Stream of consciousness at the airport

I am sitting here at DIA in the smoking lounge (I know!) waiting to fly back to Chicago. It's strange to feel like you are leaving home to go home. It's also still weird that Tiff has rubbed off on me enough that I show up to the airport 2hrs before I fly. Good thing today, I feel ill and am hoping my obligatory 1 drink minimum of club soda helps the stomach. I am here in Denver on a surprise quick trip. I booked a commercial that I auditioned for when I buzzed into town in December. It was just background, but hell, I wasn't working all week anyway (thanks economy) and there will likely be a SAG strike any time now so I figured take the work while I can. I was also able to book a cheap flight through William Shatner, so it worked out to a modest profit. Plus it made nice with my Denver agent. It seems I could improve my profit margin considerably if I lived here and did not have to offset my plane tickets each time. Someday soon I hope. I gotta be honest, the funk is still strong right now. It will be a week tomorrow we gave Jack to his awesome new family, but I find myself still pretty "ice cream, eh..." (ie depressed). It is not just about Jack, I realize, but he had a hell of an impact. My regular job is getting worse. Tips have been terrible as an increasing number of people are tightening their wallets when it comes time to tip. Then there are the increasing no-shows on reservations and the out and out empty tables. Additionally, the politics at work are slanting against profit also. Veteran, bad servers are getting the hours just because they have been there forever. Also, as a means to make things more copacetic, the increased our involuntary tip out to our runners to a staggering 20%. This has actually happened in conjunction to losing runners and being forced to do more of their work ourselves. So what? I remember trying to write a sketch at Second City bemoaning the plight of servers and could never get it passed because the ultimate response from our director was, "the get another job, why should I care?" I still think he was right. The trouble is, I don't know exactly what else to do right now. Better jobs than mine are laying off right and left. I also still would like to stay flexible for when odd acting jobs like the one I am returning from come up. I am planning on seeing what else is out there soon, but for now I am in a holding pattern with upcoming work already booked next month through Caldera. That will be a relief, down the road. I am glad Tiff has been successful in getting a new gig. I look forward to not hearing the irrational demands of a sinking company and a lunatic Artistic Director. RIP Shattered Globe. There is also the looking forward to moving in April. It has been a challenge to not villanize my landlords for simply upholding their rules. It's far more constructive to just look forward to not seeing them or their "puppy pads" outside our door any more. Getting close to time to leave for my gate. Till next time...