Grass is always greener

With my friends I have always been considered the smart one. Being good at maths and business studies was enough to get this tag. But I kinda always wanted to be the funny guy. It is hard though to be the funny one when three of your friends are the three funniest guys in school (officially). I guess it proves I’m smart for befriending the funniest guys in all of Pennant Hills, but it’s not always fun being expected to know everything. And it looks like so much fun making other people laugh.

Click on picture and it will make more sense

So when I entered into different environments I decided to downplay my booksmarts and went for the idiot angle. This payed off. I had learned plenty of comedy from my brothers, friends, and high quality TV shows, and at the workplace or while travelling or at uni (away from my much funnier friends) I was able to make people laugh pretty easy. But though I was always good for a laugh, people saw me as a bit of an idiot when it came to solving problems at work or making decisions on uni assignments. I guess I started suffering from what Lee and I coined as Sad Clown Syndrome. It wasn’t always fun to be thought an idiot.

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Speaking of uni, when I finished school I went to uni and started a bachelor of business degree. Meanwhile, Luke went to acting school, Dean pursued a career in movies, Lee followed his musical aspirations as did Sahil. I started doubting my straight and narrow pursuit. I wanna be creative and make a living doing stuff I love…waaaah

"With no time to waste"

So after finishing uni and travelling I returned to join Lee’s band. A free and easy life as a musician! I’m gonna score all the babes and tour the world! But then again I am 23 (now 24) and I have very little planned for a career apart from hoping Lee and Jason can write good enough songs to crack the big time. It sure would be nice to earn 100K a year. Maybe I should check the Deloitte website again to see if they are taking applications…

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Being a massive Roosters fan as a youth I loved watching them play and was very happy when they won. I loved seeing more and more fans come and support them and hated the bandwagon fans who only turned up when they won and didn’t care if they lost. But then when they did lose I took it hard and was unhappy and let it affect me too much. I cried when they lost Grand Finals, defended them rigorously on internet forums and stressed out when things went bad. But how come no one else gives as much of a shit?

Artist's impression of what Eden would have looked like if he continued to obsess about Easts

So then I took a step back and decided not to be so invested in the fortunes of my beloved Roosters. I even documented the process. It helped last year when they came last and I was able to deal with it (thank God they didn’t come last back in 2000-2004 or something). But now that they are winning again I don’t get the same rush, the same joy of seeing them succeed. I mean I love seeing them in the Grand Final this week but I feel like the bandwagon fan who I once despised.

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After mentioning all this I have to say that I love hanging round and laughing with my much funnier friends; I will happily forsake a certain level of professional respect at work to make people laugh a little more; I love playing music and the freedoms it opens up in the other areas of my life; I love the Roosters and even though I won’t cry if they lose this weekend I will definitely be one of the loudest of the 82000 people cheering!

GO THE CHOOKS!!!

- Eden (while listening to The Suburbs by Arcade Fire)