Yay! My Sims Nightlife has arrived!

I am happy as a clam again. My Sims 2 expansion pack arrived this morning. Am also enjoying my copy of Anne Carson's The Beauty of the Husband. The first poem is entitled very artistically:

I. I dedicate this book to John Keats (is it you who told me Keats was a doctor?) on grounds that a dedication has to be flawed if a book is to remain free and for his general surrender to beauty.

Hah! And it just gets better and better.

Have gone back to the poem-a-day challenge at Inside the Writer's Studio... but haven't yet got the energy to creep back to Blueline.

Dusting all my books now... and getting dustier by the minute. I refuse to take a shower afterwards on the grounds that I'll never get any cleaner now, conscience-wise.

Cleaning up the clutter... boohoo!

Yes, after almost two years, I've decided to put away the foldable dining table... and remove all the odds and ends piled on top of it. Maybe two hours for two years of building up the clutter is a bargain, but my headache says another thing.

Will have to restart writing tomorrow. I've got all sorts of list poem ideas coming up to me in dreams. Sometimes I chuckle. Sometimes I scratch behind my ear. Truth is I keep repeating certain jokes to myself and hence feel unappreciated for my finer qualities (indivisible by two).

So much for the Sims. I am sad. My Nightlife expansion pack hasn't arrived yet. And I've been forced to put together the new issue of Niederngasse Italian (with translations of Valerie Fox's and Jayne Pupek's poetry. Life can be so depressing when you feel like it... especially after seeing three more tiles crumble down in the bathroom.

Wheeeee!!!

I have fallen off the poem-a-day wagon and am, literally, luvin' it!!

Taking some time out to revise my collaborative poems with Valerie for Bundles of Letters, Including A, V and Epsilon. One of which is scheduled to appear in the fall issue of Mindfire.

Looking at houses for my Sims today.... As my loving husband observed tactlessly: I spend more time downloading objects and clothes for my Sims than actually playing it.

Bad muse days

Pooh. I've never been so constipated with my writing as I am right now.
I keep thinking of my Sims and renovating their houses -- especially since I just bought the new expansion pack from Amazon! Heh. As self-punishment, I will not visit the EA Games site today. (pause) Maybe just a peek. Hee.

A strange and surreal thing happened yesterday afternoon: my Turkish penpal since college dropped by my place. We hadn't written each other for years, but she remembered my address. She's just married a German guy and is living there now. What a small world! We had coffee together and had a nice talk. Wow. And all that time, I thought it was a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses ringing the doorbell and almost didn't answer.

Received an acceptance note from Oysters and Chocolate which publishes erotic poetry and pays $10. Yay!

We've got our anniversary tomorrow.
Maybe I'll go out, for a change... along the lines of --

Q: But what do you give a guy who's got everything?
A: Uh, penicillin?

Listening to Tori Amos...

this morning because a Viennese birdy sent me some great CD mixes for my birthday. Thank you, Michi!!! **flyingkiss**

Have become an active ingredient in Shampoo 25: clean hair / good poetry. As the editor, Del Ray Cross writes: Rinse. Repeat. Repeat again! Scrub-it-cuz-you-lub-it. The contributor notes are a riot to read, too!

Received two acceptances (Astropoetica & Perigee) and two rejections (Typo & Valparaiso Poetry Review) between yesterday and this morning. 50/50 chances are a milestone. Yay!

No one seems to have appreciated the fine qualities of my Frog Prince that I am rather forced to turn to Grüner Drache (whatever that means) who has very nice ears and a great skin tone... maybe marry him off to Elindria who has a passable appearance.

Waking up unbelievably early...

on a Sunday because I need to do my p-a-d. It's a miracle!! Yay!

Went to bed late too. Around 3 a.m. because I wanted to graduate my five Sims from college. They've got the most hilarious courses, like Cognitive Dissonance: Recognizing How Broken Your Brain Is for Psychology majors, Life Drawing: An Excuse to See Naked People for Art majors, The History of Ancient Drama: When Every Play Ended with Death for Drama majors, etc.

Have been asked by the Blueline admin, HA to blog around in his board. After two head shakes, I finally agreed. Now people are wondering what I'm doing there. Like with my writing, I honestly have no idea.

All I want to do is watch someone's Queen Merp

kiss this Simmish Frog Prince

babysit their green babies and get it over with (whatever *it* is). Sigh.

Two poems in 2River View

The fall issue of 2River View is up with new poems (and mp3 recordings of them) by Lightsey Darst, Matthew Flaming, Richard Freed, Laura McCullough, Lauren Mitchell, Ed Shannon, Henry Stanton, Kirk VanDyke, Lisa Zaran... and, ahem, yours truly. It's a terrific journal and I'm preening compulsively as a result. Hate my voice though. But I added Pie Jesu as background music for The 49th Day -- which I thought was a nice touch (and hopefully distracted from my yukky voice).

Calming down...

and have gone to writing a poem a day. I was literally going crazy from wracking my poor (and scanty) gray cells for poetry. As Dirty Harry said: A good man must know his limitations.

So there, I've admitted it. Heh. Have also decided I need more time for myself (and my Sims). I mean, isn't this outfit lovely -- more so since it's free?

Having a terrible time...

going through the two poem-a-day challenges in this round. Have dropped down to one on some days.

Can't concentrate enough. I write two lines, wander off, eat some chocolates, go back and write another line, wander off, sleep then go back to write another line. And in the meantime it's already way past midnight and I haven't done the things I should have done during the day. It's driving me crazy!! I'm out of sorts and nervy as a result.

I miss my Sims... especially since the NightLife expansion pack is about to be released. Boohoooooo!!!
Haven't played any computer game in two weeks. Almost.
Withdrawal symptoms?

Stuff about the Versifier, TMP Irregular, etc.

Discovered a new poetry board The Versifier some days ago. They've got neat challenges to jump in plus some cash prizes for members with more than 50 posts.

Two poems at Tamafyhr Mountain Poetry #39 (very quick response time, around 2-3 days) :

Penning My Daughter's School Essay
Like a wilted leaf

Particularly pleased by an acceptance note from Bonfire -- who are taking seven of my poems for a future issue. Yay! It's a cool print magazine. Response times to date: 1-2 months (they asked to see more work).

Received a photocopied rejection slip from Hanging Loose. They're pretty fast with replies, around one month. And it's a neat print journal.

Oh, and woke up at noon today.

First issue of Tilt and birthday stuff

Rachel's new 'zine, Tilt is up!! With poems from John Sweet, Jayne Pupek, Lisa Prince, John Vick, Jude Goodwin and yours truly.

Spent a total of $80 in gift cheques at Amazon and B&N. Discovered only yesterday that my mom is *still* in the US. Hah! Sent the books to her address, together with my gift for her coming birthday: 2 Gallon Caramel Popcorn with Premium Mixed Nuts Tin. Teehee. Now there's absolutely no way she and my brother will fight for the last kernels.

One week into the two-poem-a-day challenges; three more to go through. And the Italian NG issue needs to be done, plus Chuck's website.

Bottom line on birthdays (mine): the cake in the fridge, half-eaten.

Acceptance notes from Ghoti, Frigg and Argotist

No doubt, despite their many rejections, I still owe much thanks to editors—who seem to have some sixth sense when I need some cheering up.

Received such an enthusiastic e-mail from Ghoti yesterday that I couldn't help but smile:

Dear Ms. Ang,

So glad to have you back! We'd love to publish "This Closing Book", "Something Like Blood" and "To That Disquieting Presence . . ." for our Winter issue, which will be up in January. If you're happy with that (clap your hands?) feel free to update your bio and/or send an email confirmation that none of these awesome poems has been picked up by another journal (yet).

All the best!
The Editors
(Jillian)

And today an acceptance note from FRIGG Magazine. I've sort of given up on that submission (dated 13 June 2005 in my Sentbox) so it's been a terrific surprise. Such a kewl 'zine, too with surreal imagery and layout.

Plus, quite possibly the fastest turnaround time in the history of 'zines (rivaling that of Stride Magazine): The Argotist received, accepted and posted my poems at their site yesterday:

From a Ouija board
Roundabout
Apostles Outside the Cathedral

Still... my idea, basically, on birthdays remains:

Hah!

Poems in Loch Raven Review

Four poems up in the Fall 2005 issue of a new 'zine, Loch Raven Review (Western & Eastern Poetry sections):

In his lungs
Towards 47th San Seviera Drive
A Father’s Life
Crazy Love: egg tanka series.

Rejection slip from Diagram. Durn, that's such a tough market... trying out their style preference is fun though and worth the rejections. Hee.

Have remained internetless since last night--the modem got frizzled. Short circuit suspected. Slept most of the day. Have a migraine brewing again.

John S. Vick posted a glowing review...

of my book at Amazon.com.

I'm totally thrilled and doing the dance of joy!
Teehee, can't resist an in-house joke between myself and the detached swivel-chair wheel -- as Dr. Lecter would say: People will say we're in love.

Thank you, John!!

* * * * * *

My poem, Miss Wei Sells a Dozen 15-Catty Carp to Lord Chou's Attendant is up in the fall issue of flashquake. And I'm delighted to read Susan Culver's Murphy's List of Lost Things there, too! I read that back when we were doing the poem-a-day challenge together. Yoooupppeeee!