What I'm Drinking 8

Windfell

Despite my lack of production in other areas, I got our taxes finished this weekend. For the first time since my divorce I was able to claim my son and therefore received a modest refund. Not a major windfall by any means, but enough to pay for the car insurance and a tea kettle that does not leak.



My wife received some good news, she is now an official permanent resident of the U.S. Her new Green Card came in the mail on Friday and we do not have to worry about anything immigration related for another ten years.



Mere words cannot express my disdain for the above character. I give my son his iPad, he immediately finds videos of her, and watches them over and over. The learned helplessness is overwhelming. The annoying meter, breaks the meter. I know, it's something he gets, but you have not lived until you have heard the words "Bridge, rocks, tall mountain" shouted at 3AM. Try it sometime.

It will arrive

I write in a comfort zone often. I suspect this problem is not unique. A writer can fall into a lack of confidence, and then write about the familiar to at least keep writing.

My pen's fast food is Mad Magazine snark, a bunch of anger, my son's autism and too much autobiography. I'm more than capable of writing outside of those zones, more often than not I look at it afterwards shake my head and move on. Or move back as it were.

In the middle of a piece not quite outside of the zone. Trying to not write a poem that does not have frequent uses of the word "I" is tough for me to do. In a place I know about but do not reside in and am flailing about for an ending. Tried wedging in a fragment I had lying around and that did not work.

This one's going to get finished. I'm not worried, just kicking my own tires.

Thanks to my mom, I downloaded the Proloquo2go app. Have not had much time to work with it, but it does seem easy to use. The trick is to get my son to actually use it appropriately. He loves the iPad, and is more than capable of navigating it, but spends most of his time watching trailers and videos. Often watches the same video on repeat.

We're also taking him to a new doctor concerning his eating. He's 4'3" and weighs 46 pounds. Very thin. We have some ideas and are working on a new approach. It's hard.

What wad ye wish for mair, man?

It was a perfect storm of poetry last night. For the past day or two I'd been taunting my wife, trying to get her to read something by Rabbie Burns at Writers' Block. How often does Burns supper fall on a Wednesday.

After I sent her some of Burns' most erotic and filthy poems in email, she found one a bit more sensible and read last night. She had to represent!



After a three virgin open mic, and one of them was thirteen, Scott Woods took twelve minutes to introduce Rick, who did a twelve second poem. No wonder he gets so many time penalties.

There was also the first qualifying slam for Nats. Eight poets entered and J.G. won this night, with Wali taking second and Gina third. Each of them earns points to get into the Grand Slam. Louise came in fourth, myself fifth and Alexis, sixth, with Rose and Izetta in there as well.

I did a new one called 'A Few Words from our Sponsor" and "Slam Poet Junction," which I'd only used in a slam once before, at Rust Belt. I think it's only been read three times, despite it having You Tube presence. I'm glad the No Repeat Rule remains in effect this year. Tired of relying on the same poems to earn high scores and points. Time to challenge myself to do newer work, or at least poems that have not been performed. Same as last year.

Strong to the finish

Not much to say so I'll keep posting videos until I figure it out. As a kid, I loved the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons. I think they'd approve of this.

Adult Music for Adults

This record by Tim Finn came out late last year. I have no idea where it was released, maybe just in New Zealand and Australia, but this is another fine pop record by a very good songwriter. Just found it now.



The record is called The View Is Worth The Climb. Here's another one from it.



That's his daughter in the back seat.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

It's easy to pile on a dead guy. No matter what he or she did they're no longer capable of speaking for themselves in an admission of guilt or defense.

Never met Joe Paterno, or had any real stake in Penn State University or its sports programs. He'd been coaching at Penn State for most of my life.

Reading the hate attacks on Joe Paterno over various social media today has been rather dismaying. All I can say is that a distinguished career ended with a horrible series of events and that my respect for him is noticeably diminished but not eliminated.

Can you convict a dead man? Focus on the living, and bring the guilty to justice. Or is it easier to focus on a the dead legacy of Joe Paterno than the living hypocrisy and crimes of Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State Athletic Department?