In pre-Halloween mode

Sticking my tongue out today. Have banned myself from touching the laptop because I always end up playing Chocolatier — when I should be replying to e-mails, sending out submissions, calling home, hauling my ass on the treadmill and writing.

In the meantime —

• There was a stomach flu epidemic in our little house in Manila. I declined my sis-in-law's kind invitation to come over and help spread it across Europe.

• My winter wardrobe came out of the closet to inform me that it's already winter.

• The pile of dirty clothes in the bathroom has reached the level of my chin.

• My mom-in-law has, after more than a week, finally recovered from a bad case of hives. Cause, as yet, unknown.

• My two-going-to-three-year-old niece received the Best Creative Design Award for her Halloween costume. She was the only one who showed up as a witch in her class. I have a feeling she's going to top the weirdness test someday.

And talking of Halloween and Blogthings—

I Am (rumored to be) an Alien

You're so strange, people occasionally wonder if you're from another world. You don't try to be different, but you see most things from a very unique, very offbeat perspective. Brilliant to the point of genius, you definitely have some advanced intelligence going on. No matter what circles you travel in, you always feel like a stranger. And it's a feeling you've learned to like. Your greatest power: Your superhuman brain Your greatest weakness: Your lack of empathy - you just don't get humans You play well with: Zombies [insert picture of Husband here]

So, tell me,
What Kind of Monster Are You?

Recent fiction acceptance:

• Valerie and I were simply overjoyed when Admit Two — an online journal that features only works of collaboration — accepted our ticklish rabbit story, I Have Names For the Ways They Twitch Their Ears for their March 2008 issue.

This story was in the submission box of A Public Space since last December. A little critter got tired of waiting. Such a shame because they've got a really cool submission system — where you can see the status of your work and withdraw it as you please.

     Submission date: 28 September 2007
     Reply date: 17 October 2007

Recent publications:

• Issue of 3 of Mimesis is now out with poems by Annie Bien, Jeff Calhoun, Anthony DiMatteo, Brent Fisk, Fred Johnston, Matt Merritt, Derek Motion, Steve Mueske, Alistair Noon, Chris Powici, Dave Rowley, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, Jon Stone, Mark Terrill and Emily Tesh. One of my poems, Cordon Bleu is among the samples in the preview page. Am so thrilled to find fellow 30:30ers, Annie and Dave in this issue, too!

Am still waiting for my copy though. Postal service seems sluggish lately — the new postwoman only comes twice week. Am still waiting for my Secret Love Poems (Rubicon Press) copies, which were mailed to me last week.

• The October 2007 issue of Blood Orange Review is now online with poetry by Kate Cumiskey, Ayn Frances dela Cruz, Brent Fisk, Todd Heldt, David W. Landrum, Don Mager, Wendy C. Ortiz, Sasha Pimentel Chacón, Nicholas Ripatrazone, M.E. Silverman and an economy-class passenger who's never made it into any frequent flyer program because she hasn't been flying frequently enough.

[apwn] and alice blue

Finished my 9th round at 30:30 on October 9th and have just started on my 10th.

In-between, more or less in this order —

• A wrote an essay for a charity project, wherein she likened her writing process to playing with Mrs Potato Head.

• A clapped her hands real hard for a total of 33 minutes because the husband finally decided to get a new cheap tv. At last count, their old one only had two channels — the rest was tv snow. A wasn't very pleased. But A doesn't nag, A writes fiction. She made one hero quote his wife: You need to do something about that f**king tv, you said, because the channels are going out one by one like f**king birthday candles.

• A got some kind of UTI and bled for some hours into the toilet bowl (certainly better than outside it) — which is why A is using the third person: pain is more tolerable to write about when you pretend it is someone else's.

• A tried to get a better grip on the novel-writing situation: taking apart mss then putting it together again.

• A spent two whole afternoons talking with her family [via Yahoo messenger] — the mother wasn't feeling so good and had to be put on IV. Things, however, have improved and stabilized.

• A played Emperor until it crashed on her — probably due to an overload of cheat codes. Ahem.

Recent acceptance:

• Marginalia — an annual literary review published and edited by the English Department of Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado — accepted my ticklish poem: My SimCity Llama Has a Cold.

I really ought to play SimCity more — it's so, erm, educational and inspiring.

     Submission date: 28 June 2007
     Reply date: 13 October 2007

Recent publications:

• [apwn] has published two oldish poems, Bali in Retrospect and Washing of the Feet in their Auto Biography Edition (edited by Ivy Alvarez).

• Issue 7 of alice blue is now online with poetry by Sarah Bartlett, Mark Cunningham, Betsy Fagin, Emily Kendal Frey, Matt McBride, Anne Marie Rooney, Zachary Schomburg, Joshua A Ware and IT (as in, Cousin).

Amusing myself on the 26th day (round IX)

Since I'm not much use at concentrating on anything today, thought I'd amuse myself by blogging. Haven't really got anything interesting to say about my life. But in case anyone suspects that I've been torturing cats with a pepper spray, I haven't. I've got nothing to be guilty about. Really. Here's a short rundown of what I've been doing with myself:

• Slaving over a novel (in verse) with Valerie — and doing it under the 30:30 shelter.

• Have waged a four-day war with maggots that came out of a huge fruit fly when I swatted it down in the kitchen.

• Looking up at the bathroom wall and waiting for a tile to fall on my head [four have come out... so far not one on my head yet.]

• Bribing Caesar with trinkets to blind him into believing I'm an efficient governor.

• Drinking.

• In bed with the laptop, doing things I can't admit in public. I'll let your filthy minds wonder about that. **snicker sesame oil**

Recent acceptance and call for subs:

• Right Hand Pointing accepted three poems: Please Meet My Navel, Bob-and-Anne's Seafood Carbonara and Fridge Note for their humor issue (#17).

They're still considering submissions for that issue. Getting the length just right is a bit tricky and quite a challenge. Make sure to check out the guidelines first — it's quite ticklish, especially the note about not wanting poems about pets (dead or alive)... but being attracted to natural objects that are embedded in someone’s head. So, think:

     Submission date: 9 September 2007
     Reply date: 4 October 2007

Publications received:

Was so surprised and delighted today to find a package of books Ellaraine Lockie was so kind to send to me.

• Mules of Love by Ellen Bass. Have only peeked briefly, but I've already got a soft spot for:

The Thing Is

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you've held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.

* * * * *

Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Ain't that gorgeous?

• Thin Air Magazine (Summer 2007) is neat magazine, flat-spined with a glossy photo cover, containing an eclectic range of poetry, fiction and b/w artwork. They're also accepting work (only by snailmail though) until 30 November 2007.

• SLAB (Sound and Literary Art Book) is a lovely anthology — around 230+ pages with a matte card cover . Ellaraine received 1st place in their Elizabeth R. Curry Poetry Contest. Results and poems may be read here. They are currently accepting submissions via e-mail and snailmail. Check out the guidelines.

I was really tickled pink by the bios at the end — the editors had some really fun questions which I thought might be fun to share with fellow bloggers. Which is why I'm....

Playing this SLAB tag:

Anyone reading this, consider yourself tagged — unless I get you first.

1. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Skipping yoga class.

2. How do you take your coffee?
I don't take coffee. I partake of the husband's coffee — with sugar and a drop of milk. What they call macchiato in Italian. As opposed to caffe latte, which is milk with a drop of coffee. Don't get me started on the many decadent ways Italians take their coffee.

3. Who were you in a previous life?
In the worst possible scenario, Jack the Ripper. In the best, Freud.

4. Who or what is your greatest influence?
It's cheesy, but I'd say, good ol' dad.

5. What is the worst film you ever paid to see?
Hannibal. And that was the last time I went to the cinema.

6. What is the best thing you can buy for a dollar?
A 90-cent stamp for one SASE. And hey, I've still got 10 cents! Isn't that a prime sample of my good budgeting skills? Hee.

7. What is the worst present you ever received?
Probably a lacy red underwear from the husband's niece. The bra was several sizes too small — I didn't know whether to feel smug (because my breasts are bigger that *that*) or insulted (because everyone thinks they're smaller than they look).

8. What is your favorite word?
Bucket. I'm practically married to it by now.

Eclectica poems and Umbrella acceptance

The October-November issue of Eclectica is now online. With poetry by Michaela A. Gabriel/Nathan McClain, Daniel Barbiero, Scott Urban, Ellen Kombiyil, Jayne Pupek, Oliver Rice, Les Kay, Ray Templeton, Theresa White, Kimberly L. Becker, Bob Bradshaw, Lafayette Wattles, Dorothee Lang, Jason Kelly Richards, Barbara De Franceschi, Paul Hostovsky, Jennifer Finstrom and mumblemumble [Aftermath and The heart stops momentarily].

Recent acceptance:

• Umbrella accepted a poem, Col San Martino and a sonnenizio on a line from Jarman, Open House.

     Submission date: 29 August 2007
     Reply date: 25 September 2007

Just for fun:

Discovered this ticklish Sims 2 video at YouTube — ticklish because I know the actual commands that were used to make the Sims do what they had to do on film. The melding of the two versions (English and Simlish) of Charlotte Martin's Beautiful Life is rather cool, too!