the thumb was a nice addition but it's still the finger that pulls the trigger

Holy crap it is spring for a couple days before we get another dusting of snow!

Not trying to be negative, also trying not to be the guy in the convertible with the top down the first time it hits 50 degrees.  It is tempting to run and get the Jeep out of storage though....

I have officially stopped even looking at CNN thanks to their new policy of having at least one, if not more, "Something absolutely horrible happened to a child under 5" story on the front page at all times.  While I hope terrible things don't happen to small kids I also can't stomach a "news" entity blatantly exploiting the shock value of posting  "minivan runs over 5 year old", "toddlers thrown from overpass into traffic" and "toddler calls 911 on drunken dad" or something equally chilling (all of which have been recent headlines on their front page, none of which have national news relevance)  because someone sitting in a boardroom somewhere feels like it makes a good "hook".

Deleted my CNN.com news feeds, removed my bookmarks and happily finding news that actually affects me elsewhere.  I'm sure that somehow seems like putting my fingers in my ears and yelling "LA LA LA LA LA" about things that are just awful but I wouldn't say I'm blissfully ignorant of the fact that the world is a shitty place sometimes.  I would rather say I'm aware that the world can be a shitty place and terrible things happen in it, not the least of which is viewing human tragedy as a chance to grab at more ratings, and I can't be for that anymore than I can be in favor of tossing kids into the La Brea Tar Pits.

And really, these days, the rest of the news isn't any happier but at least it is relevant.  

I can read all about how we're ALL on our way to the tar pits.

Much better.

On that cheery note - 

Punch Out open tonight on the BNW stage and as much as I want people to come enjoy the show it is much bigger for me personally.

I've always been pretty open about business and I think that's the best way to do these things so I hope nobody cares that I blog about it.  I guess I'll find out.  If this blog is gone later you'll know why.  Not everyone is a fan of radical transparency when it comes to business conversations or future plans.  I can respect that.

I've been pitching and pushing the idea of a stand-alone improv theater in this city for a while and it has always been part of the long plan for the Twin Cities Improv Festival to get things moving in that direction.  The trouble is always the same one:  I really firmly believe that it can be successful and that are only a limited number of half-steps you can take to try and test the waters before you have to jump.  Great.  The big problem is the time in-between those two things, which I'm not insane enough to think will be easy or simple on the people that have to make that leap.

If I was a single dude, living on my own and working a job and just needed to make the leap into debt and long hours, no problem.  I would be typing this post from my teetering-on-the-edge-of-financial-ruin theater right now.  But I'm not that guy and have a family to support and all sorts of reasons (3 of them in particular, the wife is pretty able to take care of herself but probably doesn't WANT me to sink her into debt) not to make that leap.

Same with anyone else I am asking to make it with me, like the BNW.

I wont sit in a meeting and say I think we can launch an improv theater and expect to open the doors to fame and fortune, no matter how much we test the demand or poll audiences (the BNW's move to Calhoun Square was also based on plenty of queries of what audiences "wanted", and delivered many or all of them and still resulted in unbearable financial drain) but none of this changes the firm belief that it CAN happen and be successful (and not just in the area of revenue, anyone that decides to open a theater for the money needs to be tossed off a freeway overpass).

So that's what is going on - and what has been going on for a little while now.

The Festival is still something that we're hoping gets things off the ground, things like the Punch Out are what I hope will show us we're headed in the right direction and the Improv A Go Go is the thing that gives me confidence that it can all work out in the end.

I've got my toe in the water (or as Jill bluntly pointed out last year, the last 5 years have secretly been in preparation for this - she wasn't incorrect) and really want to make the jump, really feel the need to make the jump and really honestly think it will work, even after constantly asking and re-asking myself if I'm either fucking crazy or gone completely stupid.

but it still comes down to telling family and potential business partners, "this is really going to suck for a while and might be a complete disaster - who's interested??", unless I can find an eccentric, wealthy benefactor or long-lost rich relative to kill off (and I would, in a second, so if you're loaded and researching your family tree - think twice before you ring that doorbell)

Eyes closed, teeth clenched - ready for that cold shock.