Just a quick note before bed, I have started taking part in a website called www.writefight.org as a way to kick start my writing habit. Last week I won for a story called “Bird on a Wire” and I have a story to be posted for the title “Lightning Rod.” Check out the site if you can and vote for me if you think I deserve it. Of course I’d like to win, but the main point is that I get into the habit of writing again.

The stories posted there should be considered as first drafts, so if you have feedback or thoughts regarding them, please let me know. I probably won’t do rewrites in the near future, but will definitely consider expanding and working on some of them in the future.

I also want to put in a pitch for my friend Sarah Savage who is training for a triathalon in order to raise money for the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society. You too can help by going to her donation website and contributing. Go Sarah!!!

That’s about all for the nonce. Hope this morning finds you well, or at least as well as you can manage in this crazy world. Viva la revoluci√≥n!!

I’m doing data entry and have, for the past several days, had audio plays to listen to and they made the time go by really quickly because there was a narrative to follow along with. Today, the ones that seemed to have been transferred to my Ipod are not there. As much as I love music, this job (comparing a list of nearly 40,000 zip codes and towns to another list in order to catch any disparities) is so incredibly BORING!!! And nobody is on IM, and nobody is responding to my emails and have I mentioned OHMIGOD.

Turning 35 in a couple of weeks. Let’s just keep that between you and me, shall we? Thanks to Sandro for letting me have a party at his house.

Back to Millbrook, Millington, Montgomery, Mooseheart, Naperville …

Oh, if you are tired of living in a theocracy, check out this article about the history of the pledge of allegience. Written by a socialist – yay, baby a socialist!!

However, I have been a) busy and b) busy and c) have had little to say of interest.

I will work on it.

For your amusement:

Check out this post on the Best of Craigslist.

This is the second Ikea opening that I’ve heard about that has ended up with people being injured or dying.

Not a big fan of humanity at the moment.

Oh, and goodbye Arthur Miller.

Have been sick the last week or so. Was in NY staying with Joya from last Thursday – Monday morning and we were orginally going to an Image Theatre workshop but I wasn’t up to it. I’m finally starting to feel a bit better (sleep definitely helped).

I’m at work scanning in information about VCU alumni and came across an amazing glass artist. You can find his work here.

Watched Spiderman 2 last night while I was up coughing and unable to sleep. Had pretty much the same reaction as to the first: I liked it and I respected Sam Raimi’s devotion to really keeping with the feel of the comics, but it didn’t do a whole lot for me.

I’ve only heard one song from Jim White’s album Drill a Hole in the Substrate and Tell Me What You See. But it is a phenomenal song. Aimee Mann sings back up and you can find the song here.

I’ve also recently bought two albums: Marianne Faithfull’s Before the Poison and Badly Drawn Boy’s Fed the Fish. Faithfull’s album (with music by Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Damon Albarn, and Jon Brion and Lyrics by Harvey, Albarn and Failthfull) is a moody, spellbinding album that doesn’t quite have the power that I expected. The opening tracks, “The Mystery of Love” and “My Friends Have” (music and lyrics by Harvey) are solid and sound very much like PJ Harvey songs. These are followed by “Crazy Love” (lyrics: Faithfull, music: Cave), is slow, sweet. Cave’s music is simple, dominated by piano but supported wonderfully with violin and a touch of guitar. “Last Song” (music & lyrics: Albarn) is a bit overproduced for my taste, though the guitar and cello(?) are arranged quite beautifully. “No Child of Mine” brings us back to another PJ Harvey composition. This one is a bit more introspective, with acoustic guitars and Faithfull’s voice in a kind of call and response structure. While it is fine, the song feels a little empty to me, the lyics have an abstract quality that don’t seem to connect to the visceral, stab you in the guts. feeling that both women can instill in the listener.

More to come . . . but must do some homework.

I’ve been checking out different blog sites and communities, and while I like Salon.com – I don’t feel like buying the software that they require. At least now. So, this will be the new home for a while.