Be present for yourself & everyone else... :)

So for the past month I've been interning at the Dallas Comedy House. It's been great, I get to hangout with fun people & experience a flood of creative energy from people.

I recently sat in on some of the stand up comedy open mic. You stand under a spotlight & your EXPECTED to be funny! There was a comic doing a set my first night at DCH who I thought did great! He had a dry sense of humor, & his jokes were spot on, I loved it! ... if only others had been paying attention. For the most part, there are always those people that feel a force stronger than gravity that causes them to pull out there phone, the blast of light making them light up like little towers in the theater. ("Uh hello, it's called multi-taking, duh! Get ova' yourself!")

As the comic's show concluded, he had a masked look of disappointment & frustration. Disappointed because his show didn't go as he had hoped & frustrated because even if it had gone the way he planned, most people weren't paying attention!! He looked up and said one last thing before walking off stage, "Take a break from your phone's people, because one day your gonna look back up & the ones you love won't be there anymore." 

Only about half the room even heard him, but he felt the need to say it. I thought at the moment it was such a profound thing to say to an audience. Granted some of the other audience members were other comics waiting for their chance to grace the stage, but it didn't make sense these fellow comics weren't AT ALL engaged with their colleagues work, process, or performance. Even watching bad performances has value!! It could be going through what the person did right or wrong. It could be deconstructing jokes & seeing what landed or what needs work.

Yet we are all so attached to our "smart" phones!! I recently saw Captain America 8 (or which ever version they're on now,) where a guy pulled out his phone & started talking to someone... as if we didn't all just see the same 3 minute mini-PSA asking us all not to! 

We have a 24 hour day at our disposal and we sleep about 8 hours a day, which now leaves you with about 16 hours for "freedom". BUT WAIT, you're supposed to be working, no worries it's only going to be a short 8 hour day. So now you're left with about 8 hours of "freedom". PUMP THEM BRAKES, your place is also dirty, there's laundry, you have family commitments, a spouse, kids, blah, blah, etc. Let's stay all those things take 4 hours, conservatively. You now have 4 hours to work on whatever you want in the world... which is turning more and more into that little voice that says "hey... YOU should check your phone."  

I used to be the same way though... until I realized that life happens whether you're present for it or not. I'd really hate to have my life flash before my eyes & realize I checked my phone the whole time!

Onward, 

Gabe S.