July 17 - On the Verge of a New Life Chapter?

I've always viewed my life as a series of chapters. Each one containing a different version of me as the lead character. I break it up like this:

1963-1971: Family Years
1971-1979: Single Parent Years (Philadelphia)
1979-1991: Long Island Years
1991-2001: Married Years (Los Angeles-Straight)
2001-present: Gay LA (Single)

Interestingly, my work careers seemed to have followed a similar path:

1979-1991: US Navy and Music Retail
1991-2005: ABC/Kane Productions and DreamWorks (Legal)
2005-present: DreamWorks Animation (Production)

So what am I getting at? Well, over the past couple years, I've become increasingly fascinated and have fallen in love with FOOD. It started when someone showed me that cooking could be as simple as heading for the fridge, grabbing some ingredients and whipping up a meal. My culinary journey had begun.

Then came the exploding popularity of Food Network. Alton Brown's "Good Eats", "Unwrapped", Jamie Oliver's "The Naked Chef"... and then the competitions, Bravo's "Top Chef", Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen", "Iron Chef"... and then came BBC America's "Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares" and "Last Restaurant Standing" followed by The Travel Channel's "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" and "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern."

With all of this, I have become a 'Foodie"! I love it, I wanna taste it, try it, savor it. I am hooked and now find food to be one of life's greatest pleasures. Love Sushi and Thai the most, but cook at home as well (I love you, Crock Pot) and have gotten better pots and a cutting board of wood, and Mark actually gave me a Knife Skills class. This is beginning to feel like the start of something else.

So again, where am I going with this? Well, over the past year or so, thoughts of running a restaurant have permeated my soft grey matter and - I know, it's hard, very hard, most restaurants fail - now I hope that one day I can partner with a Chef to make this dream come true. (Interestingly, I don't desire being a Chef, but then again, I'd prefer being the Producer over the Director - I guess it's the same thing).

So is this a new chapter? Perhaps. The current one does not yet feel fully written, but who knows... after a few more pages, it might be time!