Tagged

Today's post is brought to you courtesy of Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, who was kind enough to tag me and give me an easy post. I remain somewhat incommunicative lately, even falling off the edge of Facebook, although that's mostly because all the changes they've made have made it ridiculously difficult to keep track of my friends.

1. What are your current obsessions?
I remain firmly obsessed with Friday Night Lights. I've also been spending a lot of time doing writing exercises. In fact, in the last three weeks, I've written 80,000 words, which is pretty much a short novel. Something about the lack of pressure just makes the words fly out of me.


2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often?
A lime green t-shirt that says "I'll Mess with Texas." I got it years ago from a thrift store for $3.


3. Last dream you had?
When my alarm went off this morning, it was in the middle of a dream in which I was an FBI agent, investigating an IRA splinter group in Chicago. I was standing in our old apartment, interviewing a witness and cutting up photographs. Yeah, I have no idea either.


4. Last thing you bought?
Ummm.....groceries?


5. What are you listening to?
The clock ticking and Callie snoring.

6. If you were a god/goddess who would you be?
On a bad day, Kali. On a good day, Aine.


7. Favourite holiday spots?
I was just bemoaning the other day how we don't reallly go on holiday - I go back to Cleveland to visit my family. Which I enjoy, but I'd really like to have another adventure, like the one Youngest Brother and I had in Venice and Slovenia.


8. Reading right now?
Re-reading The Great Gatsbyy, still my favorite book ever although One Hundred Years of Solitude is a close second.


9. Four words to describe yourself.
Stubborn, loyal, practical, introverted


10. Guilty pleasure?
Pick Me Up magazine


11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak?
My brothers - put the two of them together and anything could happen.


12. Favourite spring thing to do?
Walk in the rain when it's warm.


13. Planning to travel to next?
See item 7. (At Christmas, probably)


14. Best thing you ate or drank lately?
Oatmeal butterscotch bars that I made last weekend.


15. When did you last get tipsy?
Cannot even remember. Probably the wedding I went to last July.


16. Favourite ever film?
Broadcast News


17. Care to share some wisdom?
Go have an adventure. That's always the answer.


18. Song you can't get out of your head?
Lately, it's been Amy MacDonald. Mostly "This is the Life" and "Poison Prince".


19. Thing you are looking forward to?
Have some friends visiting at the end of the month.


20 If money were no object, where would you choose to live?
I don't know. Probably somewhere on the coast of West Cork, with an apartment in Berlin and a cabin in the northern woods of Finland.

A Poem of My Own

Hope you enjoyed Poetry Month. I have to confess that it was nice to know my blog had a post every day, with minimal effort from me. It was sort of like having a self-cleaning house or a self-driving car or something. (I'm telling you, they ever make a robot who can drive a car so the passenger can laze around with a laptop, reading blogs and such, I will so be there.)

But now it's back to reality. I think I might be coming out of hibernation, but the new job means a total daily commute of 80 miles/2+ hours, so I doubt my posting will be anywhere near daily.

The time in the car is interesting. I'm trying to look at it as an asset - a time to think or sing along with my IPod or just appreciate the truly beautiful place where I am lucky enough to live. I like the thinking time and find it helpful for my writing (although it means I have to remember the words that are trying to jump out of my brain when I hit a good thought).

This week, the time helped me write a poem. Shocking, I know. In fact, I considered declaring May to be Bad Poetry Month and I'd write one every day. But really, I'm not any kind of a poet. (I'm not a dancer either.) Enough waffling. Here is my poem.

The Blank Page

Gatsby believed in the green light
A future that recedes into the past
A current forever pulling us backwards
A life of unfulfilled wistfulness

Not me.

I believe in the blank page
A future that stretches to the horizon
A line that marches us forward
A life of limitless possibilities

Above all, I believe this:

Respect the blank page
Do not fill it with history
Or burden it with hesitancy
Or tie it down with conditions

Write boldly, quickly,
With a sense of purpose
Don't think
Just open your eyes and dream