H.H. And Rehearsal

Good grief--yesterday, I slept until almost 8:00. I think I know why--because I was wearing a sleep mask. Any light at all bothers me, and I usually wake up at the dawning of it. When I wear the mask, it doesn't. This morning, I didn't wear it; set the alarm for 7:00, but awoke a 6:00. I'm going to see if I can take a nap today, as rehearsal starts at 7:30 and it's going to be a long evening.
Stripped and re-made the bed, then did a load of bleached clothes with the sheets. Attended to making some routine doctor appointments, including one for my annual physical (ugh!) and to have my ears dredged; I was able to get one for today at 11:00. Handled yet more financial crapola and, of course, rehearsed and rehearsed my lines.
After lunch, I showered, washed my hair, and set off for Happy Hour. Diane is in Chicago and Nancy is either under the weather or didn't want to come--not sure why, so I'll call her tomorrow. That meant it was just Carolyn B. and me at Rumfish.
We had a good time, just the two of us, as Carolyn looks forward to H.H. as much as I do. Talked and talked, of course; Carolyn and her daughter are leaving for San Diego early today, to attend "Camp Widow." We were there at Rumfish for more than two hours, but it was pleasant on the sun-lit patio.
I walked C. to the museum, where she had parked her car, then hopped the bus home. Got in about 5:30, cleaned up a bit, then drove to rehearsal.
It was a good session and Jeff is a strong, innovative director. Last night, he spoke to us privately, and asked that we add something foreign to our characters. In my case, instead of my character being a warm, benign, loving grandmother who's being ignored by the young people, he asked me to make her angry and stern. We went through the whole play with these changes; after, we revealed what they were.  For instance, the young mother, Jennifer, played by Janelle, said that the young husband, Justin, really wasn't the baby's father; Justin, Ben's character, said he had gambled all their money away; Ariela, who's character is presumably heterosexual, said she actually pinned after Amanda--and so on, These were not, of course, permanent changes to characterization, but going through the play in these new modes made us stretch and think.  Even when we reverted back to the original, it helped to make our characters less one-denominational, plus we might be able to use some aspects of the differences.
Ellen called during rehearsal; I called back afterward and was pleased to be asked if I wanted to meet for lunch or dinner today. Yes, of course, I'd love to. We'll talk later about when and where.