On Opportunity

There are stupid things people say. Lots of them. But none of them piss me off more than "opportunity knocking on your door" or however you want to state it.

I have lived a good fourth of the full life of man. And in that fourth, I'll say a good half of it was spent trying to further any sort of career I would want. I spend the vast majority of my time writing, creating, and spending time in my mediums, be it comic books, films, or poetry and theatre and novels. I have worked diligently to continue on my course, writing scripts, understanding the theory behind comic books as a communication medium, developing nuances in character voice and plot structure. Every step I have taken has made me a better writer.

Then I look around. I see people around me, who have spent nowhere near the same amount of time. Have nowhere near the knowledge or talent. Have nothing close to the ambition. And somehow they are making it, in the mediums I am hacking my way through to get at. For them, some mysterious entity has come by and offered them a chance to make their dreams come true. And it has left me back in the brush, hacking my way to any semblance of what I want my life to be.

What kind of fucker is Opportunity? What makes one person more likely to have someone come up and say to them "Hey, I saw that comment you made on facebook, and it intrigued me" or "That sketch on deviantart that you didn't try hard on reminds me of what I was looking for"! How is it that I've been working this long, and have never gotten an opportunity? Why do others get things placed in their laps while I am the only one working to get my opportunity lap-dance.

I know I sound bitter. I AM bitter. I cannot fathom how this works.

As I look upon all that I just wrote, I can help but scowl. I know I am better than those people that opportunity offers her hand, and I know it because I have been hacking. I have been writing, and working, and understanding. I've put in the work. So fuck opportunity. I'll have to make it happen. And when or if she comes knocking, I'll just tell her to fuck off!

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Well, I mean I'll listen to what she has to say first. I'm not a total dick.