Chit Chat from Chicago: Time is of the Essence

By KATIE KLIMACEK
Staff Writer

Who would have thought that picking a topic to write about for a weekly column would be harder than actually writing it? Nonetheless, I will do my best to enlighten, and obviously entertain, my hundreds of readers.
Hello again, I am so glad you came back to hear about my travels out in Chicago.It’s so nice to know that people other then my mom- who is obligated as my mother to listen to my stories of how I saw a poodle walking with a tennis ball in his mouth- are willing to hear about my exciting and riveting life out in Chi-town.
This week marked what I like to call “the official start” of my comedy studies program at Second City. The classes ran at their normal times, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the real work began. And yes, when I say work, I mean legitimate, can’t-slack, time-consuming work.
When I would tell people that I was coming out here to study comedy, so many had that look on their face of “Wow, you are moving to another state and paying college tuition just to learn how to make people laugh? Well good luck with that.”
For those of you wondering, yes, I did do that just to learn how to make people laugh. You might think it’s easy just because you made a quip in class one time and everyone chuckled or your Uncle Carl has everyone coughing up their mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner after detailing his latest trip to the doctor’s. Although with that last scenario, I don’t know if people are necessarily coughing up their food because the story was funny.
Any way, learning to make people laugh is a difficult thing. So much preparation, time, and focus goes into the skill of making stuff up.
But enough of that sidebar. When I got home from my Friday workshop and started writing this article, I couldn’t believe that the week was already over. I had to check the calendar to make sure I wasn’t missing a day or something. I quickly came to the realization that the older I get, the faster life seems to just pick up the pace and slow down for nothing.
And with that being said, I think I have found my topic for this week.
From the day we are old enough to conceptualize and understand time, all we want to do is fastforward it. Whenever you talk to little kids, all they say is they can’t wait until they’re (insert prefered age here.) Being a little 6 year old in kindergarten, the world around me seemed to be stuck on pause. Now all it does now is stay on triple fastforward.
I remember being a little girl and always saying that I couldn’t wait until I was 18 years old. Why? I’m not really sure. For whatever reason 18 seemed to be the age when you got to do cool stuff and explore life. In reality, 18 seemed to be the age when all of that “cool stuff” got further and further away.
I quickly found out, once I turned 18, that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted and that there was this strange thing called college that required money. Money which I had to make and could not spend on the bright, shiny things I wanted to spend it on.
Oh, how I would wish I was back in kindergarten coloring outside the lines while I was taking orders at McDonald’s or helping a disgruntled older women try to find the most specific card for her sister-in-law’s half brother who was becoming a priest.
Not to mention the amount of work I would accomplish. Honestly, who needs coffee and an alarm clock when you naturally get up at the crack of dawn because you simply want to. It’s a choice!
I have noticed as I get older that people are so quick to think ahead and anticipate what is going to come, but why? If anything it seems like we should turn away to the idea of an unknowable future ahead of us. Instead everyone runs to it with open arms, expecting there to be presents on the other side.
For one of my classes, I had to see the Mainstage show at Second City called “Fool Me Twice, Dejavu.” It was a sketch show that had the theme of past, present and future. At the end, the cast of six came out on stage and sang a delightful song about what they would tell their younger selves based on what they know today.
While one of the performers’ strummed a simply melody on a guitar, a cast member stepped forward and sung about how college is not only a time to expand your education but also a chance to have fun and make lasting memories.
When I heard this line, something hit hard for me, and it wasn’t the guy who kept kicking the back of my seat. It was the reality that college is not there just to propel you into a (hopefully) successful future, but also is there to help forge lasting friendships, important connections, and make mistakes that you will eventually learn from.
Now I know that at this point in the article, if any of your parents who are pays thousands of dollars to send you to this lovely institution would probably make you stop reading said article that could potentially plant the a seed in their child’s head that college is only about the parties and blowing off homework. But before they do that, let me just clarify.
I am the last one to say, jump ship now and leave college. One reason being that my parents would not be the slightest bit happy. Trust me, I have mentioned it to my mother before an a look of “that’s not even remotely funny” washes over her face before she says that I would have to pay back every penny I spent at college to her.
My point is that college is first and foremost a place to earn an education and broaden your horizons, but it is also a place where you get to make lasting memories and lifelong friendships. Don’t focus all of you time on the grades, because in reality after you step off that stage with your diploma in hand, no employer really cares whether you got an A- or an A in “The Exploration of Modern Literature.”
Instead, they want to see that in the span of four years you made connection with faculty and staff, that you were involved in clubs or intramural sports, you donated your time to a charity, and that you took the time to explore different outlets and hobbies.
After class I was walking down the street with my friends Guy and Andrew while improvising a continuation of a couple’s argument we passed by along the way. At one point I said, “I am really going to miss you guys after this program.” We all looked at each other and agreed that the lack of each other’s prescence would be depressing in the future.
At the same time my statement made me think, why am I already thinking about what is going to happen four months from now? The program has only just begun and I am already anticipating what is going to come after it.
Who’s to say that this same time next week one of use ends up pushing someone in front of a bus because we can no longer stand each other’s company? Hopefully that doesn’t happen because then I will have no one to walk me home after we visit our after-class hang out, Elly’s Pancake House.
Now this thought of what is going to happen at the end of the program jumped into my head partially because of my anxious brain and tendency to take a perfectly good moment and make it depressing, but that is a column for another day, my friends.
The idea of what was going to happen also popped into my brain because, like I mentioned in the start of this article, we are so quick to think of the next thing, situation, or problem instead of just enjoying the moment at hand.
It has come to that point in the article where Katie attempts to give her thousands of readers some words of wisdom.
Live in the now, be present, and enjoy what is going on around you, because you never know when a monument like that is going to make itself known in you life. I realize it is easier said than done, and I am the biggest violator of this mantra, as was made clear two paragraphs ago.
Regardless, enjoy what you have in front of you, even if it is a sour monument. Because either way, you are going to be able to look back on that point in your life and realize that it taught you more than any college education could.
I will make sure that next week I talk about a bit more light-hearted topic, something like the steps I go through in the morning to figure out what I am going to wear or my journey of exploring delicious Chicago foods.
Until next time,
Katie.