Monday And Acting For Amateurs

 At 9:00, I went over to what I  call "the gathering room" in the main building to set up the area for Acting for Amateurs. As participants came in, this is what they saw ("Acting for Amateurs" is under the "do not disturb arrangement" sign):

Note the young woman at the booth. She works from home and uses the room every day--not sure why she doesn't use her apartment. However, she's very nice and we hoped neither would disturb the other (she sometimes has meetings on-line). As it turned out, neither did; the acoustics were okay, I guess.

The group came in, one by one--now eight in all, as Diane had called earlier to say she had decided she just had too many groups and clubs, so dropped out. However, Olga didn't show up and I think--can't quite remember--I was told she was ill, so yesterday's class was seven.

Incredibly, it turned out very well. I announced a few things first, then told them I wanted to "unleash your creativity." To that end, I had an improv session, then had teams of two take random the items I had bagged. They were then to have about ten minutes to work up a dialog which included mention of the item and I gave them two minutes to present their scenarios. They all did pretty well; surprisingly, Sherry and her partners (because of the uneven number, there were three of them) came up with a very imaginative little skit.

After, I gave them homework: To chose a supporting player from a play, t.v. show or YouTube and list the ways the viewer is persuaded things are actually happening. I tried to intimate, without naming the ways it's done, that they needed to look at the set and so on, also. Dollars to doughnuts most of them will write down only what they see or hear the actor do, and ignore the set, the sound effects, the script, the costumes, and so on. Anyway, they all seemed to enjoy it and next week, as I told them, I'll assign parts in scripts. That will pose a problem, as I want to be as even-handed as possible. 

So it went well, but was pretty tiring. Also, a big problem is that it won't be available on Memorial Day. Not sure what to do about that. Got home to see a text from Vickie, who came over to clean my laptop screen--I just don't want to go into an explanation, but I enjoyed talking to her. Had lunch, did a few "business" chores, called the hematologist's office for an appointment, and so on. At 4:30, I walked to the post office, mailed some brochures to my tenants, then took the 6 bus to the transit center, boarded the 11, and got to Stone Fire Grille for dinner with the Soaring Spirits crowd at six.

We had two new members, Jo and Tony, neighbors in Santa Paula, who had lost their spouses within a year of each other. Enjoyed talking to them, had my pasta and Hazy IPA, then Vera took me home; got in a bit before 8:00. Earlier, Sharon had called to tell me she had fallen in her kitchen ("there was blood everywhere"), family members couldn't get her up, and finally, the fire department had to be called. She was in the hospital overnight, seemingly improving now, but she has two black eyes and other hurts, so won't be at T.O.P.S. on Friday. 

I had a text from Suzanne, asking if I want to go to WinCo this morning, so I'll me her outside at 9:00. I also want to take some of the old printer's ink back to Office Depot, new and used. I can be reimbursed for the unopened and get a credit for used.