When I was in middle school I used to go to the Easily Amused Improv Comedy shows whenever they had them. This was mostly because I had a big ol' crushy crush on Dane the Mane Gaydos, but also because i thought they were pretty fun. Fast forward to freshman year and I'm slowly of friends with none other than the troupe's youngest member; Conor O'Brien. Conor badgered me to audition for the troupe and eventually I decided it sounded like a pretty cool gig. Soon I was the newest member of the troupe but I was no where near to feeling comfortable in that position.
Every week at practice I was surrounded by gods. These were all kids two or three years older than me who had bigger personalities than anyone I had ever hung out with. They told hilarious stories, had adventures that I wouldn't for years and all had the ability to command the attention of an entire room. Needless to say O felt pretty inferior. Of course with time I got more used to being around these people and became more comfortable putting myself out there in front of them, but I never quite felt in.
One by one these gods left. Each year more would graduate until finally this year I looked around and realized i was the second oldest member of the troupe. I was now a part of the elite and there were kids younger than me who probably didn't feel quite up to the level of my age group. No here's my question, are we the gods? This goes for pretty much everything I was a part of Senior year. Soccer, city tournament, improv and just being a person at school. Had my friends and I become the people I had worshipped? My reaction is to say no,k to say that I still don't measure up to those people and never will but I'm not sure. Perspective changes everything.
Two days ago was actually my very last improv practice, and sort of my very last thing of high school. Improv was the last thing I was a part of that felt like a "high school activity", and now it's over. Like really over. I'm not saying I'm crushed about it but it is pretty weird.
~Mada
I've actually always thought about that, too. The whole "are we who we looked up to?" question. Like, to name names, are we Eddie Vanbogaert? Are we Dane Gaydos? To leave the improv realm, are we Daniel Gosch and Jordan Holquist? I'm glad you reminded me of that sortof train of thought. Not that it's a particularly pleasant one, but still. I feel to an extent we are. We aren't the gods they were to us, but they probably weren't the gods they were to us. I've always looked forward to like, the next step in life that I can see and be jealous of, and whenever I get there it's not what it looked like. I don't get the feeling that I'm there, I just continue looking forward to the next one. REPLY TO THIS MADA. LET'S HAVE A CONVERSATION ON HERE.
ReplyDelete- Conor
No.
ReplyDelete-Mada
That wasn't me. I'm hoping you look at these comments again. But yeah, i've thought about this a lot since like last summer. It;s like I don't think we nearly compare to those people but then I take a step back and maybe we do. We did senior year pretty hard. Announcements, homecoming court/king, most sarcastic, national merit scholar, city tournament, representative girl, prom court, star of the musical, all state, etc...
ReplyDelete~Mada