Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Midnight Blogging

Things have happened. I won't guarantee they're all particularly interesting things, but they are things nonetheless and you all like it when I talk about things.

+ The host family was away this weekend and so I had the place to myself. Except at night, when I was terrified of my reflection in all the mirrors and darkened windows in the old, creaky house, it was nice to be alone. I finally felt comfortable. Not that they haven't been the nicest, sweetest host family I could hope for, but I'm essentially invading their house. It's uncomfortable, even if they're super lovely, which they are. Anyway, that was nice. Bella came over on Friday and we ordered pizza and watched Top Gear specials on the On Demand on telly and that was good.

+ Bella and I also went to a special screening of the play Look Back in Anger, starring an actor we like (David Tennant) and an actress I like but haven't seen nearly enough of (Kelly Reilly). It's a truly stunning play and I was incredibly excited when one of the original actors (the second man to play the main character on the stage in the late 50s) came to talk about the play. He didn't say much about the version we were watching, but that's alright, it was still fascinating.

+ The younger daughter of one of my dad's best friends has landed safely in London. Due to things, we haven't been able to meet up, but we shall at some point and I shall welcome her to my city properly.

+ The weather has been bizarre lately (It was incredibly cold this weekend and most days there are fits and starts of rain, tempered with bright sunshine and birds chirping. Odd) and made even more so by my research this evening. I''ve been working on my Shakespeare paper (and by working, I mean, do a bit of research, go on facebook, write 100 words, go on tumblr...) and we must talk about all three plays. Tonight was King Lear, in which there is a truly cool passage about the storm that is raging on the moor. I may not particularly like Lear (the play or the character), but it's a great passage, especially after you've seen Ian McKellen doing it for the RSC performance. So good.

Lear: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
         You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
         Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
         You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,
         Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
         Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
         Strike flat the thick rotundity o'th'world!
         Crack Nature's moulds, all germens spill at once
         That makes ingrateful man!

Of course, it's been lightly pitter-pattering rain and you can hardly call it a storm, let alone a violent rage such as that, but it's still a cool passage.

+ Bella and I are in the midst of deciding more travel plans. I think we've ruled out Malta (don't get me wrong, it'd be cool, but she wanted to go to a beach and I think that's silly, because you can go to beaches anywhere in the states. There are many other places we can't go when we get back home) and we're thinking of traveling around England more. She wants to go to Brighton, I want to go up north, to the moors...we'll figure it out.

+ Slightly disappointing, but I'll figure it out: the National Theatre is screening Frankenstein (starring that actor I like, Benedict Cumberbatch, as both/either the Creature or Victor Frankenstein) in both the UK and the US. Unfortunately, I looked at the dates and the ones in London are after I leave and the ones in New York are before I come back. There are two dates in Boston in late June, though, so maybe I'll see if my parents (who are most likely reading this) want to go? *hem hem*

+ And the most exciting thing, I've saved for last. It's not technically "official," in that the office hasn't sent out the letter to tell me on official letterhead yet, but I will definitely be Denice's research assistant come fall. And, the best part is, I get money for doing it! So yay! That's exciting.

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