Yet another reason why Hugh Laurie is the bomb diggety.

{SWOON}

debut album?!

my latte has chewy bits in it.

So I've been backing off of facebook for awhile feeling spooked about privacy issues. The virtual gift from wooble sparked my curiosity about what lj is up to these days and the various good things that come from maintaining a blog.

Especially one that isn't connected to my real name/identity.

This is just a test post to see if it works. I don't remember ANYTHING about how to use lj. I assume it's gotten spiffier.

Though I haven't been posting to livejournal in the better part of a year (mostly concentrating on facebook, because I am lazy), I have been logging into it to be able to comment on a friend's blog on blogspot. I thought hm, I wonder if anyone still reads this? I was reading my previous few entries and stumbled across the one that analyzed my goals I had set from Dec 2007 to Dec 2008. I wanted to put down, for the record, that I am (finally! yay!) getting my chapbook Borrowed Bodies published by Pudding House Press, out of Columbus. The proof copies arrived on Friday. I have to give them a good scan and get them back ASAP.

I'm supposed to do a read with eight other poets as part of the ACLU human rights reading at CMU in (I think) November. It would be awesome to have copies out by then, but we'll see...

I hope I take the time to post something every time I log in to view my friend's blog, just because it would be nice to not let this account stagnate.

I have no choice but to finish those papers today. Yay for fear and accountability. I'm not answering any student email until grades go up to the registrar.

Here's a picture of Ravi, our new cat.


He was one year old on 12/3; however, he still behaves like a kitten and doesn't know how to play (or do anything really) with his claws sheathed. It's kind of maddening. I'm wondering if he's gonna grow out of it or if this is a "personality trait." For example, about five minutes ago, I got a one-inch scratch across my right ring finger because he was trying to perform a sneak-attack on my breakfast while I was sitting at the computer. I absently put my hand out to block his maneuver. This caused him to become off-balance, as he was trying to balance on a stack of papers. As he was attempting to right himself, he grabbed onto ME to stay upright. It didn't work and for a split second he was hanging, with all his weight (he's probly about 8 pounds now) from my hand.

But he has a wonderfully extroverted personality and he does cute, endearing things like put his big long arms on your shoulders and nuzzle your face. And he plays fetch. And he likes to carry off random objects and put them in His Lair, which we have not yet discovered. An apple turnover disappeared from the counter two days ago. I hope it's consumed and not sitting somewhere. He may be part dog.

Let's review the situation regarding some claims I made earlier in the year:

I didn't manage to get my book published. I was rejected eight times, not even a finalist. However, I should be sending out more than eight times a year. SIGH. This continues to be my biggest trouble with the book. Actively seeking rejection. I need to do it more. I mean acceptance. Seeking acceptance. Also, I should let the other chapbook MS get some play.

I didn't manage to complete the teaching journal; possibly because this was the hardest semester since my first one ever. This semester sucked balls. However, I'm probably going to do the Learning Community thing again next fall if asked. Why? Because I'm a glutton for punishment. And I have a plan. And I can see how to improve things. And I have Lowered My Expectations. Isn't that what that book, I forget the title, Stumbling on Happiness, or whatever, with the bowl of cherries on it --is about? Happiness is defined when life goes better than your expectations?

I did manage to have my first public/major reading. It was amazing. The best part was actually being up there reading; I hadn't read in years and it is intoxicating like... I can't describe it. I guess like any performance of work that you believe in makes the feel-good receptors in your brain go off. The worst part about the reading was the crowds. I don't like crowds, or to mingle after readings. See, I should look on the bright side though. It was standing room only. Even though a) it's easy for that place to get packed and b) I was just opening for Joan... we read for the same amount of time AND a lot of people who didn't know me got to hear my work. Also, my awesome friends who came out to support me made me so happy. It banished the nerves to look into their faces. They are the best friends EVER.

I did get diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Still trying to process what that all means and how it fits into my life. My relationship with pain has improved because I understand the mechanisms of pain better now. Also, I have a cause to attribute my random symptoms to other than I'm just idiosyncratically and randomly defective.

I did adopt another cat. And I am very very happy with my family of three cats and sweet sweet husband, and we're having xmas here and my in-laws and some extended in-law family. And I didn't have to lower my expectations one bit to achieve that.

... though it's probably all over the net by now. And, I might add, this post sounds like it addresses all women as the audience --probably because it came from a women's facebook community. But I personally think one should take part in this, no matter what gender you identify with.

----------
A friend found this online. Pass it along! The minimum donation on PP's site is $5. Surely you can give up your latte for the day, huh?

Dear Friends:

We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn't it? Are you as sick in your stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States?

Since Palin gave her speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Vice Presidency, Barack Obama's campaign hasraised over $10 million dollars. Some of you may already be supporting the Obama campaign financially; others of you may still be a little honked off over the primaries. None of you, however, can be happy with Palin's selection, especially on her positions on women's issues.

So, if you feel you can't support theObama campaign financially, may I suggest the following fiendishly brilliant alternative?

Make a donation to Planned Parenthood.

In Sarah Palin's name. And here's the good part: when you make a donation
to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website:

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

(to make an Honorary Donation, Click on DONATE at the very top of the page and select HONORARY OR MEMORIAL DONATIONS from the menu that drops down)


You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah
Palin's honor" card. I suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:


McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington , VA 22202

... and so I decided to make lj the hosting place for another project... a teaching journal. I'm teaching in a new program (well, new to me and to the other profs on my team) this year and I've decided that I need to have a place to reflect on what's happening --both at the time and for later. I'm keeping it on my phone right now, but sooner or later it will suffer a catastrophic crash and I'll lose all my data --because that's how life works.


Like my last project (Poetry Delivery Service), this one will be Friends Only. I figured it's a good idea because I'm talking about students and, though I don't use their full names and this journal is not published under my real name, I guess they could find it somehow. If you want me to friend you so you can read it, please comment on this message.

I'm not making it private because, perhaps if you are a teacher we can swap comments/theories/advice/war stories, and if you are not a teacher, you've friended me for some reason and maybe you're curious what I'm up to.

The first few entries will be backdated.

Dude, I *hate* when my kitchen floor gets so dirty...



So does anisodragnfly. Sometimes when she comes home from work, she finds it covered in kittens. Then she has to sweep them up.