Friday, September 22, 2006

Taking a short rest from 30:30

Well, I did it!! Finished my 3rd round in 30:30 last Wednesday.

Poems added to the list —

21. About Your Parrot
22. Outside the Cathedral, With St. Paul
23. chopping board
24. Bathroom
25. A Driving Student Restarts the Car
26. A Driving Instructor's First Experience with a Tango Teacher
27. A Driving Instructor's First Brush with Death
28. pacifier (from An Encyclopedic Guide to Counteracting Bad Luck)
29. A Driving Student Reconstructs the Three-Point Turn
30. Headlines Sestina

The last poem was actually for the The Supermarket Tabloid Sestina Challenge. Check it out — it's a riot!

Recent acceptances:

juked accepted my poem, Typo for a future update.

     Submission date: 10 September 2006
     Reply date: 18 September 2006

The Nthposition editor accepted other two spanking-new poems for their December issue:

About Your Parrot
A Driving Student Restarts the Car

     Submission date: 19 September 2006
     Reply date: 19 September 2006

Recent publication:

My poem, Portrait of the Other Husband as a Clock is now up in the September 2006 issue of Boxcar Poetry Review. Wonderful issue! Thrilled to be sharing space with these fine poets, too: Jon Ballard, Pris Campbell, George David Clark, Michael Estabrook, Amanda Laughtland, Willie Lin, Marty McConnell, Benjamin Morris, Erin Elizabeth Smith, Laurie Soslow and John Sweet.

Driving update:

Finally! Am rather pleased with myself after my 18th driving lesson this afternoon. Even the cheeky instructor admitted that he's amazed at my recent progress. No kidding.

Am getting the hang of parking and three-point turns. Even got a "star" rating from the instructor. (Yeah right, the evil Miss Mumps will say, Star Wars, you mean.)

Still having a problem following directions though... and most of the time I still have no idea where I am and where I'm heading.

Driving exam really fixed on Friday the 13th. Everyone's been warned to stay at home and lock their doors. I should mention that I can rev up the car until it sounds like a chainsaw. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Stuff received through the post:

Making Love by Marius Brill
• my US$30 loot from flashquake

Some words about the Burano tour:

Hah. It was a success. **preening**

Had a fabulous time time, too! Took John Amen and his wonderful wife, Mary to Burano yesterday. The husband (mine) was rather doubtful, going "Why Burano of all places?" — but I still think Burano is a must-see in Venice... more than Lido or other islands. They seemed really pleased with the multi-colored houses and took a bit of pictures here and there. Afterwards I managed to bring us to Ca' Pesaro: Museum of Modern Art — getting lost only once during the long walk to the place. Hee.

Did get lost on my way back to the bus station. But I was half-drunk after our dinner and at nighttime all the streets in Venice look alike.

Got home ten minutes before midnight —unlike Cinderella's pumpkin— crawled to bed and played Civ 4 with droopy eyelids. Totally exhausted.

4 comments:

michi said...

i'm really sorry that you finished your round of poems, harlequine, though mostly for my sake. you simply make the place approx 27,6 times crazier. soooo - congrats of course, but do come back. okay?

congrats to you, arnelle, angelina, amanda, alannah and arsenica on the publications! woo-hoo!

i hope you get the psr book soon, we look good together. oh, and that nigel guy and angie too. of course.

re the driving update: i don't believe it. you just want to make us feel safe. it may be all right for those overseas, too, but what about me? i am only several hundreds of kilometres away from you, and we all know that is nothing for a car gone out of control.

burano is fabulous. i am sure your visitors enjoyed it. i always do. love the colours.

m x

Cheryl said...

Hi, Arlene! Congrats on finishing your round and the acceptances. Well done, but par for the course for you. :)

SarahJane said...

hey arlene -
i finished a day or so ago, too.
Congrats on that, and the acceptances.

And I've been meaning to mention to you and Michi that I can't cruise you at work anymore because of the music! All eyes, um, turn to me. But the music is cool, so see ya at home.

Arlene said...

thanks, mudrock. i have the funny feeling that you're implying i'm crazy. because i'm not. as my driving style goes, i'm actually a square person.

sadly, i don't think i'll pass that test on friday the 13th. consider yourself lucky. because otherwise i'll drive all the way to your place to get you — just to celebrate. **evil laughter**

thanks, cheryl!

hey sarah, sorry about the music. i've turned it off now. you can turn it on when you're home though. hee. i'm off to your place in a while.

a.