Why can't I say no!?

My good friend Joseph Megel called me yesterday and asked if I was interested in doing props for a new play he is working on for UNC. Well, Joseph is perhaps one of the very nicest people I have ever known and how can you say no to him. So I said, Of course I'l do it! What was I thinking!? I haven't done a show in a year and I was just getting into the full time potter groove here. Plus I have a class starting up about the same time the play goes into production and another friend, Lynden Harris has asked me to do a workshop next weekend for homeless veteran women at Ft. Bragg in Fayettelville (more about that later). Oh well, I got the script yesterday for A Virtual Performance Factory, 150 pages long and will be reading that today, highlighting the props used and wondering where the hell I will get these things. The last big show I did for Joseph was The Goat by Edward Albee and it was a huge undertaking. Again, I couldn't say no and ended up designing the set and doing the props. I did a lot of faux finishing on that set, helped build furniture, and made a bag that looked like a dead goat was in it that actually oozed blood as it was drug across the floor, and made ceramic vases that were thrown and broken every night. That's 5 vases per night, 19 nights, and two weeks of rehearsal. You can do the math! Five years ago, I was working happily as a full time designer for the Charlotte Repertory Theater and thinking that was all I would ever do. I remember one time going for a job interview and the person asked what my five year plan was. I busted out laughing, and you know I didn't get that job! How do you do a five year plan. I can't even get a week's plan to work out right! I get asked to do so many varied things and they all sound like fun, and I can't say no!