On living as a mime, trapped in a clown’s body

and the gap between what we want and what we get

Some people go to school to learn.

Others go to school to get a credential and land a job.

Me?

I went to school to be funny. Not that the schools that I went to were places that specialized in being funny. Actually? Being funny was pretty much universally condemned at most of the schools I went to.

Then there was this one school I went to - the Dell Arte International School for Mime and Physical Comedy.

I did that when I was 24 years old.

I was young. I went there with a pretty open mind.

I wanted to explore and experience it all.

There, I’d live every day, moment to moment taking in what the moment was putting out.

And the goal much of the time?

Be funny.

But despite my ‘take things as they come’ attitude, I still went there with dreams and desires.

I dreamt that by the end of my time there, I’d be a fully certified, clown. Fresh meat, on the market. Ready to work, Cirque Du Soybean will beg me to join them!

But then?

We remarkable fools sometimes have a bit of a gap between our expectations a…