Personal

There's so much to say about this past weekend in Austin, but I'm totally unable to process it into words that would be fully accessible to anyone who wasn't there...though that won't stop me from trying. The National Poetry Slam Experience is so multi-layered, a dizzying mix of emotional, psychological and physical stimuli, that you truly have to be there to fully understand its appeal. Even though I wasn't competing, you can't help but get caught up in the competition at some level, and it was a wild ride from the emotional highs of louderARTS' Thursday and Friday night bouts to the [brief] emotional low of Finals…

Nerd Slam Events Bad enough it's the day before I head out for Austin and work is the least interesting thing I can think of doing right now, but it took me over 3 hours -- 2 trains, some walking and McDonald's for breakfast -- to get here thanks to the flooding in lower Manhattan, so my whole day has been thrown completely out of whack. The worst part is I'm missing a gym day for the first time and after Monday night's assault on my liver I could really use the exercise and a little time in the steam room. I think I'll [finally] take my…

Charles Bukowski It's somewhat ironic that on the same night I read a new poem entitled "On the 89th Day, I Quit", I end up drinking way more than usual. The show ended rather early last night but a few of us ended up sticking around instead of going to Reservoir and Maureen's hand got a little bit heavier with each drink. Ugh. I'm too old for this shit! The poem came from an interesting writing exercise Marty sent me yesterday, as I wanted to continue my streak of reading something new every time I go to 13 -- up to six times now --…

November3rdClub I'm terrible at submitting work for publication, so the fact that I've ever had anything published has always amazed me. It's been a long time since I've submitted anything anywhere but in this recent wave of writing I've been doing, I've kept it in the back of my mind as a goal. The November 3rd Club is a unique online literary journal for a few reasons -- not the least of which is their overt political bias; a more intelligent Air America perhaps? -- but from a personal perspective, I remember the moment (vaguely) from which it sprang, as a group…

Bon Jovi - (You Want To) Make a Memory (Official Video) I like music of all kinds but I'm a special kind of sucker for love songs, especially the sappy, "love conquers all" stuff. They totally contradict my generally practical cynical outlook on life and have on more than one occasion enabled me to have a more balanced take on a situation, with that particular song becoming permanently attached to that moment as a result. Love songs in movies and TV shows are tricky because when not done right, or forced, they can completely ruin not just the moment but the whole story. When it works, though,…

Leos Rule A few months back, on April 25th, I wrote a post called A Bar, a Beer, a Notebook and a Pen in which I recounted the random series of events that led to me sitting in a bar writing for the first time in years. This morning, I randomly came across Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology which used to be one of the only reasons I read the Village Voice way back when, and out of curiousity, took a peek at my horoscope for that fateful week: I drove through a cloud today. It enveloped the Golden Gate Bridge. When I left…