November

Have you ever been so convinced by someone's dopplegänger, even though your rational mind tells you it's highly unlikely to be them, that you stop the person and say “Jane?” Or not Jane, if it's a Joe or a Jim or a Judy, but you get my point. Well, I did that recently. And I acutally said “Jane?” because I thought this woman walking down the street in my neighbourhood was Jane Findley. Those of you who know her will be amazed when I say that here was a woman, taller than I, with short white hair, large blue eyes, and a confident walk that seemed so convincingly Jane-like that I was forced to reach out to her. Of course, I was immediately corrected as she pulled her arm away from me with something akin to distaste (not very Jane-like really) and went along her solitary way. She was listening to an iPod, so who knows what she thought I said to her?

Dopplegängers are very curious, don't you think? From the German words “doppel”, meaning “double” and “gänger” - “walker”, the dictionary describes it as: “the ghostly, or in some cases physical, double of a living person. In the vernacular, refers to any double or look-alike of a person, most commonly in reference to a so-called evil twin, or to bilocation.”

Apparently, I have several of these twins walking about. I have been told on more occasions than I care to remember that I look “just like” so-and-so, or have been told “I saw you go by yesterday”, only to correct the person with some other alibi. My guess is that I have fairly common features, and therefore, it is rather easy for me to look like a greater number of people. But Jane? She's not at all common in appearance. I would go so far as to say that she stands out in a crowd. This is why I was driven to stop a complete stranger on the street and call her “Jane”.

A less pleasant description of dopplegänger stems from myth: “Alternatively, the word is used to describe a phenomenon where you catch your own image out of the corner of your eye. In some traditions, seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. A doppelgänger seen by friends or relatives of a person may sometimes bring bad luck, or indicate an approaching illness or health problem.”

Obviously, I'm not superstitious, otherwise, I'd be asking someone to contact Jane and ask her how she's feeling, but I do find the notion of people who look so much alike as to mistaken for each other very curious. It's as though there are just so many molds with which to make a person that some tend to be used more often. Or, as I like to imagine for my case, some molds are preferred. ;)

To look at this from another perspective, having common features that I can also choose to look like a greater number of other people, ie; be someone else. Rather convenient for an actor, wouldn't you say? It's always a compliment to me when, after a show, someone will express great surprise at my appearance and say “Wow, I didn't recognize you in the show.” Maybe that's why I enjoy mask and clown so much. One really becomes a blank slate on which to paint a completely different picture. It can be quite liberating, not to mention fun!

Speaking of shows, I performed in a short play on the third and fourth this month. A play called “Bone China”; a snapshot moment between two sisters sitting in their parent's attic reminiscing while tentatively discussing the future in which one of them (my character's sister) will be dead of an inoperable brain tumour, leaving behind a three year old daughter that will not remember her. It's not as gloomy as it sounds; it is well balanced with humour and affection between the sisters and the director pointedly steered it away from a Disney tear-jerker, so I had good feelings about it. Our first performance was a little rocky at the start because my co-star panicked and dropped a page worth of lines – it's only a twenty minute play, so a page is signifigant, but I modified one of her lines and made it my own in order to get us back on track and we were fine after that, though not entirely happy. The second performance was good. A local critic asked me to contact him the next time I'm in a show, but he has a reputation of being a lecherous old coot, so I this was less of an honour than it would otherwise be.

In other entertainment news, I've finally broken down and submitted my resume and headshot to two local filmmakers who are known through a mutual friend. I won't tell you more about it until I hear back – if at all, because I'm a bit spooked by the idea of acting in front of a camera.. go figure.

I mentioned in our last update that the Qualcomm year-end party was coming up and that we had purchased vintage clothes for the event, so hence the picture. It was a fun, magician-themed night with a bit of fantasy thrown in by way of dueling knights who did a pretty good job weilding heavy broadswords at each other for our amusement. One of these days, we're going to discover that Qualcomm is an evil corporation bent on taking over the world and we'll look back at these events and go. “Uh huh. Just as we suspected.” It feels that way sometimes.

So, there you have it, a summary of highlights from October. We're planning to do American Thanksgiving with Phillip's soccer buddies this year – "the Sprouts". *snicker* Not much otherwise going on. We'll be in touch.