Well… I’m lost. I have my interview with Evel Knievel in
just over two months and I have been everywhere from completely confident to 5
steps away from entering a psych ward. Now I don’t have anything. This past couple of weeks has been nothing
but a series of trials.
For example, last Monday I met with a rather new friend from
work, and while I know I should have been talking with her about more interpersonal
matters, all I could talk about was this interview. I went on this rant about
the dreams I have been having, the questions I was going to ask, my possible
romantic obsessions with Evel, my horrible fears that the ground was going to
fall out beneath me and I’d be cast into a never ending fall towards a deep
abyss of ignorance, all while being followed by Evel’s flaming, steel eyes and
a haunting voice jeering at all my failures... I had another dream recently but
we won’t get into that… Anyways, I was going on this rant and my ‘friend’ juts
in with the most ghastly remark: “and who is it that you’re talking about?”
“…Evel Knievel!” I flared back with the most dejected facial
expression I could muster.
“And who exactly is Evel Knievel?”
“What do you mean who is Evel Knievel? Who is Evel Knievel?!
A man risks his life practically a million times for the sake of inspiring the
public and you don’t know who Evel Knievel is?”
“Listen” she said with a deceptive air of comforting, “I
gather that he’s this stunt man from your generation, I gather that you’re really
excited to interview him, and I gather that you think he is, or was, a very
important person… but do you really think he’s that important to get this
worked up about? You’ve got a life too.”
At that point I was simply furious. Who doesn’t know who
Evel Knievel is? And who has the audacity to compare my life to his! “My life
isn’t Evel Knievel’s!” I shouted in just about tears “My life isn’t Evel
Knievel’s, neither is yours, neither is anybody’s, and that’s the whole point!”
Then I, needless to say, stormed out of the coffee shop,
marched home, and just flat out screamed for about two hours.
…Maybe I’m getting a little overwhelmed with all of this.
But really, this is the most important thing I’ve done with my career thus far.
You can’t just demean my work like that, and you certainly can’t demean the
life of a man who basically gave up his for the sake of the public! Even if he’s
a bit of a madman, that’s better than a bored isn’t it? At least that’s my
excuse…
http://ftfworks.org/
