“Actor, huh? What’s that like? You guys just sit around and emote all the time?” He wasn’t someone you’d normally chat with. From the looks and smells of him, he probably lived on the street. But he had a captive audience. We were sitting at the lunch counter of one of New York City’s few Chock Full o’ Nuts restaurants and he’d sat down at the only available stool. “No, we don’t emote. We just live our lives. Normal people.” He snorted. “What’s normal about acting? The docs said I was delusional and gave me meds. Aren’t you guys about the same?” He had a point. We both were relating to imaginary circumstances as though they were real. Only difference is, actors can come back to the agreed-upon reality. The delusional crowd? Well, not so easy. He was off on a riff. “What the hell’s wrong with you people anyway? Why would you want to play at acting instead of getting real jobs?” Thought-provoking question. It bought him another piece of pie while we discussed. “Why do some people want to be fishermen? Or lawyers? Or live on the street?” That stopped him. He slurped the last of his coffee and was about to head out the door. A waved hand told him that it was paid for. “So what the hell is acting anyway?” he wanted to know. Long pause. “Acting is living and behaving, truthfully and fully, under imaginary circumstances.” He got it! His eyes looked downward as he digested the classic Meisner definition of acting. “Not much difference between us, is there?” “Nope. Not much.”