my first time

went this evening down to the speckled bird for the their monthly open mike night. decided it was time to read some of my stuff in public. wasn't sure i would be able to make it, it being house church night and all. but i got there in time and put my name on the list before i could chicken out. wasn't really sure what to expect. the first person sang a couple of folky songs. then angela sang some irish tunes. then someone read a poem they had loved as a child. in between, the mc shared some of her own stuff as well as some stuff from other sources. then it was my turn. i chose four of the pieces i was most comfortable with - a couple of sonnets, some blank verse and my "credo." the first sonnet was a bit shaky - couldn't seem to get my breathing to work. but i soon settled down and read through the pieces. not sure it's exactly what's supposed to be shared at an open mike - much too structured i think for most people. crowd was polite but i'm not sure they followed what i was saying. nothing against them - just not the easiest stuff to listen to. much easier if read. need to see if i have some other stuff to share if i do it again - more free verse kind of stuff. i don't know. i'm glad i did it, but not sure if i liked it enough to do it more.

rode this morning out to mariemont - sublime weather and light traffic. a relaxing ride. took my time and didn't push too hard. am hoping to get back into a semblance of riding rhythm again. still had a bit of numbness today even with the seat lowered, but not as severe as before. tomorrow i plan on riding to my doctor's appointment and then steve and i are supposed to ride around and visit some of the local neighborhoods for a city beat piece (he's writing, i'm just along for the ride). we'll see how i feel tomorrow - supposed to be in 90s. can't complain, though - these past ten days of open windows and breezes have been glorious.

not sure how the doctor's appointment will go tomorrow - will talk to him about my gall bladder problems. could possibly lead to surgery sometime this summer. i figure removing one minor organ every year shouldn't be too bad for a while. watch your back, tonsils, you're next on the list!

at house church we were scheduled to talk about marriage and divorce, but as sometimes happens, we were called away to help someone out. ken o. had a minor accident biking, so steve and i drove out to pick him and laura up. one of the joys of house church is it's flexibility. so we'll pick up the touchy subject next week. it's a timely lesson as i've been once again re-evaluating my stance on divorce and specifically remarriage. lots of personal issues wrapped up in that, so i'm hoping to get a bit of perspective from our discussion, to get some real world perspective to go along with my purely intellectual thoughts.

time to read and try to sleep again. still debating whether the benefits of the machine (which i've yet to really experience) are worth all the hassle it's been so far. and the drugs haven't seemed to do much more than make it hard to wake up in the morning. perhaps i'm doomed to a life of little sleep. there are worse fates.
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Now playing: Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Wicked Little Town
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tuesdays are the new mondays

i always have the best of intentions, much like jimmy buffet, of making changes on mondays. going to clean the house. going to start eating right. going to catch up on email. going to start exercising. but what i usually find, during the summer at least, is mondays are usually spent recovering from whatever i did over the weekend. so then in my mind i convince myself tuesday would be a better day to start whatever is new. by then i'll be more awake, more motivated, the same old same old.

we'll have to see how tuesday turns out.

i had much to recover from this weekend. worked ye olde auditorium gig on friday night with judy for six plus hours. saturday included a thunderstorm-soaked birthday party for becky at the farm, complete with full-blown pyromania and good times with friends. then sunday started bright and early as i got to play bass for worship. always wonderful to play with janet, especially when joined by sandie's and angie's beautiful harmonies. makes me long to play more often, or at the very least bring my bass home and play some here. if only my amp didn't weigh four thousand pounds.

perhaps i exaggerate a bit.

then sunday afternoon we had our BATB party at jim and kathy's out in liberty township. amazing house and backyard, complete with a beautiful pool. good to see the cast again, catch up and see the dvd. not sure when i'll see some of them again - they kept pimping the upcoming hms pinafore auditions, but show week is when our first trimester ends and i think it would be the height of irresponsibility to get into a show, especially since i told lisa i couldn't help with the middle school production because i would be too busy. anyway, good to have a chance to see everyone and the dvd turned out pretty well. now all my friends who couldn't make it can see what i looked like as an eggbeater. if they want.

i topped of the weekend with a trip down to the gypsy hut to see the poms at their last cincy gig for far too long. again i was subjected to the whims of fluid concert starting times. the website said 8:00. the poster said 9:30. the poms went on after midnight. i guess i'm just not cool enough to be on concert-going time. quite the contingent from the 'wood last night and everyone had a great time. the first opening "band" - pete and repeat - was fun in a college music kind of way. he played guitar and sang while backed by his ipod. fun and funny songs. the other group was javelins which i wanted to like more than i actually did. songs weren't catchy enough for me - not enough melody for my tastes. the poms were good, though they seemed a bit tired perhaps. josh has certainly come into his own and his guitar work on one of the new songs they played was impressive. sad that won't be playing here again any time soon, but am happy to have seen them as often as i have and i'm glad they're getting out and getting known. if only i could make the monolith festival at red rocks...

this morning, after prayer and then going back to sleep, was spent trying to catch up on long neglected correspondence. not exactly what i had planned, but at least it was semi-productive. no excuses for not keeping in touch with all this extra time. might even (gasp!) break down and write some letters. i know. scary. though i've said that before and wasn't good at keeping my promise.

ok, time to get on some of that correspondence. and read more of kafka on the shore. really enjoying it so far. struck this morning by this line: "The purity of her beauty gives me a feeling close to sadness - a very natural feeling, though one that only something extraordinary could produce." lovely.
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Now playing: Pomegranates - Thunder Meadow (Daytrotter Sessions)
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