How I Love a Three Day Weekend

What I've Done So Far This Weekend:

Went to the Spotlight dance competition in Oregon City, where Laura danced with Carlea. We left the house very early and it was very foggy on our way to Oregon City. Laura and Carlea were good, one of the few hip hop dance numbers at Spotlight. The rest was tap and jazz and other stuff. I thought Laura and Carlea were the best.

Picked up Girl Scout cookies that people ordered so I can give them to them!

Saw Pinback with Michael at the Wonder Ballroom. We enjoyed it. But after hearing them play for a while the idea of sitting down really appealed to me, and I was glad that Michael felt the same way. We left before the encore. But what we saw was great.

Ran 5 and a half miles.

Thought of titles for unwritten poems on my run but haven't written them down yet.

Met Daneen to talk about our new writing group. Poetry! It was just Daneen and I today at the Bipartisan Cafe, but in two weeks we will be at Daneen's house and there will be more of us!

Dyed my hair.

Watched the first Battlestar Gallatica miniseries, that we own on DVD. Now I want to watch the entire series. I love Laura Roslin.

Read some of the Theory of Clouds. I read some of the 2004 Best American Poetry because Lynn Hejinian edited it and I saw her last weekend so I wanted to remember who she picked for that edition.

Read some more of a friend's book so I can write a blurb for it.

Here's your Gertrude Stein excerpt for today: A light in the moon the only light is on Sunday.

Tomorrow I have another day off! Thank you Presidents!

Happy Valentine's Day

I am supposed to be grading student papers. Here I go.

Flowers for valentine's day! Lovely lovely flowers.

I am making creme brulee.

A poet I like asked me to write a blurb for her upcoming book.

Another poet friend has a new book out and it's sparkly and fresh.

I admit it, I have book envy.

Laura has a dance competition this weekend. Max has Little League tryouts.

I am writing a poem this week. I will finish it soon.

Li-Young Lee is coming next week. To the Newmark. I will be there too.

I have papers to grade. Here I go.

Your Gertrude Stein quote for the day: A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables.

Sigh.

Dead Fish Museum

Wow it's been quite a week for books and me (I can say that because this is MY blog).

Mary Oliver on Tuesday! She read and talked about writing. Tonight, just around the corner at the Heathman, Charles D'Ambrosio read from The Dead Fish Museum and talked about writing. He is working on a novel, and I thought he said some interesting things about writing essays and writing stories. If I was a loquacious blogger I'd talk for several paragraphs about what he said but you know by now that's not my style. I saw him. He was good.

I have signed books by Mary and Charlie now and I like getting books signed by authors. I like what Mary said about showing up to write every day. Charles is pro writing programs! Go writing programs! Meet other writers! Connect! Teach each other stuff!

I have been playing this stupid stupid game on Facebook where you put things in your pack and then you also steal them from other people and you get points if you make sets. I allow myself 10 minutes or so doing this every few days, although Saturday, when I first started playing it, I think I spent like 20 minutes. It's kind of like an aggressive GO FISH card game. I think it also can be seen as a kind of metaphor for something having to do with consumerism.

If you're not too tired to think in those ways, which I kind of am right now. Plus it's kind of trite to say something is a metaphor for consumerism because that's like so easy. Except Ratpack (I think that's the name or something) is about GETTING STUFF, so I don't think it's entirely off base. But maybe too obvious.

My office is a mess. I ran three miles today and I have been working on a poem this week that I'd like to finish a draft of soon.

My dogs want their walk.