Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the Western Academy of Beijing talking at the Career Day. Representing Cheeky Monkey is always fun, but it was hard to take that much time away from my rehearsal schedule for the ShiFen Festival. I was on the Performance Arts / Entertainment panel with some other really great folks: Sarabeth Berman, Charles Saliba and Micky Wrobleski. And mostly, it was incredibly amazing listening to them and their stories about how they ended up where they are now. Of course it was a little bit daunting as well, reminding me how much others have achieved, pushes me to want to do more.

While it was both ironic and eerie (and a painful reminder of my age) it was overall a really good time, answering the kids’ questions and talking with them about theater and performance art. To be honest, I think its kinda odd to be considered someone with a “career”. Do I have a career? Am I a model for impressionable young people? Actually, I think I probably am.

There was an awful stat quoted to us right before the first panel session. When the kids had asked about what was important in a career (ie: family, doing something you love, accomplishment) more than 90% of the kids said: Money. How awful is that? Yes, maybe it kinda sucks that I’m not rolling in the dough, but you can’t buy the happiness you get from doing something you love.

At least, thats what I’m focusing on telling myself right now. The week of ShiFen is here, and I’m crazy-busy with preparations… for a free event. Yes, I’ve essentially devoted more than a month of my life to this project and I’m not earning anything from it. But then again, I’m pretty sure that this Saturday night will be an *amazing* show And it will all be worth it then, right? Haha.