I get thanks for some things I do. I get people's support when, perhaps, they should be worrying about their own lives and I shouldn't be leaning on them. I thank those people. Sometimes they don't seem to feel like I'm imposing - or at least act as though I'm not. In turn, I really don't mind doing the things I do which people thank me for - for the most part at least.
I have had the pleasure and the honour to be involved with a few sketch groups and a couple of different sketch shows over the course of this year. Today and yesterday I was in London doing things to support tonight's show - the first of a run of shows for a particular group. I got thanked for the various things I made happen and for the time I've supposed "given up" in order to do the show. I seem to be expected to acknowledge that there's some sacrifice on my part. Well, I say that, but perhaps that's not true. Perhaps there's an assumption that I'm doing things which I need thanking for, and the rest is extrapolation.
People thrive on thanks and it's important both to thank people who are doing work for you (whether they have to or not) and be able to receive thanks for the work you have done. As I do some work in the voluntary sector, it's imperative to reward with thanks. Even though I work in the commercial sector, I also make the effort to say thank you and perhaps elevate some acts above the status of "normal stuff" in order to make an extral special opportunity to say thanks.
As it is, I'm not good at being thanked myself. I usually do things for my own reasons. A benign selfishness, if you will. I do things because it pleases me to do them. It's good to do things. Not doing things is bad. You get the idea. Today I was thanked for my pre-show preparation (before I even arrived at the venue) by the director. I replied that "The joy is in the doing and the results.". I guess that's my answer to Sherlock Holmes's manifesto that his work was its own reward. I've quoted this Sherlock Holmes before. I don't know how many times I have, but the one which comes to mind happened on the upstairs of a bus, one time, in Hull.
Anyway, my own purposes led me to helping out with the sketch show today. Of course, my own purposes may not be enough to make the show happen, so I have to do what's required, whether it pleases me or not. It pleases me. Yesterday's preparation joined in with today's to make a good opening night. I'd cycled to London, to arrive in the neighbourhood of the venue at around 1.50. I had time for a quick bite to eat (and a change from my cycling clothes to more sociable clothes) and then I was into sound choosing and editing with the director.
It was good fun.
The show went so well that the cast had to return for further bows. Some of the stuff we recorded yesterday received an immense response... some less so. I guess it's just luck.
I spent the train journey home engaged in the painful process of doing some weeding of my mobile phone text messaging inbox. I ploughed through a load of old texts and deleted those that don't belong. It was exceedingly draining.
As James Blunt might say - "My Life Is Brilliant!".
The sketch show is a beacon of light which I'm happy to be drawn to.
I have had the pleasure and the honour to be involved with a few sketch groups and a couple of different sketch shows over the course of this year. Today and yesterday I was in London doing things to support tonight's show - the first of a run of shows for a particular group. I got thanked for the various things I made happen and for the time I've supposed "given up" in order to do the show. I seem to be expected to acknowledge that there's some sacrifice on my part. Well, I say that, but perhaps that's not true. Perhaps there's an assumption that I'm doing things which I need thanking for, and the rest is extrapolation.
People thrive on thanks and it's important both to thank people who are doing work for you (whether they have to or not) and be able to receive thanks for the work you have done. As I do some work in the voluntary sector, it's imperative to reward with thanks. Even though I work in the commercial sector, I also make the effort to say thank you and perhaps elevate some acts above the status of "normal stuff" in order to make an extral special opportunity to say thanks.
As it is, I'm not good at being thanked myself. I usually do things for my own reasons. A benign selfishness, if you will. I do things because it pleases me to do them. It's good to do things. Not doing things is bad. You get the idea. Today I was thanked for my pre-show preparation (before I even arrived at the venue) by the director. I replied that "The joy is in the doing and the results.". I guess that's my answer to Sherlock Holmes's manifesto that his work was its own reward. I've quoted this Sherlock Holmes before. I don't know how many times I have, but the one which comes to mind happened on the upstairs of a bus, one time, in Hull.
Anyway, my own purposes led me to helping out with the sketch show today. Of course, my own purposes may not be enough to make the show happen, so I have to do what's required, whether it pleases me or not. It pleases me. Yesterday's preparation joined in with today's to make a good opening night. I'd cycled to London, to arrive in the neighbourhood of the venue at around 1.50. I had time for a quick bite to eat (and a change from my cycling clothes to more sociable clothes) and then I was into sound choosing and editing with the director.
It was good fun.
The show went so well that the cast had to return for further bows. Some of the stuff we recorded yesterday received an immense response... some less so. I guess it's just luck.
I spent the train journey home engaged in the painful process of doing some weeding of my mobile phone text messaging inbox. I ploughed through a load of old texts and deleted those that don't belong. It was exceedingly draining.
As James Blunt might say - "My Life Is Brilliant!".
The sketch show is a beacon of light which I'm happy to be drawn to.
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