Off-Set

Have yo ever wondered where people go when they're not with you? I mean, not in a creepy obsessed Sleeping With the Enemy sort of way, but more like Everybody loves Raymond or Seinfeld?

Just picture this. Your life is a closed set, and the only time we see the other characters in your story are either when they come into your set, or you take a journey into theirs. You're just standing around, doing some kind of dialogue about toast, until Kramer comes in and makes the scene all crazy. Now, many people probably choose not to theorize about the wherabouts of lesser players in their grand tale of comedic tragedy and woe, or drama or whatever. But sometimes, I catch myself being really bored with my own story. As with now, while I sit playing with my laptop and wondering what crazy capers my friend Robbie has gotten off to?

I wonder if anyone ever thinks of my set, and asks themself what I do all day, when I'm out of sight of the camera of knowledge? Am I one of those characters interchangeable in several stories who are once out of sight, indeed out of mind? Or am I the dynamic Sydney Bristowe type, who's life is so fascinating that watchers can't wait to tune in? A thrilling recurring cameo, perhaps, in a slightly more interesting tale? Mysterious fodder for gossip, or merely a part of the backdrop upon which those off-set rarely comment? This is not about gossip, people. It is about the stage. The lights, the camera, and the action.

Sometimes, I have to ask myself, which part do I play? Am I writing the script, or am I making it up as I go along? Or, more frustrating still, am I merely following the mediocre dialogue set down by some waiting-to-make-it Friends groupie who still has yet to master the art of unaffected wit? If someone ever figures this enigma out, will you please let me know?
I'll be in my trailer.