somebody give me a cigar. i just saw my first hamlet. immediately after, i had to come home and answer my father's questions about the production. was hamlet hyper-intellectual? effeminate? was he played as angsty, or indecisive, brooding or frustrated? my father saw some earthshaking production of hamlet in england once and many others besides. i've, well, seen movies. and i've read the play. i don't have much to compare it to but i thought the shakespeare company did, as they always do, a terrific job.

what's better is it's free. carton barren hosts one of these a year, an outdoor production of some excellently done shakespeare play. you have to reserve tickets in advance. in this case, my friend johnny obtained a ticket for me, lana, and several others. she heads off to arizona tomorrow. sad for me: she's been one of my principal playmates this week. i helped her paint her room. we took woods walks, watched movies, ate, and generally spent not enough time together considering we'll be the summer apart.

this is the first summer where all my regular friends scattered themselves. one in israel, in the south; another in israel, in jerusalem, where he's just been made an uncle. two to seattle. three staying in their collegetowns: one noho, one boston, one providence. one to costa rica. it's a good thing i'm back to swarthmore on friday and to new york at the end of the month, or i'd feel very left out.