I am now part of the 9-5 working world after a two year absence.
The early starts have taken some getting used to but by the end of the week they don’t seem quite so bad. What is seeming worse every time I experience it is trying to on the Victoria line in rush hour. It is utterly rammed. But I find the better option is to walk ten minutes to Liverpool Street and get the main train from there. I like to think I know where I’m going now, but I always get a bit lost.
Back in comedy and carrying on the navigational theme, I had my first gig since entering full-time employment. I have just realised that this was my first ever gig while having a full-time job. It’s not that exciting.
Anyway, I had to drop out of an out of town gig on Thursday as I would have needed to go an hour or so early to get my lift and didn’t really want to ask for time off in my first week. I am a bit gutted about missing this gig because by all accounts it sounded like an excellent night. Instead I had a gig in London that night. I was originally going to be doubling up but as both gigs were within walking distance of one another, I decided to get a map from one venue to the other. None of this smartphone map nonsense; I use my phone camera function to take a picture of Google Maps.
However, the first gig I was going to do was cancelled, thus creating a flaw in my navigational plan. With a partially useful map, I got off at the wrong tube stop and thought I could find my way to the second venue without so much as an address.
As you can imagine, I didn’t have much success but was convinced I was heading in the right direction. After 50 minutes of walking around posh West London and with my phone battery dying, I realised I wasn’t where I thought I was when I saw the tube station where my I started my poorly planned quest. It had taken me nearly an hour to walk in a very large circle.
I contemplated giving up and going home, but I was uncharacteristically early and thought I’d at least try and find the venue. After walking down the road without knowing where I was going, I somehow found a road that was on my partially useful map. And the venue was three minutes away.
It wasn’t a bad gig, a small audience of about six real people. But they were friendly, in stark contrast with the reception all the acts received at my gig in Tonbridge last week, where apathy was the theme of the night. At that gig I encountered perhaps the most disinterested audience member I have ever known. He was in his early 20’s and sporting an impressive mullet, presumably modelled on Mel Gibson circa Lethal Weapon 2. He looked utterly bored with everything throughout the evening and when the MC encouraged people at the start of the show to clap, Mr Mullet flat-out refused.
But anyway, I never got around to finishing that blog entry. Thursday’s gig was much more fun, I was trying out some half-written material and it went down pretty well.
Now I’m working full-time, finding the time to sit down and write is going to be quite a challenge. I took for granted the freelancing lifestyle and the ridiculous amount of time I had available to write. I’m sure I’ll find a way around it; otherwise I’ll be stuck with the same material for quite some time, which should provide me with the motivation I need.
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