inertia sets in...again

Last night I ran into two of my poetry teachers--both named Matthew--at a Slavic Soul Party. Don't ask. It made me extremely nervous to imagine them leaving the place and talking about how much my poems stink. To calm myself, I decided to take a loooong walk home. When I got there, I tripped over a bunch of paint cans that have been sitting in my front hall since I bought them two--count 'em two--months ago. Does the pigment in paint separate and go bad if you don't use it right away? Our in-house reno editor tells me all I need to do is shake (or stir) and it'll be good as new. Lots of other people tell me to store my partly used paint cans upside down to keep it from drying out. Oh, and to write the name and color number on each can for touch ups if I can bear to think about things starting to fall apart.