As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Pirates - Originally Published 2010

February 10, 2019

Showbiz can be a real bitch sometimes. There’s an old joke in the business. There’s this guy whose job is to sweep up after the elephants in the circus. All day long, he complains about sweeping up after the elephants.

So one day his friend tells him he should quit. And the guy says, “What? And give up showbiz?”

It’s like the other night when Mai and I went out to dinner. We decided to try this place around the corner called Pirates. Once again, that fickle goddess Showbiz decides to rear her ugly head.

There I am, trying to enjoy my roasted chicken and I get a tap on the shoulder. “Sir, can you come with me?

I guess he must have recognized me from this website. One second, I’m eating and the next second, I’m dressed as a pirate and carrying a chest of gold onto the stage.