in retrospect...Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It has been since I was a kid, and my recent bouts at the Japanese dentist emulate proof of just how opportunistic I was as a child, on this day.
Halloween in New York is unlike any other. The parade, revealed skin, alcohol consumption, and the energy is unbeatable. Yet, this is the second year in a row that I haven't had the pleasure of being home to enjoy it. 

One year ago, on this day, my mother and I were rummaging around the autumn streets of Edinburgh, Scotland. We walked through old cemeteries, inhaled the view from Edinburgh Castle, and braved the underground vaults on a ghost walk. Still, to this day, staying in one of the most amazing 'hotel' apartments I have ever booked on a trip abroad. 

Yet, there was a real gloom to my Halloween, last year. I was attempting to enjoy a vacation, knowing that upon return I'd only have two weeks left to my present freelancing contract. I was burdened with the first real freelance fear of not having a job to turn to. 

It was in that 'closed door', I found an open window by applying everywhere I could find for new gigs. This 'everywhere' included Japan. I didn't apply with real interest in anything more than traveling and needing the finances to make it feasible. But Japan happened so easily. Too easily for me not to take the opportunity. 

Upon return, from Scotland, my last day arrived and 24 hours prior I responded to a email for a temporary Post-Production Assistant position for a show on HBO I hadn't heard of yet, "In Treatment." I got it with nothing more than a phone interview with the AP in their Los Angeles office. On Friday I left Trutv, and on Monday I started HBO's "In Treatment."

Then, unbeknownst at the time, about 12 weeks later, I'd be hired in Japan. 

Last Halloween, I didn't know where I'd be two weeks later, let alone a year later. I went from paranoid about not having a job, to only having a weekend break before starting work on an Emmy-nominated HBO series. 

This Halloween, I have only four months left to what was a one-year commitment, and friends I didn't know existed last year. I danced to sounds from the Average White Djs, while engulfed in Dustin's 'head'. I was four glasses of red wine into a night of dancing that ended with an introduction to a turtle, finding a spot to get Nag Champa in Niigata, and receiving a wooden penis key chain as a souvenir from Bali, compliments of my dear Kotoyo.

I went from not knowing how I was going to pay rent, for December, to one year later having my rent automatically deducted from a paycheck I am receiving in Japan. 

In both these instances, short-term and long-term, I didn't know. I had no idea where the road would lead, but I rocked with it anyway. I saw freedom, as an opportunity for great change, and am blessed for any job I've had to leave because, frankly...in order to grow, I had to leave. 

So, I've been accepted to Goldsmiths, University of London for September 2010. Next Halloween I will be donning costumes and prancing across London Bridge, because that is the next step in beginning my numerological 1 year. A year of new beginnings, ripe with energy for going back to school, European travels, and the tenacity to explode with Evierobbie Media. 

That is the vision, but who is really sure of the path?
In reality, who wants to be that sure? 
As the line of one of my favorite films reads, "That'd take the piss out of the whole thing."

Take risks.