Action Plan

When giving me advice (often unsolicited), my pop likes using middle-management inspirational phrases such as "marketing yourself is a full time job" and "what you need is an action plan." He made me read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People when I was in third grade after I told him that I wasn't fitting in. (I went from being a sullen boy who didn't fit in to a sullen acting like a door-to-door aluminum siding salesman from 1955 boy who didn't fit in. I haven't asked my pop's advice on my social like since then.) Lately, I've begun to see why certain people are attracted to the middle-management mentality. What it does is simplify life - gets rid of all the messy complications like the economy and chance and human interactions, and leaves you with very straightforward steps that you can take.

If I were to tell my pop about LA Chick, he'd say (after berating me with "Well, you know there are more fish in the sea" - pop likes the cliches as well), "What you need is an action plan son." That action plan would consist of the following:

1. Find a job in L.A.
2. Move to L.A.
3. Get the girl.

Ta da! Sounds like the tagline to a Nora Ephron romantic comedy, no? Put in those terms, I get dangerously close to optimistic.

Now, when I start thinking about how to go about finding a job in L.A., well . . . Hmmm, I think I still have some Sierra Nevada Pale Ales left in the fridge.

Anyway, I have started putting the Action Plan in motion. I've got a headhunter down in L.A., and I'm trying to use my law school's job postings to hunt down potential opportunities. But the problem is the lack of control. After I send out my resume, it's just sitting and waiting. I'm not a Type A kinda guy, but the lack of control thing does get on my nerves. And I know I should be using the waiting period as an opportunity to continue my creative efforts (how I do hate middle-management speak), but that's a lot easier said then done. Sigh.