reading and writing and watching, oh my!

so, i've been on my own bit of summer vacation today, holding an impromptu twilight zone marathon, and it occurs to me how much my habits have changed over the years. growing up, i always had a stack of books around and was poking my nose in them whenever possible. even in school, i'd often be 'talked to' about reading the 'correct' books and studying with the rest of the class.

i still carry an armful of books around in the car, but find myself reading quite a bit less as time goes by... and as one of the seeming legion of folks out in the world who considers themself a writer, i find this rather troubling. my attention span for reading has diminished over the years and i find that i still pay attention to storylines and laugh behind my hand at what passes for writing in many movies or television shows and such (not the case in the twilight zone marathon... there are, of course, bits that are showing their age or that are dated to the early '60's when it originally aired... the strength of the show always was, and always remains it's writing... which is what disspointed me so much about the new versions of the show when they attempted to resurrect it... the twilight zone without a strong core of stories, and fresh innovative ideas, is just... sad... and rod serling must have been tossing the typewriter at the walls of his grave), but haven't been really practicing this craft nearly enough... which includes an ample portion of reading with a side of editing.

ah, the pitfalls of living in a video age, i suppose... but we'll see how the trade winds blow in the next few weeks... next up in the supply line of reading... some gertie stein and edna st. vincent millay... nummm.

ode to my laptop

o, laptop, with your keys that work the way
bill gates intended,
you click and clack and don't behave
like a 2 year old on ampthetamines
is sitting at the keyboard
while i'm trying to type.

now if you only had a fountain
of lemonade built in,
i swear i'd marry you.


(it bears mentioning that i just spent 10 hours at my crappy work computer working on videos with a processor under-equipped for the job, three days in a row)

in progress, muchly

here's part of something new that's in progress... it's very much in bits and pieces right now, but heck, might as well put something out there, right?

...right?

and happy valentine's day to all y'all.



bobby’s girlfriend volunteers to be the town’s
next human cannonball… kisses him goodbye,
her lips an implosion, a back draft,
three words she never meant to say.

already, she can taste the echo
of her escape—the sudden emptiness
of the sky as she sails over main street,
a smile like the sun painting the upturned
faces a deeper shade of fire.

she tries on the bomb’s desire
like a new pair of shoes, forgetting
her footprints were always surrounded
by broken glass and blast radius.

laptop goodness (en route)

so, two things which are makin' me happier than a chipmunk with a sackful o' nuts (mmm... okay, that just sounded wrong):

uno: got word that my new motherboard for my long-suffering laptop has arrived! now, i just need to take my 'puter into the shop and they promised i would have it back by wednesday. hurrah! huzzah! cheer numero tres!!

dos: recorded 2 basic tracks for the cd last night (thanks b-dub and d-bub, and of course, the magical fingers of my roomie). very happy with the results. had them playing a typewriter and making cat sounds... and that was before the all-improv beat on something loudly session that dmitry suggested, and was much more fun than you'd think.

now, i just have to get the laptop back, and start in on the multi-track goodness. had an idea tonight on the way home about using cello for a bass line on a track... so i may have a busy lil' cello player workin' overtime soon. muahahaha.