Skiing at Homewood in Tahoe

let the wild rumpus begin!

Unfortunately, we have to wait until October 16th.

haiku wednesday - March 25, 2009

This week's words are
earnest
layer
reactive

These were very tough words for haiku, I thought. Easy for a short story perhaps, but three lines and 17 syllables? I almost quailed and gave up without even trying. But I could not give up the fight!

---

reactive to sounds
brick layer works in earnest
sealing his sin's tomb

---

he drank in earnest
not reactive to headlights
piercing fog layer

---

reactive, he strikes
thick layer of blood and guilt
earnest silence falls

Their your's now!

their your's now!

Im hoping, could you help me, please?
Ive misplaced my apostrophes.
Ive looked all over, here and there,
but I cant find them anywhere.
Theyve gone, theyre missing, yes its true,
and I sure hope they dont find you
cuz if they do, you're words will change
and turn out looking very strange.

Nothing (ever) Ventured

nothing (ever) ventured

Teddy Gulloo and Cynthia Lee
climbed to the top of the Vulture Tree
and shaded thier eyes so they could see
all the way to the Gator Sea.

The road below was thick with dust,
the desert beyond a broken crust
all dotted with cars that turned to rust,
half buried in sand from the summer's gust.

Beyond the desert a chasm loomed
from which great coughs of hot steam plumed
but inside all light was consumed
and all who entered it were doomed.

And farther still, the Gator shore
above which they could see gulls soar
and even hear the ocean's roar
and slaps of each boat's tiny oar.

Said Teddy, "We must travel there,
to breathe the salty ocean air
and feel the see breeze in our hair...
get out of this dead, dry nowhere."

But Cindy sighed and sadly said,
"Dear Teddy, you must use your head.
The sun will burn our skin beet red,
and if we go we'll end up dead."

For he saw just the destination
and ignored the desolation
while she perceived their ruination,
predicting only devastation.

Together, they climbed slowly down
and walked in silence back to town
along the road of sickly brown
and went inside just at sundown.

haiku wednesday - March 18, 2009

This week's words are
burden
natural
ubiquitous

It would feel like Thursday already if not for 3WW.

---

ubiquitous flesh
natural but distasteful?
carnivore's burden

---

natural mistake:
"only God's ubiquitous"
it's my burden, too

---

thick doubts burden you
ubiquitous fear portends
the natural end

SF MOMA journal art

haiku wednesday - March 11, 2009

This week's words are
cajole
recluse
temper

Still smarting from the humiliation of getting one of the words wrong last week. Yikes. In fact, I was so overcome with shame that I failed to post even one single blog post all week. OK, that had more to do with being overworked and overfamilied, but still. Man, I had a HARD time with these words this week. Maybe I should change one of them.

---

recluse, night pacing
moon's temper of rain-damped smoke
cajole the sunrise

---

cajole a wan smile
recluse no more, I concede
temper pain with love

---

cajole, or avenge?
black widow bites brown recluse
freed from his temper

haiku wednesday - March 4, 2009

This week's words are
average
genuine
ramble

Skipping going to the gym today to make time for 3WW, the best. meme. ever. For those keeping score at home, I decided to take "average" as a two syllable word. I have a genuine feeling that my ramble with these words is, at best, average dreck. Blah.

---

genuine sunshine
ramble over dew-damped hills
average spring morning

---

don't just ramble on
give a genuine excuse
why the average grades?

---

ramble through spreadsheets
average job feeds lust for life
genuine daydreams

it's the most useless anything ever

So someone I know (I won't mention names) started watching the "hit" show The Bachelor a couple of weeks ago. It's mental bubblegum after a hard Monday, so I get it. It's the woman's version of Monday Night Football, only the cheerleaders are the contestants, and instead of beer commercials we get... something else. I don't know because I don't watch and it's on DVR which means the commercials scream by while we look away.

Anyway, a week or two ago this person asked me to google Deanna, a dramatic character with a dramatic past that was going to make a dramatic re-entry into the drama. I came across a quote from the show's producer:

It's the most dramatic anything ever. (story here includes quote)

This, I had to see.

So I sat down and watched a little bit of the final episode, and the "after the rose" show in which the bachelor dumped his chosen one in favor for the one he spurned. On national TV. What a loser. I think the dumpee, who is a 25 year old hottie, will one day be counting her lucky stars.

Anyway, it turns out the show was the most boring anything ever. It was like a badly acted soap opera, a real-life dumping by an immature and overly emotive boy. It wasn't even edited very well. It looked like they pieced together sound bites out of order to pump up the drama and add intrigue to a straightforward "I made a mistake and want you back" scene.

It also turns out that the producer, Mike Fleiss (I wonder if he's any relation to Heidi since they're in similar businesses), had more to say than the most dramatic anything ever. He added, "Just when you think the show is going to end, it doesn't." Boy, I'll say. I kept hoping it would end, but it didn't.

This show would be so much better with cheerleaders and beer commercials.

sloppy writing exposes sloppy thinking

The Public Affairs Council produces a monthly newsletter; scroll down to Page 2 of the February issue (PDF) for a great article on sloppy writing. The author of the article and editor of the newsletter, Alan Pell Crawford, takes one pundit to task for a series of catch phrases that in total really amount to a lot of noise without much meaning. It's a good article for anyone who writes.