be together, together again…

Ooh. That needs some attention. I look, and notice the corner of the room, along the ceiling, is quite literally crawling with bugs… flying things, crawling things, ants, moths… etc. I guess that means we might need to start shutting that screen door. Most of the time, the door to the H.Q. is just wide open… day or night. It works out, with the odd schedules we keep– even with only three of us here (Ken pays rent but … yeah, lives at the Castle), usually someone is up– Andrew creating some new 3D alien, or Ben destroying the barbarian hordes of Warcraft III. Of the three of us, I think Ben is the only one with keys to the house. Heh.

Anyhow. Every once in a while, there shines a brilliant moment of epiphany. Tonight I’ve experienced one such moment.

Working at Papa Johns this summer has been absolutely miserable. Talk about a mistake. The management is a bunch of lame ducks… collecting a paycheck, no ambition. (Funny story: there is ONE manager, Derick, that I actually like. He’s not a very good manager, but at least he brings some ENERGY to the work environment. Well, I haven’t seen him lately, so I ask Nick, “say, is Derick still working here?” “Oh, no,” Nick replies. “He’s in prison.” I cast a quizzical glance. “For being Black, in Bozeman, on a Thursday,” Nick explains. Well, par for the course. It’s not the first time I’ve seen PJ managers come and go … in and out of prison.) The store just doesn’t … care. And that’s been killing me, slowly. (That, and Bozeman’s AWFUL traffic systems…)

So, while driving the drive (I’m in the pizza escort business, after all), I’ve been increasingly day-dreaming about starting a store– a pizza business, perhaps? Some sort of chain business (not the first chain I’ve day-dreamed about). Something like that. Just some sort of business opportunity.

And then, I’m the new director for MSU’s Procrastinator Theatre (a second run movie theater, a.k.a. “dollar theater”), which has been systematically driven into the ground over the last five years. So it hits me: this is my business opportunity. I’ve got a big operating budget, an existing facility, and complete discretion about how the theater runs.

So this is my epiphany: make the Procrastinator my business venture. Rather than just trying to maintain the P’s pathetic status quo, why not build sales? Revive the theater. Reintroduce concessions. Cut costs. Make the theater worthwhile again…

And the timing couldn’t be better. Next spring, the theater is moving into a new facility–complete with digital projection, sound, etc. Which makes the time ripe to make good…

So yeah. That’s kinda random, but really exciting.

—

Ah, Bozeman. What a flurry of activity it’s been! I’m burried up to my ears in ambitious projects, and making slow progress on most of them. Slow progress, mind you, amid float trips, hikes, games of Settlers, parties, dirty dishes… ah, but it’s good.