I have rehearsal today and more work to do at home once that is done. I'm debating the eternal question of computer/paper-work vs yard work. I'm thinking i'll let the weather decide that one for me. The lawn is becoming a jungle though from lack of attention. Still i have plenty of work to do on scripts and the website that would be nice if i could finish them by Monday. If i had been smart i would have emailed myself the scripts that need work so i could just do that from home. But, i didn't.

At some point i'm thinking it would be fun to see a movie or something. Just go out and do something for pure entertainment.

The furr has started to fly over the National Poetry Slam. There's always something, that's a given. Unfortunately it seems that this year there was a rash of thefts that included several items backstage at finals. I'm hearing about this third and fourth hand though, because i was far from the fray in the balcony. Still, makes me think i wasn't so paranoid about checking on the safety of my laptop and cds in the hotel room.~w

I may have finally caught up with myself. I layed down around 7pm last night to take a nap before deciding whether i would stay in, or go out to a reading that included Glenis Redmond and Carrie Gerstmann. When i woke from my nap at 1:30am, i was sure the reading was over and gave up on trying to get there. Not much else to do then but go to bed. I guess i reached the point where my body just said stop. I've been sort of floating along on fumes for a while now bouncing off energy from all the people around me. I think the sudden switch to being "in charge" kinda of drained the last from me. I'm just starting to understand how everything works in the office (today is my first attempt at running payroll) and i found myself training someone new. I just hope i'm teaching him things correctly. Plus, there's a few more details to my own job that i've barely gotten started with at this point. I need to turn my attitude around though if i'm ever going to get through the pile of stuff. I want to type up other people's poetry...really i do...i do. I suppose it is just nagging at me that i have a lot of unwritten words i need to take care of myself.~w

Today i want to do nothing more than sleep. I came home after work yesterday and took a nap, but it wasn't enough. My throat is trying to be swollen too, a combination of exhaustion and really bad air quality this week.

Seattle didn't have bad air or sticky humidity. I miss it again already.

My eyes won't open properly. I must write later...~w

I won $50 at an open mic last night. Whoo hoo! I decided that since i was having a bad day i needed to do something fun. My friend Nicole read me the paper and i was reminded that the Grey Eagle had started this variety show open mic. Cool, i thought. I mean in December i was telling people "you know what this town needs, a variety show/cabaret something to bring people out of their little genre niches." Ask, and you shall receive is the name of the game. So, not even sure if i would sign up myself i went to listen to what this town had to offer on a Tuesday night. Honestly, i expected to be disappointed having just listened to so much amazing poetry the past week. I was wrong though. What i found was a whole evening of very talented musicians and poets doing some very fine work. I decided to read after all, i felt like i could fit in there. What shocked me was that at the end of all that when the mc asked for nominations for the final showcase to pick the winner strangers started calling out my name. I went up first and was followed by an excellent duo from Denver called The Mammals and another duo from Georgia that regrettably i can only recall this morning as Tia & _____. Poetry versus two beautiful pieces of music. Ah well, i was thinking, at least i made it this far. Still when all was said and done these strangers where whooping for me and calling out my name (except for the guy who kept screaming CHUCK even though the mc said Chuck was disqualified for not existing). Just goes to show you, that even a bad day can turn itself around.

I haven't posted much about nationals so i thought i'd also add my top ten moments here in no particular order:
- Seed from Atlanta performing his poem Ashe Ashe with his whole body on the finals night stage.
- The Denver team sparkling in the showcase on the finals stage. They supported me and gave me a safe place to sleep every night and it was good to see them get the recognition for being a talented team.
- The first ever Native American showcase that let me hear poets like Christo
- Winston-Salem welcoming me as their fifth wheel and then performing with such style and energy and love that i couldn't help but feel proud to be included on their team.
- Ted Vaca making me cry with his girl X poem in the slammaster slam
- the poet who's name might be Luke Warmwater for making me cry hard at the Poet War
- The musical poetic quartet performed by the Vancouver team
- Morris Stegosaurus' Mystic Catus poem in the semi-finals
- Paula Friedrich telling everyone to blame me for putting her through hosting nationals
- Buddy Ray's astonishment when he saw Mt. Rainier for the first time on our way out of town
- watching my friends from Dallas take home the trophy in the theatre that i used to call home.

Much is missing from this list. But you get the idea. I also saw more friends and family than i could name that aren't even connected to the slam. I suppose more of this stuff will leak out in the days to come.~w

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. As a result, i'm late in posting this morning...

I don't know, maybe i'm being a little paranoid about the poems. My computer is very grumpy and in need of some TLC right now and may just be misbehaving all on it's own.

In any case, i'm back to the world of producing poetry from enjoying the poetry and poets and it's a rough transition to get back to right now. I just want to sit around and talk with people rather than doing all the typing and such that is necessary right now. Or maybe i just need some sleep.~w

Someone's been reading my poems. Well, of course anyone could off the internet, but someone's been going through my poetry files on my computer. How do i know? Well they left footprints see. I nearly had a heartattack when Norton told me this morning that the recent document links to several poems were broken. Fortunately the "poetry" folder was simply hiding in the "words" folder. Not a bad place for it, but i liked it where i had it before. So, now i just wonder who it was puttering through my poetry at some point this week. It wasn't me. I didn't look at a single poem of mine on paper. But, my computer was on to play cds at the hotel and was probably rather tempting for someone to putter around on when i wasn't there. I think i have an idea who it might have been....

I am overstuffed with seeing so many people i love in a city i love. Allison, Paula, Gabrielle, Danika, Karen, Jeremy and too many others to name somehow managed to pull of this crazy week of poetry. It was a dream come true for me. The Denver crew was kind enough to find space for me this week at the hotel (now you may be thinking "ah, some one from Denver was the poem reader." i suppose it's possible and actually i don't really mind, i just would have been mad if they had lost them). A big hug to all of them for their hospitality, i don't envy them their drive home though.

There's so much more to write, but i've got to get to work and see what's going on there since i've been gone. More in pieces later...~w

Bad wendi. I didn't manage to get enough quiet space with an internet connection this week to do my writing. What i did do was visit with too many old friends to count and had a blast listening and cheering for poetry all week long. More soon, but first i must see about my missing luggage and get some sleep. I'll try to sort out the week in the morning (or at least part of it).~w