I went to a bbq last night. I didn't play many games though because i was just having so much fun talking to adults. It was so refreshing to have a conversation that didn't involved listing what i've been doing or how i do it or what i plan to do next. It was simply people talking about being people. That kind of conversation is what i've missed more than anything always being the visitor in town while i'm on the road. I can't tell you what all we talked about though...we rambled quite a bit from one topic to another. I came away feeling though that anyone who excels at what they do and finds new and innovative ways to approach their task is an artist. I think i'd had this thought before (i remember comparing creating a poem to preparing a piece of sushi) but the mathematician at the party had some interesting parallels between playing with numbers and playing with words. I heard once that in Arabic poems are often a mathematic equation as well since there is a numeric association with their alphabet. I haven't researched this to find out if it's true, but it makes me want to learn arabic well enough that i could read the poetry.~w

Sometimes it's necessary to do everything twice. Especially when your head's in the clouds and your feet don't quite reach the ground.

One of the funniest things i've ever seen is when kindergarten children have to sit in regular size theatre seats. It looks like the seats are trying to eat them. They are too light to hold down the chair and if they try to sit forward their feet swing far from the ground.

A dog just wandered through the neighbors yard that looked like the one that used to live there. There was a neighbor switch while i was gone and it almost looked like one of their dogs had run away home again. It's tagged and everything so i know it's not a stray. It might just look like that dog though.

It has the makings of a gorgeous day outside. The mist was just lifting when i first got up and now the sun is starting to spill golden dazzlement through the trees. I'll have to go for a walk today...ah, i need to watch the payroll process again and i know that ends in a walk to the banks where checks are deposited. Good, i have an excuse to work outside the office today.

My cat can't decide whether she wants to sit on the desk and look out the window or run around. She keeps jumping on and off the desk each time i move my coffee mug (it's in her path to her window spot).

This is my one week anniversary of working in the office. Does it count for anything? I found out i do have friends here still. In fact they've planned my weekend for me already. Tonight is a bar-b-que on a farm a little way out of town that is sure to be nearly as delicious as my grandpa's. Tomorrow is the CD release for the Dead Poets and apparently i'm on the guest list since i was such an enthusiastic audience member at their last show. My other 3 co-conspirators who got the audience dancing last time will be out of town though, so i'm on my own. Another friend is having a yard sale and has invited me to bring some stuff over. I might do that, but i have to wait for the washing machine to arrive first. It looks to be a fun weekend, and i'm just happy i didn't have to figure it all out for myself. There will be plenty of time for that later. Of course, i was informed yesterday that Bob overbooked a week and i'll be hitting the road with Forest from Memphis to do a couple of shows the week after next. Just when i thought i was getting settled...~w

Alix Olsen came to town to do a reading at Malaprop's last night. It was odd to be the poet that lives here in town instead of the one passing through. Ciro and I had run into here when we were touring out in California in '99 after she'd been on the national slam championship team from New York the previous summer. I'm not sure if she remembered me, but i could spot her easily since she's been on the cover of Ms. magazine recently. Anyway, her performance was adorablely righteous, if that's possible. I felt like a goon though trying to think of things to say to the visiting poet who had a line of people oohing and ahhing over her. It was an odd role reversal and i realized i'm out of practice in the art of conversation.~w

I've been nesting a bit. Making myself feel more at home by moving things around and reorganizing. I fixed bookshelves so that more of the books can sit on the shelves rather than piled around them. I made use of the extra closet space that opened up when ciro cleared out his "shelf-o-stuff" from the living room. I've been puttering and straightening. The shelf above the computer is tidy again. All these are important little things to help my sanity. Today we're actually going to set up my space in the office. I've been just sitting next to Amanda learning the ropes, but there is actually a whole office for me if we just move the desk in and shuffle boxes and clean off and take out the old computer. It's the silly little things that seem annoying and insignificant that really make a place feel like home. Oh, and the new blog couldn't be left behind so it got a new little picture and all that. Ah, to feel like i belong here...~w

My eyes are a bit bleary this morning. We gathered last night to say good-bye to ciro who is leaving to move himself to Houston today. It seems strange to think that he's not just going away for the summer and that he really won't be back in late August to come do some more shows with me. I feel a bit fragile stepping into a new day that will find him missing.~w

In the morning there is no sound in the house but the hum of the refridgerator and computer. I woke to the sound of my cell phone alarm, but my ears have gone deaf to my old alarm clock. On this first Monday i feel half awake, but not too bad. Curious more than anything. I suppose the anxious nervous dread was something that developed over time to the 8am hour on Monday morning. Really considering the times i've been getting up for shows this is rather moderate. But there's part of my brain that says "hey you know 8am is three hours earlier here than in Seattle."

Tonight is a last gathering of friends to hang out with ciro. He moves himself to Houston tomorrow.~w

Staring out the window this morning i though of Alice and her looking glass. Granted it started out with facing the Jabberwocky, but we all have our inner monsters to face don't we. So, here we go, this begins my adventures in living in one place for the first time in 4 years.~w