The Mystery Revealed

My Dearest Family, Friends, Co-workers past and present, Loved ones, Ex-Girlfriends, and other assorted Peeps deserving Props,
     Many of you may have heard me mention "The Master Plan." More recently, some of you may have heard me speak of "The New Master Plan." And in the past few weeks, those of you within earshot have heard that same New Master Plan become simply "The Plan" (also referred to as The Plan formerly known as "The New Master Plan"). I have my reasons for the name changes, and if you're worried about that aspect of this letter, you can ask me later.
     Regardless of what I may have called it when I mysteriously mentioned it to you, or even if you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's time to reveal The Plan. It has come to fruition.
     I'll start at the beginning. Last summer, as my friend and I were sitting around complaining about how boring and dead-end our young lives had become, he said to me, "You know what we need to do? We need to just take off for a year or two and get some little job at a resort somewhere and tend bar, or wait tables, or something like that. Just to get away and see another part of the world, you know? We could work a few days a week, and just kick back on the beach for the rest of the time. It would be great!"
      I thought about this for a minute or so, and soon came to the realization that besides a trip to Cabo san Lucas for Spring Break (an awsome time, by the way, I highly recommend it), I was the underachiever in the World Travel logs of the family Dwan. Something had to be done.
      "Sounds great," I said. "Let's do it."
      For the next few months, I "put together my resumé." Or maybe I was just killing time after hearing through the grapevine that most of the hiring is done in January...and besides, I didn't want to miss the three (yes, three) Pearl Jam concerts I already had tickets for in October. Whatever the reasons, six months after the original idea was concieved, I have a job as a SET DESIGNER in the theater/entertainment department of CLUB MED (Bonjour!). Just me. The friend decided that since there was no guarantee that we would be stationed at the same village, he would rather stay here and work off his debt. Then he signed a lease on a new apartment, and bought expensive new furniture. Go figure. I tried to explain to him that if you can just stay out of the country for seven years, your debt is wiped clean. But he didn't seem to want to stay away that long. Whatever his reasoning is, he's staying and I'm going.
      It's not exactly waiting tables or tending bar three days a week and hanging out on the beach for the rest of the time. It's more like working for about 10 hours a day for six days a week until the set is built, and then spending all my free time making sure the guests are all having a good time (you can read into that whatever you want). But it's going to be a challenge. And challenges keep us young, right?
      Where am I going? You ask. First stop: Cancun. They want you to stay in the North American region until you have a grasp of a few other languages. Then you can go to Europe or wherever. The beauty of it is: THEY DON'T BUILD CLUB MED's IN PLACES THAT SUCK!!
     Gee, will I be stuck in Cancun, or will they have the nerve to ship me off to the Bahamas? Or maybe I'll be needed up in Colorado for the winter. That'll be rough, having to go snowboarding every week. I won't really have much say in where I go for the first few seasons. They just send you where you're needed most. So I may be at two or three or four different villages within the first year until I work my way up the ranks and have a little more pull (if I'm even there for that long).
     As you can tell, I'm very excited about this new job of mine. I realize it's going to be lots of hard work, designing and building sets all by myself. But I have a feeling it will also involve a few oodles of fun. And new things are good right? Challenges bring out the best in people, right? Here's hopin'.
     I don't know when I'll be back. I've signed on for a six month tour, and I'm told that most "GOs" stay on for about a year and a half to two years. And some make a lifelong career out of it. I have no idea which one of these types I am. I'm going in, and someday I'll come out again.
I can be reached at chris@brookshoward.com for the rest of this week, and as soon as I get another email account, I'll pass that on as well. I still have my pager (323) 820.2889, but I don't know what'll happen to that. I have a feeling (since it doesn't even work in Vegas) that I won't be getting many pages in the Mexico.
     And just to set the record straight, I'm not doing this because I'm running from the law. I don't know of any bounty hunters who are after me. I'm not leaving because I can't figure out any other way to safely break up with a girlfriend. I wouldn't blame myself if I was doing this to avoid Curious Boy George Bush's term (singular) in office, but that's not it either. No, I'm not really sure there is one precise reason for going. Except that if I'm ever going to do something like this, then it has to be at this point in my life. Right now, while I don't really have any other responsibilities. No huge debt. No car payments. No wife and kids. No mortgage. Of course I'll miss all my friends, but I'll keep in touch, like I always have.
     And in case you're curious, no, I can't "hook you up" with a place to stay...yet.
     Thank you all for putting up with my mystery for the last few months. And thank you for the support from those of you who knew what was going on all this time. I love you all, and who knows, if I suck at this, I may see you in a few months!
I leave sometime around Wednesday, the 31st of January, and the season ends in May, at which point I'll be home for about two weeks before shipping off to another location.


Props to my Peeps, and Peace on the Mothership.

Peace out,
Chris Dwan

P.S. If you have any experience with set design and building, I'm told they always need designers!
P.P.S. Please foward this to anyone who I may have missed...although you won't be able to tell since I've sent it to everyone I know as a BCC. Good luck.