. What the resume says is I have, in one form or another, been someone's assistant and have not changed that position my whole adult professional life.

They don't know that the stage manager is the first person there and the last one to leave, and the one who keeps the actors from setting themselves on fire, and the one who runs the meetings and makes sure the emails go out to everyone at 2am. They don't know about all the times I went to the family store on E. 7th to buy sodas before a show, or trying to be nice and get a lighting cue done when it's 11:30 on day 5 of tech and all you want to do is sleep or throw up (sometimes both). They think their co-workers have "strong personalities" - have you ever met a leading actress? Have you ever cleaned a public toilet for free because the house was about to open and, well, it just had to be done.

Now please don't take this as a martyr complex, I LOVE THEATRE. I lived and died for the theatre, it was my religion and my pleasure to do all of those things. I am just realizing now in my "next life" that all those things I chose to do: act, write, direct, and especially stage manage, although the lessons I learned doing them will be with me forever, are hard to translate onto a piece of paper - and in a job interview, are not really, well, on topic. Maybe I need to figure out a way to spin all of those actions into qualities that I know will read onto my resume - perserverance, patience, loyalty, dedication, patience, sense of humor in trying times, passion, did I mention patience? and determination. I can do whatever you throw my way. Oh, you want me to count lanyards? Oh. Okay.