I read this excerpt from an interview the other week.

Glass didn’t earn a living from his music, in fact, until he was 42. Until then, he drove cabs, shifted furniture and worked as a plumber. “I was careful,” he explains, “to take a job that couldn’t have any possible meaning for me.” Stories of famous-composer-actually-working-man-shock from that period abound. The art critic Robert Hughes was astonished to find the avant garde composer mending his dishwasher. On another occasion, a woman tapped on the side of his cab and told him that he had the same name as a “very famous composer”.

Now this strikes me as a source of inspiration and also a shared train of thought.  The inspiration comes in the form of persistence, which in actual fact is just waiting whilst you do what you do whilst nobody gives a shit. That’s essentially it, it’s the creative work you’re doing whilst nobody takes notice, my theory is that the universe does not deem you ready at the time. It sees you have it in you to achieve that goal, it sees that it’s the spark inside that makes you want to do it over and over and over again but it won’t let it fully immerse yourself. This is because it knows that if it let’s you jump the gun on your life plan, there is every chance you are going to make the wrong decision and f%$# it up.

Oh and Phillip Glass is also a Buddhist and a vego, and meditates, and they ask him why he has the vitality of a 30 year old at 73? I think it’s pretty damn obvious, he says he’s been living like this since he was 20.

Nonetheless I am in the thick of this stage oh wait by the way I saw “Inception” last night, do yourself a favour and go see the damn thing, it’s f – ing incredible! Nolan is at the top of his game and I honestly think he can’t do better than that. We’ve seen the peak of his directing powers and he has shown that he is one of the greats, seriously what an incredible film.

Anyway like I was saying the second part to this scenario is the work you take in between, some people take jobs that are almost there, let’s just say they fill a 70 – 80 percent quota of their creativity. Kind of like saying well this is almost what I want to do so I should be happy I got this far. To Phillip Glass and apparently me I think this is dangerous. Now I can’t speak for everyone because the mechanics and the thought processes of everyone involved in this life are different, some don’t mind the 70 percent because they fill it with other human tidbits, sport, house, family, travel whatever. But personally for me I can’t do that, I’m of the ilk that a job that has no possible meaning warrants no risk of me wanting to keep it for the rest of my life hence my work in my creative field is ten fold in my off time.

It’s evident that you get to a point that if you spend your time at a job that is almost there then you find that you lose that spark. Creatively you’re doing something but  not challenging yourself so you find no need to push the barriers, whilst taking part in some inconsequential job like taxi driver or factory worker you keep the spark alive, you come to the realization that the creative time  is all you have so I better smash it. Maybe it’s just a matter of training the subconscious and telling it that I have a soulless job so I can grow no attachment to it hence I don’t waste what I have creatively on it.

Now this is where I get into a bit of a conundrum with my parents and those around me. Their thinking is that of a job that is in the industry, no matter how far removed it may be as long as it’s in the industry. Now this wouldn’t be such an issue with everyone, especially my parents if I displayed a certain amount of patience. Now I am getting better but it does take us to our third point – waiting.

Personally I f-ing hate waiting, I don’t like the idea of people taking their time to do things that can quite easily be done in the time it takes to do them. Then again I come to the realization that I’m being a selfish prick and that people don’t run on the same clocks as I do. A lot of people famous, historical, successful and just plain normal humans had to wait for their moment or opportunity and in most cases it seems to serve them better than those who were gifted it from the outset. Maybe it has to do with what I wrote before, you are not equipped with the tools to handle the opportunity due to your lack of experience or age.

Here is an article about actor Naomi Watts and her experience with waiting.

http://blog.taragana.com/e/2010/05/22/when-naomi-watts-almost-gave-up-acting-129434/

So why on earth are you writing this? The one reader of this blog may say.

Well I’m a quintessential Gen Y in one aspect – patience. I have none. I don’t see the point in waiting if I can do it now, and I don’t see what I have to gain by letting the months and years go by no matter how hard I look for opportunities. In specifics I’m talking about getting my feature film up and looking for someone, anyone who actually wants to produce it.

It’s high concept, low budget and has a trailer and everything!

So like most people my age I vent on a blog or every couple of months I curse the world for not giving me my shot whilst some son or daughter or nephew of someone in the biz is given direct entrée. The feelings and the tirade may only last a few moments but they do take it out of you especially if you are a practicing Buddhist. It takes you back to square one, couple this with your non creative job and the feeling that you are at the farthest place you could possibly be from your goal and you can see why so many people take the 70 percent option. It’s more likely that it will keep you safe, dry and mentally sane.

But then again it brings about the “life”. The “life” is what I call the steps that are taken after you fill the 70 percent option. You find a girl, you buy a house, you get married, you have kids, you send them to school, you see them grow up and before you know it you are in your mid forties and the goal that you so desperately cherished was put on the back burner. Actually by the end the backburner has been packed away and stored in a box in the attic that you are too afraid to go in because it’s just a huge mess – basically ours at home.

Simultaneously stepped on a guitar and a fishing rod whilst looking for a sleeping bag!

Go figure.

So what’s the point you say? Well I don’t know if there is one I sort of needed to vent because I’ve been waiting a long time and been pressing even longer with my career and felt that if you don’t you end up giving yourself a tumor or something.

So that’s it for another week, feel free to have the honor of commenting first and win a mystery prize!

By prize I mean a mention in next weeks post, wow totally worth the effort.

Peace