Being Dean Rooney: On Not Going With the Flow

I like orders, plans, and routines because I'm a square.

We have this tendency to celebrate characters who embrace chaos and uncertainty, who make actions without plans, who go with the flow. If you say "well, not necessarily" then hink about the movies where someone who values order or routine is the antagonist whether it's Dean Wormer in Animal House or Margaret Hoolihan in MASH. Think about how many times you've read the phrase "go with the flow" or "laid back" under someone's self-summary on his or her online dating profile. No one says "I'm intense" or "I only drink soda on the weekends."

Well I'm intense. I don't go with the flow. I only drink soda on the weekends.

I'm not aggressive, but if I'm into something I don't just go with the flow with it. Take movies: I write and direct short films, I see 20+ movies in theaters per year not including what I see at film festivals (I also go to film festivals), I have access to Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, and my library's catalog of classic films, and I even read film history books.

"Whoa, back up you say." Fair enough. But I exist and there's nothing wrong with someone who's into something. There's nothing wrong with having an intense interest in something benign or having routines.

If I "went with the flow" or was "laid back" I would've never made any films because I would say "Nah, I don't feel like it" because writing and directing requires work. You don't just "action" if you're a director. You create a shotlist, communicate with actors and crew, among so much other things. And you don't just jump into paid productions without either paying dues or proving yourself on films where you aren't earning much or doing it for free (like I have).

It's intense. It's also giving a shit. I like giving a shit. It makes everything better. When I finish a cut of my short film and I enjoy it -- knowing that I wrote and directed it -- it's a lovely high.

It's the same reward in my routine of eating. I have a dietary routine. I'm a human being and like most people I like fried chicken and soda. I was also morbidly obese -- 200 lbs in 7th grade, peak fatness at 260 lbs in 11th grade. Because of my routine -- having Coca-Cola only 1-2 days per week, eating a fruit or non-potato vegetable with every lunch and dinner, and walking 1-2 miles every day -- I'm able to remain consistently at a weight lower than what I was in 7th grade as a 28 year old man. Having a routine helped me.

That routine is important to me. I value the long-term result and a life of stability. Of course life isn't always stable. There's lows. Having a recipe for all this helps, however. I have something to fall back on. I don't want to be unhealthy or morbidly obese again. I've seen the health risks in my family. I want to be able to hike into my old age.

So I need this routine.

So instead of Tyler Durden, I want to be Atticus Finch or Leslie Knope. Instead of Ferris Bueller, I am Dean Rooney. I'm ok with that. "Leisure rules" as a lifestyle is toxic. Getting shit done rules and relaxing afterward rules.