Thanks, Eggs n' Ham! I have a feeling you could absolutely play for others. Consider the retirement home setting-- a neat way to get the hang of performing is to see if a local nursing home would allow you to come in some afternoon and sort of "wander" with your uke. No amp, no mic. If you prepared as few as 3 songs-- songs that you really love-- and strolled from one location to another within the facility, stopping to play a couple of them for residents you encounter along the way, you can reach a lot of people without the perception that you're repeating the songs, because your audience is "rotating", so to speak. That's basically how I started doing it. No concerns about "gear" (as much as I love gear), and no need to worry about remembering a ton of songs, just three "sure-fire" favorites that I knew I could do in my sleep! And before you know it, 45 minutes has gone by, which is just about right for an outing of that sort! You can do it!