Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Not Super Enough

I've been youtubing a lot of Superfriends cartoons lately. I remember liking them when i was very young and overly imaginative. I like Green Lantern and Aquaman. My heroes don green costumes, something which may have coated my mind at an early age. I am not Superman nor Batman; my childhood friends took them already. I may have knew it then that i will be orchestrating, contributing and deeding in the sidelines for most of the time in my adult life.

I was with my family at M Casino and Resort in Las Vegas on Saturday Memorial weekend. As usual, we feasted on their buffet, my vote for poor man's best gastronomic experience in the desert town. They have unlimited wine and beer refills. My fourth wine was the killer. Tipsy and distracted by dazzling lights and exploding sounds, for a while i forgot the way out to the parking lot.

While in LV, i also did some book hunting on the libraries. This will be my Summer reading, if i ever get to it.

1. The Train Now Departing by Martha Grimes
2. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
3. All Aunt Hagar's Children Stories by Edward P. Jones
4. The View fro Castle Rock by Alice Munro
5. Who will run the frog hospital? by Lorrie Moore
6. The Dovble Tongve by William Golding
7. Sappho's Leap by Erica Jong

Happy Summer Everybody!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Congratulations You Won!

1) is a story i wrote last year

2) is a deathly rattle my computer had bitten

My laptop is diseased and the good people in the repair shop are trying to resuscitate it from a viral infection, a squiggly enemy that penetrated my virus shield.

Coincidentally, i was sore and feverish after getting (renewing) a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine. My left upper limb felt like it was in a cast and my body was reacting with involuntary chills. 1 out of 4 adults are prone to these risks and i am the lucky one.

Strange how these night sweats and no internet are giving me a rarefied head. I know this is just temporary but i am really liking this physioelectronic detachment. I like not knowing what's going on with my friends, i like not knowing how my retirement is performing, i like not knowing i have an e-mail waiting to be read....I like knowing i've been on this situation before and i am liking it again.

I like knowing i am not busy nor bored with my life.

Anyway, that's my week and here are three recent poem publications of mine.


1
2
3

4. There is no number four. I just want to say thanks for reading, whoever you are.

Monday, May 16, 2011

I like dome churches

I like dome churches. They don't build a lot these days. People like tall and spiraling structures as tall as the heavens, a matter of architectural taste, i guess.

I visited St. Sophia in Los Angeles this weekend. A Greek Orthodox Church, some say is patterned after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. The interior was magnificent and the Saturday i was there at 2pm was a delight.

I sat in the middle, a phalanx of pews that are all empty.

Dimly lit electric oil lamps, subdued brilliance of stain glass windows, silence is my prayer.

It was like that for 10 minutes then someone from the rear balcony piped an organ recital. I looked at the aisle if there was a wedding procession and if someone (other than Dustin Hoffman on The Graduate) was trying to stop the wedding.

There was no wedding yet, However there were the bride and the bridemaids having a photo op in the front door. The bride was beautiful, as any bride should be. She was smiling for the camera. She was smiling for the winged sunlight that escaped from the clouds.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

My Kung-Fu Rant

I work in a high rise spacious office, a neat cubicle overlooking three major freeways. It seems like i have all the air i can have to wiggle and be productive, but lately the air traffic has been ominous. My stomach is turning everytime i sit and roll on my swivel chair. I have been upset by a nebulous incident that happened a few weeks back. An employee of many years was kicked out and from what i gather, the burden of proof did not swing on the management side. My gut is aching for affirmation i feel like i am on the chopping board. I am mentally kicking myself in the head and subjecting my guilt to the expendability of my job security. I want to spray paint the words i am necessary on the canvas of my conscience and wish the bosses can read it - pointblank .

As if i haven't kick myself to worrying yet, i want to get up and also kick the office wall till i bore a hole and fracture my toes so i can breathe.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

I don't say it enough, i think, i love you Mom

(Picture taken from Richard Nixon's study table)


Even when people can't speak

your language, they can tell

if you have love in your heart.

(Patricia Ryan Nixon's Epitaph) 1912 - 1993

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Graceland

I don't live in New York City. I've been in New York City. If i say New York City again, you'll probably think this post is boring so i will get to my point now. Please tell Paul Simon of New York City that i will carry Graceland in my lifebag if i am ever stuck on an island.

I don't have an AC. I already told you that. For the record, i also told you that my room sizzled on the afternoon. Lately i've been going to the pond after work. There is a bench there for me. I don't have a Swiss knife so i won't carve my name on it. Don't worry. Been catching the breeze and watching Mother Duck with her ducklings. Such grace.

The other day i washed my coffee tumbler at our work kitchen. I removed the rubber ring so i could wash it too. The rubber ring seals the lid from the inside and prevents water from seeping. I thought the rubber ring was minimally functional so i did not replace it. After i drank from my tumbler, the chocolate spilled an island on my dress shirt.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Sundancing at Newport Beach

Sometimes my wants make war with my needs.
I want to go to Park City.
I want to go to Venice.
Hint: both cities are film festival meccas.
As it happens though, there is one on my hood right now so that negates it.

I drove to the Newport Beach Film Festival today. There were people on their Sunday best and people on plain clothes (like me) but no paparazzis snapping pictures of people who look like big shots. I watched a surf film called Castles on the sky because i did not want to wait another hour for the next feature. The movie combined surfing (not really about surfers - for a change), and a documentary touch of National-Geographic-like locations, Iceland, Peru, India..., places i never heard of to have big waves. There was no dialogue, only a trite recitation of a sentence (bummer) about how man is lost and independent at the beginning of each scene. I was not a surfer fan dude but pulled by the induced music and exotic shots of portraits and locales, I sat through it, and even listened to a Q&A with the cinematographer.

I was a fine afternoon and NO, the ocean did not speak to me so there you go.

On another note, i am the star of my own film
here.