Jacob.

 acting is a funny world. i never suspected to make so many friends, make so many connections, get jobs and roles i've never heard of. it's funny. everybody out in the audience sees what they think is our perfect play. because we hit the notes, dance in sync, we're utterly amazing to anybody out there. but we know what we do wrong. we see our mistakes. we kill each other for mistakes.

but with all that aside, allow me to mention Jacob.

i'd never known jacob until "the show at the high school." i'd walked late into music class, sat down, and my teach came up to me and started talking. he said he'd seen me perform and wanted to know if i'd be interested in taking a part in the high school play. he said he'd been in need of a walk in and he'd gotten the other two he needed, a girl named summer i'd known from last winter and a boy named jacob who also went to my school. he said it'd be a big deal and i'd need to go to rehearsals and do the three shows. i agreed.

i caught the late bus over from a detention over to the high school, where i wandered around until i found the rest of the cast, a couple of highschoolers i didn't know, now who i call some close friends. and i met jacob, a minor legend at our school. he was "the other actor." i'd heard about him. from the looks he gave me, he'd heard about me.

well, the play was terrible. our two leads missed cues and lines, one of their pants dropped, and we were so incredibly loud backstage. but i got to know jacob. he was tall, like me, funny, and he always dressed rather nicely, which i thought. we got called out of school the next day to do the shows at the highschool in the middle of the day. it was so cool. i missed morning classes. so did he. we goofed off and talked and i realized there were more people in the acting business than the ones i knew. we made mistakes, we'd only been to one rehearsal each. but it wasn't painful, it was fun.

i made friends in that show that i still talk to now. jack, kevin, erin, doug, summer...and jacob. since that day, we passed in the halls and smiled, high-fived, made brief contact. and everybody acknowledged it as naturaly. after all, we were the actors in the school, we had to stand by.

this picture does not remind me of jacob. it reminds me of me and my other friend jacob, who's also an actor, but the more serious kind. i was in school house rock with him. we were better. that show was better. and i loved both shows. but i wonder who i'll meet. you've always got to keep an eye out for people like you, even if you don't know it yet.