Lamb-like?

Supposedly March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.  Well, this March outdid itself with lion-like days.  It blew stormily in with blasts of cold and snow, remained cold except for one or two days a little over a week ago, and returned to it's snowy modus operandi until yesterday.  Yes, yesterday, March 30th, it snowed.  Lion-like, indeed.  Today, though, the sun is shining, and the ten-day weather report shows highs in the 60s, 70s, and then high 50s from here on out.  I'll take it.  Even the high 50s-- it's so much better than the 30s and 20s I've grown used to since January.  I'm hopeful that I've seen the last of my fuzzy aviator cap for the season.  I'm cautiously optimistic about April really, truly being a month of sundresses and strawberry-lemonade.

 Looking Back:

March has, on the whole, flown by.  For most of the month, I've been fighting this tooth/sinus infection.  Even today I'm still dealing with a cough and I'm not quite past blowing my nose at least once a day.  I've visited the ER, the endodontist and the student health center, and all aver that I'm getting better, so I'm just trying to drink plenty of tea and water, and trying to get plenty of rest.  I cancelled a trip to Seattle to present at a conference.  I've slept in and taken naps.  Yesterday I took a very long nap with Rhett and Felix; it was lovely.  I've decided to let myself let go of some of the stressful factors in my life in an effort to help my body heal (for example, letting myself be okay with giving my 100% to my Tudor presentation last week, while giving short-shrift to my Approaches reading.  I did what I needed to do for class, but I just didn't have the energy to give both classes my all, like I usually do.  It was hard to let myself do that, but I needed the rest).

This month, I read Jonson's Bartholomew Fair for the first time and I loved it.  I think it might be my new favorite Early Modern play, though I don't think I'm writing my paper about it.  My professor said, "It's odd, because everyone looks at Jonson as having a satirical touch towards everything, but you've found a lot of heart in this play."  Certainly, it's satirical, but I really root for Littlewit and Win, and I love Bartholomew Cokes, the gentlest, most naive gallant ever there was.  He's like a really cute puppy-- "resolute Bat."  I would love to stage a production of this play, to try to decide whether or not I want to portray the fair as a green world (a la the woods in Midsummer) or as something more sinister (how does Littlewit and Win's relationship end?  Are they the Baker and his wife in Act I of Into the Woods, or the Baker and his wife in Act II?).  Point is, I never thought I would love a play by Ben Jonson, but hot damn, I do.  Who wants to go in on a production with me?

This month, too, I think I can safely say that I've become proficient in the reading of Middle English (well, Chaucerian Middle English).  I find this quite an accomplishment.  I won't say fluent, as I do frequently rely on the glosses still, but I can make it through Chaucer quite quickly now-- I'm reading The Canterbury Tales much more quickly than I did Troilus and Criseyde.  Looks like those hours and hours of poring over Troilus and listening to it read aloud by someone on YouTube really paid off.  I think this is a skill I should try to maintain.  I also found out that Chaucer Doth Tweet on Twitter, and I'm having way too much fun following that account.  Tomorrow is #whanthataprilleday, which Twitter Chaucer advocates as a day to read poetry, books, manuscripts, etc. in a dead language of your choosing.  After all, dead languages aren't dead, they are waiting.

On the non-academic spectrum, this month-- besides a Spring Break trip to Disney World-- I spent an afternoon with Cara on M Street, looking in shops, and getting bruschetta and lemonade on one of the only warm afternoons in March.  I saw two movies-- Divergent and The Grand Budapest Hotel.  I attended a David Bowie themed party at my friend Thomas's and now I really want to watch Labyrinth.  I started watching the series Pretty Little Liars now that it's on Netflix, and this was probably a huge mistake because it's quite addictive.  Zan and I are also making our way through Veronica Mars-- he's never seen it before, and I don't remember much of it.  I wanted the refresher before watching the new movie.  I've not kept to my resolutions this month, however.  I hope to be better about that this coming month, because I really do feel better when I use my Rosetta Stone, attend church, and try to make time to do things that are important to me as a human.

Looking Forward:

April already looks busy.  In a few days I will do my Teaching Practicum for my Approaches class.  I have that final project to work on, too, and by April 16th I need to have a good 20 minutes (8 or so pages) of my Tudor paper prepared to present "conference-style" to the class, and by April 22nd I need the same for my Medieval Lit class.  Better get cracking on finding those final paper topics, eh?  But, once I can make it through that, the semester will be all but over.  In April, too, I want to make it down to Williamsburg for a few days, I have a trip planned to visit my grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousins in New Mexico, and I am planning the EGSA social event of the spring: Prom!  Yes, really.  Lots to look forward to in the coming month-- and here's to hoping I can make it through without too much anxiety!  But, on the upside, we *might* have warmer weather and flowers this month!