I've got a few milestones that I would like to celebrate with all of you. First of all, it has now been ten years almost to the day that I have been a resident of fair Ottawa, by way of New Brunswick. I arrived here, 18 years old, young and naive, heart filled with big dreams, love and hope for a bright future. I've mentioned before that I've often wondered why I was still here. Life just happened a few times while I was busy making other plans, or so they say. I'm still somewhat young, less often naive and my heart always bursts with big dreams, lost of love and hope for a bright future. But I've grown. I'm definitely not the same girl I used to be. Heck, I'm not a girl anymore.
My second milestone is that it has now been exactly one year since I quit my day job to dedicate myself fully to the arts. I am by no means the first person (nor is he, but he's the first I personally know of) to do this, nor will I be the last (this guy is the most recent, I think). However, a conversation with a good friend who has also taken the plunge made me wonder how long it can possibly last?
In the past year, I've worked on my first professional show (that I did not have a hand in self-producing), helped my theatre company gain registered charity status and become an absolute mainstay in the community (I still can't believe how far we've come in four years!), discovered that I am a writer (SIDE RANT: Odd that although I have been keeping a blog for *gasp* FIVE YEARS, I didn't consider myself a writer. It's kind of cute for me to go back and reread my old, somewhat juvenile shit. If you're up for a little light cyber-stalking, feel free to check my old blog out. I can't believe I thought I knew anything. I don't. I really don't.), wrote and produced my own show which I then took on tour, took an incredible amount of classes and workshops, had a hand in writing at least two successful grant applications, had a play I wrote get presented in Singapore, traveled for my art to exotic locales like Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Kitchener-Waterloo, and a whole bunch of other stuff, I'm sure, that I just can't think of right now.
These things would not have been accomplished if I had still been working at my day job.
After a year of all that, I know, deep in my soul, that I could not go back to the 9 to 5 grind. There's something I find comforting about having no idea what day of the week it is or not finding official "holidays" very relevant because I work when I want to (which, I have to admit, is all the time - just at weird hours).
It hasn't been easy. Money has been tighter than it's ever been and I haven't been hired for real acting work in about 10 months. Sometimes I wish I could just go to the mall and buy a dress or a flat screen TV, but frankly, I don't wear dresses that often (having no office job means I don't have to own fancy clothes) and I watch TV online now, so really what would be the point? Instead, I relish the fact that I can have a drink at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday or write a grant application at 2 a.m. because that's when I feel like doing it (I told you, weird hours).
I love my life right now and I believe it will last as long as I wanted it to last.
That said, seeing how it's a Tuesday (I think), anyone want to join me for a celebratory drink tonight at 11 p.m.?
;)