poetry archives return!

dredged this one up-- don't think i've ever posted it -- tell me if i have, and i'll replace it ;)

The Dog Days of Summer

“Don’t answer the door while I’m gone.” She’d say,
fastening a name tag to her uniform just before
grabbing her keys and a quick kiss from each of us,
leaving the faint scent of her perfume lingering
just in front of my face.

My sister (in all the maturity of her junior high years)
liked to watch The Young and the Restless at 10:30.
I liked the Price is Right better staying in front
of the TV just long enough to see if anyone won the showcase.

Afterwards, I would retreat to my bedroom with a book
and the dog (if she could be convinced), emerging later to find lunch.
She and I usually ate hot pockets, ham and cheese mostly.
Sometimes, I would ask her what happened on the show.
Did Victor really die? Was Cole really Victoria’s brother
after they’d been sleeping together for months?

Other days, my sister’s best friend would come over,
and they would eat lunch on the roof.
Not for any reason really, other than they weren’t allowed.
Those days, I didn’t find out what happened to Victor and the rest.

Once, I scrambled up with them, swinging scrawny summer legs
the few feet between the roof’s edge and the courtyard wall.
I didn’t stay long, quickly bored by talk of boys I’d never met,
teachers of classes I hadn’t taken yet.
On the way back down, I slithered
off the edge of the roof on my stomach, feet dangling,
searching for the cement wall to put my feet on.
I slipped before I found it, feeling nothing but air
and the glance of the wall across my back as I fell
into the flowerbed. Startled, I lay there
trying to find my breath again. I reached
back and felt the broken skin along my back, but no blood.

The fall and I must have made enough sound to draw the attention
of two seventh graders on the other side of the roof.
I rolled to my side to find they were leaning over me,
concern quickly turned to ridicule once they realized
I had missed my own footing.

Left alone when they disappeared to the roof again,
I sat up and brushed my arm where
dirt from the flowerbed and shame from the fall clung
to my t-shirt like cicada shells on the backyard fence.

is it friday yet?

thursday evening and quieting down here in the cubicle. sounds so dilbert to say "the cubicle," but that's what it is. so i saw the movie everyone's been talking about lately, and i don't really know what to blog about it really...i've never seen a movie audience more stunned or quiet as they filed out of the theatre. i've eventually decided i'm glad i saw it, but i don't ever want to see it again. thought provoking.

french dips for dinner tonight, which i've really been looking forward to, we're also supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow, so big plans to curl up with a roast beast sandwich and bottle of wine. which i will share with my seester and whoever else holds out a glass :)

tweedle's leaving us this weekend, is heading off to ol' purdue. i need to go back as well sometime soon, i'm homesick for it :)

it's doggie smack-down week yet again, except this time, we mean business. cassie and i have presented a unified parental front to our wayward bulldog who can't seem to grip the fact she is but a dog in our apartment, not princess ruler of the household. teddy is dog-sitting this weekend though, maybe cleo can confide in 'dakota' a keeshound about her tyrannical parents.

in other exciting news, cable has miraculously appeared on our tv. don't know why, or how, or for how long, but there it is.

all's quiet on the blogging front

so i've been neglecting my blog, as well as phone calls to my mother, e-mails to my friends, and i don't think i've fed cleo in weeks... hmm...

but recruiting was successful! if you can consider putting $750 on my credit card successful (and i do). don't worry mom, it's reimbursable. lots of fun. noteables? kabuki is a really cool japanese steakhouse that's both entertaining and tasty, and chateau morrissette has 2, count them, 2 new wines. 1 of which i brought home to share 'cause, mmm... it's my new favorite.

on the subject of school, i have a 20 page research paper to write, but the due date moved a week further away from me, so that's all the encouragement i need to procrastinate just a tad bit longer.

speaking of procrastinating, i'm going to finish up and head home! it's a barnes and noble kind of night.

from the bad girl rage-a-day

today's to do: stop thinking.
recent studies reported in real-life medical journals indicate that there is no such thing as a stressful life event- only stressful thoughts about life events. therefore, if something upsets you or makes you nervous, stressed, or freaked out in any way, just don't think about it. the way to elminate stress from your life is simply to stop thinking. hurray! one less thing to do.

today's to don't: stop dreaming of greatness.

toooosday

"the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

- eleanor roosevelt

yawn... i'm almost out of here. exciting points for the day?

- my job is starting to make sense
- the girl scout cookies i bought showed up today (lemon creams and thin mints)
- this weekend is recruiting weekend for danaher (all expenses paid trip to blacksburg!)
- barnes and noble tonight for some crack-down studying...or relaxing reading, make up your own mind

happy valentine's day

or singles awareness day, depending on your status. cleo and i are chillin' together today, doing fun girl stuff, like painting our nails (if i can get her to hold still long enough), brushing our hair, etc.

i finally opened like two months worth of mail today- i should really keep up with that better (mom, if you're reading this... IGNORE IT! i'm lying, i read my mail and pay my bills at least one month in advance...)

okay, lunchtime :)

tee-hee

too much free time? i think so...

friday the 13th....

...is tomorrow.

advice from the 8-ball

so the 8-ball seems quite confident ("yes, definitely") that i'm capable of this job... but i have my doubts.

dance party in my new office

so my new office is so big i could have a dance party. and a plant, cause i have a window! kind of weird to have carpet... and space...feel like i should partition half of it off and slowly move it out until i get used to it. jeff lang ran a few laps in here this morning even. okay, it's not THAT big, but it's comfortable and roomy. i'm done bragging now.

i do miss inland - or the "mothership" as i've heard it referred to by others who have moved from facility to facility.

learning my new job until wednesday, then i'm on my own! skipped class today to make sure i sponge up as much knowledge as possible from amanda before she heads back across the border. in fact... i think i'll spend some quality time with all that reading she gave me to do -- adios ;)

ps: the 8-ball made the trip safely, thanks to "the cass" who graciously agreed to get up early on a sunday morning to help me move all my stuff :)

blacksburg? or thinly veiled skate park?

riiiiiiiiiight. so this morning, tweedle was picking me up for work anyway cause we're going to happy hour for work tonight for my last day at inland- sniff... sniff... :( but anyway, back to the story- lastnight the new river valley was coated in an icy glaze which is pretty to look at, but generally not cooperative when trying to drive to work. so he amazingly made it out of his neighborhood and i hiked/skated up the untreated hill of my apartment complex to where tweedle was able to make it with his car. but once we were out on main roads, it wasn't too bad. kudos to the guy driving 5 miles downhill on prices fork this morning, that was awesome.

blogworthy part ii

so ryan posed the question "where does baby corn come from? is it a mini corn patch? is it a tree?" while we were eating stir fry the other night and cassie offered the following as an explanation: "i think baby corn is like stunted reject corn that people decided to put in asian food." have a better explanation? tell me! tell me! the natives are restless and thirsty for knowledge! ... or hungry for baby corn, i'm not really sure.

blogworthy

jeff lang's fortune today at lunch read: "your emotional nature is strong and emotional." i think we can all learn something from such a deep comment. is anyone else annoyed that fortunes no longer provide fortunes, but statements that are completely and totally obvious to even a parakeet? i say parakeet, because, i figure, parakeets' heads are v. small, and by proportion, so is their brain power. if you've been the previous owner, or currently own a smart parakeet, please speak up for the species. (ps: if you correct me on my use of species, when i should have said some other scientific classification... well, then i'll be further humbled, because i have no idea what i'm talking about).

Cello Boy on a Tuesday Night

and because of a phone call from an old friend, i'm posting this poem in which he is featured (he's marc, not cello boy) :)

Cello Boy on a Tuesday Night

We walked down to Church Street one night
to see if we could find cello boy.
Marc says he’s always out on Saturday
nights. I saw them-

only once before, on a Tuesday. Cello boy
and his father. The boy dressed in a starched
white shirt, shined shoes; leaning over
his cello, face much too serious

for someone so young. It is a reflection
of his father, the man who hovers behind
his son, watching the Rubbermaid box
in front of his child fill with change.

That night, a crowd formed
around the two of them, father and son. Tonight,
there is no cello boy, perhaps his father
has relented, and cello boy has lost

his serious expression for an evening, no music
filling the street with the melancholy song
of a boy who learned the notes
too early to play them.

neglected blog

so i've been neglecting the blog lately since my computer at work is down for the count since saturday. computer down! repeat: a computer is down! ... or maybe that's only funny in a scottish accent.

so someone tell me what happened with the groundhog, i'm curious as to what the rest of winter holds in store for us.

michael - ice is some wintry mix combination of sleet and rain that forms a nice solid icy coating everywhere- as it turns out, this particular storm's bark was worse than its bite.

one of my course projects is with a local martial arts center- we're designing a performance measurement system for them- how cool is that? should be pretty exciting, maybe i'll get belt of color by the end of the semester (or maybe a certificate!).

the big move is friday/monday up to the other facility (one mile away), amazing how much my pack rat self has accumulated over the past 18 months. also amazing i've worked at danaher for 18 months - craziness!

okay, it's close to pumpkin time for me, so night night y'all :)

maniacal monday

home for lunch and then off to class- had a great time ignoring the superbowl lastnight :) and lots of great food thanks to ben -- southwest virginia is expecting 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch of ice tonight, so maybe no work or class tomorrow! if so... LOTR risk will definintely ensue.

happy february :)