For years, friends and family, colleagues and other educators told me ‘You’d be perfect for Patreon’… and my answer was always, “No. That’s not for me.”

Well, I changed my mind. It was a change of heart when I look more closely.

Leaving my home in California after almost 30yrs of seeing all my dreams come true, I ventured out into the big wide world but wasn’t able to take you all with me.

Now I can… by continuing to share it all with you.

Here’s how you can come along for the journey:

Enjoy your 7 day free trial, read all the articles, hear all the stories, and take a ride in the monthly newsletter (formerly known as the THURSDAY BEST DAY OF THE WEEK missive, and for the last several years, my Substack How’s Your Heart? Named after my first book.

Tier One is $5.55/mo which grants you weekly posts as well as the monthly newsletter I’ve shared for over 15yrs… and joining me on this journey safe from social media apps and other public forums

Tier Two is $11.11/mo w/ a 2hour live broadcast with you and I no matter where I am in the world, where you can ask me anything about grief work, travel, turning your gifts into your purpose, or just supporting my mission of spreading light in the world

Tier Three is $108/mo for those able to support my ministry and also want 1:1 access to grief work, personal counsel, and back room access to all offerings spiRITUAL heART kNOWledge

Claim your gifts. Meet you there.

With friendly thoughts and grateful wishes,

Boise Thomas

Artist/Author/Grief Recovery Specialist

Www.Boisethomas.Com

Thank you.

That is how this video ends… 29 mins from now. If you want and need and desire to know where I have been and what is going on next… get some popcorn or tea and snuggle up with me for a banger of a video.

If you ‘ain’t got time for that’ I will be lifting out segments of this (see breakdown below to skip to your favorite curiosity) and posting them to the other places and spaces.

For now… this is Me. This is who I am becoming. This is what I am up to.

See you again tomorrow which for most of you, is already your today.

Mahalo - 8:29p Hawai’i on Monday August 3rd, 2026

See you soon,

Boise

IN THIS VIDEO

00:00 Where am I?

00:30 Vog, Pele and Living on a volcano

01:00 I’ve been resting.

1:30 Sleep, rest, contemplate - after a year around the world

2:00 A new man walking in new shoes.

2:30 Welcome to the SHOE show

3:00 A long hello after long time no speak

3:30 Never met a stranger… but “Hi, I’m Boise“

4:00 Why I’m on Hawaii?

4:30 What’s a Grief Recovery Specialist?

5:00 What led me to become a Grief Recovery Specialist?

5:30 Taproot of all suffering IMHO is always this;

6:00 Been seeing clients

6:30 Blown away… it is astounding

7:00 Grief Recovery work, really works

7:30 Grateful for volcanic fog: VOG

8:00 Recovered from screen addiction

8:30 Where my libras who love cats, at?

9:00 I deleted 3000 Instagram posts

9:30 I am feeling freedom in real time

10:00 Left USA/Hawaii for Europe a year ago

10:30 Second book out soon: The Backstory…

11:00 Pray on the way: a collection of works walking el Camino de Santiago

11:30 Painting with watercolors vs oil vs guache

12:00 Art supplies and journals are 10% of the weight I carry

12:30 Yoga healed my post Camino aches

13:00 If you love me, you’ll love my book

13:30 Aloha from the Tiny House Lanai

14:00 Post Camino: France to India

14:30 Six months in India

15:00 Arrived on Hanumans Day Tuesday 11/11/25 at 11p

15:30 The Gallery of original artwork hangs in India

16:00 HHTDL (His holiness, the Dalai Lama 14th) and my time in McLeod Ganj

16:30 Two weeks in the remote mountains of Himachal Pradesh, India

17:00 Teaching residency at an Indian high school

17:30 Inspired by the 8 to 18-year-old students of India

18:00 RIP Shel Silverstein, Fred Rogers, and Adam Yauch. Thank You…

18:30 Thailand & Hollywood Asia Tonight in Bangkok

19:00 Painted 100 portraits of people

19:30 Being an immigrant in Southeast Asia

20:00 Searching for a place to call home

20:30 To Hoi an, Vietnam then Tokyo, Japan

21:00 Japanese art store and the best three hours of my life

21:30 July 21, 2026: the 38 hour day

22:00 Hi on HI w/ Amanda before reunion with Sister

22:30 8/14/26: Las Vegas to Los Angeles

23:00 HEY LA: Save the DAY (err, date)!

23:30 MEET ME HERE: 8/20 from 5-8p in Santa Monica

24:00 Can’t wait to do this in Venice…

24:30 Visit where I wrote How’s Your Heart?

25:00 Spending my 57th bday in South France

25:30 Hike the Azores off the coast of Portugal

26:00 End of 2026: December in LA and back to Asia

26:30 ALL OF THIS will be on the new www.boisethomas.com - coming soon

27:00 10 years of asking, I am finally launching a Patreon

27:30 Change = loss = grief and I’m here if you need me

28:00 Thanks for watching - smaller clips will be shared to IG/FB/etc

28:30 Pray w/ me Sundays and/or LIVE ask me anything 12th day of the month

29:00 Ritual Art Now and why I am exiting social media

END: Thank you, may you be blessed

Thank you to my hostess with the mostess, Amanda G for giving me a space and place to do this work while serving the land and humans here. I can’t wait to see how my faith, reasoning, and service continue to unfold as God’s dream for my life seems to be bigger and better than anything my human mind could have imagined.

After 21 years of calling Venice, California my home, life has sent me into the great wide open. For the foreseeable future, Santa Monica will be home to produce the next version of a play I wrote (article), auditioning for TV/Films, and writing. Lots of writing.

Today’s missive is being penned from “the HOME of the HOMELESS” as legendary multi-hyphenate Harry Shearer proudly declared for years on my favorite NPR show - the brilliant satirical syndicated romp; ‘Le Show’ radio program (listen here: Le Show).

Granted, SaMo as a city is 2.5x larger than Venice… they must have better PR in combatting the presence of houseless residents because that moniker seems to ring true. Can you blame humans for wanting to live in a place where it is 72 degrees and sunny just about every day? I know California gets a lot of bad press when it comes to houseless humans, but I have to tell you, where you are some homeless people need help. See if we can have more compassion for our sick and suffering moving forward. But by the grace of God, that could be someone you love or… well, you.

While I do have my life simplified and reduced to what will fit in my van, I am living OUT of my van - not IN MY VAN. The move-out from my longest stint in any home of 13 years is still fresh at 2 months today, and the taste of change still extreme, I am flourishing and thriving after being taken out of a planter that had grown too small for my roots. This tree is shooting into the sky and I promise to only throw shade where it is wanted or needed. Sorry Santa Monica, that line came after the homeless comments.

Can you taste the changes in your life too? Let’s get into it…

The human body has 32 total senses while 5 are reserved in the mouth for taste: umami, sour, sweet, bitter, and salty. Taste buds regenerate about every 10 days and live to do one job: make sure what you put in you is safe to eat. In a world seemingly more and more unsafe, I’ve developed a strong taste for putting things in my mind and heart that keep me from becoming unwell. And that is no small feat during Kali Yuga. The greatest tool I’ve cultivated as a practice in 2024 is writing. A sure-fire, no-joke, never-not-effective, easy daily way… to make sense of feelings, keeping them separate from the facts. That’s right Earthlings of 2024 and beyond facts are not feelings and one day you too will die. Two things you know but continue to forget (or ignore), because you are human after all. Ahhh, to be alive! What I was going to write about?

WRITING! Like our taste buds, it can also be bitter, sweet, sour, and salty… even umami (which is your favorite sensation… the one that arrives before whatever you are putting in your mouth does… that pleasant, long-lasting, mouthwatering, and coating sensation on the tongue when you can’t wait to taste something?). Umami is what I hope happened when you saw this in your inbox. Today’s post on the two-month anniversary of leaving a place I called home for 156 months is dedicated to the practices of writing… a pleasant, sometimes bitter and often sweet, taste of change.

My favorite 5 flavors of writing for your palette to digest today:

1. Daily Journal

2. Evening Journal

3. 1:1 Form

4. Long-Form

5. Long-Form turned Long-Term turned Long-View Visioning

1. DAILY JOURNAL

Never having been a daily journal person (diaries, notebooks, blah bla bleh), it was new to me. I was going on a sabbatical from acting in July 2017 when I started, while I did write at LAX, on the plane to Moscow and Munich… it was sitting having a coffee and a smoke in this plaza that filled the pages of the first of twenty-one Moleskines over the next three years. I was hooked.

Writing in the morning became the new routine, with a hot beverage after a meditation ritual as a part of my daily practice - BEFORE TURNING ON MY PHONE. It has become one of my favorite moments of the day. Clears my mind allowing focus and clarity with what there is to do and handle in the next waking day. Forces me to be present in the miracle and in the gratitude of life versus the resentments lingering from yesterday or the fears trapping me in F.uture E.vents A.lready R.uined and F.orgetting E.very A.vailable R.esource.

89,000 humans do not wake up from sleep every day on Earth, a 0.0000000000000001867% chance. I like those odds but still rejoice waking in the morning, feeling like a lottery winner.

Morning pages start as a daily to-do list with small drawings or sketches or I write the hours of the day down the page leaving space to fill in meetings, appointments, and things that need to take place to learn, earn, and thrive. It can also be a page filled with a free-form stream of consciousness (often hard to read, lacking any punctuation or capitalization). Or just writing to myself about dreams I had the night before or things I see about my human journey. Whatever I put in the journal… the adage stands pat: JUST START. It has grown and built me into a writer who, according to 400 people, just penned a pretty good play that will pay me to produce and perform in 2025.

That was NOT ON MY BINGO CARD.

Just start. I did and it changed my relationship with myself first and foremost, my relationship with my higher power/G*d second, and my relationship with everything else third. In that order.

PRO TIP from your buddy Boise: Get a nice notebook and expensive pen, and treat yo’self. You’re worth it and nice paper and flowing ink make for more value in what you put in there, keeping this capture tool from becoming some b*llsh*t list of groceries or to-do’s that will never happen. I use the aforementioned Moleskine and I am not going to tell you my favorite pen. The last time I bragged about it, went to Staples and they were sold out. Find your own damn fave pens people and stop buying up mine. Half kidding.

2. EVENING JOURNAL

Eventually, the love of journaling bled into the night.

It was an exercise my friend Casey told me about that if you have my number or follow me on socials (Instagram), you know I refer to as THE FOUR FIVES.

Before bed, make a list of the following four categories:

5 things you are grateful for, 5 things you did well today, 5 things you love about yourself, and 5 things you have no power or control over. Here’s an example for the sake of show and tell:

FOUR FIVES example for - Friday, December 6, 2024

5 things I am grateful for 1.substack 2.you 3.this home I am in 4.Anya the cat 5.MyVan

5 things I love about myself 1.DivineFaith 2.Talents 3.Serenity 4.Practices 5.Resiliency

5 things I did well 1.wrote 2.listened 3.shared 4.gave service where needed 5.Prayed

5 things I have no control over 1.57Wars 2.Traffic 3.Politics 4.Insanity 5.Other People

I did that for 18 months and barely missed a night doing so. It transformed me and made a nighttime journal live by the bed for more than ‘things I need to remember when I wake up tomorrow’ (if I wake up that is).

My nighttime journaling practice is different now. The journal I currently have by the bed says CARPE DIEM on its cover (which is funny so technically I had already in fact seized the day by bedtime). I’m CARPE NIGHTing… and YES the Latin word for the night is NIGHT and the journal practice is more simple. I write to God/Cosmic Creator/Universal/Ultimate Consciousness… whatever the mood may be, mostly ‘Dear God’ or ‘Guide of Divinity’… followed by a gratitude list for all who I have interacted with today, a list of people who are suffering, or just a love note simple as ‘I love you, thank you God’ if I am really tired and just need to hit the lights and the pillow in that order. Some nights I wake up with the light on but the journal happens first. And don’t pick up the phone after the journal. That is the other thing that has become part of being healthy and happy.

3. 1:1 FORM

Sending postcards and letters has always been my jam. I just had 100 printed with a photo of the front door of my old house on Flower Ave. If you were to visit me at some point from October 2011 through October 2024 at that home, you know what I am talking about. When I went public about moving, several of my friends said “Are you going to take your door?” to which I said, “Not planning on it if I want my security deposit back.” If you would like a postcard from me with my new mailing address, please send me a private message with your address and I will mail one to you. If you don’t want one, here is what they look like… thanks for saving me a stamp.

And the other side of the postcard with my change of address and some Fibonacci…

Sending thank you letters, postcards, and real mail is 1:1. If you get all giddy opening anything other than a holiday card or some b*llsh*t someone bought at a store, written on real paper, BY HAND, placed in an actual envelope someone had to seal and put a stamp on... you are my kind of people. (Postcards are shortcuts but they still make an effort and end up on a fridge or wall, so… don’t judge).

4. LONG-FORM STORY

I grew a mustache after shaving a grief beard when my Step-Mom died in August 2021. Shaved it into the stache as my Mom didn’t like my beard. When I looked in the mirror and saw it, my first acting thought since writing and publishing the book was:

WHAT DID ALBERT EINSTEIN SOUND LIKE, ANYWAY?

It was that upper lip hair that led me down a rabbit hole I am technically still DEEP INSIDE OF. The How’s Your Heart Guide is also an example of writing 1:1 as I wrote it for you, not for a group of humans. Just so we can get better 1:1. And it was Professor Albert Einsteins late in life epiphany regarding the matter to which he said:

Postcards, letters, books… write to the ones you love. They will keep it and read it more than once, I promise.

5. LONG-FORM TURNED LONG-TERM TURNED LONG-VIEW VISIONING

See what happens? You just start each morning, with a page. Then it grows into a possible night practice and reminds you how much you love to write to people 1:1 using the actual mail. Those drawings, realizations, and long-form missives become something worth sharing with more than just you and your journal.

My latest long-form journal entry that was a short film turned feature script then my first play is now being expanded from 55 pages to 89 pages so we can put it up for a 10-week run somewhere in Santa Monica, California. While I am cat sitting and have a PO Box (ICYMI -1217 Wilshire Blvd PO Box # 3094 Santa Monica CA 90408) - technically without a lease or a place to call my own: I AM HOMELESS in SANTA MONICA California. THE HOME OF THE HOMELESS.

AND THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE FOR ME TO CALL HOME RIGHT NOW.

Boise Thomas is a writer, actor, and multi-hyphenate currently doing re-writes to his play E=mc2 | Einsteins meet Charlie Chaplin, he will produce. It will be directed by Dana Resnick and is coming to a playhouse in West Los Angeles, California sometime in early 2025.

Consider subscribing to stay connected and get information about tickets to the play.

If you live outside of California, Boise plans on bringing the play to you… so just keep praying, writing, and practicing making lists of what you are grateful for, did well, love about yourself, and are powerless over.

HAPPY HOLY DAYS - BE KIND

Things I mention in the video… including the link to get tickets to the play!

HIGHLIGHTS:

E=mc2 | Einsteins Meet Charlie Chaplin is in its second and final workshop weekend.

Want to see the play 11/22-24? TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

Want to support? Contribute HERE

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

END OF LIFE | DEATH DOULA training in Ojai, California November 15-17, 2024

My teachers and guides in end-of-life care… Birgitta Kastenbaum and Cheserae Skala have been teaching and sharing these ancient rituals of death and dying for decades. This June I completed module 1 after having multiple deaths in my life, including but not limited to my High School mentor, Acting Coach, and Mother. Since that training, the death wave (as I now know it to be called) is at 13 in my life. Rest in peace and may your memories be a blessing: Gregory, James, Betsy, Sal, Heidi, John VH, Sakina, Jane, Richard, James M, Nelia… and anyone else who I love or have loved or have been loved by who is not listed here. For more information about the services provided or to learn more about the options that are available to you when your time is up… VISIT THEM HERE

AS FOR ME… well, I had seen only a few ‘dead bodies’ in my life when I met Birgitta that fateful day back in July 2021 when my Step-Mother, Linzee was given 4 weeks to live with stage 4 cancer in multiple places in her body. Birgitta and a friend of several years, Cathy Nadell… drove 30 miles south to San Pedro to make the initial house call. They would help us walk Linzee home over the next several weeks. Birgitta still checks in with my Dad and family from time to time. Upon seeing me serve my Dad and Linzee’s Mother through the grieving and paperwork that inevitably comes with death and dying and the business of completing a person’s human existence, she suggested I attend the training. I wanted to… I just didn’t take the action.

You know those things in your life where you say to yourself “yes! I’d love to do that…” and the voice in your head quickly chimes in to give you a list or reasons why you should either do it later, not do it now, or never do it at all? Yeah… so that happened. Then came my Mother in March of 2024.

Again, Birgitta answered the call and walked me through a few phone calls on how to be with my Mom, having lost her mind/any recognition of those around her. Her wisdom, experience, and suggestions were eerily on par with the experience I would have.

The third time is a charm as they say. It was when Richard, my mentor and friend of 20+ years was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given 6 months to live in November of 2022, that Birgitta answered the call again. The family chose to work with her and she was the guide who assisted Richard in the death of his vision. It was there I would participate in anointing, shrouding, and sitting with my first dead body. Richard was there, he was just not in his body… he never was his body… it was just a vessel to hold him while he came here to do his work. And he did, leaving a lasting legacy in countless people who are living their life fully, living a life they love, and living their calling.

Sometimes, we need to hear a message multiple times to ignore the voice in our head that argues for us to stay invisible, to be small, to not take that leap. Birgitta invited me a third time and even boldly suggested this wave of death could be a sign for me to do some healing around death and dying and that there was more work to do. It was as if she was reading my journals as I had written daily on trying to make sense of the pattern of losing so many people in such a short time.

My word for the year was INITIATION.

SO IT IS.

I am a death doula now.

And will be pursuing the certification to become a licensed Funeral Director in the state of California in the coming months and into 2025.

Pay attention to the rule of threes. For powers that are far greater than your mind and the ego’s megaphone inside it, are working on your behalf to get you to do your job:

OUR JOB IN THIS LIFE IS… TO CREATE. TO CREATE WITH AND IN THIS BODY WE WERE GIVEN THAT BREATHS US, THE HEART THAT BEATS US, TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT IS A BODY OF WORK LIVING BEYOND THE TIME WHEN THIS BODY VESSEL IS DONE. AND WE WILL DIE. WHEN WE DO, OUR JOB IS DONE WITH THE LEGACY AND BODY OF WORK WE LEAVE BEHIND. THE PART OF US THAT NEVER DIES AND LIVES ON IS OUR JOB.

Thank you, Birgitta and Cheserae for your devotion to the living in service of the dying and for passing on these sacred and timeless traditions so we can honor how people want to take their last breaths and reintroduce how it was done for thousands of years before the business of death became what we now call funerals and burials.

Game on until game over… and lastly, I share with you a poem I wrote for the zine I created for my cohort fellows in arms… the witches, sisters, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and females I humbly learned and served with this past weekend.

AS for the rest of this post… Know you will die. And when you do, the living will do what they think is best for you, what you may have wanted. If you do not leave a directive or notes or instructions… your death, your remains, and the celebration of your life will be left to wonder in the hands and hearts of those who will be there.

You don’t have to have all your T’s crossed or your I’s dotted. But it helps.

You don’t need a last will and testament… but the more property, valuables, money, and assets you have… the longer that stuff sits in the Government Probate Courts and out of the hands of the people who lie in wait to inherit your possesions that you may or may not want them to have right away.

You don’t need a master document to explain the way you want your remains disposed of.

But I will tell you, the most painful deaths to be around, is with the families and friends left behind who didn’t talk about it at all and had NO PLAN WHATSOEVER.

While it may seem odd to ignore a conversation about something we will all go through one day with the people who will be forced to handle the details of this event that we call THE END OF A LIFE… Not having it does the most damage and interrupts the inevitable process of grief and mourning that wants to happen as the living go on living long after the dying has died.

You cannot spell funeral without FUN.

I look forward to putting the fun back in funerals and empowering people around death and dying… just like my Mother did as one of the pioneers of Hospice Care in the 1970s-1990s.

Talk about death with your loved ones. Because it is coming for all of us, maybe not today or tomorrow. But it will come. When it does, you will be glad you did so you can focus on the real gift of dying… to opportunity to celebrate the life of the loved one who has transitioned. After life and after all… I believe that is what they really want.

That is what I want when I die. To have people dance and sing and tell jokes.

Not to go into crippling debt, to be mired with lawyers and courts, to have to sift through my belongings to find things they need to fill out paperwork and appease the modern systems of wrapping up the life of a human who is no longer among the living.

May you live well so you can die well. See you on the other side Mom. Until then, looks like I am going into the family business after all.

Now… let’s get busy living.

See you in the theatre this weekend and many of you in the world in the new year.

With friendly thoughts and divine gratitude,

Boise Thomas

Playwrite, Death Doula, Actor, Friend, Son, Brother, and Student of the Holy Spiritual Presence of the Almighty I choose to call God/Conscious Creator/Higher Power

https://bit.ly/Emc2Play

First things first:

I’ve never written, produced, or acted in a play. That doesn’t count the hundreds of stages where I have done comedy, stand-up, hosting, EmCee work, improvisation, sketch comedy, and playing live music. The ODDITY is that live theatre has always been a performance medium that has escaped me.

*NOTE* If you count being a T-Bird in the Cortland Jr-Sr High School production of ‘GREASE’ (where my only line was: “Go greased-lighting, you’re burning up the quarter mile…”).

The idea for the story came to me in January of 2022. I shot a short film with some friends and after ignoring several people who said “3 actors in one room is a play” we can say it is in fact, a play. It goes up on November 8th and runs for 6 workshop performances. Before you put something else on this screen… read on. This story has never been more important to hear than in these strange days we are living in.

Here is the info you will need if you feel like coming to the play… I sure hope you do because it may be the best darn thing I have ever done!

E=mc2 | Einsteins Meet Charlie Chaplin

In 1932, Albert & Elsa Einstein hosted Charlie Chaplin in their home- a meeting that changed the course of history. Based on true events.

Date and time

Fri 11/8 8p Sat 11/9 8p Sun 11/10 6p & Fri 11/22 8p Sat 11/23 8p & Sun 11/24 6p

Location

The Electric Lodge1416 Electric Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90291Hide map

Overview

$33 tickets, free parking, and talkback with the Director, Writer, and Actors.

QUESTION: Did you know Einstein and Chaplin were friends?

This play, E=mc2 | Einsteins Meet Charlie Chaplin, set in 1932 Berlin, Germany, tells the story of the night The Einsteins hosted Charlie Chaplin in their humble flat that impacted the lives of these three historical figures (and their legacies).

While everything told on stage is factually accurate to what transpired at that time and beyond, the night's dialogue was not on record. From the heart and mind of first-time playwright, Boise Thomas, these characters (and friends) are brought back to life in a reimagining of the conversation had at Haberlandstrasse 5, that night in August 1932.

The story/screenplay had been only told in a yet-to-be-seen short film in which Thomas plays both Einstein and Chaplin (Pamela Brode as Elsa). Upon hearing the pitch, seeing the script, and watching the short, several colleagues and industry professionals encouraged it to become a play. In April 2024, Thomas began adaptation from a screen to a stage performance. With the masterful direction and expertise of Dana Resnick, Thomas has been crafting the play while working with Heidi Berg (Elsa) and her real-life husband, Garry Geiken (Albert).

Attendees for this limited set of (6) workshop performances will be asked to fill out a survey before (3-5 questions) and after the play (8-13 questions) asking for feedback. The actors, writer/producer will also be on stage for a talk-back with our audience members.

The production team, cast, and crew are working diligently with expectations for a full 10-week production in 2025 at a West LA theatre company. If and when successful, it will be made available to interested parties outside of Southern California Theatre. While the events in E=mc2 | Einsteins Meet Charlie Chaplin are based on real stories and speeches, they have never been told.

For the first time on film, stage, or screen, the world will learn and know the impact the man who studied the stars and said everything had on his dear friend, the star-studded Grandfather of Hollywood - who was made famous for saying nothing.

This is E=mc2 | Einsteins meet Charlie Chaplin.

The play will run for approximately one hour.

Before buying your ticket, please consider being with us for 90-120 minutes when making your purchase. Thank you for supporting live theatre in Los Angeles.

"Born/raised in NY State & lived-worked in Los Angeles since 1997, I see LA in the heart of every pLAy." -Boise

Suggest description

THIS WILL BE ON DISPLAY AT THE THEATRE

This image is a 3'x4' acrylic on canvas painting by Boise Thomas. It depicts the border between the two star-studied & star-studded geniuses of their professions and illustrates the convergence of when the sum of two great minds are brought together, what can be created. It will be on display in the lobby of the theatre during this limited 2024 workshop performance run at the Electric Lodge Theatre in Venice, California.

Both postcards are available at the theatre for you to take home as a piece of art from the playwright.

Good to know

Free parking at the venue

Agenda

7:30 PM - 10:30 PM

The evening is an event, please come early and stay late if you can

Boise Thomas

We welcome you to come early, get a seat, and enjoy the lobby while meeting other friends and patrons of the show.

8:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Fridays and Saturday workshop performances: November 8-9 / 22-23, 2024

The actual play will begin at 8p and run for 65-70 mins. There will be a talk-back after with the actors, writer, and producer. We will ask for your feedback and provide answers to questions and welcome answers to our questions about the play, script, and performances.

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Sunday Matinee workshop performances: November 10th and 24th, 2024

tickets are available here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emc2-einsteins-meet-charlie-chaplin-tickets-1034523667137

This is a rather unconventional post today as normally I write about inspired life moments, news, or things in the traditional format of a written article. Usually, something you’d hear me rant about on a walk (classic Boise-Babble), or forward in a video that wasn’t shared to social media, or in a public announcement to a group of friends at a party or dinner gathering in my home or on my lawn.

However, this one deserves a stand-alone message as it pertains to a landmark birthday I am having in 9 weeks to mark a very special time in my life.

Since I moved into my first home alone 13 years ago, I started using my birthday to release something artistic to share with my community. A brief rundown of life during that time:

• 2012: Hosted ConCon or Conscious Conversations in my living room for almost a year… where we discussed all the woo-woo things we Venice Beach artistic types are into. A real gathering of the Westside Weirdos as I affectionately refer to this collective of misfits and whack-a-doodles.

• 2013: A 3-hour one-man performance in front of 400+ in a theatre in DTLA... Some of you remember it (due to how blue it was, somehow we remain friends to this day… and thanks for having a sense of humor!)

• 2016 A live concert where I sang covers and original songs to +100 people on my lawn with a five-piece band.

• 2017 I biked from Holland to Germany across the countryside (that one I posted to social media sharing my love for riding a bike in the Netherlands… as combines two of my favorite things: Dutch life and being on a bike ride)

• 2018 I hosted a post Black Rock City burner here at my house in Venice where we read poetry, sang songs, celebrated life, and shared our intentions for the future

• 2019 - The Big Five-Oh (50th) 108 friends and family (including my nuclear family being together for the first time in over 13 years) gathered as I shared the contents of my soon-to-be-published works, told stories, sold original art, and entered this great new decade of life.

• 2020 Was the successful Kickstarter to publish How’s Your Heart? A User’s Guide for Building a Better Humanity.

• 2021 We celebrated the passing of my step Mom and I played the guitar she gifted me in quiet moments with my Dad and friends.

• 2022 saw the release of an Album to go with the book and had a group of friends over to chant and sing and rejoice in being alive in the Bhakti Flower Box (the new name given to my living room). Boise Thomas on Spotify

• 2022 BONUS TIME-RELEASE GIFT: I put myself back in college to get my Bachelor/Master/Doctoral Degrees in Meta Physics from UofSedona (Currently in progress… these things take time and the gift for my future 50-something-self would be to be the spiritual director of a center if that is what the universe wants of me, I am here for it…)

• 2023 A group of friends joined me to record a live album of chanting and prayer that is still in post-production but will see the light of day soon.

That brings us to 2024!

My 55th birthday.

A Fibonacci bday and my last if I don’t live is 89… and that’s okay with me.

As long as I live through the next several months and years to see where this newest creation takes me and my life.

This October 12, 2024… as I begin my 55th solar return… I will be in the middle of a theatrical run directing and producing a play I have written.

Here is the body of text that I will read to you in the voice-over version of this post you can listen to it if you choose and I will say a little bit more about it after.

Everyone knows the names Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin. Einstein is the world’s most famous scientist. Chaplin was an artist who revolutionized the world of film. But did you know that these two titans, not only knew each other but sat down for dinner one fateful night?

In doing my research I discovered great things about Einstein and Chaplin, including the fact that it was Elsa, Albert’s wife, who orchestrated their meeting. 

I was so inspired by these three characters and the story’s relevance to today’s current events that I decided to write my first play about them.

It’s called E=MC2 and I’m also directing it. We’re doing 15 shows between (9/27-11/3/24) at the Electric Lodge Theater in Venice, California and I’m so excited for you to see it. 

However, I don’t have the full financing yet and am looking for your contribution to raise (13k is the current minimum we are looking to raise to pay for the theatre rental before ticket sales begin next month). Check out my GoFundMe page for all the details, thank you for supporting live theater and…

And I look forward to seeing you at the Electric Lodge Theater for this fascinating and inspiring story, E=MC2

+++

I have selected GoFundMe as the platform to come up with all the funds. It will launch next week on Tuesday, August 13th, 2024 with a proper video and page including the budget, where the money is going to be spent, and how you can contribute or share it with your theater and art-loving friends.

While I have produced, written, and directed stand-up comedy specials, music videos, short films, commercials, and other projects across the multi-media landscape, there is one genre I have never explored: LIVE THEATRE!

So here is today’s post and save the dates for the premiere of an original piece of work that is coming to the Electric Lodge Theatre in Venice at the end of September, running through the first weekend of November 2024!

Thank you for…

• Reading (and subscribing/sharing) my Substack

• Supporting the GoFundMe next week (sharing it or making a contribution)

• Financing and Fueling live theatre in Los Angeles (as it is the step-child to the stages where I was made: The Great Empire State of New York)

• Taking time to listen to / read my news as this will be the work of which I am the most proud in my creative life

May the sunshine of the spirit find your face and cast its glow on everyone you love…

With friendly thoughts and grateful wishes,

Boise Thomas

One day each year is a declarative statement: March 4th as MARCH FORTH.

MARCH (noun) The third month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the first month of spring. (verb) To walk, proceed, or advance with determination in a way that is impossible to stop or prevent.

FORTH (adverb) Out from a starting point and forward or into view. (synonyms) onward, onwards, on, forward, forwards; for ever, into eternity; until now.

The message this Monday is ‘to advance with a determination that is impossible to stop or prevent while moving forward.’ The coming March 4th comes four days after today THURSDAY my favorite day of the week on a LEAP DAY my favorite day of the year.

LEAP YEAR (noun) a year, occurring once every four years, that has 366 days including February 29 as an intercalary day (harmonizing with the solar year).

Leap Day Thursday happens again in 28 years, the year 2052.

I love Leap Days and like to plan something fun with an extra day. On Tuesday I woke up with just the thing. Let’s get our extra Thursday!

Some of you substack readers who came over from my Mailchimp account will remember the predecessor to How’s Your Heart as the ‘Thursday Best Day of the Week’ newsletter. For over a decade, I sent a weekly missive highlighting 5 things that captured my attention and expanded them into bite-sized writings. Some were career-related while working in television commercials or stand-up comedy, and others were simply born out of trying to find patterns and figure things out. The newsletter went on a hard pause while traveling to write a book this substack is named after…

How’s Your Heart? A User’s Guide for Building a Better Humanity

The book was also written based on five things…

1. Fibonacci Sequence

2. Oh is Wonder

3. Impermanence is Change

4. Heroes Journey Storytelling

5. Emotions and Feelings

Get a copy of the whole story inside an edition of the HYHGuide… for now, I want to continue with today.

One of the things I obsessed about was what I was here to do. What my life is for? Why I am here and how I can live a purpose-driven life to better humanity?

It was in those five things of numbers, wonder, change, story, and emotions that the most interesting thing happened. A method of extracting purpose, finding my gifts, and seeing how and what my life story designed me to share with the world. The process merged wonder and change with the hero’s journey, the Fibonacci sequence, and how our feelings hold the key to the gifts we have to share.

After doing it myself and seeing it in action, I looked up different words and played with what to name arriving at the term: TO-STORY-FORTH.

In the 12th century, the word history didn’t exist yet. So people got to know one another by asking ‘to story forth’ with each other, telling their life story up until this now moment. FORTH is a meta term including both the past, present, and future. The only word I have found that refers to all three dimensions of time: then, now, and what’s next. Therefore, TO-STORY-FORTH tells the story of how you were made, who and what shaped you, and what you were designed to do.

TO-STORY-FORTH™️ is a premium program answering the question:

“What was I uniquely made to share with the world?”

Since 2019 I have been guiding people through an 89-question interview where you tell your story, in your own words. Your answers are inspired by the movies, books, music, and mentors that had the biggest influence on who you are today. Upon completion, you receive a map detailing how you got to be who you are, the gifts you are here to share, and what you were uniquely designed to offer the world.

TO-STORY-FORTH pre-course work takes between 30-45 minutes and the interview ranges between 2-4 hours. There will be a group session to go over the pre-course work, ask questions, and understand the flow behind the process. Each TO-STORY-FORTH is different as no two human stories are ever the same. The structure however is proven and tested with over 125 clients to date.

Seek no longer. Pivot no more. You need not take another course wondering what you are here for. TO-STORY-FORTH is normally $987 however, because it is my favorite day of the year, on my favorite day of the week, just days before we MARCH FORTH… I am offering anyone who registers before midnight on Monday, March 4th, 2024 a 55% discount on their TO-STORY-FORTH for the one-time price of $444.00

MARCH FORTH! Register for your TO-STORY-FORTH for just $444.00

Marching forth is to advance with a determination that is impossible to stop or prevent while moving forward.

To register click HERE

I look forward to guiding you in your TO-STORY-FORTH, witnessing what you were designed to offer the world.

Welcome to my mind… you were already in my heart,

Boise Thomas

HYHGuide, Author, & facilitator of TO-STORY-FORTH

*Limited-time offer available to all registrations received before or by Midnight PST Monday, March 4th, 2024 @ www.helloplentiful.com … or click HERE

EMAIL

When it’s time to walk, don’t run. 

Divorce was never part of the plan, let alone an option however, the number one cause of divorce is marriage.  Once you are married, divorce is not only possible and highly predictable.  My parents married each other twice and are no longer together. The boundary in my marriage was: that the D-word is forbidden and shall never be discussed as an option.  To this day I have friends who have been married decades and will all say the same things when asked ‘How have you stayed married all these years?’ The answer is always: we never got divorced.  I have married many couples as an ordained minister and the phrase I slip into the pre-ceremony work is this: make an agreement with each other to love one another and be together until you no longer enjoy being and loving each other. From there, you have an out. But the game then becomes: love and enjoy something, anything... about each other, one day at a time. If you come to a point where that is not happening, it’s time to make the big decisions. Those decisions as I tell all my married friends... “stay married at all costs and do whatever you have to do to get to the other side of your issues, challenges, and differences. I promise you, it will only be more difficult if you choose to end your marriage.  Work it out until you know there is no other way. Do everything you can. Give it your all to stay all in. Trust me, it is not better on the other side.”

The choice is yours when you know it’s time. 

To be clear, I didn’t want to get divorced, I had to as a matter of self-respect and honor.  Much to the surprise of many, I broke that promise and all my vows thereafter.  Not as shocking was investing two years of patience and understanding to ensure both parties were honored, respected, and made whole again.  I did the best I could.  Sure I was destroyed and didn’t like the failure, becoming a statistic (50% of all marriages end), writing checks, or, knowing she was with someone else and had already moved on.  But I could control my part (and heart) and how I wanted my story to be written. I could choose how to move forward. There are no regrets about how it ended. I’m proud of myself. I have come to accept the whole thing and love myself today as a single man who is not dating and knows the best is yet to come. 

Divorce sucks... but you get to write the end of the story. 

Over a decade has passed and I still refer to her as my ‘former wife’ and never my ‘Ex.’  It bothered me when people said ‘Ex’ after divorcing or ending a long-term relationship.  Even my parents would say: ‘the children’ father/mother’ when speaking of one another.  Funny how humans can turn the person they planned on spending forever with into a faceless stranger unworthy of love and dignity.  Yes, divorce is upsetting.  But it was forever when you said it and you meant it. The longer one carries a grudge, the more time is added to being in the relationship after it is over.  It’s like starting a prison riot the day before you are set to be released.  Do you want to add time to your sentence?  Additionally, speaking badly about people requires a lot of effort and it keeps the pain of the past alive.  Divorce was not an event I sought to justify, defend, or explain what went down to get off the hook. I was there and I wasn’t a perfect partner either.  But my mistakes are my business and I prefer to keep it that way.  Besides, I was focused on picking up the pieces and trying to determine my part so I could get better and not repeat the same behaviors in the next relationship.  Yet we love to tell everyone what the other person ‘did to us’ so we don’t have to be responsible for keeping our end of the agreement.  If someone asks me what happened, I say ‘Life happened.’ If they press and they are trusted... like a coach, mentor, therapist, or, someone with whom this information would benefit me in the long run... I always say what they did, and how my part could have driven them to those behaviors.  Every ‘F-U’ in a relationship is a response to someone not feeling heard, seen, or known and I can own that without blame or shame.  Besides, the great Rob Bass said it best: “It takes two to make a thing go right, it takes two to make it out of sight.” By two, I think he meant: @ssh*les.  There are always two @ssh*les in a relationship as long as there are at least two people in said relationship. Human nature is humanure... relationsh!ts are real. If we own our parts, we are set free from the pain to heal and move on.   

50% of all marriages end in divorce. I became a statistic.

In the world today it seems drama, hate, and negative talk get the headlines.  Not everyone takes a high-road approach like I tried to.  I get it.  I certainly got lots of attention, validation, and affection telling people I left my wife.  That creates agreement in our communities where our loved ones willingly rally to our side, and gather to listen to a loved one’s loss in hopes they’ll feel better as a result. Therapy is a gossip-free zone that doesn’t harm anyone.  It helped me to talk it out and move on.  As friends, we still can’t be each other’s therapists but we can help by being there to just listen because we think that is what good friends do.  Slowly it tends to devolve from support into reality TV or a podcast series.  It’s trash talk that can damage how we listen and relate to one another.  Trauma sharing and comparing notes becomes the goal, not healing and moving on.  No matter how devastating the breakup, no one comes out clean.  Except one group: Lawyers.  The messier it is, the bigger the billable hours invoice.  Walk away as best you can with your head held high and do your best to avoid talking to the ambulance chaser who is going to try to get you the best deal.  If there are kids involved, don’t get me started. 

The cost to get out is six times the price of admission. 

My divorce was assisted by an on-staff pro-bono paralegal at the courthouse who helped with my questions about the process. I still managed to screw it up, costing me an extra 6 months delay.  All told (no kids, no assets), it was USD 425 to file legally at the courthouse, where I married by paying a $75 fee (postage not included).  What a great business model!  Consumers of matrimony in the eyes of the state pay less than $100 and six times more to get out of said agreement.  Half of all customers eventually want out whether their vows had a ’til death do we part’ clause or not!  50% of divorces also mention money as a driving factor. 35% cite Facebook as part of why the marriage dissolved. 

Hey Google! “how do I make money in marriages AND divorce registrations”  

I am an officiant and am getting my Doctorate in Ministry.  So you could say I am already in the business of marriages... however, I have never charged a fee to marry a couple.  However, I am for hire for those who are divorced or have ended a long-term relationship... and if you have been through it, you know there is usually something still lingering regardless of how you got out, healed, and moved on.

Today is my anniversary: Valentine’s Day!

Next month marks the 11th year my divorce went final from an 11-year relationship.  A decade and a year filled with joy, fun, and memories of doing my best even when I didn’t know what I was doing.  Looking back on the tears, grief, and failed attempts to start over, I now know I didn’t know what I was doing.  Learning about divorce as a kid and an adult distorted my idea of marriage in that you think you can always start over if it ends.  Even when the rule was, don’t use the D word.  Never use the D word. 

I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger. -Rod Stewart ‘Hey La La’ 

Turning the focus back to one (myself) became the ultimate lesson.  Love doesn’t keep score. But Libras do and I sure did.  Unplugging the scoreboard and giving up the expectation that anyone or anything is going to love me the way I want to become the teacher. I’m proud of myself for how far I have come and what is now possible... learning to (blah) love myself more. Truth. 

If you or someone you know is picking up the pieces or attempting to put their life back together after divorce or the end of a long-term relationship, maybe I could be useful. 

Share this post or have them contact me to schedule a 20-minute conversation. 

Getting back to one isn’t easy but it doesn’t have to take forever and doesn’t have to be done alone.  Let me guide you back to one. 

with friendly thoughts and thankful wishes,

Boise Thomas 

schedule a 20 min call

Email Me

I illustrated the home where I grew up in New York this week. No particular intention other than to be grateful for it and to remember who it shaped me to be as a young person.

This year marks 24 in Venice and 13 living in my new home, longer than anywhere I have ever lived.

Seeing the patterns and rituals, routines, and unconscious behaviors that have developed being in the same place for a long time had me curious about the other place I lived.

The exercise was profound and revealed many things to me. (If you are coming over from my Instagram @boise.thomas this is where the article picks up…)

My Maternal Grandfather was a sign painter and an artist. He did large-scale murals in churches of spiritual scripture, created holiday-related signage for store windows on the main street shops, and even did the numbers on people’s mailboxes. A very skilled and precise process I used to witness when he would let me stare over his shoulder on my visits walking home from school.

Recently, I painted a large-scale mural at a coffee shop in Midtown Los Angeles and I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of coming full circle.

Little did I know this commissioned piece would inspire me to create art again… thanks to Lo/Cal Cafe for the work!

In my morning meditations after painting the two bear heads on the sides of that CAFE sign one story above the sidewalk on Fairfax, I kept seeing these wood panels. The kind you can buy at the art store if you want to make a small painting.

After my sits in mid-December 2023 seeing those visuals often enough, I drove to the art supply store and got myself a stack of those panels, some paint pens, and busted out an old dictionary, and got to work. Here are some samples of what came out…

I now have over 15 pieces ready for an art show that will happen at some point in the coming months. Not something I had planned… but who is in charge of our creativity anyway?

Sitting at my desk in my kitchen which has now become an art studio, had me remember my days in my childhood home. My parents got me a drafting art table for my 13th bday. It is not only where I created art, but also where I made mix tapes on cassettes for friends, where I studied and did homework, and where I got to practice being creative.

The walls of my room would become canvasses. Pages in my notebooks were filled in the margins with doodles and fonts. Any surface I could fill up was a place to make cartoons, illustrations, and drawings.

It was at that drafting table where I found myself as an artist. Thanks, Mom and Dad for that gift. Thank you Grandpa for letting me look over your shoulder. Thank you to Georgia Lane and all the teachers I had who encouraged and cultivated a young boy to keep using his imagination to make art.

That childhood home was the place where it all started. Drawing that photo into an illustration this week took me back there and has me appreciate in deep gratitude for those years I got to sit in my room alone and move my hands across the surfaces taking the medium of a pen, pencil, paint, or whatever I could get between my fingers.

If you are inspired by this post, I would ask you to go onto the internet, type in your home address where you were a child, get into the street view, and take a screenshot of that home. Then take out some art supplies, or a pen and a sheet of printer paper, or a digital tablet, and see what drawing the childhood home you grew up in conjures up in your now adult mind.

Thank you home

Thank you home

Thank you home

Wherever I go and whomever I become, I have you to thank for giving me a place to develop and to turn my experiences into expressions of my human being.

Have fun drawing and may you find a home in your heart that is always there.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (the 1982 film that scared me out of having sex too young), Say Anything (1989) the original inspiration for this post, Singles (1992) the movie that made me stay single until 32yrs old, Jerry Maguire (the 1996 film that in hindsight, made me realize I could go to Hollywood and live my dreams), Almost Famous (the semi-autobiographical 2000 classic that made us all want to become rock stars or oddly, journalists who observe them), and then well into the new millennium… and what some people call their favorite… Vanilla Sky (2001).

I also believe he made the only music documentary that can hold a candle to my favorite of all time: Runnin’ Down A Dream (the 2007 masterpiece of Peter Bogdonavich's love letter to Tom Petty). PJ20 or Pearl Jam Twenty (2011) is a near-perfect piece of storytelling.

This post was not going to be about Cameron Crowe’s life… it got hijacked for a while due to his art being such a huge part of my life growing up. Back in my day (said in Dana Carvey’s SNL Grumpy Old Man voice)… Influencers didn’t wave their fannies around and talk like morons! They made ART! Like moooovies, muuuusic, draaaawings… no one cared about your personality, or your hairstyle or your clothing. We all wore jean jackets, baggy pants, and a concert tee shirt and WE LIKED IT! After all, if you are going to start a substack in 2023 with ‘Growing up in the 1980’ you might as well go all the way there. Flibbity floo.

Oh by the way, Cameron Crowe was also married (1986-2010) to Nancy Wilson, THE Nancy Wilson of HEART (one of the greatest rock bands of all time). One of the quotes I love from him says it all…

Making a big Hollywood film that really affects people is as hard as making a small movie on a credit card. -Cameron Crowe on Filmmaking

So where was this post going and why is the title of it Buy, Sell, Process, or Kickboxing? What do you want to do with your life?

The only monologue I ever memorized and never forgot was Lloyd Dobler’s Meet the Parents speech from Say Anything… here it is almost word for word 20+ years after I first learned it.

RECORDED YESTERDAY… POSTED TODAY, THURSDAY 11/9/2023: two things

1. John Cusack was not in Pretty In Pink. I conflated my eighties movies. If we are talking iconic writers from the 1980s, HELLO! Meet John Hughes. Another post.

2. In my Matt Perry tribute post, I went on a rant about the importance of background extras - you can read it HERE - and I yelled a few times. Well, here comes the ALL CAPS because I am yelling again as… THE STRIKE IS OVER!

   

GOOD JOB FRAN / Everyone involved on the artist’s side! I will let you hear it straight from her… reading from her Instagram post just yesterday:

We did it!!!! The Billion+ $ Deal! 3X the last contract! New ground was broken everywhere! Thank You sag/aftra members for hanging in and holding out for this historic deal! Ty neg comm, strike captains, staff, Duncan & Ray, our lawyers, the IA team, family, and friends. Our sister unions for their unrelenting support! And the amptp for hearing us and meeting this moment! #sagaftrastrong

I am so happy for my friends who work in front of the cameras and all my brothers and sisters who work as writers, grips, electric, production, and not to mention, directors, studio employees, and the people of the City of Los Angeles who sell flowers, work in ground transportation, catering, restaurants, services related and dependant on the industry that runs this town… so happy for you all that we are back to work. I don’t think my post this week had anything to do with it because I didn’t see an end in sight based on what the studios were saying and how they were behaving. But alas, we have an end and that means we have a beginning. Just like this post today… and it’s time to bring it all home so we can all, get back to work!

Script Synopsis for the 1989 Cameron Crowe Classic: Say Anything

A budding romance between noble underachiever Lloyd Dobler (J.Cusack) and high school valedictorian Diane Court (I.Skye) is threatened when Diane's overly possessive, disapproving father (John Mahoney) interferes with their relationship. With a prized scholarship to study abroad hanging in the balance, Diane must find a way to make both men happy.

Making two men happy? Sounds like a tall order in 1989 and an absolutely impossible task in these crazy days of Kali Yuga. This film and its main character inspired a nerd from Upstate New York to pursue his dreams of becoming a Radio DJ, a TV Sportscaster, and a Tour Guide. Ultimately, I would fulfill a childhood dream of acting in TV Commercials due in large part to Lloyd Dobler and the indelible mark he left on my last teenage year: the perfect monologue at the perfect time.

Here I am 34 years later, reciting those words again as I step into year two of a brand new path in life. Not wanting to buy anything bought sold or processed is impossible to do in today’s Amazon world. I was just cursing the behemoth in the grocery they bought from my neighborhood a few years ago, it’s called Whole Foods Market. They don’t carry one of my favorite items anymore and this is not the first or last time it has happened. I yelled aloud in aisle 3 last night ‘Damn you Amazon! Why do you do that?!’ It made me laugh blaming Amazon while standing in a Whole Foods. 2023. What a time. In my day, we cursed the Amazon because a snake would eat one of the members of our party. Flibbity floo.

Not wanting to sell anything bought, sold, or processed was not a problem for me as I had always wanted to be a commercial TV actor. Don’t judge, we all have silly childhood dreams that we either outgrow or we don’t. Did you become an astronaut, fireman, or Barbie? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. Well, I became an actor and sold stuff that was bought, sold, or processed, you know, as a living, as a career - as Lloyd would say. And I liked it! It made it possible to live in Venice for almost 20 years and supported me and my wife at the time, our cat, and our lifestyle. Good times.

Here is the latest in my process of buying, selling, processing… and no, I am not going to become a Kickboxer if that is where you saw this going. I am taking all my training, experience in life, and skills I have picked up along the way to become a salesman of two things. The intention of becoming a salesperson is threefold:

1. To get out from under the financial situation the Great Pause (2020-2023) caused me (if you are new to me, I refer to the P-V-C era or: Pandemic, Virus, and COVID-19 days as the Great Pause of 2020-2023 because I think we were all put on pause by the cosmic creator, the great animator, the prime mover, or that which you could call the universe, God or the highest self. Being in sales is going to give me the ability to make a living akin to the money I was making in TV Commercials. Maybe I even go back to that in 2024. For now, it’s time to earn and get back on my feet… and selling things bought sold, or processed will become the source of my income. I am actually excited about it!

2. To make available my services as a spiritual counselor and relationships coach. I will be part of a conglomerate in 2024 that is offering coaching to people who are struggling in any area of their lives. My programs will be live later this month and if you are someone who has been married or separated or divorced and you know you still are attached in some way or form, my coursework is for you. The other services I will offer are for those in the other two spaces single or partnered up. It is all part of my bachelor/master/doctorate work I will complete in May 2025. I am very excited to be a coach again… it has been over 10 years since I coached people professionally and…

3. It is what the cosmic creator or the G.O.D. guide of divinity wants for my life. I have been resisting coaching as a profession for years. I don’t like the name ‘life coach’ and I don’t think people really need a coach for their life. But time and again here in LA and with friends in all lands… I see people alone, lonely, and wondering if they can ever find love again. Part of my powers lies in recognizing and knowing love when I see it, assisting people in finding it, and supporting those who are in it to keep it maintained and healthy. It is, after all, why I became a minister in 2015: to marry couples who were committed to spending the rest of their lives being family and doing life together.

If you want love, I can help you find it.

If you seek love, let me talk to you in a discovery session to explore what’s in the way.

If you had love and you’re still grieving, upset, or angry, I get it. Been there. Reach out.

Courses are coming soon with dates to be announced for November and December.

In the meantime… sell what you need to so you can earn a living. Buy what you need so you can feed, clothe, and keep your body safe and clean. Process your feelings so you can navigate the world in loving, kind ways to your fellow man. And stay away from kickboxing. It may still be the sport of the future, but peace and nature’s law of change will ultimately win in the end. It is, after all, undefeated.

*if you would like to schedule a discovery session around love relationships or moving on from a divorce or long-term partnership that has ended, please contact me: at boise@boisethomas.com or send me a private message here on Substack.

How’s your heart? It will get better soon. I promise.

(NOTE: this article is not an attention grab at the hands of a man who, IMHO, won his battle with addiction regardless of how he passed last week. I remember being on the show when I heard the news and when a celebrity death happens to someone that really hits my heart, I will share or post. It is not something I do often… see: Tina Turner, and Jim Brown on my Instagram here. But I felt the need to tell a tale that has long gone stale as today’s missive. RIP Mr. Perry, you got your job done. You left a tell-all book for those who struggle to get and stay clean and for the ones who love them. You have and will continue to touch the lives of countless people long after your time here has come to an end. Something I think all people dream of doing with their lives and yet so few really make a lasting iconic impact. May your loved ones find peace in the truth that your suffering is over. See you on the other side and could you BE any more honest? I don’t think it is possible. Bravo man, well done).

I’ll yell twice in ALL CAPS today. This is the first of two occasions, I promise not to be too loud in the audio of this article.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE AND GO ON (HBO) MAX, IMDB.COM, OR DUST OFF YOUR DVD COLLECTION… GET SEASON SIX EPISODE 23… FAST FORWARD TO SEE WHAT A 20-something Boise Thomas ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE.

S6E23: The One with the Ring @ minute 17:55 when Chandler (M.Perry) and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) walk-in scene… you’ll find yours truly, in a big jacket, across the table from a (redhead) actress, with a great view of the Twin Towers outside the fake restaurant window over her shoulder).

As an actor and member of SAG/AFTRA since 2000, I have to speak to this strike for a second and address what the 25 studio executives are actually holding out for with regard to one topic in particular: background extras. I speak as someone who only worked as an extra for only 4 days (once on NBC’s F R I E N D S and a few days on ABC’s hit sitcom The DREW CAREY Show). But the outlandish contractual terms these men are holding out for are not logical (make no sense), nor are they safe for the future of name/image and likeness (for all of humanity no matter what you do for a living). Most of you who read and have been following me for years will appreciate knowing more about this and it will give you some context and hopefully a great factoid you can share with friends and family when the subject comes up.

Skip this part if it doesn’t interest you and go to the bottom where I do share more about working on set with the late actor who gave us Chandler Bing.

I’m afraid we’re watching Hollywood die in real time. Back in 2000, they paid me/us extras on F R I E N D S around $75-100 a day to be in the background while your favorite characters delivered their lines. Hold my yerba maté, need to yell again…

THE ACTOR’S STRIKE IS HAPPENING BEYOND 100 DAYS BECAUSE ONE OF THE THINGS STUDIOS WANT TO DO AWAY WITH IS LIVE EXTRAS. THEY (WHICH I MEAN STUDIOS) WANT TO REPLACE THESE REAL PEOPLE WITH AI/ANIMATION/FAKE SIMULATED BACKGROUNDS. YOU HAVE SLOWLY BECOME USED TO IT BECAUSE COMIC BOOK MOVIES ARE MOSTLY SHOT ON GREEN SCREENS BUT THEY WANT IT EVERYWHERE NOW. HERE IS WHAT THEY ARE PROPOSING…

COME IN FOR ONE DAY, READ FOR THREE HOURS (SO AS TO COPY YOUR VOICE), STAND IN A ROOM AND BE SCANNED BY THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO COPY YOUR BODY AND MAKE A DIGITAL REPLICA, AND SHOW US THE DOOR NEVER TO SEE US AGAIN. EVER.

YOU GET PAID IN US DOLLARS. ONE HUNDRED OF THEM. $100. THAT’S IT.

ONE-TIME. THEY NEVER CALL AGAIN. THEY USE YOUR LIKENESS AND VOICE INTO ETERNITY, WITH NO ADDITIONAL MONETARY COMPENSATION.

Yes. I was yelling that entire paragraph. #SAGAFTRASTRIKE deserves a raised voice.

Insanity. Hollywood: born.1903 died.2023 RIP if this is where we are.

To put it in perspective for the main actors who worked on the show every day, here is what they were making in the 6th season of the entertainment’s number-one comedy. The main six actors got paid $ 22.5k per episode (worth $223,424.07 today). Not a bad deal for 6 years of steady work. However, NBC paid them that for the first 6 seasons while raking in millions in revenue from advertising, promotions, and merchandise. The actors got the same amount no matter what. In seasons 7 & 8 the per-episode number rose to $750k and for the final few seasons, they (each) made $ 1 million per episode (and continued to make that annual amount and then some in syndication). I just thought you should know the pay gap and what is really happening with the strike and what people are fighting for. I hope this gave you some new info and gives you a different perspective. Hollywood people are not all wealthy and we all make money but sadly, like teachers and others who are grossly underpaid, we too are not making a living wage and it is only getting worse if THEY/THE STUDIOS get their way. IMHO… this strike goes into February/March 2024. Buckle up and fight the good fight my fellow thespians. Don’t back down.

Quick note: I am on a God Instituted Course Career Change in my life while getting my doctorate in philosophy specializing in conscious-centered living and launching a private coaching practice for people in one of the three stages of LOVE LIFE (SINGLE/PARTNERED/SEPARATED). So… while I am unclear if/when I go back to acting if I do, this fight is still one people need to know about whether I am working or not. That’s what’s up!

F R I E N D S is what I was talking about… where were we? Oh, right. On set that day with Matthew Perry! He was hilarious as was his co-star.

When you are an extra, you have to just mouth the words, make sure the utensils don’t hit the plate, and not make any noise. But when Gary Halvorson (Director) yelled “CUT”, we all burst into tears and the audience took a deep breath (they are of course allowed to, and encouraged to laugh, when cameras are rolling. FILMED IN FRONT OF A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE. It was an exciting day for me being on the set of a TV show for the first time. Honestly, it got old fast. I like direction. I like challenge. My joy in acting is the repititon and game of hitting my marks, staying present, listening and reacting while giving the other creators (producers, writers, directors) what they wanted when they hired me to play the role. When you’re an extra, you really just have to stay quiet and be in the background and do your job. Don’t be distracting, be silent, and let the main characters shine. I had that experience that day and Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow did their jobs. They were two of the best to ever do the 3-camera sitcom format. Grateful to have had that glimpse into that world. It propelled me to pursue my dream of working in TV Commercials and prompted me to get my agent and go on auditions to live that dream. RIP Chandler Bing and RIP Matthew Perry. No one gets out alive, but you sure did leave some valuable information about the perils of the diseases of alcoholism and addiction on your way out of the room. Bless you and may God continue to change me and make me a better human.

See you on the other side when my time is up. Until then…

When I look back at my past and see my Mom or my maternal grandfather, there is evidence of depression… But there is also evidence of great joy, artistic expression, and people who loved to be of service.

So it's really confusing to me to be 54 years old I am still dealing with this heavy wet, gray, cold blanket of listlessness. And this is why I don't want to talk about it.

So I guess I'll just write about it and share some of the things that are starting to help me turn the corner…

I live in Venice California and it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk to the beach. You would think I would go every day! I have a bicycle I love to ride and the weather here is always good for bike riding. You would think that I ride every day!  It doesn't rain much, and Venice actually has the world’s most temperate climate at 72°, sunny, with zero precipitation on average more so than anywhere else in the world!

Yet I isolate and stay inside, and stare at the world through the window in my living room, like I am waiting for my life to start.

Often times I have friends suggest things that they think would help. Most of the time when these are suggested, it occurs as good advice. Lately, however, it has occurred to me, as annoying, trivial, and oftentimes inappropriate. I’ve talked to several friends who have cancer and they don't like to tell people they have cancer because when they do everybody comes out of the woodwork with the doctor they use or the advice they heard on TV or really good article they read in a magazine about their particular type of cancer.  I get this is part of the human spirit... we all want to contribute to each other and make a difference, and one little nugget of information could be THE determining factor between life and death.

I’m not saying depression is cancer, nor am I saying that one is worse than the other. But when somebody gives advice on how to deal with something that I've struggled with my entire life, I just have to be honest… It's annoying, frustrating, and inappropriate. 

I’ve been seeing a therapist since March of this year we talk every Friday morning.  Although he's new and getting his hours it's been helpful to speak to someone who isn't trying to fix me, help me, save me, give me good advice, or tell me what to do. I did meet with the psychiatrist at the clinic and they prescribed me medication I have yet to pick up at the pharmacy as I can't find the prescription card.  Yes, I’ve been conveniently using that as an excuse not to go on pharmaceutical meds.

Before you get into your advice in the comments about whether or not, I should go on medication please re-read the paragraph above. I have a pretty sensitive constitution and for most of my childhood when I got sick, Mom would take me to the hospital or give me medicine or Dad might suggest I rub some dirt on it or get some sleep. But I can say whenever I used any type of Western medical approach, it just made me sicker. I don't know if that's because I didn't want to get better because I'm more used to feeling sick… see: hypochondriac? Or if I just a sensitive flower that grew up in an environment where it was challenging for someone like me? I'm not trying to figure it out much anymore, but I chose to write this post (reluctantly so) because I wanted to share about turning a corner... even with bad days I still feel like I'm getting better.

To wrap up this post, I need to tell you that I walked today, I cleaned my house yesterday, and I went to the beach three days ago. These are things I used to do every day and lately, I’m noticing I can only do one of them per day. I have to accept that's OK for now. And that things are changing and getting better but they're not gonna get better overnight. 

If you or someone you know is dealing with depression, make sure they know the number 988 to call if they're having suicidal thoughts, or struggling with their own mortality and mentality.

For me, I can't kill myself because I gave my life to God.  But that is not everybody’s context.. it just happens to be mine.  It keeps me from a premature ending to the story, the one God has written for me.  I am sticking around to see what happens next because it has to be better than what these last 7-10 years have been like. 

In the coming weeks, I will make a few courses available to the public, and would like to tease you by saying if you or someone you know, has been married and/or divorced, and they are looking for new ways to work on themselves so they can find love again, consider giving them my information. 

No matter how sad or depressed I get… working with people, shining, my light, and coaching people on finding love always makes me feel better. I truly believe that is what God has put me here to do… To be continued;  

With friendly thoughts and grateful wishes,

Your friend…

Boise in Venice 

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