I have many partially written blogs that have not been published. This is in part because my laptop is in poor condition, causing the "v" and "," and "b", and some other keys in the middle of the keyboard to resist or doubly commit to their entry. Another reason is that I have felt so dissatisfied with my current state of life and saw few methods to remedy this.
But I fly out to a bucket list vacation to Scotland on Monday, and given the two train rides planned, I expect to have time to write. So I wanted to crack this blog back open before then and break the intimidation of a long silence.
I professored last year. I wrote and taught an online lecture class to medical assistants, and I included many jokes. That will hopefully be released in the coming months. Through that, I was invited to join the board of an allied health testing program. I just completed their tasks the other day, which were focused on reviewing and providing input regarding their test questions. For such things, they tend to test at too difficult a level, so my approach is usually to say that they should dumb it down. In any case, doing that allows me to have a board member designation on my CV and a nice paycheck too.
But this brings us to a difficult matter. I have found myself unable to study efficiently during the pandemic. Consequently, I have not been able to pass the Step 2 exam, which makes it impossible for me to gain a residency position. That puts me in the spot of needing to find work. Because I have kept up with my comedy podcast and done modeling shoots here and there, I keep being tempted to go back to the entertainment industry. This has become a bigger feeling since my mother has surprised me with information about the opportunities that I had apparently been given, but concerning which I had remained uninformed until now. I was invited to enroll in a school for the gifted, had producers asking me to contact them, and a myriad of other things, but those opportunities slipped by for the obvious reason that I was one of five siblings with two parents in a troubled marriage.
So I learned that I was recognized for my talent early, but my parents did not take the necessary steps to cultivate this talent. My mom brought out a bag full of neatly organized business cards from all of the industry people with whom we connected and has urged me to call these producers and directors after this 20 year hiatus, which I of course do not see as being a realistic approach. That being said, I do now find myself being recognized by legitimate comedians, and referred to as one, and I just keep thinking that this is what I really enjoy. On the other hand, the inundation of both burnout in medicine and with the many fools who consider themselves to be medically knowledgeable in their antagonism toward vaccination or masks make me increasingly less inclined to pursue that dream, at least in the short term. I have a friend who may be able to get me non-clinical work using my medical doctorate, but that would require a move to Arkansas, which would be a move away from the local hub of the entertainment industry in Dallas. And I am guessing that it would be a normal 9-5 desk job kind of thing, which is not exactly what I would prefer.
My old agent in Dallas has yet to return my calls requesting a meeting, but they do have the option for a reel to be submitted via email. I asked my buddy who is editing the lectures to send me my best stuff, but he is both busy and forgetful. In the meantime, I suppose that I should be looking through my older videos from both child acting and from college, plus more recent things through the podcast.
This trip to Scotland is a sort of deadline for me. I will be clearing my head by doing my favorite things with a good friend, and during that journey I hope to find some clarification both for what opportunities I legitimately have as well as what I would like to do upon completion of the vacation.
