shannacompton.com: blog

Migrating

2010-02-11T14:31:00.003-05:00

In the next week or so, hopefully, I will be migrating the various Blogger pages built into this site (http://www.shannacompton.com) to newly created subdomains.

I will be doing this because Blogger will no longer support FTP publishing to paths on my domains.

Aside: I love saying "my domains."

Anyway, what this means is that the URLs for the pages will change formats, like: www.shannacompton.com/blog.html will become blog.shannacompton.com.

This will also affect the "readings" and "poems" and "gamers" pages here. The other pages will stay where they are.

I will put in redirects and fix the nav bar so the new pages will be automatically found. But if you could update your blogrolls/links/bookmarks that'd be cool.

In fact this is probably a pretty good time to do a full redesign of little ol me-dot-com but WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT SHIZNIT?

I just wanted to mention this will be happening in case the folks who stop by during the switchover are freaked out thinking I've died or something. Like my mom.

OK, my mom doesn't really read this blog. So like, Jen or Maureen or whoever you lovely people are.

Love,
s

Film review

2010-02-09T15:22:00.001-05:00

The Stepfather contains John Locke (with full-frontal and backal nudity), a deeply troubled-yet-prescient teen girl (more frontal and backal nudity), not one but TWO shower scenes, wigs and other late 80s hairpieces, an awesome rusted-out muscle car, some of the worst expository dialogue evah, a highly fanciful plot based on an utterly whack true crime, and a damn fun (and bloody with knives and a classic attic gag) climax. Also it gave me nightmares.

Or you can opt to see the 2009 REMAKE. Because that's how the 21st Century rolls.

Friday night with Jennifer L. Knox, et al.

2010-02-03T08:53:00.003-05:00

To come one, come all ...

And join LIT Magazine & Housing Works Bookstore Cafe for an evening of
literary refreshment, complete with prose, poetry, and a dandy selection
of snacks and beverages.

Your invitation is cordially attached. (Please note: The date of the
event is FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2010 and begins at 7 PM sharp.)

Celebrate: The LIT 17 Launch Party!
Time: Friday February 5, 2010 at 7 PM
Place: Housing Works Bookstore Cafe
Address: 126 Crosby Street in SoHo.

With readings by Sasha Feltcher, Phillip Gardner, Jennifer L. Knox, and
Anne Ray.

Sasha Fletcher's novella WHEN ALL OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED MARCHING BANDS
WILL FILL THE STREETS AND WE WILL NOT HEAR THEM BECAUSE WE WILL BE
UPSTAIRS IN THE SKY is due out from ml press in December in the year
2010. He is an MFA candidate in Poetry at Columbia University in the
city of New York.
http://anicecoldcocacola.blogspot.com]

A three-time winner of The South Carolina Fiction Project, Phillip
Gardner has recently appeared in The North American Review, Haydens
Ferry Review, Potomac Review, and New Delta Review. He is the author of
Someone To Crawl Back To, a collection of short stories. Two new
collections, That Place Love Built and Freaks Out are forthcoming.

Jennifer L. Knoxs new book, The Mystery of the Hidden Driveway, is
forthcoming from Bloof in fall 2010. Her first two books of poems, Drunk
by Noon and A Gringo Like Me are also available from Bloof Books. Her
work has appeared three times in the Best American Poetry series, as
well as in the anthologies Best American Erotic Poems and Great American
Prose Poems: From Poe to Present.

Anne Ray was raised in suburban Maryland and has been an English
teacher, a waitress, a gardener, and a fish monger. She attended the
Brooklyn College MFA Program and the undergraduate writing program at
Carnegie Mellon University. Her fiction appeared in Brooklyn Review, and
her nonfiction has appeared in Washington City Paper and Baltimore City
Paper. She lives in Brooklyn.

Sincerely,
The Editors

NEW at Delirious Hem

2010-02-01T11:59:00.001-05:00

Delirious Hem announces: This is What a Feminist [Poet] Looks Like #2, where each day this week you will find new responses.

Featuring:
Monday February 1: Ching-In Chen, Jennifer Bartlett, & Kate Durbin
Tuesday February 2: Juliet Cook & Kate Schapira
Wednesday February 3: Kirsten Kaschock & Michele Battiste
Thursday February 4: Michelle Detorie & Stephanie Strickland
Friday February 5: T.A. Noonan & Theodora Danylevich

There are likely as many strains and modes of feminist poetics as there are of feminism, but in reviews, discussions, and even our own manifestos, we often fall into shorthand that fails to explore this valuable friction, our own variations. I'd longed for unpacking, and so issued this open-ended call:

This is What a Feminist [Poet] Looks Like: what branch of feminism, model of feminist poetics, feminist icon, or etc. informs your poetry? Or, from which of these does your poetry diverge? Are there particular feminist tactics you employ? Do you consider yourself a feminist in many ways, but don't particularly involve it in the poetry? Feel free to take liberties with the questions! Short, long, essay, manifesto, whatever appeals to you!

Our first forum was full of such provocative, funny, thoughtful, revealing, and kick-ass work, I thought we'd better run another. We hope you'll enjoy and join in the conversation. If you post on your own blog in response to this conversation, please drop a note in the comments! --Danielle Pafunda

Cool shit from the future

2010-01-31T21:20:00.001-05:00

Rec'd: January 2010

2010-01-28T13:19:00.006-05:00

Dance Poems by Mark Lamoureux: Handsewn chapbook | Dusie/Cy Gist 2010
Boris by the Sea by Matvei Yankelevich: Paperback | Octopus 2009
Tuned Droves by Eric Baus: Paperback | Octopus 2008
undersleep by Julie Doxsee: Paperback | Octopus 2008
40 Watts by C. D. Wright: Handbound hardcover | Octopus 2009

I'm going to try to be better about thinking aloud here, and hope to get back to reading notes/informal reviews, as my too-crazy schedule allows. But at very least I can note what comes in the mail, including both purchases and gifts.

I have several more Dusie chaps and a few other things to add later.

(Later: )

Abraham Lincoln: No. 5, edited by K. Silem Mohammad & Anne Boyer: Zine | 2009
The Devestation by Jill Alexander Essbaum: Chapbook | Cooper Dillon 2009
Remainland by Aase Berg, trans. Johannes Göransson: Paperback | Action Books 2005
Maximum Gaga by Lara Glenum Paperback | Action Books 2008
Killing Kanoko by Hiromi Itō, trans. Jeffrey Angles Paperback | Action Books 2009
zaum alliterations by Marthe Reed: Handmade chapbook | Dusie 2010
A Man About Town by Robert J. Baumann: Handmade chapbook | Hey Tiger 2009
Well Meaning White Girl by Alli Warren: Handmade chapbook | Mitzvah Chaps 2009
Hokku Notebook by Jack Spicer: Handmade chapbook | The North Beach Yacht Club, aka Ryan Murphy 2009

Film review

2010-01-25T16:12:00.002-05:00

Public Enemies. What? Who are all these people getting shot? Set in bygone days when the criminals were populist instead of corporate, even Johnny Depp cannot save this one. Perhaps Christian Bale should have thrown a tantrum during filming.

Film review

2010-01-24T16:08:00.003-05:00

Moon riffs on both 2001 and Blade Runner (both of which are favorites), among others. And Sam Rockwell plays ping-pong against himself. I loved the model miniatures, and Gerty the computer. Also, director Duncan Jones is A) adorable and B) David Bowie's son.

Film review

2010-01-21T11:05:00.003-05:00

My favorite part in Night Moves in when Gene Hackman is on the boat on his way to get the sunken valuables with whatshername and he's leaning back with his arms spread out and says in a somewhat accusatory tone, "Your erect nipples."

Film review

2010-01-20T21:03:00.002-05:00

The Hurt Locker was boring.

Poetry moves

2010-01-13T09:04:00.002-05:00

Elisa Gabbert & Mike Young put together a ballroom dancing diagram for your favorite indoor sport.

Oh nine

2009-12-31T11:32:00.001-05:00

In January embarrassment is a virtue and a lot of people are wonderful. A motheaten, a thankgoodness of blank space. Smell nice for the new president. It's just crushed nuts you know. Cut hours, OK. In February, shopped in the bitter glitter for fake Fendis purple kneehigh boots with Anne and we ate Indian with Jen. Laughter would be our vocabulary. Everytime I close my eyes I see Chinatown baubles. A brief interlude with a minor flu. Snowblown at the sculpture garden. In March the birds are back, and that means it's nearly finally spring. I'm a bit trepid, worrying about a family matter that hopefully will turn out to be nothing [but didn't]. Flexing muscles. We're looking at April as 30 opportunities to stun, amuse, titillate, annoy, confound, flatter, coddle, creep out, harrass, tickle, flay alive, and smooch you. (In other words, we wrote some poems.) This kind of wanton abundance must be bad for literature. WE DESTROY CULTURE. Dental surgery. One year vegan, never better. Tyrant May brought a rough week for the homeboys, a former love an overdose, another friend lost, and Mom in a tangle of surgeries. I hopped an airplane. A cancer removed. A fever too high. A panicked infection. I missed two weeks of work that felt like years, in a hospital, driving on a highway in a rented van, a clan of worriers, a pack of women. But then a wedding, dear friends discovered their best fit, in a green dress in the rain, in a clearing mental weather, a resettling home. So it wasn't all bad, some running and hiking, plenty of flowers and pets and a husband who makes breakfast to take out on the patio. But of hospitals I've had enough, and bad news too. Please hurry, June, with your vegetables boxed and bouncy, white-lit weekends of woods and finally some good news for my mother, no chemo or radiation to come. Snapping turtle warning on the farm, overly raindrenched, luxuriantly muddy. Come July, my dreamed tee shirt said I RAN TRACK AT MINEOLA PREP. A new hammock. Some visitors. A blueberry hunt in the pine barrens, a full flat of harvest, a colony of bees, a rescued turtle, a few sunburned spots. A decade of LIT. Sultry August, we headed for Maine in a pair of kayacks with stacks of books and good pens. Surprised to discover a book has mostly written itself, under my unknowing nose. Commit to it. The argument is love. September brings our reconstructed mother, lovely and healthy. We pick apples. We go to Philly to show her the Liberty Bell. She likes the murals. Our sister comes too. October seems empty, though it wasn't. And we'd gathered hickories and walnuts. Dug sassafras. We skull-decked the house and portioned out sweets. November, remember, already rolling the downward the slope to the end went so fast. We drove to the Catskills. Built some fires, played silly games with friends. December, still sliding, a birthday an airplane a Christmas two snowstorms a deep breath a reset an end.

Last chance to score a free book!

2009-12-30T16:02:00.001-05:00

The Bloof Bundle special ends December 31. ($45 includes our 4 latest books, free shipping, donation to POETS IN NEED & a matching donation from Bloof! Quite a deal!)

Details here.

Sign it like ya mean it

2009-12-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

or, Start a Petition

Bloof news

2009-12-14T09:05:00.001-05:00

Crossposted from the Bloof Blog:

The blurbs for Peter Davis's forthcoming book Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! are rolling in.

Mairead Byrne says "Passing Professor Davis's office door yesterday--Professor Davis’s closed office door--I found myself wishing he was on a Fulbright like before, not a MacArthur, so that he would be back among us sooner, casting his brilliant (and humane) light. Because how is our intellectually restless little ivied community to survive without him? This book will help. From a time when he was young, full of hope, teaching in Muncie, it looks us straight in the eye, inviting us to identify with this nubile and insouciant David--before he became the giant that is Peter Davis."

Check the others (by Kenneth Goldsmith & Daniel Nester, with more on the way) out on Peter's new PPP-related blog here. We expect to have copies in time for AWP.

Becca Klaver reviews Warsaw Bikini in the latest edition of h_ngm_n:

"Simonds’ poems are rocket-speed soliloquies. They’re the opposite of Wordsworth’s 'emotion recollected in tranquility': instead, they are acts projected out of anxiety, revealing the artistic propulsion of that psychic state—the prismatic, sometimes madcap voices and visions waiting where its arrow touches down.

If the turns of Warsaw Bikini’s diction and imagery dazzle as consistently as the book’s title leads you to believe they will (and they will!), there might be some room for the forms to better direct their glint. Many poems consist of dense, imagistic leap-laden stanzas snaking thickly down the page ('A System of Sufficient Complexity,' 'The Truth About the Pills I Took,' 'The America You Learn From'), but I tend to prefer the ones that use shorter lines and more white space, the ones that visually alert their leaps, deftly place their puns, and provide a defined, if rugged, structural landscape for the speaker to climb up or ski down (e.g., 'You Should Put a Neighborhood on That,' 'I Am Small,' and 'Tomorrow’s Bright Bracelets')."

Read the rest here.

Anne Boyer on Warsaw Bikini: "Sandra is a fellow-traveler to some celestial organization, a down low ideologue for the heavens, as if an aesthete were mistaken for an astronaut and given, as a costume, scuba equipment, and given, as reading material, Das Kapital." Read the rest here.

Sandra's chapbook Used White Wife (Grey Book Press) makes Nate Logan's Best of 2009 list at No Tells.

And she's got a new poem up at The New Post-Literate: A Gallery of Asemic Writing.

Carrie Lorig reviews My Zorba for Lesser of Two Equals:

"Some poets take language out for a long, leisurely lunch and a stroll. Danielle Pafunda drags language out of bed in the middle of the night and takes it on a desperate mission through the war-torn house of the body.

Mirrors explode and shattered glass rains down on the mostly female narrator of Pafunda’s book, My Zorba, as she fights with an imaginary, mostly male character named Zorba. 'I could only think in small pieces!/I could not speak in first person! The copper wire/strung!/From my armpit, a personality exam, a pelvic diatribe' (In the Museum of Your Two Halves). Confusion, urgency, shape-shifting, and struggle maims every poem in My Zorba, producing language that is fragmented and mysterious, that jolts and halts like an ancient amusement park ride. It is as terrifying and difficult as it is beautiful; a drunk horror story covered in glitter."

Read more here.

And watch for Danielle's appearance on the Delirious Hem 2009 Adventskalendar on the 21st.

Jennifer L. Knox's poem "Why We Came and Why We Stayed" from A Gringo Like Me appears in The Lineup an annual chapbook of poems from Poetic Justice Press. Mystery Scene Magazine reviews the collection in their latest issue:

"Hardly representing the 'roses are red' school of poetry, these 20 poems smash into the dark heart of murder like a bullet into bone. Especially effective is Jennifer L. Knox's 'Why We Came and Why We Stayed,' which reveals a 'White-gloved, big-boned, wide-eyed wife.'

More info here.

Jen gets a nod from Mark Bibbins in this interivew with Bomb Magazine: "The person wearing the sweater in a Currin painting might also be naked from the waist down, which will always make someone uncomfortable, so he’s a good artist to invoke. John Waters and Gabriel Gudding and Jennifer Knox and Eileen Myles and Andy Warhol are others. Taste needn’t be merely 'good.' Solemn reverence is the default 'good taste' mode, and such poems look like parody to me at this point. On the other hand, if snark is your default and you don’t somehow tweak or transform it, that’s just as dull." Read the rest of the interview (and info on Mark's new book, The Dance of No Hard Feelings) here.

And she's got a new poem in InDigest and three more (including one from Drunk by Noon in The Awl. Don't miss 'em.

Anne Boyer on For Girls (& Others):

"Appropriation is always a slant authorship, aggravating to those who want to believe a poem is something with which we can disagree. This technique always has exactly a feminist cunning, and always a feminist heritage (the Baronness, Acker). We steal shit. It's not okay. It is sideways and deflecting and done with our under-hand out. [...] So Shanna Compton in For Girls & Others, steals shit, specifically from an old-fashioned instruction manual For Girls, also a little from that great heaving machine of cruel instruction, The Internet. To steal words to screw them up and then to self-publish them is for a girl (subjected to cruel instruction) like doing everything you were instructed against. This is a book made from elegant defiance. Compton means almost nothing of what she steals and says, not directly. She does not want us or our girl-offspring, to remain "soft / pink / forlorn."

Shanna also reads a poem for day 13 of the Delirious Hem 2009 Adventskalendar, curated by Susana Gardner of Dusie. Direct link.

Read the rest here.

Message from Jennifer "El" Knox

2009-12-09T17:21:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody, I just started this group on FB called "Art not Live Trees for Rockefeller Center."

I sure hope you all sign up, aside from those of you not on FB (website tk), and I hope that you invite thousands of people.

But even more than that, I hope those of you with blogs and media connections and whatnot give this a holler.

You should know I've never done anything like this (asked for your blog/talk space) in my life. But here's why I'm doing it:

I can't end dog fighting or sunbear bile harvesting or seal hunts.
I can't end open pit strip mining or the genetic modification of our food.
I can't end Rwandan genocide.
I can't stop red state puds from buying Sarah Palin's book.

But this tree thing, it's totally doable!!!!!!!!! Can't you hear the clock running out on this "tradition"?
I'm working on a website.
I hope you'll join me. Let's see how many signatures, and god willing, any press we can get.

Knoxoxoxox

For those of you not on FB, details below.

"Art not Live Trees for Rockefeller Center"
The world needs living trees--especially giant ones--and the world needs art! What a coincidence!
Let's collect thousands of names supporting this alternative to Rockefeller Center for their annual Christmas Tree:
1) Invite artists from around the world to submit proposals for a 76 ft-high (the height of 2009's tree) ILLUMINATED art installation.
2) All proposed installations must be created from 100% recycled materials
3) For the money that Rockefeller Center and NBC spend on cutting down a living tree, an artist can create an amazing, one-of-a-kind, once-in-a-lifetime work of art.
The time is now to usher in sustainability and environmental consciousness as the new tradition!
Website's coming soon. Please tell your friends and your friend's friends. Let's tell NBC and Rockefeller center that there is an alternative!

Delirious Hem's third annual adventskalendar...

2009-12-01T20:03:00.002-05:00

...curated by the lovely Susana Gardner is now up for your (delirious) delectation.

Take a peek...erm, a listen!...every day in Dec. through the 24th!

Here.

Film studies

2009-11-15T12:06:00.002-05:00

To Live & Die in L.A. had a really really really really REALLY stupidbadawfulimpossible ending, but Gil Grisom was pretty hot and I enjoyed the wardrobes, cars, hairstyles, the "evil artist" as played by Willem Dafoe, and even the music by Wang Chung.

In other words: 1985.

On shoulds (and the suffix -ass)

2009-11-10T12:33:00.001-05:00

There's always such a longass list.

OK, enough

2009-11-05T09:33:00.002-05:00

The "mundane" project has run it's course.

Probably you were not actually reading all that.

It's hard to stay strictly "action-oriented"--and difficult not to embellish or edit for effect, etc. These are literary habits. Eh, so I'm a writer. Knew that.

But I really shouldn't complain about my job so much. I've been doing it too long to find it challenging, true, but that's sort of the benefit of it. I can leave it at the office. I almost never think of the office when I am not there. And the people in my department are creative and easy to get along with. It's flexible, yet steady, and the pay is fine. I actually do enjoy it too. Describing things is a pretty decent job for a poet.

I sound grumpier than I really am in these, which is sort of funny. I think because I tried to intentionally cut myself off from writing much about how I was feeling/thinking and focus on what I was doing. Somehow that was easier with more contented thoughts and observations. The grumpiness, in other words, seemed more remarkable. I suppose that's lucky.

On the other hand a few "sweet" moments with S came through too. So I guess the middle-register stayed mostly out and the highs/lows snuck in. OK.

I'm going to work on being more organized (especially on commuting days--there's lots of "wasted" time, even if I feel like I'm always going going going). And that procrastination habit--alas, lifelong--well, I'll work on that too.

Hi blog.

Dailies

2009-11-04T22:09:00.002-05:00

Decided not to record any activities unless they are sufficiently different from previous days; so insert "morning routine"
Except: checked election results while drinking coffee. OMG Maine, you suck! But OK, Washington, we'll take it; and NY-23 too, I guess. VA not surprised, and I knew that last night.
Morning routine continued
Breakfast: S had bowls of rolled outs with dried fruit set out when I came downstairs, so I finished them with frozen strawberries, cashews, soy milk & zapped them while making lunches
Morning routine continued; S grumpy about elections too, but also because he's going to miss the 8:57 train
Morning routine/train commute/etc. Nothing of note, except that I am once again not in the mood to work on the train, especially with that raucous 12-man party on their way to the World Series a few seats ahead, spanning both sides of the aisle
Walked from Penn to office, stopping for coffee cuz I guess I need extra today
Arrived at work; hit by too-high heat the moment I entered the floor, ugh
Finished "status updates" for yesterday, quickly
Decided not to call these "status updates" anymore, & thought about how difficult it's turning out to be to be strictly "action-oriented" and "purposefully mundane"
[Worked (that blouse from yesterday is still UGLY); hours passed]
Had trouble concentrating; frittered away time with poetry blogs via Google reader, vegan blogs, not really interested in anything, news, etc.
Emailed with Jen
Ate lunch at desk: big green salad of arugula and butter lettuce, with tomatoes, carrots, and smoked tofu, with lemon; 1/2 red pepper stuffed with hummus; should have put in some cucumber, forgot
Then went out to park to read, setting timer for remaining 20 minutes; too cold to really be enjoyable, and they're putting those "holiday shopping" kiosks up in the park
Back to work 3 minutes before alarm; sun behind cloud = too cold
Emailed with S; again with the vacation stuff; frustrated he won't make a decision but also glad we habitually decide things together, so opt not to be annoyed
Worked through afternoon, mostly [hours passed]
Forgot to say what outfit I picked: short/wide-sleeve mulberry cowl-neck sweater with buttons on the shoulder (liked it so much I also got black), with chocolate cords & chocolate ankle boots (all footwear is vegan unless otherwise mentioned--i still have a few pregan pairs i wear to work sometimes); felt the need to be a little tough today because of my pouty mood
RE: this MOOD the past couple of days...hormones don't play. Can I get a secular equivalent to "amen"?
Starting to spend parts of my day mentally listing things for this "mundane project;" which is *almost* like living in the moment, except sort of stupid & self-conscious
Already fantasizing about how to spend my next two "free" days, when I "work from home"--alternating between determination to be productive to romantic thoughts of lounging, reading, writing and cooking; interesting that I consider writing a leisure activity, but when I start thinking of it as work I'll probably procrastinate; deep mental sigh
As it stands now, I procrastinate on work and practical shit, and leisure time, i.e. writing time, gets frittered away in stall tactics; hmm, yes, this *is* illuminating but I am breaking my project rules
Because my habit is to try/hope to be interesting, even here, which is supposedly not the point of this project; I CAN'T STOP PERFORMING
Worked some more; thought how silly very tall models over 30 look in frilly dresses, i.e. this is how I feel in them and I am projecting? No, they really seem too girly for grown women; I do not like this trend.
Considered sponsoring a turkey from Farm Sanctuary; cue "running a sanctuary" fantasy, briefly
Worked some more; shit it's 3:15, get busy! Must demonstrate productivity in status update at end of day.
Stopped working at 6:00, status update sent; walked to Penn
Caught train; read news/emails on the train, read some more Why They Kill
Rode home in car
Changed; watched news, half-assedly
Made dinner: artichoke hearts, arugula, tomato, black olives w/ ww spirals
S cleaned up; Michael Musto's Palin gag was dumb; Dan Savage on Obama re: gay rights: "not a fierce advocate...not doing squat"--gotta agree there
Turned down heat, washed, brushed, etc.
Read in bed; lights out at 10:30ish

Status updates

2009-11-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Woke after only one snooze, because we had to make time to vote
Chilly, dressed in robe
Went downstairs for coffee; not ready yet
Saw unopened package from poet on table; eek! reminded me I needed to send her something back
Opened package and looked through chapbook while waiting for coffee; received coffee
Drank coffee while reading chap, checking email (deleting, not answering), checking weather, & looking over sample ballot
Campaign-worker friend texted to remind us to vote; joked with her about opponent & wished her good luck at her site today
Read candidates' statements on back of ballot by previously unheard-of candidates: libertarian likes pot legalization and gay marriage but also wants to abolish public schools and all taxes; one of the independents bills himself as "one man on the Internet" and spends part of his 500 words recommending his favorite you-tube videos, ooooookay; finished coffee :(
Jumped up to go shower; washed hair (roots only), conditioned, combed, etc.
More grooming; moisturizing
Dressed in outfit chosen during shower; not pleased; changed into alternative outfit; still not pleased; added belt. That's better: short-sleeve turtleneck sweater in "Prince Purple" (remembered the tag), black ponte knit trousers (admired fit), black flats with trouser socks, wide black faux reptile belt (yay Betsey Johnson) over sweater; considered; judged uninspired but serviceable for work & I gotta get movin
Downstairs to make breakfast x 2: half grapefruit, half banana, watermelon chunks, whole grain toast with peanut butter, carrot juice
Ate breakfast with S; took multivitamin, D2, and vegan DHA; discussed grapefruit's weird interaction with some drugs, none of which we take, and some other estrogen-related effect I can't remember but am not worried about
Cleaned up breakfast things, sort of; no time to empty & reload dishwasher
Brushed teeth
Repacked bag with book (from bedside), all other things still in bag from yesterday
Put on coat
While waiting for S, went to front porch and used ladder to finish removing skull banners from Halloween
Folded ladder; no time to put back in closet on back porch
S came out; grabbed my bag and two packages for post office
Walked to post office on the way to our polling place
Walked to polling place; damn, we could have driven and saved a few minutes--plenty of parking
Chatted with elderly election day volunteers, one of which asked about my accent
Voted, #157
Waited for S to vote
Walked back to house; got in car
Rode in car to train station; applied makeup in car; listening/discussing Atlas Sound CD
Parked, waited for train
Caught train; read news on phone; checked political blogs, mildly fretting re: election in NJ and gay rights initiatives in ME and WA
Stared out window, enjoying sun on my side of train
Listed to S laugh; noticed his ears turned red he was laughing to so hard and his book; adorable, said so, receiving embarrassed mock scowl
Messed around on phone some more; didn't feel like pulling out book or Bloof MS with only 15 minutes left
Arrived at Penn Station
Walked to office--warmer today! Sunny!
Worked
[Hours passed, uneventfully]
Thought about where to get lunch, and wondered if it were warm enough to sit outside
Decided, left building; answer to warm enough question: not really
Realized that right now is best time to be walking though Times Square; summer/fall tourism seems slack, Xmas madness not yet begun
Smiled at a family posing for pics with Spongebob Squarepants (with cute pedicab driver looking on, laughing)
Got lunch; scored a small table by window
Ate lunch: steamed collards, kale salad with pumpkin seeds, marinated mushrooms, hummus & small carrot-ginger soup
Browsed Facebook accounts, made a couple comments; looked through high-school friend's retro photos
Browsed news; no election updates
Finished lunch; walked back to office without zipping coat; the sun was awesome today
Washed hands, primped, etc.
Made green matcha tea (thought how sweet it was for S to pack tea box for me last week because I always forget--this experiment is making him look good! :))
Got back to work, enjoying tea
Boredom soon set in
Problems with photo server
Browsed recipes for cabbage on Vegetarian Times (great free database and you can click vegan)
Worked some more; not many emails today (to go unanwered, ha ha)
S emailed re: possible vacation spot; I agreed, but we decided to wait for more replies
Worked some more
Hit the proverbial wall upon seeing a top and thinking "Wow, that's hideous" and deciding I should stop writing for the day
Texted S to see if he could leave yet
Walked to Penn Station
Waited for & caught train
Checked for election results on phone; nothing yet
Read on the train: Savage Season (almost finished); too brain dead to work on Bloof stuff; My attention span for anything technical is pretty short after a full day of describing garment details, them's the breaks

--
[Finished Weds. morning:]
Rode in car from station
Arrived home; changed
Snacked on hummus & flax crackers because I didn't feel like making dinner yet
Turned on MSNBC to check election news; watched part of Keith; watched part of Rachel; fretted Christie was ahead; no news on ME or WA yet
Made dinner: quickie stir-fry (without the fry) of napa cabbage, red pepper, carrot & tofu with leftover brown rice; ate watching Rachel
Three truffles to ease election fretting
Cried out in pain when MSNBC called NJ for that asshole; retreated to bed in dismay
Washed, brushed, read until Savage Season was finished; started Why They Kill; too grumpy to get into it; went to sleep surprisingly quickly

Status Updates

2009-11-02T22:10:00.003-05:00

Woke, oh shit a little late, when husband came upstairs to say coffee was ready
Sleepily hated Mondays
Brrrrrr, dressed in robe
Went downstairs, found coffee waiting by my chair :)
Drank coffee, checking weather and deleting email
Realized again how bad I've become at *answering* emails
Thought about what to wear to work while finishing coffee
Showered, washed & combed hair; twisted up in a bun to let down to dry on the train
Dressed, changing twice: teal cowl neck dress with black buttons, sheer black pointelle tights, black boots
Back downstairs to make breakfast: rolled oats in a bowl, with dried fruit, frozen raspberries, frozen mango chunks, soy milk & cashews (microwaved on reheat) x 2
While microwaving, made 2 lunches: green salads with tomatoes, carrots, steamed broc & cauliflower, lemon + then heated black eyed peas for 2 thermoses
Ate breakfast with husband
Brushed teeth, applied makeup
Packed bag with lunch; packed purse with Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale (because I finished The Princess of Burundi last night), Bloof project, etc.
Cleaned up kitchen
Drove to train station with husband riding shotgun
Waited for train, laughing at a guy rocking out on his headphones
Caught train, secured good triple seat; spread out and began reading while husband worked on the laptop
[an hour goes by]
Arrived at Penn Station
Walked from Penn Station to office (brrrrr! colder than I thought! glad I have gloves in my pocket.)
Arrived at work; sifted through off-day emails, addressing in order of urgency
Checked email; worked
Wandered around the floor, bored
Noticed a new water cooler had replaced old shitty one; got a drink, reusing the paper cup I keep in my desk
Worked
Emailed with Sandra
[hours pass]
Pouted because it was too cold to take my lunch outside; decided to go downstairs to 6th floor's kitchen since 13th's is loud, small & centrally located
Read more Savage Season while eating lunch. Mmmm, beans were still hot. Mmm, I was the only person in kitchen.
Washed & dried lunch things; washed hands; primped in restroom, etc.
Returned to desk
Clocked lunch for timesheets
Peeked at a few blogs and Facebook; nothing much happening
Skimmed news headlines; ditto
Reminded myself to vote in the morning; briefly indulged in negative fantasy re: outcome; mentally threatened the state of Maine & Washington but allowed myself to feel somewhat hopeful on those
Got back to work
[hours pass]
Emailed with husband about possible vacation plans for Thanksgiving
[hours pass]
Bored to the point of sleepy by "official Olympic-themed wear" by designer brand (ugly + expensive)
Everyone seemed to be in a meeting; appreciated not having to be there too
Completed today's work
Bored (work is the only place I am ever bored)
Deleted some emails; again, answered none (too busy to spend sufficient time on them)
Left 10 minutes early
Walked to Penn Station; seemed warmer
Met husband in station; caught train
Made short grocery list; out of everything but not in mood to do full trip
Read Huffington Post on my phone; found everything irritating
Rejected reality for fiction, again; more Savage Season
[a hour passed]
Rode in car to library so husband could return a book; rode to grocery store
Shopped, including dinner fixins
Rode home, watching for deer or foxes; saw neither
Changed
Husband brought in groceries & put most away, while I got dinner together
Ate dinner: 4-grain veggie burgers with fixins, green chile seitan & Mexican squash (all from prepared foods at grocery store since the cupboards were barish)
Husband comes back from clearing dishes with 2 truffles and a bar of dark chocolate (he's psychic!)
Ohhmmmm, sharing chocolate; the bar had dried cherries in it, slightly tangy with the dark bitter 70% cocoa (swooning)
Watched part of Keith Olbermann & part of Rachel Maddow; became irritated but also laughed a few times
Gathered mailing supplies & books for package going out tomorrow
Emailed Sandra
Blogged
---
Washing, brushing & in-bed reading (Savage Season) shall commence...now

2 unrelated facts

2009-11-01T22:00:00.002-05:00

1. Gathering is harder than hunting

2. Dust has a scent

Status Updates

2009-11-01T19:04:00.004-05:00

Hit snooze
Hit snooze
Woke
Peed
Redressed in PJs
Downstairs, cat trailing
Realized only enough coffee for one, plotted against husband
Made coffee
Husband concedes, has tea
Felt loved
Warmed soy milk for coffee
Drank coffee, reading The Princess of Burundi and checking email on phone
Took down most of Halloween decorations on the front porch, but left top skull banner up, not feeling like climbing the ladder
Read
Thought again that The Princess of Burundi is not as good as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but realized it was not fair to compare them just because they are both Swedish
Made breakfast: Polenta with Smart Ground, red bell pepper, onions, garlic, mushroom, fresh sage + watermelon
Ate breakfast, reading & watching husband read unknown book
Cleaned up, emptied & reloaded dishwasher
Soaked a bowl of black eyed peas; soaked a jar of mung beans for sprouts
Washed, dressed for gym, brushed teeth
Paid bills while waiting for husband to dress, wrote rent check while thinking complaining thoughts about landlord
Rode in car to post office to mail rent & Netflix, husband driving
Gym: warm up, stretching, lower body, treadmill running, steamroom, shower, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, dressed
Rode home
Made lunch: Roots & gourds soup with kale (leftovers), green salad with marinated daikon & red radish, whole wheat tortilla with Field Roast veggie sausage (chipotle)
Printed fresh copy of current Bloof project
Rode in car to coffee shop, husband sure is driving a lot lately, automatically
Abandoned coffee shop, coffeeless, when it proved too crowded
Wandered around grumpy, discussing where else we could go
Arrived at alternative coffee location, secured table, drank coffee, worked & watched husband work
Watched 40s couple on awkward public-place first date in corner; ignored less interesting college customers
Watched 40s man behind husband write in one of approx. 6 small Moleskin notebooks
Worked some more
Startled by beauty of yellow-leaved tree across the street, hit by late-afternoon sun in such a way it seemed lit from the inside--so bright!
Coffee buzz
Became annoyed at college-student girls turning up music & banging furniture to indicate nearing closing time (20 minutes)
Looked up Sunday hours for library
Packed up project
Walked toward library
Stopped at brew pub
Drank one pint Pumpkin Ale to counterbalance coffee buzz; husband had cask-conditioned Nut Brown Ale
Browsed bookstore while husband browsed record store; bought True Crime: An American Anthology (Library of America), a sociological study/collection of interviews Why They Kill, & Chester Himes The Real Cool Killers
Walked to car in parking garage, noticing awesome moon
Rode in car home (again) along back roads, watching for deer; no deer
Ew! Something in the garbage can stunk; took out trash; left kitchen door open to screen
Chopped onion, garlic, peppers, carrots to saute (mmm, much better odor) while rinsing and picking through black eyed peas
Put beans on to cook; watched for boil
Peeled remaining bundle of carrots, rinsed and refrigerated
Cleaned and trimmed 1 head each cauliflower & broccoli; turned beans to simmer & set timer
Steamed 1 head each cauliflower & broccoli
Thought "I haven't blogged in like a month; I am out of practice. I should write a status update."
Thought of George Perec's obsessively detailed food diary; Tom Beckett & Allen Bramhall's days projects
Husband poured two glassed of wine; we both briefly bitched about work tomorrow
Blogged

[to be continued]