Wednesday July 23rd

Here is a shot of one of the cutest kitten I have seen in a long time! My friend Pam E got 2 new kitties but this shot is by far the most excellent of the lot. There is something just so amazing about a cute little fuzzy thing that makes everyone go all mushy. HA, Gotcha! Every time!

Just kind of says....."look how cute I really am, aren't you lucky to have found me!

I know better! I really do know better than to have any expectations at all regarding anything! To say that the production of Othello was over done would be an understatement. It was like watching a really nice Fillet Mignon get charred beyond recognition. Now there were good performances, Iago and Cassio were excellent and truly enjoyable in every degree. But I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief and allowing myself to be transported to the time and place requested.

I do believe in the convention of the 4th wall. I love to have a tale preformed by a company of players and to be allowed to be a witness the world that they cavort in. There were just too many problems and to many things that that did not fit together to get to that beautiful point that you forget that you are in a theatre watching a play! I sincerely hope that last night was just a bad night. It does happen and the reviews for this show were very good indeed. I just remember a production of Othello that I saw ages ago that whenever the character of Iago came on stage the audience would “hiss” at him. He ate it up and played with it and used it to the fullest. Iago was so good last night I did want to hiss and boo at him.

Expectations are a death knell. Never expect to have your expectations be met. That way you will never be disappointed. It is a fact of life that has been driven home so many times that even though the lesson has been learned the glint of hope that has always existed would always get crushed like a bug. So, now……never expect the expected, and when for some random reason you may someday just be pleasantly surprised. Just don’t expect it!

Tonight is “2 Gentleman of Verona” It was Shakespeare's first comedy and there are a few holes in the context of the play but they are to be overlook for the shear brilliance of what the man was to write in the years to come!

I have no expectations; maybe I will be pleasantly surprised!

Yup, there is a dog on stage tonight.
The only Shakespeare play with a
live animal on stage.


A week or so ago I watched “The Holiday” a kind of warm and fuzzy movie with a message attached. It has stuck with me to the point that I looked up several of the monologues that Kate Winslet had and since I am here in the Utah in the presence of the of the Bard I remembered her speech and thought to share it.

Iris: The Holiday
I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said, "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and Valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.