Shakespeare in Love

I am bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged.
-- William Shakespeare

Thursday, February 18, 1999
One year ago: Dance Challenges

I'd been wanting to bring Jack a small Valentines Day token when I saw him Wednesday evening. When I read Ceej talking about Joseph Schmidt truffles, it reminded me that I'd had that kind of chocolate before (a Christmas "gift" from the agency I contract through), and liked it very much! So that would be a good thing to get for him, if it were possible. Jack's a chocolate fan from way back.

I did some searching on Sidewalk and found out that there was a store at Redmond Town Center called "Everything Chocolate," which would be a convenient place for me to stop on the way over to Jack's place. I resisted buying myself any candles at the numerous stores that I walked past which featured them. I was rewarded when the sale table inside the chocolate store had a red velvet heart-shaped box of Schmidt truffles, at half off! So I also got a pound of chocolate covered dried cherries, since cherries are Jack's favorite fruit. (Recall his territoriality about the cherry pie at Thanksgiving!)

Jack was playing his guitar when I got to his house. A strong scent of Pinesol was in the air; he'd been cleaning up the place. He was pleased and touched to get the candy, but seemed slightly uncomfortable, too. "You didn't have to get me anything!" he exclaimed. He seemed to think that Valentines Day means that guys give flowers or candy to their sweethearts, but not the other way around! Finally I told him, "Just say 'Thank you very much,'" so he did. He was glad I'd been at work Friday to get the flowers delivered to me there, since having other people see that you've been given flowers is part of the fun.

Computer stuff and laundry took up enough time that we needed to do a fast food dinner, before going to see Shakespeare in Love (our second attempt). We'd decided on Taco del Mar. I said teasingly, as we got in the truck, "I wish there was a fast food place that I liked as much as you like Taco del Mar, just for the sake of insisting that we take turns choosing!" Somehow this meant that we ended up at Wendy's, instead! But Jack likes the food there as well, and of course has a system for correct ordering there (see his system for efficiently building a salad at the salad bar, on our first date). You shouldn't get the chili-topped baked potato; you should get the regular baked potato, and a bowl of chili. Then you put the chili on top of the baked potato. Apparently you get more for your money this way, and you get a small packet of sour cream, to boot!

It seems like all the journalers (Iko, Ceej, and more, I'm sure) have been seeing Shakespeare in Love. Jack and I both enjoyed it a lot! I was glad that they kept the broadest anachronistic jokes at the beginning (the mug, the psychiatrist). They didn't throw me out of the story that way. The clothes were great!

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When I got home from work tonight, I took a two-hour nap! I must have needed it. I'd been planning on going dancing, but it was tough tearing myself away from the latest diary-l hoo-ha. I did manage it, though, since I know I need the exercise. The place was packed, with a high percentage of watchers, because the new session of classes had started tonight. It was so humid that the mirrors that line the sides of the hall started steaming up! I did have to go speak to a couple, warning them of the danger of aerials on a crowded dance floor. I'd been watching them, at first just amused by the pretzels and twists at lightning speeds that they were doing. But when I saw that he'd picked her up and whirled her around behind his back, and he hadn't even noticed it when her foot whacked a dancer behind her, I was forced to be dance floor cop and call them on the dangers of what they were doing.

On the Seattle-based swing email lists I'm on, we were discussing an article about how the swing revival is really about gen-x rejecting the "liberal" sixties, feminism and the sexual revolution. What unmitigated crap! The author is certainly overloading some fashion trends and dance revivals with her own political agenda.