No Limits and the Texas Motor Speed

I had a lot of fun this weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway. I was hired by the folks at the No Limits Campaign to drive a beautiful truck called a Rat Rod and to interact with racing fans. For those of you who don't know what a Rat Rod is, it's a creative combination of a variety of antique vehicles, usually pulled out of junkyards. The only limitation is that of a mechanic's imagination. The one I drove was a beauty. Here are her specs:

- 1941 pre-war Chevy truck body
- 1937 Ford chassis
- Ford Pinto front end with disc brakes
- Pontiac steering column
- 8-inch Ford rear end
- 2-speed Powerglide transmission
- the bed was shortened 20 inches
- the cab was chopped down 4 inches
- 327 Chevy small block motor
- 1955 Chevy radiator
- one of a kind American racing wheels
- Hudson Terraplane grill
- Mac truck bulldog figurehead
- Honda Accord bucket seats
- original 1940's Cole bottle opener
- stained Ash wood bed
- chainsaw piston shifter

On top of the fact that I got to drive this amazing machine all day in clothes that were designed specifically for me, I also had the great pleasure of hauling a group of ladies called the Heartland Sweethearts in the back. They were an awesome group of people. A good time all around.

Striking a Balance with Time

Lately, the people closest to me have been telling me that I’m becoming too focused on my career. I am at a loss. My wife wants me to have more fun. She doesn’t like that I always have my cell phone in-hand in case I get an email requiring a quick response; that I take nearly every spare moment to work on some aspect of my career; that I have ZERO interest in parties, weekend hangtime with friends, or any unproductive time in general.

I see her point. I do. And maybe it’s getting out of hand, but I don’t feel comfortable kicking back when I see how much ground I have to cover. I’ve always believed that the phrase “a business that runs itself” really means no one’s running the business. And technically, my acting career is a business. My knee-jerk reaction is, “I’ll have fun when I get there.” However...

I can’t stop thinking about the lost moments of each day. Of today. When I think about what inspires me as an artist, let me tell ya’, it ain’t a non-stop work environment. It’s the whimsical thoughts that are the children of daydreams. It’s time spent with my wife and children without glancing at the clock to see if their allotted time with me has expired. It’s the excitement of not knowing where the day will take me because I chose not to plan it out. These are a few of the simple pleasures I haven't enjoyed in a while.

Has anyone out there ever run into this problem? How does a person strike a balance between creating a future and being present for today?

Dancing in Place

The past week has been insanely busy for me. Let's review: I took an acting workshop, I had lines to memorize for class, I had to decide whether or not to take an audition in Austin that my local agent found for me to which I would have had to drive 3 hours (I passed), my 5 year old was detained at her elementary school for two hours past the normal release time while a team of tornadoes cut through Dallas, I had to scramble to find someone to hire to videotape another of my auditions so I could send to my agent in Baton Rouge for a chance to get on the TV show Army Wives, and lastly, today I had to make a difficult call to my third agent in New Mexico to tell her that I've decided to leave her agency and allow my Dallas agent to handle my auditions in New Mexico and California as well as the local ones. All this plus being a husband, father, and sole financial support for my little family.

I know it's not for nothing, but sometimes I feel like, in building my acting career, I'm merely volunteering instead of working. This is what it's like sometimes. This is why so many people like the idea of being an actor until they give it a shot. It's a second job whose income fluctuates from really well to nothing at all. It may sound like I'm getting burned out. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I love this crazy life of mine and I know that when I do reach a point in my career when the paydays are so great that the time off between jobs will be considered a hiatus, I will look back fondly  at these times of struggle. I know this is true because I feel a great fondness for them right now.