death on a sunny day

so i was watching the UFC on Fox Spots 1 last night. the windows were open and it was a pretty comfortable night. then, the coyotes started howling. about 5 minutes later i smell a skunk. i figure these 2 events are connected. so, i had to shut up the house. not happy. fast forward to this afternoon. we had some family over so they could shoot their guns and they said there was a dead cat out by where they were. i go out to investigate and sure enough. it looks like my cat Rita Dove was ripped to fucking pieces last night. at least i believe it was her as there was hardly anything left. hopefully her kittens are old enough to fend for themselves now.

speaking of the UFC last night, it was excellent. a really entertaining card that really brought it. i thought the cherry on the night was the post match interview with Chael Sonnen.

i laughed when i watched the "highlights" from the Yankees game yesterday. figures. i start to praise them and they go out and shit the bed. 6-1 loss. they go for another series win this evening on ESPN. i might watch some of it, don't know yet.

my usual Sunday night watching is scheduled for this evening. Big Brother, The Newsroom, Ray Donovan, and Total Divas. plus, i hope to find the results of Summerslam and not miss anything. i'm really tempted to order it, but unfortunately, i'm not made of money.

spent most of today watching soccer from England and Spain. i watched Barcelona and laughed. i told my mother, if anyone doesn't like or understand the game, stick them in front of a television and watch Messi and company play. if you don't enjoy that, please stop watching all sports.

my stomach issues came back with a vengeance this morning. thankfully i feel better now. not sure what triggered it. i figure i fucked up somehow in a previous life.

that's all for today. hope this finds everyone a bit tipsy.

music:

Tom Waits - Mule Variations
Led Zeppelin - Presence
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation

"Fashions have done more harm than revolutions." - Victor Hugo

when the dew point is higher than the actual temperature

it's so ungodly sticky today. reminds me of my only trip to Florida as a child. was at a Days Inn in the Orlando area where one half of the hotel was in a thunderstorm and the other half was in the sun. we haven't got nearly as much rain as i would have loved to... but the holiday weekend is still young.

woke up this morning with my back in the normal pain for shitty weather. the pain in my left leg i couldn't figure out. given my past history with blood clots, there's always that haunting feeling in the back of my head. i did some stretching on my left hip and that seemed to do the trick. i figure given my luck, 36 and here comes arthritis. of course, the fun didn't really start until i was going out to feed the cats and the water jug i take out with me fell as i was changing my shoes and broke. water all over the mud room. just what i fucking need.

after breakfast watched Manchester United play. of course they didn't score first, but RvP comes to the rescue again. and of course they give up the next goal 10 minutes into the second half. now, i learned a lesson long ago watching Eric Cantona play that the magic always comes, but it will test your will to live until it does. so after RvP misses a pk (too cheeky for my liking) Sir Alex stands up, points at the watch and gives the look. and holy shit, for the millionth time i guess, here come the late goals. RvP with a garbage one and then the sweet header in extra time for a 3-2 win. 4 goals in 3 games. i guess the money was well spent.

so, while enjoying the post victory beer, i turn on the Yankees. they get off to a quick lead but given how this season has gone, that doesn't mean shit. Phil Hughes gives up a home run, but they get that run back the next inning. why Hughes was allowed to pitch to the same guy that homered off of him with runners on base is fucking beyond me. of course he hits a 3 run homer. and after the Yankees needed 5 fucking pitchers to get 3 outs in an inning, i turned away in disgust. what a fucking waste. now they have 7 games in a row on the road against the 2 teams on their heels. if they still have the division lead a week from now i'll be stunned.

thankfully, during the Yankee debacle it was another CR7 & Messi Sunday. a total treat to watch 2 of the greatest talents in the world put on another show. CR7 had 2 goals for Real Madrid. Messi was in passing mode but his teammates didn't have the precision dialed up today. Barcelona still won but it was bowling shoe ugly at times. of course, that is the blueprint against them if you want to have a chance.

tonight, i'm hoping it will rain to break the death grip humidity going on. but not hard enough to fuck with my DIRECTV signal. if it does, i guess i'll be working on my 3 fantasy football teams. i know 2 of them are good right from the start. i've already been offered trades. hopefully it's more than just wishful thinking on paper this year.

music today:

Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses - Junky Star
Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

"Work is a necessary evil to be avoided." - Mark Twain

a little poetry news and a few other musings...

i finally got my hands on a copy of Open Wide Magazine #25 (ISSN 1746-4390). it was published last year i believe. i have three poems in the issue, "across four lanes of traffic", "after sex talk", and "trying to sneak a peek". also in the issue include work from Debbie Kirk, John Sweet, William Taylor Jr., Nathan Graziano, R.C. Edrington, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Dan Provost, justin.barrett and Glenn W. Cooper just to name a few. you can purchase a copy of the issue here. for back issues of Open Wide, go here http://www.openwidemagazine.co.uk/owmissues.htm.

i watched the Champions League draw today and got a chuckle. i can just hear all the conspiracy theories running around, just like last year, that Manchester United got an easy draw, blah blah blah. same shit was said last year and they couldn't make it out of the group stage. well, Sir Alex has vowed to play all the best guys for all the games this time around. so, if they have learned their lesson well, they should win the group stage pretty damn easy. and they will need to if they want to avoid Barcelona in the next round. i got a bigger chuckle when i saw that Manchester City was placed in the group of death. serves the little blue fuckers right. hopefully they have their asses handed to them repeatedly in the group stage. seeing they are playing 3 other champions, there's a good chance of it happening.

the shock of the day was seeing Iniesta beat out Messi and CR7 to win the best player in Europe. fucking please. there's no doubt he's a great player, but better than the 2 best players in the world. no fucking chance in hell. i can only figure the tipping point was he played for a Spain team that won their 3rd straight major championship. it must have been since Barcelona last year didn't win La Liga or the Champions League. so he wins the award because he happens to play with 10 other great players born in the same country. what a fucking joke.

lastly, tomorrow morning i will wake up to the results of the first fantasy draft of the new NFL season. my fingers will be crossed, hoping for the best. and hoping for a season where my first pick doesn't get injured in the first week, like last year. damn you shitty turf and weak knees.

until we meet again my friends...

music today:

Rage Against The Machine - Live & Rare
Queensryche - Empire (Bonus Tracks)

"A gentleman is simply a patient wolf." - Lana Turner

one of those days

got back up into the 90's today. i'm afraid we haven't had a good rain here in so long that if we did it would totally fuck what crops we do have left. i only mention it because there's like an 80% chance of rain in the next 2 days. fun.

was totally weird watching the high school i graduated from playing high school football on ESPN. but some things don't change. i didn't make it to the end of the game. now, i just change the channel when they are getting blown out. back then, i would leave the stadium and go smoke a bowl underneath the nearby bridge. memories.

good win by the Yankees today, 4-2. a great job by the bullpen after Sweaty Freddy could only go 4 2/3 before imploding. a run of games against the AL East coming up. time to put the foot on the gas again. hopefully.

it was another Messi and CR7 Sunday on tv. incredible job by Messi to score 2 goals in about 4 minutes to rescue Barcelona. CR7 and Real Madrid obviously had their minds on the second leg against Barcelona coming up in a few days. lose 2-1 to a team i had never heard of before. not good.

a little dinner and some mindless tv tonight. then, i'm hoping for a nice long sleep. not quite death, but something close to it.

music today:

Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise
John Prine - In Person & On Stage

"Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live." - Jean Cocteau

as close to a slice of utopia as i can get

it's really hard to have a bad day when you get 2 poems published in the morning. then, spend a good chunk of your afternoon watching CR7 and Messi play while Ray Hudson provides the verbal gymnastics. (if you want a good laugh, look him up on YouTube calling some goals from Barcelona, fucking priceless.) now, if the Yankees can win tonight i will have a little cherry to go on top of my day. fingers are crossed.

thankfully, the horrible feeling i had yesterday evening was nothing. the horrible feeling was that my friend in California had died, but thankfully she called about an hour or so after the feeling started. of course there's plenty of back story that i'm leaving out. i will put that in the book one day. here's hoping you can have a relaxing evening my friend. you need it.

between my baseball this evening i will sneak in a little Big Brother, The Newsroom, Weeds and Episodes. if i truly get fucking bored for some reason, preseason NFL. if it comes to that, my night has turned to shit. you have been warned.

music today:

Leonard Cohen - Various Positions

"Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse." - H.L. Mencken