Drugstores

I love them. How can you not? My wife always knows when I've been to the drugstore by the amount of time it takes me to get home from the gym, my mood or the wrappers she sees in the garbage. I always thought that it was the fact that the drugstore is a shop FULL of solutions. I mean - you have a headache? Ibuprofen. Need materials for school? Trapper keepers, pens and stationary are all over the place. Body odor? Deodorant. Dry skin? Lotions abound. On the lam? They basically have an entire aisle dedicated to hair dye kits and another half an aisle for shaving materials! It has always been a top destination from me.

During an innocent trip to peruse and pick up prescription (solution!) - I had a thought that changed my perception of drugstores and disappointed me immensely. Everyone always blames the government and/or "corporatocracy" for not finding a cure for the common cold. The array of products offered by drugstores and the way the stores are merchandised lends credence to this belief and, even more devastating, tells me that drugstores are in on it. I thought for all of these years that drugstores just innocently added products like candy, chips, crackers, gum, and beverages for the simple add-on sales they offered. Then when I was checking out trying to convince myself that this was all a lie from below - I noticed the cigarettes on the other side of the register. Why on earth would drugstores offer cigarettes unless they were TRYING to ensure there would always be a need for the solutions they offered?

Even worse, and I'll leave you with this, the stores are staged in order from the best solutions (pharmacy at the back) to the worst health-inducing problems (cigarettes at the VERY front). It's even a gradual downhill slide in the order of products from the pharmacy to the front counter (OTC remedies to hygiene products to school supplies to toys to gum to candy to cigarettes. I hope I haven't disappointed anyone else, but I'll never view Walgreens with such naive, giddy excitement as I have for the past 32 years.

Tempting the negation of the negation?

During my month-long crash course in film school, Warren Etheredge introduced us students to a term called "negation of the negation." It represents a twist in a film which takes place after the protagonist enters the cave scene - and this event basically makes the cave even deeper. The accompanying statement Warren posed was "if you think THAT was bad, check this out!"

Now to the part of this post which might lose my creative colleagues...

Reading an article today about Michael Schumacher (7x F1 World Champion), it looks as though he was considering a temporary comeback in Formula One. This was due to Ferrari Felipe Massa's injury at the Grand Prix of Hungary (which is one of the craziest things I have ever seen in motorsports). Anyhow, Schumacher revealed that a neck fracture he suffered in a crash last year during a motorcycle race. Wow, really? REALLY? You survive 15 seasons (7 championships, 91 wins!), make $800m and survive a pretty bad crash in a profession where you're hurdling yourself around a track at speeds up to 200mph (320kM) in a carbon fiber cart that weighs less than 1k pounds and you feel you haven't tested fate enough? Don't have your fix quite yet?

One more...

Tedy Bruschi wins 3 Superbowls with the Patriots, survives a STROKE (!) at the age of 32 and turns down an exec job with the Patriots to KEEP PLAYING. Are those 3 kids not enough to stay home? How about the two Pro Bowls you made?

Are these guys so wrapped in these professional personas (dangerous, at that) that they can't cash it in and start a company or something? If I were writing a script, these stories would provide some nice material for the "negation of the negation."

I'll spare you any mention of Brett Favre. Oops - sorry.

Revelation, new career path, film school...

All,

What an invigorating, challenging and overwhelming past 8 weeks it has been. God revealed to me in an interview last month that I cannot continue with a career in supply chain and cost analytics. It didn't play to my strengths and would most certainly result in an early death for me. Seeing people in the lobby of this company I was interviewing at looking incredibly ragged, though well-dressed, nearly caused me to walk straight out.

Fortunately I had enrolled in film school for basically the month of July. Wow - what a powerful experience that was. As most of you know, I have a sitcom in development and now have a short film project to compliment it.

Now for the big part - if all goes according to my plan (His is the X-factor), I'll be transitioning to a career in writing, communications or public relations within the next 3 months. The screenwriting will continue, but we need to pay the bills until I can sell something. I'm excited, terrified and all of the above...please keep me in your prayers!

Nate

That's right, Billy, I'm back AGAIN...

All,

It has been just over a year since my last blog post and oh so much has happened. To summarize for those that I haven't been able to connect with:

1) I finished my college degree (an AS in Business Administration)
2) I was laid off from my job of 13 years (a major blessing from above)
3) Amy and I started a screenplay for a sitcom (still in development)
4) I completed a plan for a sustainable business concept (including financial statements - which nearly resulted in my premature death)
5) We are strongly considering relocating if the right situation is presented

Hmm....I think that is about it. More to come tomorrow - honest!