Dear Mr. O'Quinn:

First, congratulations on nabbing a wonderful role on a great TV show - and thanks for answering posts.

I'm...about a year younger than you. A couple of years ago, I discovered "Financial Assistance" and have been attending my local community college here in Maryland. I'm majoring in graphic design. I figure, I love art, computers are the way to go, so there you have it. But I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I've acted, written, philosophized, designed, blah blah blah - liberal arts, you know. Yet it seems the only way I can produce is when I'm given an assignment in class. Fear of the blank page. I'm afraid I have no original ideas. I love the thought of floral design, fabric design, wallpaper design, etc. But it's late in life, and my kids will be in college soon.

When did you know - really know - that you wanted to act? I understand you play the guitar. How do you decide what you're best at? My kids have all the time in the world, but it's time I started being self-sufficient. I'm preparing scans for some sort of internship this summer. Floral designs; costume design & construction; set design; greeting card design; patterns; paintings; food preparation; drawing; oh, and color. That's the problem with graphic design. There's a sensuality to holding a brush, and mixing pigment until you get just the right color, that I'm afraid is missing in graphic design. What do you do when you know a little bit about everything in the liberal arts field? My voice is my instrument - couldn't play a guitar if my life depended on it. I've gotten As and Bs in my drawing and design classes, but of course, I was just following the assignments. My highest grades in design have been on written projects. Too much information?

When you're over 50, it feels like - heck, flip a coin for heaven's sake! I love acting, so does my 16-year old son. And I'm good at it. And ready to play character parts. But I need to pay the bills. A seminar on Careers In The Arts gave the following advice from all of the panel: Internship. Then I hear that the graphic design business is on the downslide. My drawing teacher told me, learn to draw, learn compuers, learn math, and be flexible.

Once again, too much information. I'm not sure what my question is, but since you answer your posts, any advice would be appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

Blessings,

Vilya

Vilya,
It was easy for me, I was very young, had no bills to pay, no one else to worry about, so I don't know how my story can relate to yours. The easy answer is, "what do you want to do? Do that." But you have somuch going on! I read about a study that was done somewhere that had something to do with stress. It went more or less like this --------- A man is sent to the store to get an item; let's say cereal. He hasn't been told to get any specific cereal and his family doesn't have a particular favorite. There are two stores; one has a hundred kinds of cereal on the shelves, the other has four. At which store is he more likely to make a selection and buy cereal?
Yep, the store with four choices. That's what the study said. Too many choices are overwhelming.....................
Here's an idea............pick two things and flip a coin............and if you don't like what comes up take the other one.

I wish you luck

Terry

Dear Terry:

Thanks for the reply and the advice. Unfortunately the coin rolled under the couch and I can't find it. C'est La Vie. As the great Stephen Sondheim wrote, "Art isn't easy." Are you at all familiar with his work? I saw his latest show, "Bounce," at the Kennedy Center pre- ...way pre-Broadway. It's about the brothers Wilson and Addison Mizner, who were semi-celebrities in the 1920s due to their many stalled and squandered "projects." Addison Mizner virtually created the Florida land boom with his eclectic mixture of house design in Palm Beach and Boca Raton - without any formal training as an architect. . His series of bad investments around the world left him with a lot of ""stuff" to lug around, from Hawaii, China, India, and Guatamala. It seems he had a talent for giving them "a place where they can play: - hence the strange and wonderful mixture of designs in those two communities: South American tilingand stucco paint, Chinese screens and lacquered wood, rattan furniture and fences, Lotus gardens, etc. "Bounce" bookends its story with Addy and Willy meeting in the afterlife and hashing out their grievances. The middle part of the show is their life stories. At the end of the show, Willy describes the entrance to the afterlife as "the road to opportunity." Addy corrects him with, "It's the road to [/eternity[b]." As they stroll into the light, Willy says, "This time we're bound to get it right." I suppose that if they're names are still known, and Addy could build houses without any formal training, there's hope for me.

Thanks again,

Blessings,

Vilya

Whoops.* I didn't know how to re-post this message, so I guess you didn't see it.* Just curious about the Sondheim connection.* So far I can connect every version of Star Trek to Sondheim:* George Takei from the original series was in "Pacific Overtures" a couple of years ago;* Brent Spiner was in "Sunday in the Park With George;"* I'm taking Michael Dorn from Deep Space Nine - on a version of "Reading Rainbow," when my son was little, LeVar Burton took us on a tour of "Star Trek:* The Next Generation" - when Michael Dorn came out of his trailer, he said, "Stand Aside, I take large steps" - which is a quote from "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum;"* Robert Picardo from "Voyager" was in the pool at Yale with Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver in the original production of "The Frogs;" and Scott Bakula was in the concert recording of "Anything Can Whistle," as well as singing "No One's Gonna Harm You," from "Sweeney Todd," at the Kennedy Center Honors when Steve was inducted (he refused the honor the year before, when Bush, Sr., was still president).* In our constant search for archetypes, we pick up on a show like "Lost" like little Jungians.* It's been compared to Stephen King's "The Stand," of course, to "Lord of the Rings," etc.* Now it's its own archetype.* I suggested on this very board that I get down to work on my Tarot deck for "Lost" - as I was too late with my deck for "Twin Peaks" (The Fool - Agent Cooper; the High Priestess - Laura Palmer;* The Lovers, Donna and James; the Devil - Bob; the Wheel of Fortune, a donut; the World - a damn fine cup of coffee, etc.).

Was I asking a question?* Oh, yes.* If "Lost" were a Tarot deck, what character would you be?* And, is there a Sondheim connection to the cast.* (I guess the other cast members will have to answer for themselves - Kevin Smith's last film, "Jersey Girl," contained a great scene from "Sweeney," with Ben Affleck as Sweeney, Liv Tyler as Toby, and the little girl who played Affleck's daughter played Mrs. Lovett - who knew Kevin Smith was a Sondheim freak?)?

By the way, I just got my first paying gig as a designer - a little sketch of a backyard porch for a contractor.* It pays next to nothing, but it goes in my portfolio and on my resume.* Yay!

Blessings,

Vilya*