January 4th - Jesse

Growing up in Maine, my friend Jesse would see how long into the winter he could go and still wear shorts.  That usually meant seeing him climb on top of snowbanks still wearing his athletic gear.  He was a funny guy, and he made me laugh all through elementary school.

His parents worked for the private school that was in our town, and right after 5th grade he moved to Connecticut with them to attend the other campus of that school.  I lost touch with him after he left Bath (this was pre-pre-pre-Facebook, and pen pals never really worked out all that much).  I'd hear about him or bump into him randomly throughout the years, but that was it.  When I was thinking about who I could talk to during this month long project, I instantly thought of Jesse.  Luckily, he thought it was a good idea too.


Jesse

I caught up with Jesse last night after what he described as a "very L.A." day.  He has lived out there for several years now, and yesterday was spent at the gym, doing promotions, and going on two auditions for commercials.  After our chat, he was potentially heading to the tanning beds.  I could see already where our paths had diverged...

Jesse filled me in on his life after Bath and after high school.  He had attended the University of Richmond and had graduated with degrees in International Business and Spanish, which he said was odd as he had wanted to test out of Spanish as fast he could.  He didn't want to take another language class at all, but when he missed passing the exam by one point, he was forced to take it again. Luckily, he loved it, so much so that he spent his junior year studying in Argentina and Mexico.

Jesse had always been the class clown, and he initially wanted to study theater (wanting to have a fall back led him to the business degree).  He helped found the school's improv group, and acted in several plays.  After graduating and a brief stint as an intern with the Tampa Bay Rays, Jesse decided to pursue acting, made the leap, and moved to L.A.  He's been in some commercials since then, a really funny pilot, some short films, and had a part on an episode of The Mindy Project (the episode is "My Kid Stays in the Picture" and he comes on screen right around the 8 minute mark).


Jesse:  I loved L.A. when I first moved here.  It constantly pushes you forward, no body is ever settling.  You can always be better, and I liked that energy.  Now that I'm getting older, the..."Hollywood" aspect...it's real.  It can be very self-centered.

When I ask him if he sees himself acting more in the future, he isn't entirely sure.

Jesse: Acting is definitely fun, but it's not the thing that I'm completely passionate about.  You know, we were talking about being older and our priorities shifting (I had told him about my exciting evening of putting Elliot to bed).  Once I hit my 30s, those priorities shifted at an exponential level. So now, this year, I'd really like to shift my focus more to writing comedy. Actually creating the comedy, instead of reading what someone else has written.



What's your favorite joke?

Jesse: Favorite joke...well, I know the kind of jokes that I like. The comedy on 30 Rock or Parks and Rec is amazing, and I love a good punny-punny knock-knock joke.



What meal reminds you most of home?

Jesse: Lobster, hands-down.  My parents are back in Bath now, and every time I go back we have to have a lobster dinner with corn on cob, you know a traditional lobster bake.  It's so funny and so Bath, but my grandma has a "lobster girl."  She doesn't get it from the grocery store, she has a "girl," and it comes in a Shaws bag that still has seaweed in it.

When I ask if he eats the whole lobster, including the tomalley (the green insides), he laughs.

Jesse: I've disappointed my father in a lot of ways, but the biggest is that I do not eat the tomalley.



What musician would you bring back and why?

Jesse: That's a great question.  I'm very much a pop music fan, if it's poppy and catchy I'm going to love it. I'm very current in my musical tastes that way.  But if I had to pick someone, I'd say George Michael. But like, George Michael of Wham!  I love "Wake Me Up," it's got a great energy.  And, as crazy as he was, I'd have to say Michael Jackson.  Amazing music and performer



What was the most significant thing that happened this year?

Jesse: The election.  Definitely the most polarizing election that I've experienced, as we were discussing.  California is very liberal, very blue,  There wasn't much of a back and forth.  You knew which way the state was going about a minute after the polls closed.

But I did have friends that voted for Trump, so I was exposed to both sides.  To be honest, this election really turned him off from social media, so I agree with you there (I had mentioned how so much of Facebook was people yelling their opinions at like-minded people...hence the blog).

The outcome really tests your idea of pride in your country.  Do I respect the office of the president? I have to, right? This is the system we have, but do I have to respect that?  Of course, until it changes this is it.  The idea that "he's not my President" isn't helpful.  He is, that's how this works.  But do I have to like it?  No.  So the next four years will be interesting balancing those feelings.



Will the world be better in 20 years or worse?

Jesse: I have faith that it'll better.  I think people  can be kinda stupid, but humanity is smart.  A man who I do not agree with a majority of the things that come out of his mouth is now in charge, but there are other people that are really smart and doing really good things.  We are working on disease prevention and clean energy.  We are seeing leaps forward in equality, whether it's racial or sexual or whatever.

There's a lot of smarter people out there, smarter than me, and thank god for that.  They skip more happy hours than I do, and they are making the world better and are working on fixing the problems.

We have come a long way, and we have a long way to go.  But we're getting there. I trust it'll be a better place.



It was really great to catch up with an old friend last night, which is one of the ways that social media can be used as a positive tool (that and for sharing Joe Biden memes). The great thing about talking with Jesse was how natural it felt, like there hadn't been any lost time at all,  Jesse attributed that to us being good people with similar personalities when we were kids, and that connection was easy to recreate because it was the same today.  The laughs came easily and often (he was quick to point out that the reason both he AND our friend Josh had moved away from Bath at the same time was, in fact, me).

Our lives have taken us on many different directions, and we are at very different but equally exciting places (and I'm not just referring to geography here).  It's nice to know that he's happy, that he's doing something he enjoys and that he's positive for the future.  That's how we want all of our childhood friends to end up, right?