the dog days have settled in...

i've spent a good portion of today icing down my bad back. the shitty thing is i normally have lower back pain. this is more in the middle of my back. joy.

i did write 3 poems this afternoon. i typed them up and i think they are pretty good. that brings me to 27 poems for August. that's pretty good for a month i'm usually never productive in.

i had to take mom to the bank this morning. thankfully, we got that done before it got hot today. her bank is about 30 minutes away.

the New York Yankees had as many hits as errors last night. that's never a good recipe to win. they lost to the White Sox 6-2. hopefully, they will win tonight.

Manchester United played a good first half yesterday. sadly, they weren't clinical in the final third, so the score at halftime was 0-0. the second half was beyond fucking abysmal. Tottenham ripped them to shreds and won the game 3-0. i can't remember the last season United lost 2 of the first 3 games. i have a feeling it's not going to get any better anytime soon.

Monday Night Raw was interesting last night. i really enjoyed the Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins match. and i'm interested to see where they are going with KO quitting last night. i did enjoy Braun turning heel and beating up Roman Reigns last night. but, that was all that was interesting. just not enough for a show that is 3 hours long.

Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story focused on the trial last night. other than the opening statement from the prosecution, you could tell they had no damn clue what the fuck they were doing. of course, Florida is a fucking shit show when it comes to this type of shit. the longer i watched, the angrier i got.

enjoy some music:

and now some of this and that:

on the DVR tonight will be Vice News Tonight, Smackdown, The Jim Jefferies Show, the season finale of Deadliest Catch, Fuck That's Delicious, the season finale of Miz and Mrs., Hard Knocks and The Shop. i'll watch 205 Live sometime tonight on WWE Network.

i'll probably be on here tomorrow after i take mom to her eye doctor's appointment. i'm not sure if it's just an appointment tomorrow or if they are actually doing some outpatient stuff on her as well.

the talk mom had with the lawyer was very good yesterday. i guess before too long, i'll be filling out an affidavit. too bad for these doctors i have a good memory.

i need to get the trash picked up now. so, until tomorrow kids...

todas estas millas entre nosotros, un día ya no existirán

be well. be creative. be cool. be quick to send me CASH, panties, hate mail, love letters, broken promises and dirty pennies from heaven.

peace and chicken grease...

music:

The xx - Together
Billy Raffoul - Forever
Beck - Dreams
Pearl Jam - Black (Live)
John Prine - Paradise (Live)

"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful." - Rita Dove

and your whatever the fuck i wanted you to see video of the day:

what to do when there is no more pleasure in the pain

so yesterday i realized that not only is my lower back killing me, i believe arthritis is setting up camp in both of my hips. talk about a Christmas present i didn't want. i've been icing and stretching, using ointments and god knows what else, but nothing is really working. i had to sleep in my massage chair last night as i tried to lay down in my bed and my back felt like it broke in about a thousand places. good times. i might have got 4 hours of sleep in the chair. so i guess my life here in the next few days is going to be a series of naps. and i have no fucking clue how i'm going to be able to go to the basketball game tomorrow.

i did pretty good in fantasy football yesterday. i'm up 30 points in one match and i tied in the other match. i believe the tiebreaker is total yards and if my math is correct, i should advance to the finals. of course, i won't know for sure until tomorrow. but i certainly wouldn't mind playing for two championships next week.

i'm just 5 games out of first place now in my division in fantasy hockey.

i was feeling pretty good last night when the New York Rangers were up 3-1 after the first period. but since this period of them sucking seems to have no end, the Rangers gave up 6 straight goals to lose to Washington 7-3. fucking pathetic. thankfully, i didn't watch much of the game after Washington tied it. the Sunday night shows were getting ready to start.

the season finale of Homeland was rather interesting. i was expecting action packed and it went more for the emotional drama. and the twists along the way set up what could be a very interesting 6th season.

the season finale of The Affair was holy fuck awesome. the last 15 minutes or so were mind blowing. if you have followed the series from the beginning, i'm sure you really enjoyed some questions finally getting answered. if you are new to the show, please catch up and then go back and watch season 2 again. it was easily light years better than season 1. and the last scene sets up a truly holy fuck of a season 3.

enjoy some music kids:

and now some of this and that:

i will be flipping between Monday Night Football (Saints vs. Lions) and Monday Night Raw tonight.

hopefully my back will feel good enough that i can actually start to wrap some gifts tonight. if not, there is a good chance that i might just be handing my mother and sister their gifts and tell them i was trying to help the environment this year.

i hope everyone had a great weekend. at the very least, i hope it was better than mine.

i'm now hoping to go take another nap in the massage chair.

be well. be creative. be cool. be quick to send me CASH, panties, hate mail, love letters, broken promises and dirty pennies from heaven.

peace and chicken grease...

music:

Tricky - Aftermath
DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
The xx -

"Without deviation progress is not possible." - Frank Zappa

and your whatever the fuck i want you to see video of the day:

sometimes you just get oblivious to the cold

thankfully, this latest holy shit storm went more to the south than the jackasses on tv thought it would, so we only got like 3 inches of snow. now, it did get cold again, as the windchill this morning was around -15. that's always fun. honestly, i've been dealing with the winter for so damn long now, i'm oblivious to it. shit, i expect it now.

i did watch the last 30 minutes or so of The Oscars last night. i'm really happy i did as it inspired 3 poems i wrote in like 10 minutes. i typed those up this afternoon and they are oh so good. at least i think so. i'll be sending those out soon.

seeing that the New York Rangers disappointed the living shit out of me last night (6-3 loss to Boston), i decided to stop watching the game and just flip on HBO. True Detective was fucking brilliant once again. i have no clue how they are going to tie up all the loose ends in next week's finale. if you aren't watching this show, you truly are missing out. Girls made me laugh really hard as i truly enjoy the topic of death and how uncomfortable it makes others.

as for television tonight, it is my usual Monday war between The Voice and Monday Night Raw. Raw is in Chicago tonight, the home of CM Punk. the fans are plotting a riot if Punk, who left the company last month, doesn't show up. i'd love to see him back but, i'd also love to see the crowd go berserk. whatever happens, it should be great train wreck tv. as for The Voice, i see me catching up on that on YouTube at 4 in the morning or so.

i was happy to see some spring training baseball on this afternoon. that gave me what i needed to nap for a few hours. good times.

hopefully, nothing i melted today on the sidewalks will refreeze come morning. i got a check in the mail today, so there is a trip to the bank coming up soon. also, got my new credit card from Capital One. i'll finally be getting some cash back on my purchases. not that i buy anything more than music, books, gas, and booze.

i took another step into the digital world last night and got on iTunes. i figured i might as well put the gift card i got to use. of course, i haven't used it yet. baby steps.

that is all for me today. i hope everyone is well, warm, pissed off and ready to do something about it. or curious why you still waste your time each day to read this horseshit i call writing.

be well my enemies...

music:

The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The xx - Coexist
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

"To label me an intellectual is a misunderstanding of what that is." - Dick Cavett

the Friday the 13th blues...

the last Friday the 13th of the year, so why wouldn't there be a school shooting today. it boggles my mind the number of times this happens, let alone in Colorado. and as much as i would love to feel sorrow or compassion, as a poet i'm thankful for the material. that's the cold reality of it all, but my bleeding heart stopped beating years ago. probably right around the time the blood clots should have killed me.

of course, this shitty mood could be to the New York Rangers losing yet again, 4-2. i think they have given up 4 goals in each of the past 4 or 5 games. scary how shitty this team has become. or, it could be the news that RVP is out for a month, right when Manchester United's schedule gets the busiest.

or, it could be the impending storm that will bring 1 to 6 inches of snow, or ice, or rain, or whatever bullshit they want to tell us.  if we do get it bad, my chances of actually getting out to see the Dayton Flyers play Central Michigan tomorrow will be somewhere around slim or none. and none is winning by a mile.

looks like the radio will come in handy tomorrow. and if we do get a few inches, the lane will have to get plowed for anyone to get in and out of here. for some reason i see me walking the trash down on Sunday morning. good times.

my mother took her SUV in to get the oil changed today. she was told it was 10,000 miles since her last oil change. whoops. of course, this is the vehicle she is planning on giving to me. why wouldn't she run it into the ground before she does...

i did enjoy The Big Bang Theory last night. another 30 minutes where i get to turn my mind off and just enjoy something.

i watched way too much of the NFL game last night. my hunch paid off as the switch i made at RB got me 15 more points than i would have had. thank god my brain still goes good at 2:30 in the morning. i'm only trailing by 3 points in one league and i'm up by almost 29 points in the other. my fingers are crossed. a very decent start to my fantasy playoffs.

made my sister her Christmas mix tape today. this one should blow her mind.

the snow is supposed to begin overnight and keep going until tomorrow evening. it might change over to rain or it might just keep snowing. if it does end tomorrow night and i don't go to the game, i may just shovel then since Manchester United plays Sunday morning. decisions, decisions.

that's the end of my bitching for today. hope this finds everyone well. i've already taken my Imodium for the evening, so hopefully i'll be feeling better soon. anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time should know that my shitty attitude normally has something to do with shit. literally.

have a great weekend. feel free to send me Christmas cash if you so desire. or just a card will do as well. hope you have better weather coming your way than i do.

be well

music:

Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - Seesaw
Jeff Buckley - Mystery White Boy: Live '95-'96
The xx - Coexist

"We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." - W.H. Auden

when a recluse leaves the cave

yeah, yeah, yeah, i know what you're thinking. yet another blog post about shit i did today. here's a quick thought, you could always send me money to write about something else.

so i had big plans today to go get a haircut. might not sound like much, but for a person who hates being out in public 99% of the time, it is. so i shaved this morning and was getting ready to take a shower. of course, i had to shit. and i think i might have shit out the last 3 days of food. this made my shower a little more interesting, to say the least. but, i eventually did make it to the barber shop. now, other than a handful of times in my life, the same guy or myself have cut my hair. luckily, there was no wait and the price was the same as the last time i was in there, roughly 2 years ago. $10.50. i left a $3 tip. not bad for a poor fucker. one thing i did notice while driving around, my truck fucking sucks. i do believe it is nearing death. just in time for winter.

only 1 piece of mail in the po box today. and it wasn't for me. tomorrow i imagine the box will be full.

the Yankees last night got their sweep of the White Sox, 6-5. CC pitched better than he had in a long while, David Robertson played the role of 'let's make this shit interesting', which allowed the hammer of god to get his first four out save in 2 years. up tonight is the first of 4 games against Boston.

which brings me to my big dilemma tonight. Yankees vs. Red Sox. start of the NFL season. double eviction on Big Brother. and the season finale of Wilfred. all on at the same time more or less. these are the nights i'm happy i'm just crazy enough to be able to watch them all on one television.

The Bridge last night was excellent. plenty of tension and just when i thought i could take a breath, a vicious car crash that i didn't see coming. i absolutely can't wait to the episode next week.

Duck Dynasty really made me laugh. i believe the beaver in the kitchen sink really had me howling. mom just looked at me and said, i'm not white trash enough for that. good times.

i only have 1 player playing this evening in the Denver vs. Baltimore NFL opener. sadly, my opponents have a slew of players playing. so, i have no choice but to watch.

4 kittens seems to be down to 3 now as the little gray kitten has been missing the last 2 days. of course, it was the adventurous one, so who knows where the fuck it is. it's been so damn dry around here, i'm just hoping it didn't wander to outside of the barn. it wouldn't last long.

that's all for today. best of luck to all my gambling buddies on the first day of losing way too much money to be able to hide it from your wife. to all my fantasy football competitors, may you all lose to me at some point this season. and lastly, i wasn't joking about the money thing. you know my address. feel free to use it.

music:

The xx - Coexist
Shooter Jennings - Family Man

"Ambition can creep as well as soar." - Edmund Burke

a good start to the weekend

as i bounced around tv shows last night, i couldn't help but notice the Yankees were winning. so, i once again fell into the trap of watching the game. Nova pitched great once AGAIN. but, when Mo blew the save for the second game in a row, i wasn't upset with him. i was upset with who the fuck ever put the CF in the wrong damn spot when Austin Jackson was up. besides, Mo gives up a home run to the best hitter on the planet, shit happens. in the 10th, i was pissed off enough to wake my mother up basically screaming why the fuck wouldn't Girardi pinch hit for Chris "i couldn't hit a 300 feet window with a bulldozer" Stewart. thankfully, the CF i was pissed off with in the 9th got the winning hit on the next play. it was a pissed off victory beer, but i enjoyed it.

after that, i sat down at the computer to study the 3 illustrations the artist from Sweden sent me that weren't related to any poems i had written. he asked if i could come up with something for them. 30 minutes later and i'm emailing him what i came up with. i woke up this morning to an email from him saying that he loved them. that makes 7 so far in our little collaboration. he said he's going to send some more soon. i figure once we get to 10 or so, i'll start looking for a publisher. if anyone reading this may be interested, feel free to contact me.

the Yankees play here in a few hours. Hughes is on the mound so my expectations are about as low as possible. other than that and some ROH late tonight, i have no clue what i will be watching today. i might break out the camera if the weather is decent enough and take some pictures. if i do, i'll post them sometime tomorrow.

saw news this morning that Wayne Rooney told his teammates he's going to Chelsea. i refuse to believe any of this shit until it happens. but if he does go there, i sadly believe that those pieces of shit will win the title this year. i would so love to be wrong about that.

i did watch a good portion of Smackdown last night. hard to believe that RVD can still wrestle they way he did 10 years ago. maybe even better. i'm so tempted to get the next PPV, but i won't. that's one of the upsides of being poor. you can always be tempted but reality has a foot on your neck. so the decision has already been made for you.

until tomorrow or later tonight (in case i need to vent or amaze myself with some photo action)

music:

The xx - Coexist
The Allman Brothers Band - The Allman Brothers Band
Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events
Buddy Guy - Living Proof
Ray LaMontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black

"Less is only more where more is no good." - Frank Lloyd Wright

what happens when you can't find the pleasure in the pain

i don't know if it was because i slept wrong or not enough or did something i completely don't remember, but my back and my left ankle have been in tremendous pain today. this is always fun when you don't have anything in the house for the pain other than alcohol. and being trashed by 2 in the afternoon is something i would like to hold off on until i have lost all hope. and believe it or not, i'm not there yet.

the Yankees must have decided winning 1 game was enough last night as they completely mailed in the second game of the doubleheader. that did free up plenty of time for me to watch hockey. more on that later. the Yankees start a series with Tampa tonight which could go a long way in determining if they will still be in shouting distance of first place in the division or one spot from the basement of the division. as you can tell, this season is destroying my nerves.

the hockey game last night reminded me of hockey when i was growing up. 6-5 win in overtime for Chicago. this series has seven games written all over it.

and speaking of game 7, the last game of the NBA season is tonight. i might pay a little more attention to it than i normally do. but not much. and that's because...

Wilfred comes back on FX tonight. one of the few shows that makes me laugh out loud literally.

quick critter update: 1 more raccoon caught. i believe that is all of them. still no sign of the skunk or the groundhog. i figure they either have ran away or the nursing coyote in the back of the property wanted a snack or two.

the Manchester United rumors are heating up. anything i read i take with a grain of salt until i read it on the official website. i'm not exactly thrilled how the schedule for next season starts out. Moyes better have the team firing from the start. many tough fixtures in the beginning. get those out of the way in good shape and another title could be coming.

a quick shout out to the muse. i do hope stress isn't beating you down today.

i did figure out what poems will be going where tomorrow. i figured since i have had a pretty damn good week in the poetry world, i would send them out on a Friday. it's something i normally don't do, but since this has been a superstition busting week, i figured i might as well continue that trend.

i hope this finds everyone well. until tomorrow...

music today:

Gin Wigmore - Gravel & Wine
Guided By Voices - English Little League
The xx - Coexist
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

"I like dark places." - James Gandolfini (Sept. 18, 1961 - June 19, 2013)

recharged and ready to go

amazing what some decent sleep and a win from the New York Rangers actually does for me. i woke up this morning feeling refreshed for maybe the first time in 2 weeks.

i nearly drove myself insane last night as i was doing my best to watch every bit of the Rangers game, The Voice, and Monday Night Raw. i'll do a little recap on all 3, sorta.

as for the Rangers game, the boys scored 19 seconds in to break their scoring drought. of course, 1 minute later they gave the goal right back. i flip back later to see they are down 2-1. needless to say, i'm not pleased. then, i flip back later to see this beauty from Captain Cally.

the Rangers go on to win 4-2. below are the full game highlights

just love when the NHL trading deadline is the same time as the fantasy playoffs. seeing that one of my players got moved today, i can just imagine my stress level come tomorrow. fun.

as for Monday Night Raw, the parts i did catch i enjoyed for the most part. the ending, which saw CM Punk dress as a druid and beat up The Undertaker with the urn and then dump the ashes of Paul Bearer on him was just pure fucking brilliance. it's clear that this match is more anticipated than any other match on the card. i can't wait until Wrestlemania.

yesterday, i completely forgot to give you my thoughts on ROH TV over the weekend. i love the way they are rolling out the back story on SCUM vs. ROH. and personally, i don't think you can go wrong when you have Steve Corino being the mouthpiece of the angle. also, the slow tease of what Kevin Steen wants to say is perfect. i really enjoyed the episode, even if i stayed up 2 hours later to watch it because of the Ten Commandments movie.

as for The Voice. it was good as usual. a few of the voices stuck out to me. but, most of what i think makes this show better than all the other ones is the interaction between the coaches. that's really the reason i love the show, other than the fact i am addicted to music.

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is William Taylor Jr. if you haven't heard of him before, i urge you to go seek his work out and enjoy. one of the best poets going today.

i have a pesky raccoon that is getting into my bird feeders. i'm not a big fan of killing animals. but i'm not against others doing it. we've got some natural type sprays that are supposed to keep them away, but i guess they are too old now to be effective. if i get any photos of the little fucker in action, i'll be sure to post them.

none of my sports teams play tonight. i started watching a little bit of PSG vs. Barcelona in Champions League play, but, with no Manchester United involved anymore, the luster of the matches are gone for me. i'll catch the highlights later tonight i suppose. i believe i will catch up on some sleep, watch another episode of The Voice, take a shower and perhaps do a little writing this evening.

or, do none of the above and just turn on the History Channel and fall in and out of sleep. time will only tell i suppose.

music today:

Jimi Hendrix - People, Hell and Angels
The Allman Brothers Band - The Allman Brothers Band
The xx - Coexist
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist

"If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else." - Marvin Gaye

a little bit of everything

went to the doctor's office this morning to get some more blood drawn. i'm supposed to call tomorrow to get the results. i don't see that happening as i really don't give a shit one way or the other.

had to drive my mom around today as something is up with her left eye. i figure this will end up being my "job" before too long. and considering how much she has to go around this state, i better get used to her vehicle pretty damn quick.

check out Leah Angstman's review of ZYX #63 here: http://allthethingsleahshouldntsay.blogspot.com/2013/03/today-in-mail-zyx-63.html

i heard from my publisher today. it looks like Sofisticated White Trash has been delayed yet again. hopefully it will arrive in April.

and with all the poetry happenings today, i sat down and wrote 3 poems. not bad for having absolutely nothing going on in my head that i had to write about. 1 of them i really like. got a place in mind that i will be sending these 3 to, probably later on next month.

big tv night tonight. all going on at roughly the same time or running into each other, New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers, New York Yankees spring training game, The Voice, USA vs. Mexico in World Cup Qualifying. another night where i need that Elvis wall of televisions. and hopefully 2 victory beers before i call it a night.

i enjoyed the return of The Voice last night. it's one of the few reality shows that i actually enjoy.

as for Monday Night Raw, any show that ends with John Cena writhing in pain gets a big thumbs up from me. not that i actually watched much of it last night. anytime The Voice was in a commercial so was Raw. that got a little annoying after awhile.

good luck to the Dayton Flyers Women's team tonight against Kentucky. it would be nice to see them make it to the Sweet 16 this season. they certainly deserve it.

until tomorrow or whenever i post again...

music today:

Jim Croce - Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits
The xx - Coexist
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." - Robert Frost