Tonight is another trial run at the gallery. The city has been giving us some obstacles regarding our events because of some false information provided by the landlord. We're learning that there are a lot of sneaky people in the world that will tell you things that are not true for no good reason whatsoever. I mean, there's lying because there's something at stake: you want to accomplish something, you want to avoid something. And then there's lying out of laziness... or so it seems.  As a result, I've had to slow down when it comes to asking artists and musicians to perform for us because the LAPD came to our doors and gave us a riot speech, resulting in a week of scrambling and talking to different branches within the City's jurisdiction in order to get the correct information we need to accomplish what we want.

That's another thing I'm learning. The LAPD don't have to be intimidating: sometimes they show up on your doorstep to inform you of a certain piece of information that you should be aware of before you proceed with the intended course of action. Which is essentially the treatment they could have given us; instead, three officers waltzed into the gallery, each with a hand on the butt of their gun and informed us that they "know what we're doing" and if we continued with these events, they would shut every single one down. "You have to go through the proper procedure. Or else." Like they're the freaking mafia. 

[Roll playback of Al Pacino explaining what it means to make someone an offer that they can't refuse.] 

 Out of all of this trouble, we are rising with a more solid mission than we've ever had before. We're turning the gallery into a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to nurture the creative and artistic spirit that is thriving in Los Angeles. We are learning and building and taking baby steps toward our goal. It's really pretty exciting.

 So we're starting off small with a concert for our friends.  Just a little punk show to get our feet wet. Gosh, I hope everything goes well and there's not a puzzle piece that's out of place.

This is my new life in the non-profit sector. I'm helping my friend build this performance space in the service of the artistic community. And tomorrow, I'll be starting a part time job canvasing the streets asking people for donations for the Los Angeles Youth Network. I know it's gonna suck a little bit, but I'm choosing this life instead of falling into it.

I don't know if this is the actual end to my life in the movie business. I don't ever really think I was a part of it. I don't think assistants can really stake a claim on Hollywood until they're not assistants anymore and they've moved up to become producers, directors and writers. Some people I know who have left the industry feel as though they're admitting defeat. But I don't think that's true, at least in my case. 

Joseph Campbell explains in a documentary series about his life and work that there is a part of the archetypal hero's life in which he must enter a dark cave and slay a dragon. He wants to encourage everyone to see themselves as these archetypal heroes, as these myths were constructed, in an anthropological sense, as a way for humans to interpret the world, just as parables would. Here is what I've transcribed from the DVD: 

Joseph: The real dragon is in you. That's your ego holding you in. "What I want, what I believe, what I can do, what I think I love, what I regard as the aim of my life," it might be too small, it might be that which pins you down. And if it's simply a matter of doing the thing that the environment is telling you to do, then it certainly is pinning you down. And so the environment is your dragon as it reflects within yourself.

Reporter: How do I slay that dragon in me? What is the journey that I, you, we all have to make. You talk about something called a soul's high adventure.

Joseph: My general formula for my students is Follow Your Bliss; find where it is and don't be afraid to follow it.

Reporter: And is my bliss my work or my life...

Joseph: If the work that you're doing is the work that you chose to do because you are enjoying it, that's it.

This isn't the end to this blog, but for now, I'm pretty sure it's the death rattle of my life as a Hollywood Assistant- the dragon (as I recongnize it) having been slain and all.

Maybe this is the beginning of my life as just... you know... Me.