I'm starting this rant pre-midnight on the 26th for historical reasons, although it will be finished on and dated for the 27th.
In fact, it is already the 27th. Anyway, on July 26th of 1991 a man's entire future was changed by one event. (I know this because I have a calendar that specializes in funny or sad little facts) The man went into a movie theater, and that choice changed his entire life. For, as many of you will remember, this man entered the movie theater as Pee-Wee Herman and left as Paul Reubens. Pee-Wee was a franchise of children's shows and movies. Pee-Wee was an icon. Paul was a disgraced, out of work actor. Most of us know what happened in that theater, and I don't care to repeat it. It isn't really important.
Of course, Paul has bounced back. He did a small part on Murphy Brown (and probably other stuff I wasn't aware of), but nothing big. Then, he got the part of The Spleen on _Mystery Men_ and the hosting duties on ABC's horrible TV version of "You Don't Know Jack". The main point is that he has been put front and center again, but those aren't children's character roles in line with the Pee-Wee Herman character.
Whether he is successful or not, it isn't the same as it would've been without the movie theater incident. One event changed the whole course of his career.
I can also trace my current life path to one event that probably took less time than Pee-Wee's return to Paul.
It was in the second semester of my senior year of high school, and the college selection had been narrowed to two. SEMO and Middle Tennessee State (MTSU) were the last two on the list. I was leaning toward MTSU. They had sent a coach to talk to me about being a college football player. I was ready.
I called the coach to make him an offer. I would play there if he could find a little scholarship money to add to the academic offer I had from MTSU that didn't quite match up to the one at SEMO. I was told that they weren't willing to do that and that they were bringing in another place kicker on scholarship. I was just the backup plan (literally).
A yes in place of that no would have been a minor occurence, but I would now have different friends, different life experiences, and (if I were even still in psychology) I would probably be at a different grad school.
How long does it take for someone to say no? How long does it take to decide to see a movie in a theater instead of renting one to take home? It's not years of planning, but these seemingly insignificant points that really have the power to shape our lives.
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