Thoughts from the Past Few Days

It struck me the other day that I want to play a very specific kind of Shakespearean female.
-Paulina
-the Nurse
-Katherine
-Mariah
-Emilia
servants (excepting Katherine) with an attitude. Strong, vocal women. Why is that, I wonder?

I ran into a woman last night at the front desk of my building who was chattering to (not with) the desk attendant. I wear a pin on my hat from the Festival last week which says "I Flamed Amazement" with the Folger logo. She asked what it meant, so I told her it was a quote from the Tempest, then to explain it, I work at the Folger.
"I don't know what any of those words mean," she said, "Folger? Tempest? No..."
"The Folger Shakespeare Library?"
"Don't know what that is. Oh, so it's like a play!"
"Yeah..."
I told her where the Folger was, turns out she's not far from it at work - she works for our Court System.
How do you get to be middle aged and have absolutely no clue what "The Tempest" is? I don't understand. Of course, I was raised in a theatre so I have an advantage there, but don't you have to learn about him in school regardless? Well you should!
I left the conversation kind of angry.

Why is St. Patrick's Day dedicated to drinking? The man was a saint, why does that equal boozing til you're cruising? Why is Guiness so bitter, and why did I feel obligated to order one? Why did I then go home and go to bed at 10:30pm? Am I getting old?

Andrew left for Detroit on Sunday - he'll be back April 5ish. I discovered since we switched sides of the bed to sleep on that it's harder for me to get to sleep and even harder to wake up! I think it's because it's the dark side of the room next to the heater. Tonight I'll sleep on my old side and see how the morning goes!

Epic Meeting today from 10-4 on ESL Shakespeare. Yay.