The year was 2009. I was driving a blue Dodge Dakota pulling a 6X10 white trailer. It was a hot summer day in the middle of north Oklahoma. That summer I did most of the driving for the team. Michael was in the front with me while Julia and Diana were crammed in the back seat. How they sat back there during the whole tour is still a mystery to me. We made a routine stop for gas.  We filled up, did our stretching exercises, and pulled right out back onto the road.

As I was pulling out, it was a little bumpy. We didn’t think much of it, just figured it was the poor road conditions. Four hours later when we got to our hotel, we noticed that we were missing one of  the wheel well cover thingy. It was the road that was bumpy, it was me hitting one of the cement pillars at the gas station. Whoops.

The next week it rained, and all our stuff (props,set,merchandise,clothes) got drenched in water. The following week we had to take the truck to the shop because a few of the spark plugs were misfiring and the battery wires were corroded.  It was one thing after another that summer…

Isn’t that like every road trip you take though? You plan what you’re going to do, what time you are going to get there, who you are going to see, calculate how far you can drive before you have to stop, etc, but it rarely goes as planned!  There is always something that we either forget to bring, we miss exits, we get in fights, we bought the wrong ticket, etc.  And I love that!

I’ve taken many road trips in my life. Growing up we took a family vacation every summer somewhere. Usually it was to southern Missouri to our favorite vacation spot, Cloud 9 Ranch.  As experience as my parents were at planning trips and packing (my mom would pack the whole house for our vacations), there were still a few things that went wrong.

I think it’s interesting to compare roads trips to our lives.  We think we have our one year goals, five year goals, or even ten year goals but very rarely does it ever go the way we expected.  We hit bumps along the way, someone we are relying on doesn’t pull through, or we plainly take a whole new route.  I love my life!  I enjoy when things don’t always go the way I planned it.  Surprises.  Now granted there are things that I wish did go the way I planned and I would get frustrated, but overall, for anyone who knows me, I enjoy surprises and mixing up my life.

So don’t let the bumps and barricades get you down or angry because I believe that it’ll all work out the way it was supposed to work out.  Not our way, but God’s (or Buddha, or the cosmos, or the past spirits, or whatever you choose to believe) way.

What trips have you taken that didn’t go the way you expected it would?

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Last week I was in Dallas rehearsing for a show I performed with From the Branch in Tucson, AZ, and was thrown off of my weekly routine.  I’m not complaining, but my mind and body were definitely very upset with me.  It was great to see my Dallas friends and eat at some restaurants that I already miss.  All that being said, I was thrown off and I am glad to be back into the swing of things.

This past week has been quite fun and exciting.  I got back into my bootcamp and spinning classes.  I thought that I would never say that I enjoyed working out.  Met with my agent, took new headshots, did some reading, and continued to watch Saved by the Bell.  Such a fun week!

However, the thing that I was most excited about getting back to was acting!  One of my roommates attended a workshop awhile back, and the instructor said that if you aren’t putting yourself on camera five days a week, then you have no business being in this business because there are people who do.  And that is what we have been doing.  Each day we have been intentionally doing something that will help us be better artists.

It is definitely a cliche that there are three inspiring actors living together.  I love it!  We have some accountability with each other.  For example, if we say that this week we are going to work on a monologue and a scene, then we have to be prepared.  We will rehearse, and then put it on camera to see how it looks.  Since each one of us have training and experience, we will direct each other and give our ideas.  We will try them and if it works great… if not then we will adjust.

To people who are not actors, this whole setup might be weird and awkward.  That’s fine.  Wait until I’m on the Late Show and then we’ll see how weird it is!

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I would consider my life pretty well organized and in place.  For the time being, I have a pretty nice and simple routine.  On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I get up at the same time, workout, come home, work from 11a-4p (usually later though), read, catch up on my shows on Hulu, watch Saved by the Bell, and then back to bed by midnight.  On Tuesdays and Thursday, I get up at the same time, workout, come home and spend the rest of the day running errands, reading, watching a movie, maybe take a walk, and work on my acting stuff.  Pretty nice and simple right? Well…

It is don’t get me wrong.  I feel, however, that I am struggling.  Not in my day to day life or my routine and trying to get things done that need to be done, but struggling in my art and acting.  I want to be more creative in my art and challenge myself.  For example, recently I had a thought and a slight inspiration to want to write a script.  Sounded like fun.  I came up an idea in my head, had a couple of sleepless nights.  I finally decided to type out the synopsis or summary of the next Oscar winner for original screenplay.  Got about four paragraphs into it, went back and re-read what I wrote, and said, “What is this?!”  It was so boring and unoriginal!  Immediately I hit Command + A, Delete and started back at square one.

The reason I deleted it was because it was not creative at all (much like this post you are reading).  I have read mattress labels better than what I wrote.  I know, maybe I’m being to hard on myself.  But if I’m not, who is going to be?

How does one become more creative?  More specifically, how does one become articulate with their words when writing a script?   I know for me that it isn’t lack of motivation.  I’m ready to start doing my own work, but where do I begin?  You have to have exciting dialog.  I guess I could just Google how to be more creative…

People say, “Write what you know.”  I know that Uncle Jesse’s last name was changed from Cochran to Katsopolis after season one, and that White Castle invented the industrial sized spatula and was the first restaurant to offer their customers coupons, and that the word “typewriter” is the longest word that can be made using only one row on a keyboard.  Maybe I should I write a script about a guy who knows useless facts….

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I need a camera to follow me around.  24 hours, 7 days a week.  I swear it would make a good tv show.  Who would watch it?  Read this little story, and you’ll know why I say that.

On Saturday, I loaded up Michael’s car and mine with everything that I own and headed down to my new home in New Orleans.  It’s technically not New Orleans, just north about 5 miles but same difference.

I’m staying in a condo building.  Never seen it before, what it looks like, the neighborhood, etc.  My roommate came down 2 weeks ago and his only mission was to find a place that was inexpensive, convenient, and in a safe area.  He found that and more.  The only hiccup that he said that I might run into was that I couldn’t move in on the weekend.  They have specific times when you can move in.  Monday through Friday 9-6.  That was going to be a problem since I had to be out of my Dallas place on Saturday, and was heading down the same day.  Long story a little bit shorter, he talked to the security guard and got it approved.  I mean after all, the only thing that I was moving in was a bed, tv, tv stand, and boxes.  Not really moving in.

After I made a wrong turn that took us through a rough side of the neighborhood, got to my place around 9pm.  Walked in and talked to the security.  Told him I just drove here from Dallas, and I’m moving in a few things.  He said, “Absolutely not! Moving in days are Monday through Friday.”  I told him the situation on how was got it approved, and he didn’t budge.  Now we got ourselves a Mexican stand off.  He called some lady on the board of directors who made the rule, and she said “No!”  Same thing.  Didn’t even have a chance to talk to her.  He then called the security guard who my roommate talked to, but he acted like he didn’t know him.  Now what do I do?!

I decided at this point that I needed to see the room.  I also wanted to chat with Michael on what we could do.  Seeing that I live on the 1st, maybe we can sneak it in through the window.  Something!  Turns out that the key that I was given doesn’t work, or at least we couldn’t open the door.  I went back to security and said the key I have doesn’t work.  He looked me up in some book to see if I was on the key release form.  Lo and behold, I’m not on the release form.  My name isn’t even on the lease.  Now I’m very frustrated and angry, but at the same time laughing on the inside because this could be only happening to me!

After another little stand off, Michael was going to try the key again.  After I handed Michael the keys again, the security guard decided that now would be a good time to use his security guard stern, authoritative training.  He told Michael that he can’t have him walking up and down the hallway, and asked us to step outside to resolve the issue.  Once we had it figured out, we could come back in.  I got kicked out of my own apartment complex.  Great!  You’re probably asking yourself, “Mitch, where is your roommate in all of this?”  He is back in Dallas for the weekend and won’t be back until Sunday night.  And to be fair, I don’t blame him for any of this.  He did tell me that I may have an issue with moving in on the weekend…

At this point, Michael and I are literally stranded in New Orleans with a mattress on his car, a box spring on mine, and both our cars full of my stuff with nowhere to go.  We both know zero people in New Orleans except for the security guard, but let’s be honest, he’s not really our friend at this point.  What do we do?  Luckily Michael’s in-laws live in Baton Rouge and they said that we are welcome at anytime, so we took them up on their offer.  We called them, told them our situation, and they kindly and graciously allowed us to stay with them the rest of the weekend.  We drove an hour back north to stay with the Clark’s until Monday morning.  My roommate came up late Sunday night, and we loaded what was in Michael’s car into his car.  Michael left to go back to Dallas, while I went back down to New Orleans.

This is why I feel that I need a camera to follow me around.  This obviously doesn’t happen to me everyday, but little things here and there do throughout the week.  The lesson that I learn from these little (or big) events, that in the end are funny to me, is that God has a sense of humor.  Trust Him, and everything will work out just the way He plans it.  All we have to do is listen, response, and try not to get too caught up in the little things of this world because you might just miss a great weekend with your best friend’s in-laws!

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