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[Jul. 25th, 2008|03:49 pm] |
Here's what happened:
Wednesday 8:00 AM Rain starts. Nice drizzly rain. "Good for us, we need rain," I say. I start reading Book 4 of the Dresden Files: Summer Knight.
Wednesday 10:00 AM Tia Bea and Tia Lydia make chicken and potatoes "for laters". I sigh, wondering where I can fit this into the fridge. Hurricane Dolly is just swirling around off the cost. It's still raining.
Wednesday 12:01 PM I finish Book 4. I pick up Book 5.
Wednesday approximately 2:00 PM I set up the dvd player in the living room for my cousin, Diego. The power goes out. I swear under my breath, but this is not expected. Meterological condition: water is falling from the sky!
Wednesday 4:00 I am 100 pages in to book 5. I'm reading slow because I'm constantly distracted.
Wednesday approximately 7:00 PM Power is still out. Rain still falls. Wind is picking up. Humidity is around 100% and the temperature is 75 degrees Farenheith.
Wednesday 8:00 PM Power has been out for six hours. Rain has picked up. Wind has picked up. Temperature outside: 75. Temperature inside, thanks to kerosene and oil lamps: 85 degrees. No fans. Greatttt. I get out the chicken and potatoes. I thank my Tias.
Wednesday 10:00 PM My aunts and cousins are playing poker in the living room. I finish book 5. I lie in bed and try to sleep. Still raining. Wind speeds are approximately 30 mph, with 40 mph gusts, by my guestimates.
Thursday 1:00 AM I am still trying to sleep. The temperature increased as the eye of the storm passes a dozen or two miles north of me.
Thursday 8:00 AM Somehow, I fell asleep. I wake up, and call to see if power will be restored soon. I sigh in frustration when they tell me to wait and see. Rain has mostly stopped. Sun comes out. Temperatures increase.
Thursday 1:00 PM I get fed up, and go to my parents' house (who have power). We east chinese food. I help them move approximately 50 trashcan lids worth of branches and leaves from the house.
Thursday 8:00 PM I get done moving things around outside, I take my first hot shower in over 24 hours. I go home to assess the situation. We have power. I praise St. Lucy, Patron Saint of Electricians. |
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[Jul. 25th, 2008|02:39 pm] |
Rescue me
Oh take me in your arms
Rescue me
I want your tender charms
'Coz I'm lonely and I'm blue
I need you and your love too
Come on and rescue me |
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| tribute to the lovely and talented shannon leigh |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|09:33 pm] |
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| the quintessential slam poem? ME! ME! ME! |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|09:09 pm] |
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| 5 weeks since my last update |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|07:43 pm] |
im not as bummed
and
even more broke
life.... |
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| Comicon Impending |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|05:17 pm] |
Ladies and Gentlemen...
A new post. |
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| me and laura hodgson (1992) |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|07:17 pm] |
check out the entry earlier today to see who this is, and why she's important.
this photo was taken in san diego at the big journalism conference, shot just across the street from the extremely seedy motel we stayed in during the weekend event.
this photo was taken by a homeless man who had earlier been sleeping in a flower bed in front of the motel. i think he did a very good job framing the shot, making sure to get a nice view of the titty bars across the street from the motel.
later that night, laura and i would have our pillow fights, drink our vodka and orange juice, have our night-long conversation about the deepest subjects that we never, ever talked about with anyone else.
at this moment, we are both filled, utterly filled with the desire to kiss each other, to melt into each other's arms... we want it so bad and have no idea the other is feeling exactly the same way.
look at how hesitant she is at getting too close to me, the curve of her neck away from me, the crossed arms, my crossed arms... neither of us wants to assume too much. and yet, our hips are touching.
we have no idea that when it comes right down to it, we will both chicken out. we will slink away from the opportunity at following through with our deeper connection. neither of us has any reason at this point to doubt that we are about to launch a relationship that we've both been thinking about for some time.
at this point, everything is possible. neither of us has any idea that in just a year and a half, we will never see or speak to each other again. |
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| broken nail polish bottle... |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|05:45 pm] |
and bloody mary's.
enough said. |
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| the draw for the 2008 national poetry slam is out! |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|04:42 pm] |
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check it out here. |
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| when all else has failed you... |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|02:54 pm] |
...there is still something you can believe in...
abe vigoda is still alive! |
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| wisdom from a fortune cookie |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|02:48 pm] |
i ate at a chinese buffet today for lunch with my very best good friend, and here was the fortune cookie fortune i received wrapped in a slightly burnt cookie:
"reach for the stars, but keep your feet on the ground."
which is, you know, good advice, i suppose, since i'd apparently rather reach for the stars and get all disappointed when i can't run my fingertips across their little points, i mean, they're right there!
but it's also evidence that poor casey casem has fallen on hard times and is now toiling away in the basement of some chinese factory churning out fortune cookie fortunes.
help! i'm being held hostage! |
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| Updates |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|01:24 pm] |
1) My grandma died last week. She had been ill for a while, and so it's something of a relief that she's finally gone to her better place and she can relax. And yeah, so my extended family is down from California and living at my house. It's a family extravaganza. I've had 50 something people at my house at one time, just after the funeral. On the other hand, I'm getting to finally relearn the names of all my extended family neighbors.
2) Here I am, rock me, Missus Hurricane: Dolly is heading straight for me. Yeah, so I might not be around for a bit. I'll take pictures and post them up if there's a lot of interesting damage. |
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| on spontaneous connections in the dead of night |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|08:00 am] |
So, I've been thinking...
And I was reminded in these thoughts of someone I used to know.
I sometimes have to do interviews with newspapers or magazines or websites or students writing reports about slam poetry, and there's always a point in the questioning where I am asked about the origins of Big Poppa E.
It sounds like the kind of question you would ask Stan Lee about Spiderman or The Silver Surfer that would be answered in a special collectible double-issue comic with ornately foiled script across the cover: THE ORIGIN OF BIG POPPA E!
What they want to know, I suppose, is how I ended up with this alter-ego, this stage name, but even deeper than that, they want to know how I got to place in my life where I could get on a stage in front of a bunch of people and do whatever it is I do with nothing more than the amplified sound of my voice, and even more interestingly, how did I get there when I started out so shy?
And it all goes back to Laura Hodgson.
( more. ) |
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[Jul. 21st, 2008|12:43 pm] |
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In apartment, arrived safe-- a million things to say and tell, but not now-- just that I am very, very, very happy. |
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| Oh, Holy Night, indeed. |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|06:55 pm] |
Ladies and Gentlemen...
A new post. |
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| i didn't get the job. |
[Jul. 17th, 2008|10:46 am] |
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[Jul. 17th, 2008|08:58 am] |
I really just wish i could trust people, but most of the time there really isn't any reason to.
Secretly, I let people think I trust them but then in the end i'll never really believe in them. Its happened too many times that people act like backbiting douchebags. |
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| finished the new list poem |
[Jul. 16th, 2008|07:50 pm] |
free meals on airliners
smoking sections on airliners
smoking sections in bars in austin
the avon lady
tupperware parties
door-to-door encyclopedia salesmen
encyclopedias
elevator attendents
gas station attendents
full-serve pumps
leaded gasoline
answering machines with mini-cassette tapes
rotary phones
home phones
ten cent phone calls in phone booths
phone booths
payphones of any kind
collect calls (unless you're in jail)
long distance calls
typewriters
telegrams
morse code
ditto copiers
the smell of fresh purple mimeograph copies
carbon paper
slide rules
l.e.d. calculators
computer punch cards
cassette tape computer drives
floppy discs
the sound of a dial-up modem
the sound of a dot matrix printer
monochrome CRT computer screens with degauss buttons
electronic bulletin boards
9000-baud modems
usenet groups
library card catelogues
microfiche
drive-in movie theatres
betamax movies
laserdisk movies
vhs movies
mix tapes on actual cassette tapes
cassette tapes
cassette singles
45s
8-track tapes
reel-to-reel tapes
cd long boxes
cds
(notice i didn't say vinyl because vinyl is forever)
black and white film
35mm cameras
110 cameras
poloroid cameras
the walkman
the discman
records stores
record companies
grunge
radio stations that don't suck
music videos on mtv
black and white televisions with 13 channels and rabbit ear antennas
the television repair man
the milk man
the ice man
doctors who make house calls
newspapers printed on actual paper delivered to your doorstep by 12-year-olds on 12-speed bikes
12-speed bikes
banana seats
sissy bars
roller skates with metal wheels
lawn darts
clackers
stretch armstrongs
full posable gi joe with the kung fu grop and fuzzy hair
saturday morning cartoons
penny candy
pennies
comic books for a quarter
video games for a quarter
video game arcades
pinball machines
candy cigarettes
pull tabs on sodas
new coke
clear pepsi
zima
push mowers
waterbeds
men who wears bowties
men who tip their fedoras to say hello
men who wear fedoras
men who lend crying women their handkerchiefs
handkerchiefs (YUCK)
poodle skirts
sock hops
flowers and candy on first dates
dates
fallout shelters
air raid sirens
the berlin wall
east germany
rhodesia
the ussr
czecholslavakia (unless you're john mccain)
yugoslavia (unless you're john mccain)
bombay, india
constantinople
the berlin wall
the ozone layer
pluto
the sound of your voice
the feel of your warm body pressed against mine as we fall asleep
the smell of the back of your neck
the taste of your tears
washing your back
cooking you breakfast
the last time... we made love... |
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