Jason Alan Griffin is NOT leaving!

There seems to be a rumor going around that I’m leaving the Big Apple. Turning my back on New York City and returning to the green hills of Seattle. Well let me reassure that this is simply not the case. 

I’m currently selling my apartment.  This is a long and drawn out process involving putting it on the market and waiting for offers to come in.  When offers do come in, we may negotiate back and forth a bit and then finally come to an agreement on price and terms, so then we’ll go into ‘escrow.’ 

Escrow is overseen by a disinterested third party. It’s a process where all the paperwork is put in order and all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed before the exchange of keys and money takes place.  It could take up to two months.

So this is all way off in the future.  

I mean, it was going to happen eventually. I never intended to settle down in New York. I was happy in Seattle. I really felt like I had found home when I lived there in the 90’s. But the oughts were going to be my New York experience decade. Did you think I was going to stay here forever?

To be honest, my original intention was to come to New York and spend seven years getting established as an actor so that I could move to L.A. with more clout; being a New York actor.  I was going to give myself another seven years to “make it” in L.A. and then, if nothing happened after that time, I’d return to Seattle. After a few years, I realized I liked New York, and preferred acting on the stage to acting on film, so I ditched the L.A. idea and stayed in New York.  

Eventually, I came to realize that I did not enjoy show business. I enjoyed performing. I loved being on stage and I liked being on set, shooting films, TV, commercials or even taking still photographs.  If that’s all there was to the business, I’d love it.  But it’s a lot of sales.  A lot of hustling. A lot of self-promoting. A lot of ego. A lot of competition. And a lot of rejection.  I didn’t enjoy it. I hated it.

So I now call myself an artist. I perform for the art of it.  I don’t need unions or agents or even to be paid. I want to do it for fun, not commerce. 

I also have a fitness business that I’m passionate about.  I enjoy doing it and it makes me enough money and gives me the satisfaction of helping lots of people. I can do this business anywhere I want; I don’t have to be in New York.

So, I decided to make the quality of life switch. 

In the meantime, please don’t write me off.  I’m still in New York. I’m still taking on new clients and teaching classes and workshops. I’m just not making any long term commitments.

Before I pack up and head out, we will all have plenty of advance notice.  I promise to make a big ordeal out of it when the apartment sells and we’re in the process of ‘escrow’

So, take advantage of me while I’m here.  Don’t mourn me until I’m actually gone. Don’t worry, you won’t miss the going away party.   

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