Impatient and Impetuloance

It's raining. It's pouring. My old man is snoring (because he's f*ed up on Nyquil). He has a terrible cold and all he wants to do is sleep and sleep. Meanwhile, I'm bored: the house is dirty, I haven't written in weeks, there's still christmas present wrapping paper all over the floor, and and I've nearly exhausted my DVR reserves. I'm bored. I know, I know, only boring people get bored. So I took to my iphone today (did I mention I got an iPhone?!? So excited!) and hooked up with my friend Lisa and we braved the rain and had a dog park adventure. It was muddy and wet, but we rocked it and Lola and Bailey had a great time traversing the wood chips and grassy knolls. But then, just when we were all having a great time, Bailey decided to take a swan dive from the top of the hill. Here he is right before his jump:

Pretty vertical, right? He landed on his legs/side/back and jumped back up pretty quickly - recovering nicely with a sneeze, a shake, and a running in a circle. I'm pretty sure he'll be just fine (No, I wasn't standing there, taking photos of him and waiting for him to plunge to his death - he's a mountain goat and loves to climb; I have no idea why he decided to try that route towards me at that exact moment).

After Bailey's peril, Lisa and I went to One Stop Tattoo in the inner sunset. Lisa got inked, Kevin and I watched, and we all went out for Indian afterwards. A pretty great day all together. The power was out when I got home, though and power outages always really creep me out. I was able to hang in there like a normal person for about a half an hour, but that feeling of antsiness and restlessness overtakes me so quickly. Luckily, though, the power came back on before I started murdering anyone just for something to do. I've decided that my New Year's resolutions are to: 1. keep writing. 2. finish at least two pieces. 3. bake bread regularly. 4. exercise more. 5. MAYBE quit smoking (the jury's still out on the one).

My favorite youtube video

I really like this.

*UPDATE* I created this post solely for the purpose of showing a student how to create a link within their own Blogspot blog. My students this semester were awesome and their own student art blog projects turned out great. Here's to the conclusion of another semester (read: I need a drink)!

Rainy Days

Rain is one of the things I will always love - the tap, tap, tap against a window; the cool smell and freshness of wet earth; the reminder that we aren't really in control of anything. It is a time for poetry, a time for living without thinking. Close your eyes and imagine me.

...


When the weather is cold and you can feel it in your lungs.
When it hurts to breathe
in too deeply, and the sharp pain in your chest sends warning to your entire nervous
system.
When you can feel me, behind you, watching.
That is when you are ready.

For Your Consideration

If I knew how to use Photoshop (or any of the other thousand softwares taught at the Academy of Art), I would make a For Your Consideration poster advertising my own greatness.

"The best at everything," - Carleigh's boyfriend. 

"Amazingly beautiful, incomparably talented," according to her dog. 

"Just okay," - her best friend.

But I can't, so I won't.

Why am I so full of myself? I'm not really - it's just a facade I wear so that no one can see my little broken heart.

Writers on writers

I had to ask the question: what do you do when your friends, other writers--in order to promote themselves and their work--become ubiquitous to the point of obnoxious? I follow my favorite writers on Twitter, and they're so whiny that I don't want to read their books anymore.

His answer was good - just defriend people. You can't have a personal connection to being unfriended either, and you have to be generous with your work. Give it away, share it, comment on other peoples' posts, and be interactive. I liked his answer.

Seth Harwood came to my writing class tonight to speak about getting published in the ever-changing, confused and confusing world of the writing social-industrial-complex, a.k.a. publishing. I like his approach - I too think that the accessibility of the digital reading medium is great for reading and writing. I'm excited about it. He is a dude writer, though, so I don't think I'll read him (and by dude writer I mean he writes about crime and mystery and dudes and stuff - I prefer weepy, emotionally wrought female issues).

So, writers on writing. As a reader on reading: keep it up.