Taking night class again

You guys remember taking night classes back in college? Those three hour slogs that starts at 7:00 PM. You’re fighting the urge to fall asleep the entire time. Did we really learn/retain anything pertinent from those courses? It was mostly just for the credit, and the privilege of only having one class per week.

It would seem I want to relive that experience as an adult in his mid 30s. I signed up for a six week foundational improv class at BATS School of Improv. Right here in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center. During the six week we meet every Tuesday from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Indeed, it is just like the night classes back in university. Except this time, I voluntarily signed up for it, paying a not unsubstantial $350 for the 30 hours of training.

Why an improv class? Because peer pressure. My good friend took an introductory sampler class - at the same company - and was hooked enough to continue on to the proper stuff. Drawing from a sense of duty, I decided to accompany my friend on this new adventure. On the other hand, I think improv will greatly help me to be more social and getting out of my head. The whole point of improv is no preparation: it’s whatever coming out of your mind at that exact moment. You have to be flexible, intuitive, and most important: not give a crap about what other people think.

The moment you think you have something, the situation can change on a dime. It’s easy to then get caught thinking for something suitably appropriate, instead of simply going with the first thing that pops into mind. Improv is really useful for the self-conscious of us to get out of our heads. The remaining five class periods are going to be fun.

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Safety deposit box.

Lots of questions, no answers

Hilarious how life works: when plans come to fruition, goals achieved, and things come to their places, instead of being satisfied with the outcome, the mind immediately moves on to other and newer things.

Isn't that how people get into the materialism debt-trap? 

How hard is it to simply be content with the present? Then again, if we were all like that, where would human progress be? Somewhat retarded, wouldn't it? 

There seems to be fine line between being ambitious and being disrespectfully ungrateful. Many people "under" me would love to be in my position so there's no reason at all for me to be dissatisfied. Yet, is it not a disservice to myself to not keep chasing the new and different - to improve?

Feign as we might, we do the things we do in service of the great ego. 

It's too easy to be content with what's already there once you've attained a certain level of monetary and lifestyle "success". For me I could easily work my current day job until the working years expire; my life would be relatively comfortable and I'd have no worries. That's the kind of endgame my parents' generation toiled so hard for us to get to. 

But is that fun? Is that enriching? Would I be slapping my parents in the face? 

People say the best things happens when you are not comfortable i.e. outside of your comfort zone. Should we then constantly strive to be uncomfortable? As soon as we get to some sort of stasis we should impel ourselves to leave or shift focus? 

Lot's questions like that are swimming in my mind lately, and I've don't have much answers for them.

For now I think I'll just keep asking.