What brave new post is this, that has such observations in it?

I went and saw the free production of The Tempest last night in Forest Park. I had planned on going tonight, but the threat of rain for today convinced Angela and I to try it at the last minute. The weather was perfect and despite the introduction of a few Broadway inspired musical numbers and the faint drumbeat from nearby concerts, I thought it was a very good production.

It’s a notoriously difficult play to stage and they used the small valley well, with fights and chases running through the isles and lost characters roaming the hills behind the stage. I’ll happily go again should anyone else want to see it.

It had never occurred to me before that Edmond Rostand probably lifted his “man from the moon” scene in Cyrano from Stephano and Trinculo’s first encounter with Caliban. Steve Martin adapted the scene for Roxanne into a tale of alien abduction. It’s sort of fun to watch this comedic meme travel the centuries. How now, moon cow?

Angela made the postmodern critique that their characterization of Caliban was drawn in part from the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz. That’s the cultural Cuisinart of theater in action.

Speaking of memes, why is everyone saying “at the end of the day” all of the sudden. It seems like I hear somebody punctuate their argument with that little verbal hiccup almost everyday. It’s rampant on NPR and even in my classroom instruction. It is spreading through the general populace such that at the end of the day we’ll all be saying it. Fuck. See what I mean. There’s also an implicit metaphysical problem with this meme akin to Xeno’s paradox: when exactly does a day end?

As a first symptom of this medication, I’ve noticed an increase in my bad jokes that center on puns and word play. If my liver does fail as a result of this prescribed paint thinner apparently psychosis and hallucinations are an early warning. So if I seem at any point more psychotic than usual, please let me know so I can have my dosage adjusted. Also keep an eye out for a yellowing of my pate (Elizabethan term for my face).

One potential side effect is hypotension, which could work in my favor as I have been running to hyper on the tensive scale. The literature has seven deaths per thousand from this stuff in my age group, so I will be closely monitoring the symptoms check list.

“Speaking of” is a terrible transition, isn’t it? Speaking of death and TB apparently my grandfather on my father’s side had a collapsed lung from TB so that when he got pneumonia and his remaining lung filled with fluid, he passed away. TB was not the direct cause, but it was a contributing factor in his death. Also, my father always tests positive for exposure and has been getting yearly x-rays since New Guinea. My exposure to this disease is a family tradition. Also one third of the total world population has been exposed, so we have a lot of company.