what I'd like to call karma

Let's say you are playing Scrabble with a friend. Let's say you could lay down the word 'declared' - not only would you get a 50 point bonus, but it would fall on a triple word score square. Now, depending on how hardcore you are about scoring, that word could get you anywhere from almost 100 or 300 points. Then, let's say your friend blocks 'declared' with the word 'art.'

That's when you call her a dirty bitch.



A couple of words later, the Scrabble gods dealt her a healthy blow of karma. These are the letters she pulled after she passed two rounds to trade in two other i's.

rowdy and gus

One of our new neighbors brought over giant Rottweiler, Gus, to play with Rowdy this morning. After a couple of hours, Rowdy was literally gray with dirt and mud. I rinsed him off before bringing him inside to bathe...

late afternoon

The sky is starting to turn orange, and a flock of birds wheel far up in the peachy blue. Maybe they are feeding on insects, or maybe they are swooping just because they can. I can't tell.

They are too far away.

Long after they moved on to their nests or another patch of sky, a lonely feather cascaded through the tree branches, and found a new home in the damp grass.

night

The wind slips through leaves and tickles my ears like fresh cool sheets slide through my fingers.

hilarious.

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more home thoughts

the view from our bus stop




Even though day time temps reach about 100 degrees, night time is not half bad...as long as there is a breeze. I like to lay on our brick patio, underneath the green-black leaves of our shade tree, and watch things float across our tiny patch of night-sky.

disgusting.

The following is a video compiled by The Women's Media Center. The WMC is an organization that "strives to make women visible and powerful in the media." The video's intent is to showcase "the pervasive nature of sexism in the media's coverage." See the WMC homepage here and more about the video, 'Sexism Sells, But I'm Not Buying it' here.




Favorite parts = Gloria Steinem's quote at 2:15, men 'allowing' women to 'take over the world' at 3:40, and the official petition by the WMC which reads as follows:

"Media companies may think that sexism sells, but I'm not buying it! Together with the Women's Media Center, I call on the national broadcast news outlets (CNN, FNC, MSNBC and NBC) to stop treating women as a joke; to stop using inherently gendered language as an insult or criticism; and to ensure that women's voices are present and accounted for in the national political dialogue. Sexism isn't a partisan issue. We're not going to let anyone hit the snooze button on this important issue!"

fine.

I just received this comment on my correctly attributed post about the poetry of Sandra Cisneros:

I work for the agency Susan Bergholz Literary Services, agent for Sandra Cisneros, and we insist that this excerpt, 'Mariela' from MY WICKED WICKED WAYS be taken down as it violates the author's copyright. Please spare us having to send an official letter to the host of your blog.

With sincere thanks,
Melanie Fleishman
asst to Susan Bergholz


I removed it for now, but let's just say I'm not very pleased. How many times have I included excerpts from books (always with author's name, publication name, and usually a link or two) and haven't received comments about THOSE books.

Sandra, I love your work, but find some literary agents that aren't so uptight. Thanks, April.

5508 roosevelt

On our first night in the new house, we ate Subway sandwiches at our desk. We listened to Frank Sinatra until Mike pointed out that Frankie and his Cold Cut Trio didn't really go together. We finished our dinner to the sounds of Kevin Smith's smodcast.


The streetlights across the street lends our house a ghastly glow.


...and someone is enjoying his new backyard.

bollocks.

I took some really fantastic night time shots in an attempt to photograph some fireflies. Too bad I already packed up my camera cord.

By the way, we got the keys for the house yesterday, and I'm so glad. While Mike might only see it as a roof over our heads, I really do love that little house.