Nov. 08 Update

Isn't life interesting? You make a plan, kick it into gear and then watch something completely different unfold. You want to make God laugh, just tell him your plan.

I have come to realize that there is a greater plan beyond mine. However, I still make my submissions and hope for some accomodation. But in the end, I accept what is given me and enjoy the hell out of it.

That said, here is the status of my life right now.

I am officially retired. After turning 60 this past July 30, I qualified for my retirement checks from Clark County Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). I now get 25% of my salary every month. It's not much, but it pays a few bills and gives us a little flexibility. But more is needed of course. But I will never work for a full-time boss again. Hooray!

After creating my business, John Hanks Communications, in 1999, I realized that I am much better at doing the work (media consulting, media training, writing, A/V producing, etc.) than running a business. It is still "on the books" but pretty much dormant, except for a few requests that come in. In this economy, PR is the last thing companies want to spend money on and the first thing to get cut, so pickins are slim.

I tried a couple of things I thought I could do because I HAD to.

I drove a school bus for nine months to rack up and few more months of retirement qualification. I loved the students and the task, but got buried by the bureaucracy and inept administration. I soon began looking for a way out.

A friend then persuaded me to join an MLM, which I jumped at to escape the bus. However, it took my entire 401k and left me with additional debt and a very upset spouse. In the end, it wasn't that it didn't work, it's that I didn't like the work it required. I always believed (and still do) that I could do anything that was required of me. But recruiting people and trying to get them to dump their entire life savings into a high risk, low success busines was not my cup of tea. As my wife put it, I simply didn't like doing that kind of work.

So, what DO I like to do, I asked myself. It came down to performing and impacting people's lives in good, positive ways...making everyone I meet feel better about their lives. So I put that out into the universe and here's what I got:

TEACHING: I have taught college communications classes for the 9 years since I left the airport in 1999, until this year when the University System budget cuts eliminated my classes. Part timers got the first axe. So now I am a Substitute Teacher in the Clark County School District and loving it. Watch this blog for more details. I do still teach two annual college classes: Crisis Management (UNLV Continuing Education) and Government PR (UNLV Master of Public Administration). The latter is a class I created in 2000 and have been teaching ever since. It's an annual one credit hour summer class now and still on the list. I guess they like what I do.

PERFORMING: I have several talent agents who have this head shot and get me work every once in a while. I have a national commercial running off and on and a local commercial running now as well. You can see both of those on my website http://www.johnhanks.com/. You will also see the audio book I produced this year, "Up From the Hills." Plus you can get more details on that at http://www.upfromthehillsmovie.blogspot.com/).

This Summer I became associated with Theatre Las Vegas, an acting company that does local productions from Shakespeare to Santa Claus.


They asked me to let my beard grow and play Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) in a one time gig at a SAG party in September. So I did, of course!

In September I also narrated my quad-annual "Songs of our Politics", which the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society does every Presidential election year. Yes, I'm Uncle Sam.

Then I played a prospector on a Haunted Halloween Hayride at the Springs Preserve for a few weeks before Halloween (they asked me to let my beard grow more), then the director asked me to keep the beard for some upcoming Shakespeare roles in the spring.

Meantime, as long as I had the beard, I let it grow some more, bleached it (and my hair and eyebrows) and became Santa Claus for the season.

I am booked by Theatre Las Vegas to return to the Springs Preserve to be their Santa for 20 nights over all the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm gonna love spreading joy to all those kids and collecting a little cash in the process. Isn't that what enlightened self interest is all about?

So there you have it. Watch this space for the ongoing adventure that is my life. As Helen Keller once said, "Life is either a great adventure or nothing." I'm all over that one.