00:00:00
I did fall asleep for a few years you
00:00:03
know it was uh uh because uh working at
00:00:06
that store I just got caught up in the
00:00:07
little life there and it was you know
00:00:10
it's interesting because um you know you
00:00:14
spent your 20s going to comedy clubs and
00:00:16
you know building building a career so
00:00:18
I'm spelling my 20s there and well it's
00:00:23
one of those things where it's like well
00:00:26
this isn't my
00:00:27
dream this isn't what I wanted to do
00:00:30
working at a video store for years uh I
00:00:33
wanted to actually make movies it's not
00:00:35
my dream what I'm
00:00:37
doing but it's dream adjacent it's it's
00:00:40
close to my dream it's close to my dream
00:00:42
I get to watch movies all [ __ ] day I
00:00:45
get to talk about movies all [ __ ] day
00:00:47
I don't have to work at a pizza parlor I
00:00:49
don't have to I'm not delivering pizzas
00:00:50
I'm not I'm not I'm not busting ass uh
00:00:52
as a bartender I'm not busting ass doing
00:00:55
menial jobs I mean this is the kind of
00:00:56
job I uh that you know I I'd do if I i'
00:01:01
I'd go to the store if I wasn't paid to
00:01:02
go to the store you know so it's like
00:01:05
you know but but for a couple of years
00:01:06
it did put me to
00:01:08
sleep it did kind of put me to sleep it
00:01:10
put my ambitions to sleep for a little
00:01:12
bit because I was happy enough yeah I
00:01:15
was happy and just like one of these
00:01:17
days I'll right he didn't have the fire
00:01:20
I didn't have the fire and when I got
00:01:22
the fire when I eventually got the fire
00:01:25
back again and it was a
00:01:28
lifechanging thing it was a
00:01:29
life-changing day it was um we had a
00:01:33
buddy of ours named steo yeah and I he
00:01:35
was one he uh uh um we had different
00:01:39
living arrangements and at one point in
00:01:40
time me and steo were living in the same
00:01:42
house together rening in the back of
00:01:44
towards the back of the store the dude
00:01:46
house yeah it was where everyone would
00:01:48
hang out and
00:01:50
um but now steo was older than the rest
00:01:53
of us so if like he was about like
00:01:56
almost 5 years older than us but you he
00:01:57
didn't seem like it he was a young guy
00:01:59
years younger mentally or emotionally
00:02:02
yeah and um
00:02:06
but so he hits
00:02:08
30 and he starts changing he starts
00:02:12
changing like drastically he that I mean
00:02:14
he was like the one of the funniest guys
00:02:15
I ever knew and he's this really really
00:02:17
funny Stoner dude and really cool and
00:02:21
all of a sudden he's like angry about
00:02:23
things and now he's not quite as funny
00:02:25
and now he's got this issue and so we're
00:02:27
we're roommates and there's this one
00:02:30
night that he's kind of like all he's
00:02:32
kind of disgusted with his life and he
00:02:35
starts ranting and he and and he's
00:02:39
describing a situation that was very
00:02:41
common if you were a kid growing up
00:02:44
without a you know without a degree or
00:02:46
anything in the 80s especially in
00:02:48
California where it's like you can't get
00:02:51
any really good jobs but like you can
00:02:53
work at licorice pizza and if you're an
00:02:56
okay employee you could like work at
00:02:58
licorice pizza for a couple of years and
00:02:59
maybe you could even become assistant
00:03:01
manager or a manager and maybe they sent
00:03:02
you to another store and and maybe you
00:03:04
worked there for 3 years and that's
00:03:05
really great but then you know all of a
00:03:08
sudden the district manager doesn't like
00:03:10
you you run a file of somebody higher up
00:03:13
in corporate and all of a sudden next
00:03:14
thing you know you're fired and you're
00:03:15
out in the street again it's management
00:03:17
yeah okay and so now you've just spent
00:03:19
three years at licorice pizza now now
00:03:21
you could get a job at TRW or some place
00:03:23
that's like a real job job or uh well
00:03:27
those are kind of hard to get but you
00:03:28
can work at warehouse records and
00:03:30
tomorrow cuz you just had three years at
00:03:31
Licor Pizza same thing with Wild West
00:03:33
cloer same thing with Miller's Outpost
00:03:36
same thing with any of these kind of
00:03:37
stores next thing you know you're 28 and
00:03:40
the only jobs you've ever had are
00:03:42
minimum wage jobs behind a counter that
00:03:45
in that that were designed for kids to
00:03:46
pay for their gas right and and you've
00:03:50
like spent your entire 20s doing that
00:03:52
and then you start getting bitter and
00:03:53
you start getting bitter and but but he
00:03:56
was not just B bitter about the job
00:03:58
aspect of it he but I knew he oh my God
00:04:01
he's telling me the truth I'm learning
00:04:02
something here because he you know he
00:04:05
goes you know you know Quinton you think
00:04:08
that we're this really great team we're
00:04:10
this really great crew well we are I
00:04:13
mean you know this is that time of your
00:04:15
20s we're like you your group of friends
00:04:16
or your family you know and like well we
00:04:19
are
00:04:21
Quenton at
00:04:24
20 I worked at South Bay Cinemas and I
00:04:28
hung out with a bunch of guys just like
00:04:30
you and some girls there too there was a
00:04:33
bunch of guys just like you and then I
00:04:34
stopped working at South Bas Cinema then
00:04:36
I worked at Miller's Outpost and hung
00:04:38
out with a bunch of guys just like you
00:04:40
and we did everything just like we do we
00:04:42
went to movies together we went out and
00:04:43
we dated amongst the girls there
00:04:46
everything yeah then I worked at L pizza
00:04:48
for far four years with a bunch of guys
00:04:50
just like
00:04:51
you I've wasted my life hanging out with
00:04:54
a bunch of guys just like you and they
00:04:56
all go away at a certain point
00:05:01
and I realized this guy's kind of
00:05:02
telling the truth I this he's showing me
00:05:05
a truth about him he's he's he I'm I'm
00:05:08
this is coming from somewhere and then
00:05:10
all of a sudden he still hung around us
00:05:12
he still liked us but then he started
00:05:14
making it a point to uh touch base with
00:05:17
some of his high school friends that
00:05:18
were still around so he's not just
00:05:20
hanging out with guys four years younger
00:05:22
or five years younger than him anyway
00:05:25
I'm turning 25 around this time so I'm
00:05:28
having my own little okay well what have
00:05:30
I done with my life so far so far
00:05:31
[ __ ]
00:05:32
nothing so I'm having my own little
00:05:35
anxiety hitting 25 but I'm seeing what
00:05:38
it's like 5 years from now yeah when you
00:05:41
turn 30 window to the Future when you're
00:05:43
tun 30 and you're in this
00:05:45
situation
00:05:48
and and there was like one
00:05:50
night that I had what I used to call I
00:05:52
would do it every once while I haven't
00:05:53
done it in a long time thank thankfully
00:05:56
I would have a Quinton to test Fest
00:05:59
where I i' would stay up all night long
00:06:01
and rather than give myself
00:06:03
excuses I would look at everything that
00:06:06
I'm [ __ ] up in my life or everything
00:06:08
I'm not doing or whatever and just not
00:06:10
give myself any [ __ ] excuses out just
00:06:12
like nail it and I would spend like all
00:06:16
night laying out everything I'm doing
00:06:18
that's wrong and then I would spend the
00:06:20
last two hours figuring out how I can
00:06:21
change it and as opposed to just doing
00:06:24
it and then going to get some sleep and
00:06:27
and then you forget about it and fall
00:06:28
back into your you know your
00:06:31
routine um I decided to change my life I
00:06:35
was like look the problem is is that I'm
00:06:37
living in the South Bay and even though
00:06:38
I drive to Los Angeles I one I I got to
00:06:40
not worry about this job anymore I gotta
00:06:42
just move to Hollywood I gotta get in
00:06:44
involved there I got to meet other
00:06:46
people that are in the business and if I
00:06:48
have to work Manpower jobs you know
00:06:51
where you just work like four days at
00:06:52
this place and four days at that place
00:06:54
well then that's fine and by the way I
00:06:55
shouldn't be making money until I'm
00:06:57
making money doing what I want to do h
00:06:59
and not that that was ever a danger all
00:07:01
right but uh um uh but then you know the
00:07:04
next thing I knew you know I was uh I
00:07:06
moved out of the South Bay and then I
00:07:09
couldn't move into Hollywood I couldn't
00:07:10
afford Hollywood but I could afford
00:07:11
Korea Town and that was close enough and
00:07:14
uh and literally the minute I kind of
00:07:17
moved out there I met a guy who wrote uh
00:07:20
uh lowbudget horror movies and then
00:07:22
through him I met other guys that wrote
00:07:24
L butet horror movies and this guy who
00:07:26
directs a few little butet horr and this
00:07:27
guy who produces a couple and well but
00:07:31
yeah you meet one person and that
00:07:32
introduces you to three other people now
00:07:34
all of a sudden I actually knew people
00:07:35
who were actually making movies and the
00:07:38
thing about it was it was like also well
00:07:41
if these guys can do what I can do
00:07:43
because they weren't too special right
00:07:45
yeah you know uh um that's the weird
00:07:47
realization that you end up having yeah
00:07:50
uh uh and and then literally it wasn't
00:07:52
like everything changed but like within
00:07:54
a year and a half from moving out of the
00:07:57
South Bay and moving into the Hollywood
00:07:59
area within a year and a half I was
00:08:02
finally able to make a living as a as a
00:08:04
writer
