better than i thought it would be

i decided to be the good son and humor my mother today on her 60th birthday. so, i went shopping with her at Target. anyone that knows me knows just how much i hate shopping. this was a pretty painless trip. just a few odds and ends and some things we needed for the animals.

after driving around looking at houses for sale in the area and a little lunch, we were back home in time for a little Confederations Cup soccer. that probably made the trip much better for me actually.

after watching that i decided to fuck with myself and watch the Yankees. i didn't watch their loss yesterday and i was less than happy when they had yet another injury. so when they got up 6-0 today, i figured the end of the world was coming. CC was pitching great and then the 9th inning came along. they tried their hardest to make this one of the worst road trips i could ever remember... but held on to win 6-5. the first victory beer since god knows when. they are off tomorrow.

throw in a little golf and some more soccer, a nap, a little dinner, some birthday cake, and there is most of my day. it hasn't rained as much as they said, which is great as the crops have enough water for now. plus, the trash seems to be in the same place (fingers crossed). i know i don't feel like picking up 10 bags of shredded paper that don't get picked up somehow.

tonight will be a little basketball, a little Nurse Jackie and Veep, more basketball and then some sleep. i didn't get much last night as the muse and i were on the phone to nearly 4 in the morning. always love when i find someone i can actually talk about anything and everything to. those people are rare these days. too many fuckers just waiting for their turn to talk. not sure what stories i will hear from her tonight. i believe she's spending most of today on a boat.

mom has decided that we are going to go shopping again tomorrow. somewhere i can hear god laughing.

a special thank you to RC Edrington for the kind words on my book, Sofisticated White Trash. i really appreciate it.

hope everyone had a great weekend. until tomorrow... i believe the shopping is going to be in Indiana, so i might have a few stories to share.

music today:

Red Wanting Blue - Live at City Winery
Five Dollar Milkshake - apartinthemiddle

"I don't have no fear of death. My only fear is coming back reincarnated." - Tupac Shakur

a very rare happy Monday

yes, you read that correctly. a very rare happy Monday.

i was thrilled last night watching the Yankees 3-0 win over Baltimore. great pitching from Kuroda and some timely hitting. plus, a game done in just over 2 1/2 hours. can't beat that. after a day off today, the next series is with Arizona. i guess i get to relive all the pain from the 2001 World Series again.

i did enjoy Veep and Nurse Jackie last night. and i got to catch the episode of Vice i missed from Friday night. i really love that show. only if all reporting could be like that...

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is RC Edrington. RC is one of the best poets i have ever read. if you haven't read any of his work, first off, shame on you, second, seek it out immediately. here is a link to his website: http://www.rcedrington.com/

some good news to report on the fantasy hockey front. i (somehow) came back from a 7-3 deficit to begin this week to win 6-3-1. thank god i've been in that kind of hole before and know how to manipulate a roster and the waivers system. off to the finals for me, first time in 3 years. of course, the guy i'm facing only finished nearly 15 games ahead of me in the division. needless to say, i have my work cut out for me.

i did watch about the last hour or so of The Masters yesterday. i did think it was kind of funny that i told my mother to watch out for Adam Scott the night before. of course, i told her that because i figured he would choke another one away. to say i was a bit surprised when he won would be an understatement.

the windows are open today. the birds seem thrilled with the new bird feeders. and mom got some wind chimes to replace the ones that broke last year. and of course, now that we have some again, i don't think the wind has picked up enough today for them to make a sound. figures.

i'm off to my afternoon nap before a night of flipping between Monday Night Raw and The Voice. and a handful of hockey games that i will analyze to death hoping to pick up some kind of advantage on my fantasy hockey opponent.

music today:

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
UB40 - The Best Of: Volume 2
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Kiss - Destroyer

"The reward of energy, enterprise and thrift is taxes." - William Feather

what goes up must come down (and incredibly hard)

where do i begin?

i survived yesterday, barely. getting my blood drawn was much easier than i expected. was probably in and out of the facility in 20 minutes at most. they took 3 vials of my blood. i guess i will get the results later this week. i will take it if i don't get a call, that's good news. my left arm did hurt for awhile afterwards, but i expected that. hadn't had my blood drawn in over 4 years.

as for the DMV, not bad either. got in and got out. my dumb ass wore my cheap glasses so i nearly failed the vision test. i guess they are cheap for a reason. (i'm back to the expensive pair today). the new Ohio driver's license has to be nearly impossible to duplicate and make it look exact. feel sorry for the kids today on that one.

was totally psyched to get the 4 poems published yesterday between The Camel Saloon and Thunder Sandwich. 2 of my favorite places to send to. check the poems out if you haven't. i believe 3 of the 4 are some of the best work i have ever done. also, if you ever have any comments on my work, feel free to send them my way or post somewhere. i do read them and respond when necessary.

was happy to see Manchester United win today in their FA Cup replay against West Ham. welcome back Wayne Rooney. nice goal in the 9th minute. would have been nice if he would have made the pk later on. but, a win is a win.

so, as i was readying my victory beer, i check my email and see a reply from The Gap Toothed Madness, a new print zine out of Sacramento, CA. they decided to pass on my work. i always find it funny when a place asks you to submit and then rejects what you send. oh well, been at this too long for that to stop me.

and then came the Dayton Flyers. no team that commits 24 or 25 or whatever un-fucking-believable amount of turnovers they did should be close in any game. but, of course they managed to lose by 2 to go 0-3 in conference play now. i can live with freshman doing stupid shit, especially on the road. but, when it's the seniors that suck ass, completely unacceptable. this is going to be one painful season.

thankfully, after the game, in my email, was the advance copy of the new book from RC Edrington, Scarred Canvas. holy shit, one of the best poetry books i have read in years. i believe the book is to come out later this year from Underground Voices. i urge all of you to pick up a copy when it does. it's fucking brilliant.

i will have four more new poems published whenever the new issue of Zygote in my Coffee comes out. be sure to check back here on the blog for that.

music today:

Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

"The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is." - Willa Cather