a better perspective

I need to hang out with my friend Tolley more often. I auditioned for a project she's casting today, and while we were chatting afterwards I told her that my non-planning snit was still running strong. (She knows ... she reads this.)

Her: Couldn't spending time with someone who's doing a reading at your wedding technically be considered "doing wedding stuff"?

Me: I should think so.

Her: Mani/pedi?

Me: I love you.

And that's how I found myself in a tiny shop on Robertson, being massaged simultaneously by 3 surprisingly strong Asian women. (Hands, feet, shoulders.) I kind of want to live there.

I skipped nail polish, because one of the things I know about myself is that I will ruin it before I get to my car. Tolley suggested that I get them buffed (am I really writing about this? No wonder my friends are teasing me ...) and I have to say, they look quite nice. I should do this a couple more times before my hands are featured prominently in photographs.

As an old model (you know, over 23) I have a wealth of model tricks to make things look better in pictures. (No one puts Preparation H under their eyes -- that one's an urban myth.) But my hands ... they've always been a lost cause. To wit: I remember being asked by my first Italian modeling agent, Alfonso, to show him my hands and see if I could be sent on specialty jobs. (Go ahead, say "hand jobs." I'll wait.) The girl in line in front of me had the most elegant hands, with smooth skin & long, narrow fingers. (Think you obsess about your body?) "Like a classical piano player," he said approvingly. And then he looked at my hands.

"You ... you have hands like you've been working in the field." This from the more-than-a-little-portly, hairy man who once pinched my stomach & told me to lose one kilo. (That's 2.2 lbs. for those of you playing the home game.) But I digress ... my point is, my hands are strong, and generally useful, but not exceptionally pretty. And when I'm at S Factor, we use spray bottles of rubbing alcohol to keep the poles non-slippery. Try grinding that toxic stuff into your cuticles 4 days a week, and tell me how your hands look.

But after today, I'm willing to consider moving them out of the "lost cause" column.

Also, in addition to my episode of "House" airing tonight (woo hoo!!), I booked the play I went out for a few days ago. Apparently, I'm going to be playing most if not all of the female roles, which is awesome on two counts. First, because that's going to be a lot of fun, and second, because I won't have to do my wretched Nicholson impression in public.