I don't have much to say about my 40th birthday (beyond oh god, that age? I don't look or feel it!). There's not a lot one can get up to on a Tuesday. I didn't go to work, I went out for dim sum and fancy cake. I went to my volunteer job but didn't mention it there because one person on my shift is vegan and well, that rules out all ice cream and cake (sigh).

On the one hand, ugh, I don't want to admit to this age in public any more because while I am kind of a ringer, now it's no longer funny. On the other hand, as a late bloomer I kind of hope things finally start kicking in here.

On Wednesday I went to a digital storytelling event. I hadn't heard of this sort of thing before, but apparently digital storytelling is making a 2 to 3 minute video in which you do narration and show pictures. A few people who do this sort of thing talked about it and showed some films.

On Thursday I went back to ARC to see their production of Julius Caesar. I went with Melanie, a writer's group friend who goes there for costume design and did some costume designing in this show. About nine folks I knew in Gumbo got in, so it was good seeing them again on stage even if I only got to talk to one afterwards. Sam directed that one as well.

While I enjoyed the general production and got a kick out of the things they added into it, such as it takes place in a postapocalyptic land and now has some dance numbers (notably "Smooth Criminal" when the conspirators get together, there was also some good use of "Another One Bites The Dust"), and the costuming, I admit that Julius Caesar is not my favorite Shakespeare play, I knew that going in, and I was frequently going "uh...this is long." I enjoy the more lively shows that are less people standing around arguing.

Melanie liked it even less than I did. She was not cool with dance numbers ("Why are people laughing? They're not supposed to be laughing") and did not get "Smooth Criminal" whatsoever and didn't think the play should have any modern references. She also didn't like how they weren't great at precise diction.

For the record, here is my summation of the plot of Julius Caesar: Even though Caesar refuses a crown three times over, some folks insist that he's going to want a crown anyway and murder him. His friend Antony rolls in, shakes literal bloody hands with all of the murderers, and then proceeds to give a great speech that boils down to stuff like "Well, Caesar refused a crown three times, but Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man so you KNOW we have to believe EVERYTHING he says." Then everyone gets in fights, there's some big battle, nobody wins and the bad guys commit suicide because it's Shakespeare. I said this to Melanie and she was all, "you got more of it than I did."

The production was coed, with a lot of the dudes being played by ladies. Brutus was played by a woman and at one point she and Cassius make out randomly. I was amused by this but Melanie was all, "they wouldn't have done that if Brutus was played by a man." I was all, "I was in Gumbo and yes, I think he would have done that anyway regardless." Again, hey, it livened things up for me.

After that, we went out for dinner, I didn't get home till midnight and chugged Mt. Dew for four hours straight the next day to function at work.

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