Future Possibilities

Call me naïve, tell me I live under a rock and that I sometimes just don’t get it, BUT I really truly thought that people in the circus joined the circus because, well, because it was destiny. Like, okay, so you didn’t do so well in high school. You can’t work with numbers and barely passed shop class. You’re not really into school. It’s just not your thang, but on the other hand you CAN swallow fire, right, where’s that going to get you? Naturally, this would make you a “shoo-in” for the circus…wouldn’t it? Well, I thought so...

I recently went to a circus here at site. I’ve been before. This was a different one; but I guess they are all kind of the same. I still find myself mesmerized and loving every minute of it, similar to that of a 7 year old:) There were all sorts of acts. Mostly the usual: hula hoop girl with 50000000 hula hoops, some animals that could do some sweet tricks, a few clowns, a hysterical act, a couple dances, a magic show routine, fire swallowing, sword swallowing, walking on nails, jumping on glass and, who can forget, juggling everything under the sun.

During the circus, it occurred to me that joining the circus would be friggin’ awesome! I mean, how amazing would it be to be part of a traveling circus and duh, you’re with clowns ALL DAY. That would just be totally fun! So let’s see: Traveling+Lots of fun+Amazing stories. I want this!

Of course, shortly after this realization I also realized that I don’t have a “natural” talent that would be able to be used in the circus. I can’t juggle anything and definitely not swords, I can’t eat fire and I certainly cannot walk on nails. This just isn’t my destiny. I was not satisfied with this though. I have decided that I will be able to juggle by February and after I get good at juggling balls I’ll try my hand at swords. If nothing I’m sure I could always be the clown. Some clowns say nothing. They’re just silly and do charades. Yes, this is exactly what I’ll do.

When I got home that night I thought I would Google: Joining the circus. This is when I learned there are actually “Circus Schools” <-- really? They’ll teach me how to eat fire? Wow. But the prices seemed a bit high for the small amount I’m going to be paid in the circus. They teach other cool things too, like the trapeze <-- I don’t want to do that though. Then they went on to talk about how depressing life is in the circus. Really?! Really? I do NOT believe that for one minute, there’s a clown! He’ll make you a balloon animal when you’re having a bad day and everything will be right in the world again. I also learned that it would look “better” (on your resume I guess) if you could do something additional to being a clown…like juggle or make balloon animals…hmm, maybe I’ll practice making balloon animals this summer at camps? I know I can be good at this!

I then looked for possible traveling circus jobs. I found only one. For a Vet Tech. Really? Do Vet Techs actually join the traveling circus? I don’t know. I thought I could be that, but that would require me to go back to school for a while for a degree I don’t actually care about so that I could join the circus…it seems like a lot of work and I wouldn’t be done for a few years only to travel with the circus for a year or two. Hopefully, there will be a job opening…eventually.

Of course, when you’re done with the circus can you really put that on your resume? Like I was in the Peace Corps for 2 years then joined the circus for 2 years and now I want to have, like, a real job…do people hire former circus performers? I hope so! I will be The Shit! Wish me luck! And stay tuned.