After work yesterday I picked Kirstin up from her violin lesson, then rehearsed with a bell choir in East Lansing, then raced back to Eaton Rapids so Kirstin could rehearse with *another* choir! We're a busy pair for Palm Sunday, for all we are going different directions.
Soon Kirstin came back from her rehearsal, and began working on her homework. I'm happy to say that division is coming much more easily than multiplication did. Hallelujah! By the time I got her put to bed it was nearly 9 PM, and I had a ton of work to do.
Secretly, though, I sometimes enjoy the quiet, steady work of being at home; last night was one such occasion. Our neighborhood was peaceful, and the house felt warm and comforting. I actually did more work than I had planned, just because I enjoyed the business of it, and my ability to change things. I scrubbed the tub until it shone, and cleaned up the kitchen and living room accordingly. I did enough laundry to get us through the rest of the week, folded it, and put it away.
While I was doing all of this, I also baked a layer cake, a 9-inch round cake, and a bunch of cupcakes. Today is my secretary's baby shower, and this was the desired dessert. Well, actually, she wanted yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but I knew my boss's boss wouldn't eat that, so I made the smaller cakes (banana with vanilla frosting) as well. I was baking and frosting things until nearly 1 AM, when Forest came home from D&D.
At first, I thought he was going to stumble right off to bed, because he still isn't feeling well, and I could see that he was very tired. But then he seemed happy to see me as I was to see him, and we started to chat. I enjoyed his affections, and his smiles. He filled me in on the events of the evening's gaming session, and I merrily brought him up to date on my night's activities. Soon he was soaking in a hot bath, while I finished up the work of the evening, and we made our way to bed, where we ignored our pillows for quite some time, and eventually fell asleep.
Thus I came to miss several hours of sleep, and did not regret it.
I just finished re-reading Othello with an eye toward acting in it, and am suprised with my findings. From my own memory, I had thought I would want to play Desdemona. She is Othello's newlywedded wife, who is always pure of heart and obedient to him, and loves him truly. The entire play goes on about her without her having any knowlege of the nefarious plots against her until Othello reveals himself to her, and then kills her. She dies most tragically, for all the wrong reasons; but she is a romantic character to the end, the pure lady of fairy tales.
Much to my suprise, though, as an actor I think it would be more fun to play Emelia, Iago's wife. Emelia becomes an unknowing pawn in her husband's scheme to ruin Othello. She's assigned to serve Desdemona, and to steal the handkercheif that proves everyone's undoing in the plot. She doesn't discover the scheme until it's too late, and then she reveals the truth to everyone. She holds the great piece of missing information that Shakespeare so often uses as a pivoting point in his plays. Then she turns her vengeful, angry tongue to condemn her husband's actions, and to make Othello grieve his wife. Then Iago stabs her, and she dies, singing a song, professing the truth to Othello, and true to Desdemona, her mistress.
That's my kind of woman! Cool.
I'm going to miss my honey today. I've got to have lunch at work, because we're having a potluck for Rachel's shower, and I am duty-bound to be there. Then I will have to run in to Eaton Rapids and pick Kirstin up from school, then get back to work to finish the last hour of the day. After that, it's home for me, Judo for Forest, and then I think he's going to visit James for the rest of the evening. Since I spent last night working, I plan to spend tonight relaxing. Kirstin and I might watch a movie before it's her bedtime. Then I might stay up and read, or heaven forbid, watch some TV. I vaguely remember that Thursday night is a good night to do that.
Then I probably ought to get to bed early, because Friday will be a long day.
Sounds like an exciting life, doesn't it? Actually, a night at home relaxing doesn't sound bad to me at all right now. I really haven't done it since our trip to Tennessee, or maybe even before that. I enjoy alone-leisure time, at least in smallish doses.
