Diary Friday: “My marshmallow pink heels”

I am 15 years old here and I have a LOT going on.

1. Preparing for my confirmation
2. “Co-ed cast party” for a school play – co-ed!! Apparently I had just moved to Rhode Island from Saudi Arabia?
3. Spinning dreams in my head of learning to play the accordion
4. Obsessing about James Dean, but more than that: obsessing about the art of acting. I was already very very serious about it, 15-year-old prose notwithstanding. I meant business.

APRIL

Slept over Mere’s. I was exhausted. Mere is teaching herself to juggle and balls were flying everywhere. We watched For Your Eyes Only and The Jerk. Oh, Steve Martin.

We woke up – Mere’s curls were all tousled, and my hair looked like a mohawk. We all shuffled into the kitchen and had an English breakfast – which was like an Irish breakfast – bacon, eggs, toast – except in Ireland we had sausages. We listened to the radio while we ate, and Jayne came in. She has a cold and had to work the night before. Anyway, we ate, and Mere juggled, and we all talked. [That image makes me SO HAPPY] Here’s the plan: Mere is going to become a really good juggler and she’ll get a job at the hospital as a clown, and her grandmother has a simple octave note accordian and I can teach myself to play it and we’ll be a team. Wouldn’t that be neat? [Only if your highest ambition is to be Patch Adams. Sheila, do you honestly want to play the ACCORDION at a hospital? Don’t you have enough social problems in high school?]

I bought some clothes that make me look really thin!

And then Saturday at 5:00 there’s gonna be a cast party for Scapino. Everyone’s gonna be there. That’ll be so neat! A co-ed party! I mean, I’ve been to co-ed parties, but not real ones with cute neat guys. The only other co-ed party I went to was when I was 13, and we played spin the bottle. Hopefully this one will be different. [Sheila, what’s better than spin the bottle?]

Then after the party!! AT 11:30 PM!!! JIMMY DEAN!!!! I can’t wait! I have been waiting for this day all week. [The entire week of journal entries is interspersed with such outbursts – because I knew that Rebel Without a Cause was on TV on Saturday night. This is pre-VCR (at least in my home!). So I was dependent on the networks, I read TV Guide every week – I HAD to – because if I missed something, I would then have to wait another YEAR for it to come to television again!]

Friday
God, I have to do some catching up!

First – cast party. It was great. They had the video of Scapino [this was a play done by the Drama Club. And it was amazing – I still remember a lot of it. There were SO many talented people in our Drama Club that year.] Everyone was there! Even Matt M! [He was handsome and aloof. Also: very talented.]

Watching the video was great. I kept glancing at Matt when he was laughing. He is a breathtaking looking person. And Trav is adorable. OK, maybe I do have a crush. Who cares? Trav had on a black blazer with a Beatles pin and he just looked so cute. After that, we all had pizza, and then watched Stir Crazy. [Awesome. We were kind of a cool bunch of kids, now that I think about it.] Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. What a pair they are. I kept watching Trav. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, and his face was intent and curious. But then, of course, there had to be a nude scene. The nude woman was dancing all over the screen – and I can’t even explain it – we all just sat there like zombies, and all the girls tried to look blase and cool about it, and I whispered to Beth, “Watch the boys.” Oh God, it was a riot. Trav kept fidgeting and moving around … Beth and I almost lost it watching how uncomfortable all the boys looked. But it was fun.

Then I went home and sat around waiting around until 11:30 and then I watched Jimmy Dean. Diary, I think he is the best actor in the world. [His work meant a great deal to me back then. Also: I was learning from him. I was already interested in acting, and … I STUDIED him. I wasn’t just a fan. Not much has changed in my life, actually] I am not saying that in a childish way. I mean it: He is the best actor in the world. [Eleanora Duse? Lawrence Olivier? Brando? No matter.] I am not saying this in a passionate moment either. [Oh, I see. You are saying it in the cold clear light of logic.] I still can’t get him out of my mind. His face is magnificent. I was even shocked by him. Like – he was unpredictable. I had no idea what he would do next. GOD HE CAN ACT. He blew me away. I mean, I found myself focusing on his every move, every mannerism, gesture, every expression, every fucking word [Ooh, a rare swear from my teenage self!] … The man was a genius.

There was a scene where he was drunk and the policeman is searching him and he gets ticklish and starts to giggle like a little kid. And I read where he wasn’t directed to do that. That was all instinct. All from within him. Man. That blows me away. And just his tenderness, his awkwardness – He portrayed what every damn person goes through so well. I don’t know what else to say!

After, I went up to my room and sat like a blob, feeling inside so much but I could never put it into words. My feelings were so excessive. It was too much. I felt as if I was gonna explode! I still can’t get over it.

On Monday, we went up to the Boston Marathon. I took Mere. I couldn’t wait for her to meet Lisa. [My cousin] We had a great time. Here were the jokes of the day:

— … You are so beautiful …

— getting the water and cups

— running across the street

— Ken and the wheelchairs

— Hey, she thinks you’re cute

— These people hate us

You see, I hate to let memories slip by. They’re precious. I can’t bear to let anything be forgotten. [I have no idea what most of those jokes I just listed are.] Memories are the most important thing to me. I never throw anything out. I can’t throw out the memory. I need to have all the frayed stories, dried flowers, and folded drawings – they’re what keeps me going.

I think Mere had fun. I’m glad. It was fun. [Mere, I remember that day, do you??]

This morning, I got up at 8 and it was POURING. That day I went to URI to spend the day with a drama student – you know, go to their classes, absorb stuff. I was really psyched. I was hoping to meet some gorgeous guys. Andrei H. for one. [I have not thought of that name since … the early 1980s. He was a local actor. I loved him.] He was in Academania. He was SO talented. SO SO talented. [Was he as good as James Dean though?] Jessica knows him. He wants to be on Broadway but he’s majoring in computer science. [HAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

It was a great day but tiring because I spend the whole day just sitting and watching. But I absorbed and learned more than I did in a whole half-year of Drama class. We watched students do really intense improvisations. Some were just — I don’t know what I was expecting, but God, those kids are great. I mean — really, they are kids, and they were so … I don’t know. They had so much depth and their acting didn’t look like acting.

Then on Wednesday – listen to this day:

10:00 – dentist appointment.

12:00 – 2:00 – shopping for my confirmation dress.

2:30 – haircut

3:30 – orthodontist

I did not stop moving the entire day. At least the shopping was successful. I got two dresses! My confirmation dress is sort of a rough off-white material with a white rounded collar and ruffles down the front. It looks really nice on me and makes my stomach look flat and my boobs look fuller. I mean, I look sophisticated. Then I got this GORGEOUS dress. When it’s not on me it looks like a maternity dress, but not when it’s on me. [Horrible sentence structure. Horrible dress.] I look like a model in it. It’s just like Susan’s – the one I told you about. [Then there is a small drawing of the dress] And I got beautiful marshmallow pink heel shoes with a purse to match. I look like a successful career woman. [Uhm … do “successful career women” wear MARSHMALLOW PINK HEELS????]

On Thursday, I babysat from 8:30 to 3:00 and I got $15.00! And today I helped this neighboring woman supervise her daughter’s birthday party. It was fun. She paid me 6 bucks. [Jesus. What a bunch of cheapskates.] So I made $21 in 2 days!!!! [I think you were being taken advantage of, Sheil-babe.]

And tomorrow is my confirmation.

I’ll reflect on what that means to my life tomorrow. I’m too exhausted right now.

[The Catholic Church can wait, basically, for my moment of contemplation. After all, I bought marshmallow-pink heels for the big day … WHAT MORE DO THEY WANT FROM ME??]