Link for the Quiz

Quizbuilder is not talking to blogger beta yet. So I had to post my quiz to ohmyquiz. You can take my quiz here.

question: beta?

mompoet - yeah right

skribbitzes

I just finished reading Scar Tissue, the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I found it to be an eye-opening, depressing and endearing read. I left the book amazed that this man is still alive and writing and performing, after so much drug use and so many accidents, injuries and bad mistakes. The character who emerges is an intense and intensely impulsive man with a good heart. Anthony Kiedis is a young soul. His story provides an insight into the power of addiction, life in the rock and roll fast lane and the interdependence of performers who work together for years. Most surprising to me was that Anthony is really insecure about his singing ability. I enjoyed learning about the events that inspired the songs, and about the process by which the band members write and record their songs together. I was amused by the love stories. It seems like this guy just has to look at a woman, like what he sees and say, "Hey you! Be my woman," and she will, for months or years of intense sex, fighting and sometimes drugs together. It's an adventure to read this life story.

***

I have another broken tooth and my arms are too short. What I mean by the latter is that I now have to take my glasses off to read when I am tired or if the light's not good. I need new glasses and I need my tooth fixed. It's to be expected, I guess. I'll be 45 in November. In the meantime I reassure myself with feats of physical prowess. Yesterday I hopped from one fitness class to another at the gym for a total of 90 minutes cardio flat out AND I LIKE IT! Thank you to Lisa the cycle class teacher for playing "Love Cats" by the Cure and a Peppers song, each at just the right moment. It's amazing what our brains can trick our bodies into doing.

All this is not to say that I'm in denial of aging. Here I am, right in the middle of my walking, talking life. I want to feel zesty now and for a long time. I think I'm on the right track.

***

New breakfast sandwich: toasted baguette with pesto and tomato slices. It's good. Try it.

***

Work continues to be an overwhelming avalanche of everythingness. I have been taking a few minutes to organize my stacks of work so I don't miss anything critical. I am taking time everyday to sit down and talk and laugh with my co-workers. I am not taking work home. I am trying not to take myself or my work too seriously. It's just a busy time. There have been busy times before. Every day there are nuggets of joy and moment here and there of, "Oh yes, that's why I love this job." So it's tiring but okay.

***

Halloween is coming. We'll decorate the carport this week. I'm thinking of sewing myself a new costume. I have a fabulous clown outfit (matching ones for the kids which they have outgrown) with an unfortunate hat (I'll tell you about that another time), and a beautiful kangaroo suit which is warm and snuggly. I haven't made a costume in a few years, since a sewed a cow suit for Fiona. Maybe I'll go to the fabric store after work today. That would be fun.

***

Scribbitz, grzl, skrink. Autumn wiggles in through the crack under the screen door. Let's put on our sweaters and find out what happens.

question: what befalls you as autumn arrives?

mompoet - sap going back down to the roots

what I saw this morning

crouching on wet lawn
chicks fledged and gone, robin stays
habit prevailing

question: what will poor robin do now?

mompoet - finding poetry in my morning dog walk

the perfect husband/the perfect wife

Two illustrative scenarios:

#1
10:49pm, the man and woman have just finished making love
she: Love you sweetie. 'Gnight."
he: Hey wait! You're going to sleep already? What about me?
she:I'ts almost 11. I'm really tired. What do you want me to do?
he: Put your head on my chest and tell me I'm great.
she:You ARE great. Really great. I'm just tired.

#2
9:17am, just before cycle class (the women are talking about their husbands)
wife #1: My husband is willing to help around the house. He just has no idea what to do.
wife #2: My husband eats an apple every morning and leaves the little fruit identification sticker on the counter beside the sink.
wife #1: Well, at least you know where he's been and that he's eating his fruit.
wife #2: Yeah, he's a good husband. But if he'd just put that sticker in the trash he'd be PERFECT.

question: I wonder, is that all it takes for us to go from good to perfect?

mompoet - pondering the nuances of human relationships

oh my gosh

I just watched Kandahar. It was beautiful and surprising and very sad. I am enjoying this movie-watching project of mine. One of the scenes that got me in the movie: a man who just scammed a crappy pair of artificial legs tries to sell them to a man who has legs. Who knows? there are land mines everywhere. It's good to have a spare pair with you just in case.

I need to watch some really funny ones now, for a break. Also everyone who is reading my crying poem is contacting me to find out if I'm really okay. I'm really okay. Really. Toss me a funny movie. I'm ready for laughing.

question: what's your pick for something funny that is not made in Canada or the US?

mompoet - thinking a lot about Afghanistan and looking forward to a day when funny movies will come from there. Can you imagine the Afghan version of Bollywood. Yes! In our lifetimes, I pray.

I could cry for one hundred days

all of the cakes, baked partway, collapsed and discarded
the late-dawning mud clots, slumped outside my window
the bite-down-hard nuggets of resignation
shame parading as forgetfulness
neglected intentions, accumulating like overdue fines
for unread library books
hurts endured, inflicted and ignored
the shortcuts that never tasted as sweet as I thought they would
the whole damn list that I have chewed, swallowed
spit out and written down again

all of these things would come squeezing out, sour and hot
my disappointment in myself
wetting my lap, leaving me soggy-sleeved and empty
snow-blind and pretending

I could cry and cry and go on living
cry while I sleep
cry while I eat
cry at work and in the car
cry talking to my children
walking the dog
making love
praying
washing the dishes

at the end of one hundred days
I would shovel damp tissues into the trash
wring out my sodden sleeves
change into dry pants
and begin the next one hundred

because I simply don’t know what else
I can do.

Question: could you?

mompoet - the rain came today

a video for people who have spent too much time looking at album covers

I found a link on dooce to this excellent YouTube video.

question: which covers stick in your mind?

mompoet - the worst thing about downloads is no cover art

haiku

her ears are soft but
not near as soft as the day
when I first met her

question: whose ears?

mompoet - dog-eared

bad dreams

The brakes don't work on my car, and there's an Indie road race happening in the parking lots along the route where I'm driving, with race cars darting across the road I'm driving and flag-people are trying to get me to stop to let the race cars through and I can't and the kids are in the car with me. My car goes forward and back like someone is moving it with a remote control.

A new houseplant. Someone pushes a button and laughs and the "Little Shop of Horrors" flower spins off the plant like a helipcopter and buzzes around my head and lands and now it's a bug with a green grasshopper head and it bites me on the hand. Everyone is laughing and thinking it's funny and cute but it hurts and I am scared.

question: what do dreams mean?

mompoet - needing to let go of some stress, I think

who couldn't love these lyrics

Oh I could throw you in the lake
Or feed you poisoned birthday cake
I wont deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone
Oh I could bury you alive
But you might crawl out with a knife
And kill me when I'm sleeping


or these


As I lie between these covers
I wanna tell her that I love it
When she chokes me in the
Backseat of her riverboat 'cause
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need

I'm listening to Scissor Sisters an American group. I got their new CD "Ta-Dah" then I had to buy their first one, "Scissor Sisters." They sound like Elton John meets the Bee Gees in some 1930s cabaret with a bit of Duran Duran around the edges. It's a weird combination that's tickling my music bone right now.

question: what are you listening to these days?

mompoet - oh, and there's a beautiful lisp too

Lotsa Movies

On Thursday, Cathy and I went to the Afghan Film Festival at Inlet Theatre in Port Moody. While we were there we enjoyed the wearable art show, which included a natural turf bra, which no doubt needed watering through the run of the exhibit.

Although the festival schedule promised two short movies we were treated to three, Kabul Cinema, Shabnum and Gulchera. In between the movies two hosts answered questions and gave background information to help put the works in perspective. All three films were very sad. All three featured children as their main characters. Of the three, I enjoyed Kabul Cinema the best. It's the story of a boy who loves the movies so much that he salvages a projector and some reels of film from the burned ruins of the Kabul Cinema. He constructs a miniature cinema on wheels to show bits of movies to himself and anyone willing to pay. The writer and director is Mirwas Rekab, who also made Osama. We felt like we had enjoyed a rare treat to see these films and to hear them discussed by the hosts and audience members.

So now I've rented Kandahar, but I haven't watched it yet.

This morning I watched Nobody Knows from Japan. It's beautiful and heart-breaking.

So many movies, so little time.

question: seen any good shows lately?

mompoet - giving thanks for the world on my tv screen and in a theatre near home

words I like

conch
umbrella
jalapeno
otter
fidget
halitosis
warp
blip
ottoman
mambo
arugula
allegory
dart
amble
bubble
gallop
early
tarantula
fajita
azure
occipital
calculate
burp

question: what words do you like?

mompoet - this is only a partial list

ps - two more

"logo" and "slogan" because they sound ugly.

(see post below)

mompoet - done now, I promise

some words that I dislike

These are words that I think are misused or worn out or should otherwise be discarded:

plight - outdated and hysterical-sounding, usually applied to a collection of people, sounds like a big cow-pie of trouble
suggestion: be more specific about what the problem is - poverty? disease? war? talk about it (but don't say "war-torn" or "poverty-stricken.")

infrastructure - used to describe any services that we or someone else don't have enough of, as in "infrastructure problems."
suggestion: be specific - say "The sewers are wearing out. We need new pipes." or "There aren't enough doctors and nurses at the hospital so people are waiting too long for surgery."

strife - in the same category as plight. With the exception of the plant name, purple loosestrife, I think we should nuke this word. Used mostly in poems and songs, when people can't think of a better rhyme for "life."
suggestion: get a life, find a better rhyme

solutions - as in "business solutions" or what I saw on a sign today "specialty coffee solutions." As if all of your problems can be solved by the right software - or apparently the right caffeinated drink.
suggestion: call it what it is - "business software systems" or "coffee"

concerning to me - as in "It is concerning to me that the school district may cancel programs because of the ruling on school fees." Do you mean, "disconcerting?"
suggestion: be concerned and use the right word

Honest, I am not grumpy today, I am thankful and happy and well-rested for a change. Wrong words are just frustrating me because they distance the speaker and the listener from the real meaning. Most often, a simpler, more direct approach is better.

question: what bugs your ears?

mompoet - going to quietly eat my turkey now, having blown off some steam.

are people still talking about pluto?

I've been meaning to write a poem about Pluto since August but my poem ducts are blocked right now. I'm thinking that by now, Pluto's demotion from planethood by the Official Astronomers of the World is old news so the poem portal has passed. But here's a Weebl and Bob 'toon about it.

question: how do you feel about Pluto losing planet status?

mompoet - still sad about it

au revoir Nelson!

I am over the moon with joy and excitement. Just got an email from Kirsi, who's leaving with her family tomorrow morning for Disneyland:

Susan, Nelson is really excited, he won't go to sleep. I told him to calm down and sleep or he might spend the week with FRITZ ( in the cage, aaaaaahhhhh!!!!)

Kirsi is taking Nelson the rat to Disneyland. I told Nelson we would take him with us in August, then I forgot. I have been feeling so guilty. Now he will go on an airplane (his first trip on a plane) and have a great weekend. We'll take care of Fritz at home.

Thank you, my friends, for making Nelson's dream of the magic kingdom come true. He'll calm down if you rub his belly and give him some potato chips. He likes honey dijon the best.

question: what is your favourite chip flavour?

mompoet - glad that honey-dijon is available only in Sechelt - right??

wordless wednesday

Body Worlds

I have signed up to go on a middle school field trip to Science World, including a visit to the Body Worlds exhibit. It's controversial. I admire the science teacher for taking the kids. They'll have the option (vetted by parents) to see the Body Worlds exhibit or not while they are there.

I am fascinated by how the human body works. I think it will be very interesting to see this exhibit. I believe that when you die, your body is as useful to you as your car or your clothing. What's intensely important in your life on earth is the opposite in the next life. If people want to donate their bodies to an exhibit, and other people want to see them, I think that's okay.

I am an organ donor. My family knows that I would like everything useful that's left of me donated, including the option to donate my used car of a body to a med school. I don't want to be plastinated, but mostly because the idea might upset surviving family members. Also, I've heard there's a waiting list to be in the show, so I'll leave it to those who really want that.

question: what do you think of this?

mompoet - intensely enjoying the outer part while it's meaningful, ready to give it up when the time comes

what the push-button angel said today

"The more you complain, the longer God keeps you here."

question: whu?

mompoet - not complaining

Afghan Film Festival in Port Moody

I just read about this. If you live out here in the 'burbs and are having trouble finding time to get in the the Vancouver International Film Festival. You could catch an Afghan movie at the Inlet Theatre.

question: seen any good movies lately?

mompoet - spongebrain square eyes