Mixed Nuts

Three days to go til I appear in a comedy revue called Mixed Nuts. An hour long show. I'm on stage for less than half an hour. And yet I've ended up more stressed by this show than by any other production I've ever been in. Sir Toby Belch? No problem? Chaucer's Canterbury Tales? Bring them on. But Mixed Nuts? I'm going nuts! I guess it's true what they say. The size of your part isn't everything.

What's in a name?

So there I was on Facebook, and suddenly I found myself. Barry Woolhead. Except it wasn't me. Someone was masquerading as me. With a pic of Donleavy's book "The Ginger Man" and details about me which were vaguely accurate. And friends that I didn't know. But also some I did. Ex students of mine who had obviously made contact thinking this Barry Woolhead was me.

I know this sounds silly, but I felt sort of violated. Someone had stolen my name, if not my identity, and there seemed to be nothing I could do about it. So I added him as a friend - I thought it would be interesting to befriend myself. And I messaged him saying what I felt and suggesting that the charade should stop.

After an exchange of messages, he eventually admitted he wasn't me. (I thought for a while that maybe I'd developed online schizophrenia.) He told me he was Tony Preston. An ex colleague of mine. Now I just need to figure out - is it the real Tony Preston or is it an imposter?