Wow, what a nice surprise when I got to the post office today.

I had three packages and a bunch of cards. One was my contributers copies of Plain Spoke! Very nice publication - lots of great poems and stories. I'm on page 16! My bio is (as always) the shortest. One of these days maybe I'll change the one-sentenceness of my biography, but it is doubtful. I figure that it doesn't much matter who I am - just enjoy the poem. And if you really want to find me, then go to the website and get in touch. Make contact. Then I'll tell you whatever you need to know.

Many holiday cards in the mail, too - from friends on LJ and Gather, and from some folks I don't even know from holiday_wishes. Some sent coins and postcards for my collections! That makes me a lot more enthused about the holiday - thank you so much to everyone who sent a card or little gift, it was very nice indeed. Not all included LJ or Gather names, so I can't thank everyone individually - but it was really sweet to see my mailbox overflowing. When I've got a bit more money, I have some holiday wishes to send out (and a package for Jess that is way overdue!). I just have to get that all together.

I gotta go get ready for my historical society's Christmas party now. Every year they have a party with good food and door prizes and such, honoring folks in the community who have had an impact on local history. Pretty sweet.

Friday I have an interview with Val Emmich, so I have to prepare for that tomorrow. The actual interview won't go up in the column until next month sometime though - I'm running holiday specials this month (I should have had one up Saturday, but alas, this weekend... let's not speak of that). And first week of January I have my review of Under the Blacklight (finally) with quote from my interview with Pierre. That thing's been sitting on the backburner since like... geeze. Too long. What is with this backlog of material? Usually I am deciding at the last minute what to write about - now I'm actually quite prepared for the next four or five columns. I'm almost impressed with my planning. Now if I could just do stuff like, write before the day of my deadline.

And for that matter, get back to writing some poetry and fiction. I have two unfinished stories sitting around, Victor Charlie and What Simon Said (four if you count Matty Be Good and Of Falorn, five if you include my supernatural novel that stalled out at about page 176). Let's just there's a variety of fiction projects I could be working on. And ideas for many more. I just need to actually sit down and focus on some of that - which will be easier after the holidays.

For that matter, I do have a complete short story collection and a complete novel that need to be edited and gotten into some sort of shape to try and find an agent and or publisher. I'm really going to get that together soon, I swear. It's sad to just sit on this work and not do anything with it after I put so much effort into writing it.

Holy fuck, I am drowning in work.

I have four CDs to review , an interview to transcribe, two interviews next week to prepare for, a retirement party to get a plaque for, a Bill Bradley article to write, a sci-fi book to read and review, an entire website to construct, about a million graphics to make, some ebay stuff to take pictures of for my uncle, a new game to prepare for (okay, that's something fun, but still work), and a ton of errands to run.

That's in addition to my regular work with the websites and myspaces and the column and the transporting of relatives and I'd like to make time to go to the chiropractor, because my back is aching.

And my herb garden is blooming, so I have to see when I can plant them outside, and I have my wildflower seeds when it's warm enough. And my gazebo has to be put up, and my patio furniture assembled.

And the roofers were here today to fix our back roof, and so I got little sleep (again) and I'm super exhausted already.

I think I need a vacation. Or a Valium.

Must be the week for it. This one was from a guy taking a Consumer Culture class who had to interview poets or some such for his consumer group. I'm not bothering to friends lock or LJ cut this one, as it's shorter and less in-depth than the other was. But still, this is neat.

1. What does poetry mean to you?
Poetry, to me is taking all the ordinary things of the world and finding the extraordinary way of looking at them. It's about the human condition, and our reactions to it.

2. What inspired you to become an artist?
Mostly, that I'm not all that good at anything else! I've just always been a writer. I don't really know how to do anything other than what I do.

3. As an artist, how do you feel about performing?
I love performing! I featured at the Mid-Atlantic spoken word festival about two years ago, and I've done shows for National Poetry Month and the like. The best part about performing is getting to share your work with others, and seeing how they react to it. It's nice to touch a common thread within someone.

4. What products are you interested in?
I like a lot of technological things, games and video games, books! Lots of books. Books are products, right? Food. Can't write without food, food is fuel. Send food.

5. Do products help you become a better performer?
Of course! I type my poems up on my computer and print them out, I have a digital recorder to record and listen to my performances. Camera to take pictures of them. Books to read the works of other poets, and to study. Clothes to wear for the performance. Microphone to read into. Products are everywhere in society - without them I'd be a naked person reciting poetry while standing on a rock like our cave ancestors. That'd just be scary.

6. Are there any unavailable products that you wish you could get your hands on?
Hm... not that I can think of, no. I take what's available and use it to my best advantage. I'm not going to camp outside Wal-Mart to hand over $600 bucks for a PS3, for example. Eventually they'll come down in price and go up in availability. I'm patient.

Sometimes I have weird dreams about lines for stories or poems, and then I write them down and go back to sleep and discover them in the morning.

Here's what I found on the notepad this morning when I woke up:
-----
Leaving Vegas, a bare-bulbed neon lady
signed a mechanized goodbye.
Equally automated, I waved back.

We all sell our bodies and minds
for the desires of strangers
to keep starvation at bay.
----
...what the hell was I dreaming about? I don't remember. I'm always amused that I mange to capitalize and punctuate and line break, even in my sleep.

Sometimes these little snippets make it into a poem somewhere, sometimes they just kinda hang out and don't do much of anything. But I keep them anyhow, because I like to see what my mind is doing when I'm asleep.

Today (in less than two hours) is my interview with The 88 . It's my first phone interview, so wish me luck! I hope the system I've set up for recording works as planned (we're using pretty ghetto equipment here) and that we don't have any unpleasant surprises.

Okay, so Egypt Untold pretty much rocks. If you haven't been watching this series on the Discovery channel, you should be. They repeat these things all the time, so you can catch it.
The one I'm watching right now is about the Rosetta Stone and Champolion (sp?).

Anyone know anything about the band The 88? I'm doing a phone interview with them Tuesday and I need to learn stuff and formulate some questions by then.

Poetry today at the library was nice. My uncle told me the story of one of his neighbors years ago that got blown up by a toilet bomb. It was a pretty sweet day.

Tomorrow I have to take the family to the mall (gods how I hate the mall) so that they can go shopping. And then tomorrow night, I'm going to Bridgeton for the poetry thing to meet up friends I haven't seen in so so long.

I like Rome (the series). I have been watching and loving it. However, I have missed the last two episodes of Lost, which makes me sad. I keep forgetting what day and time it is- you know how awful I am with numerical concepts. I can't keep track. I will have to try and find the eps so I can watch and catch up with what is going on.

Tonight I did my interview with Terami Hirsch - she's nifty! Very smart, and very spiritual, and great to talk to. Awesome music, too. The other day I did the Watson Twins interview - Chandra and Leigh also very spiffy people. Super nice. Now I just have to wait for Blake to send his answers back in, and I'm done for this issue, woo! Though I think I'm going to try and write up a couple of article type things.

I also have to eventually work on something for the APA Phoenix thing Rick is getting us into. It sounds like fun!

I have the rest of the first scene in the screenplay all worked out in my head - now I just need to actually settle down and write it. Maybe tomorrow, if I have time. At least I wrote a poem today, woo!

The girls are trying out for Sound of Music at their school. So far they've gone to the singing and dancing auditions, tomorrow is the reading. I'm getting all nostalgic now, thinking about the shows I used to do. I've never done the Sound of Music, but still - memories. Here's hoping they make it- they've got lovely singing voices, and can dance - but I don't know how they'll do at a read through - they've never done that before.

Tomorrow we may do some grocery and other type shopping after picking Aus's paycheck up. Friday's D&D over at Drew's - I've really missed everyone! And Saturday, Aus goes back to work. Sadness there. But we had a good vacation, at least. Much happy times.

The Midnight Hurrah has updated!

The feature presentation is my interview with Mike Runion - we talk about beets, the upcoming Elected and Lewis solo releases, his EP, touring with Coldplay, and much more.

Other interviews -The Color Turning, Frank Hoier

More content will be being added as the weeks go on, so check back frequently.

http://www.themidnighthurrah.com/