Happy New Year! 01/03/19

I forced myself to write 100 of these in 100 days in 2018, and then I wrote about 3 more afterwards. I need to find a happy medium between those numbers. I might try for the 100 in 100 again, though. That was fun. 

I hope you all had a great holiday season, and I hope the 'January Blues' aren't hitting you too hard. Getting back into a normal routine after a couple weeks of just eating and drinking always sucks. If you're hating it, just try to stay positive, and remember that Summer is only about 6 months away! Ugh....

I spent Christmas out in BC with my girlfriend, Shaley's, family. It was a lot of fun. While we were driving back to Edmonton on boxing day, we were talking about the hype that goes in Christmas now. Christmas decorations hit the shelves on November 1st. We spend 2 months getting all wound up, and then just like *that*, it's over. I think I like the anticipation more than the day itself. 

On a side note, one of my favourite things about visiting family in BC is the drive out there and back with Shaley. Our schedules don't align too often these days. As much as we joke about irritating each other, I like it when we get to spend a day or two in the car together, talking about places we want to go and stuff we want to do down the road. Most of our vacations over the last 5 years came from a discussion in the car. 

2018 was a big year for me. First and foremost, I decided to take the leap and become a "full-time" comedian (I believe the technical term is a "bum"). The money isn't great, but the freedom is. I love the time I have to write and work on other projects. Giving up having a bunch of spending money for that freedom and lifestyle is a no brainer. I still have days where I feel like a loser, who needs to get a regular job and "be the man of the house", but I'm gradually forcing myself out of that mindset. Shaley has a great job, I'm slowly starting to make more money, and I clean the house, cook dinner, and take care of our errands and our dog when I'm not on the road. It's really working well for us, and that's all that matters.

I found a beautiful girl, that supports me and every stupid idea I have without question. It's cliche, but I don't care about fame or money. I have everything I need already. I think some of the comics I go on the road with probably get sick of hearing me talk about her. Shaley is the best thing that's happened to me in 35 years. 

I hope these two ladies never realize how much better they could have done

January 21st will mark my 3 year anniversary as a comedian, and I have big goals for year 4. I think they're all pretty realistic, albeit a little ambitious. It's going to take a lot of work to reach the level I want to be at by the end of the year, and I'm excited to try. A lot of great comedians and bookers have given my advice and opportunities over the last 12 months, and I'm truly grateful to all of them. Thanks to all my friends (in and out of comedy) for supporting me, and picking me up when I need it. Thanks to my family for the overwhelming encouragement, despite the fact that your 35 year old son/brother/cousin/nephew/whatever is unemployed and makes fun of all of you in front of strangers. And thanks to Shaley and Molly for pushing me and being there for me no matter what. Love you. 

Aside from comedy, Shaley and I had some great times this year. We tried to avoid getting run over by scooters in Vietnam, fell in love with Tokyo, and drank beer at Wrigley Field in Chicago. It was so much fun. We'e settled into our new place, and we're even talking about adding a 4th member to our little clan in 2019! (A four legged member, sorry Mom). 

I shut down my original 'Adam Wastes Time' podcast, but launched 'Remember The Game?', which is a video game podcast I've been kicking around for a while. The download numbers for it have lapped my original podcast a couple times already, and I'm REALLY enjoying it. I'm excited to focus on growing it's audience in 2019, and I can't thank everyone enough for listening to it, sharing it, and most importantly, appearing on it! Video games are my drug, and I'm really pumped to have a side project I can work on that revolves around them. 

I'm still *verrrrry* slowly chipping away at writing a book. It's a much bigger task than I anticipated, and I don't imagine I'll ever let anyone read it, but it's something I've wanted to try forever. I don't have a New Year's Resolution per say, but if I did have to make one, it would be to really focus on this thing, and try to finish at least a first draft this year. The challenge becomes finding time to work on it without taking away from my joke writing, which has to be the priority now. (And is also something I should be working a little harder on). 

Anyways, this is long enough. I just wanted to touch on 2018 and post one of these. I'll try to be a little more frequent with them this year, for the 5 of you that read them. If you made resolutions, I hope you stick with them. If you didn't, that's cool, too. Just worry about getting through each day as happy as possible. Forget what anyone else thinks of you, and focus on cutting the negative stuff out of your life. And if that doesn't work, weed is legal now.

Happy new year.

Adam