Widder Dinner and Acting

A neat day. Went to Penney's at noon to get my hair colored. The young woman who did it is named Kaitlyn (fanciful spelling of a fanciful name), a beautiful girl and so cheery and kind I loved talking to her. Tattoos on her arm, something like Shirley Temple curls, and such a pretty, open face. Is from Idaho (that alone seems exotic in the extreme), lives in Ojai with her boyfriend and they're vegetarians and pacifists--yay! I love to see young people who aren't gaga over the war machine.
I decided against the complicated procedure to lighten the color (although I still had the whole head done), so just had her cover the grey and the rest of the head with the same color. It looks pretty good, actually.
From there, I went upstairs and bought flannel pajamas--ha, I had given or thrown away three in Jersey; didn't realize I'd want them here. All they had--get this--were Batman-themed, so I bought them. They happened to be on sale and I don't give a damn what they look like, as long as they keep me warm.
Went from there directly to Jessica Nails and Spa and used the gift card Ellen had given me. It was fearfully crowded--I had forgotten it was a holiday--so I waited twenty minutes, but got them done. It was raining--gently--most of the day, but I paid no attention.
Got home in time to wash, make up, and dress, then set out for the widders' dinner. I hadn't gotten out of the complex when my cell rang. It was my brother, Jim, who wanted to tell me he was re-reading my Uncle Frank's memoirs, which I had re-typed and (slightly--it didn't need much) edited. I pulled over and we had a good talk. I love him so much.
After we hung up, I continued on to Yolanda's to find Nancy already there, along with others. This is such a good, congenial group, all of us in various stages of widowhood. Enjoyed good talk and laughs, along with my Mexican Something-or-Other (I just ordered what Nancy had). The excitement of the evening came when Chuck and Pam announced their engagement.
Wow! Her husband died in April, just nine months ago, and his wife less than two years ago. I'd say they're both in their upper fifties; he has children, she doesn't. Hope they aren't being hasty.
After dinner, Pam, who was sitting with Chuck at the other end of the table, came down to sit in back of me, as she wanted to talk about her desire to break into acting. She's very much interested in attending if I can get an acting class off the ground--actually, I know a number of people who are--but I don't know when that will happen. We had a long chat and I gave her some idea; if I can find her e-mail address, I'll send her the advice I've been asked by others. When we were leaving, I stopped to congratulate the engaged couple and they told me Chuck would like to act, too. Pam said he has a wonderful bass voice. (Acting groups always have a dearth of men, so that's all to the good.) I promised I'd give them some tips and pointers on trying to break in and send her the sheet I worked up for others who have asked the same.
Pam is a sweetheart and I like Chuck, too, but that incident reminds me of a story about Mozart (I'm NOT comparing myself to Mozart) I added here six years ago. I found it in a blog called "The Regressive": An adolescent asked Mozart how to compose symphonies. Mozart said that because the lad was so young, perhaps he should begin composing ballads. "But," the young man objected, "you wrote symphonies when you were only 10 years old." Mozart replied: "But I didn't have to ask how."
That story may be apocryphal, but it's truer than true. It contains within it the idea, all too prevalent today, it seems, that you can just ask somebody for the formula to accomplish art or anything else. I'm not suggesting Pam shouldn't have asked me about acting--it's good to get as much info as possible, I guess. But if she now waits for others to direct her next step, it's not going to happen. Just for a very first baby-step, I'm going to suggest that she and Chuck go on-line, print out some two-person scripts (there are dozens of them, free of charge) and act them out. After that--there are plenty of other ways to prepare--but they have to do them.