Poetry Thursday: House Hunting

Remember two weeks' ago when I said that I would write a new poem for my next Poetry Thursday contribution? Yeah. Sorry about that. School started for my kids this week, so I have been trying to spend less time on the computer and more time attending to their needs. I still haven't figured out how to fit writing into the schedule. So today's poem is another retread.

Before you read today's poem, keep this in mind. Most of my poetry is autobiographical because I don't know how to write anything else. However, I was a very different person when I wrote this poem. I am not this depressed anymore, so you don't have to send me any concerned emails offering the crisis hotline number :-). Until I write something new, all I have left in my notebook is poetry that is either morose or poorly written. I'd rather share sad poetry than bad poetry.

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HOUSE HUNTING

Last night
Insanity bent close to my ear
And whispered,
"In my house
You will be safe."
And indeed
The offer was tempting to me,
A soul in search of respite;
But then I noticed
The liquid grief
That rolled down your cheeks
As you witnessed the life
Vacating my eyes,
And I decided
To extend the lease
On my current abode.

--Dani M. Sanders, 12 September 1989

What I Like: "Nina Kimberly the Merciless" by Christiana Ellis

This week's segment should be called "What M Likes" because she is absolutely mad for this story. It is in heavy rotation on her mp3 player. She couldn't wait for school to start so that she could share it with all her friends. To me, that is the sign of an engaging story.

So, what is the plot of this engaging story? Nina Kimberly is the teenage princess of a warrior clan. Her father, the leader of the clan, is dead and their people have dispersed. With no land of their own, her people must co-exist with a more peaceful race. This doesn't sit well with Nina, who is itching for a quest of the type that she has read about. Her royal guardians agree to let her travel, but use a spell to bind her to the useless prince of the kingdom. So she is on a mission to find the man of her dreams, ditch the idiot prince, and add some adventure and meaning to her life.

Christiana Ellis does double-duty as the author and all the voices in this audio drama. She manages to make each character distinctive without changing her voice very much. I can't believe she has produced such a quality product on her own and gives it away for free! To check out the story for yourself, either click on the banner above or go to Podiobooks.

Mommy 2.0

Today was the first day of school, and I am attempting to start off on the right foot. No TV for the kids, but none for me, either. I actually ate dinner with them and had devotions. They are downstairs playing Fluxx while I take my bath, and then I am going to read them the first chapter of "How to Eat Fried Worms". I even exercised for 30 minutes before work this morning.

So far everything is going smoothly. I have eliminated everything but the basics from our evening routine. Once they start getting homework and we get into a groove with that, then I may add activities like computer time or visits from friends. TV will continue to be off-limits, however. I have nothing against TV, but the noise from three different sets makes me feel like I am losing control of the household. It is strange for me to even type that because I normally can't stand silence; it causes me to think too much which makes me sad. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't focus with the TV on the way I used to as a teenager. Hopefully, this TV-free time will cause me to pick up other activities that I have abandoned, like reading or knitting.

What I Like: Bianca Ryan, winner of "America's Got Talent"

I didn't watch any of "America's Got Talent". Although I like talent competitions, all the reviews I read and the clips I saw led me to believe that all the acts were of the "stupid human tricks" variety. When I found out that the winner of the $1 million prize was an 11-year-old singer, my interest was piqued. I trusted that the YouTube community would have posted at least a dozen clips of Bianca Ryan, and they did not disappoint me. I had trouble deciding between two clips, so I am sharing them both.



This was Bianca's audition performance. You see Brandy stand on her feet toward the end. That is exactly how I felt when I first watched it, and not just because that is a stirring song. I'm old enough to remember the original getting plenty of airplay and I have heard plenty of bad renditions since then. A singer would have to be pretty good for me to accept her singing that song.



This is Bianca's performance in the finals. She took the advice of one of the judges and changed her makeup and hair. It made a big difference. Also, if you look at her facial expressions as she is walking down the stairs, you can tell that she knows what she is singing about.

Bianca isn't the best singer I've heard in competitions like this. She probably wouldn't have made it to the top 20 on "American Idol". However, I can't escape the fact that there is a raw talent within her. With a little work on her enunciation and possibly her pitch, she could be a powerful vocalist. I can't wait to hear her when she is about 16.

Growing My Own Gamers #9

There has been a lot of discussion lately on boardgaming podcasts about local game stores. Should you patronize your local game store even when you can get better prices online? People who want to shop online are sometimes made out to be the bad guys in these discussions. The pro-local people forget that there are many of us who don't have a choice.

I believe in supporting local business. However, that can be difficult since I live in the land of the chain store. There is a hobby shop about 30 minutes away with a few games, but they were covered with dust and none of the titles were anything I had seen on BoardGameGeek. Still, I wanted to make sure I had exhausted all my possibilities. I did a search on Google and found a store an hour away from my house. This is not a trek I would be able to make on a regular basis, but I had a chance to be in that area last weekend so I thought I would check it out.

From my reading, I saw that this game store embodied some of the positive and negative aspects of other stores around the country. In their favor, their small selection of games (about 20) were all fairly recent titles that I recognized. Also, they have a large gaming space for people who live in the area; there were some kids playing a CCG while I was there. The downside is that the store was unattractive. Even if the owner couldn't afford to paint or recarpet the floor, I'm sure he could spare a few dollars for a carpet cleaner or even a broom. My sneakers actually stuck to the carpet! The one thing I couldn't complain too much about were the prices. They were equivalent to buying the same game online plus shipping, but factoring in the gas to go all that way made buying "locally" more expensive.

This little expedition satisfied my curiosity. Whenever I shopped online there was always a nagging feeling that I should try harder to find the games locally. Now I can shop online with a clear conscience!
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While I was investigating the not-so-local game store, I felt that I had to buy something after begging my BFF Rabbit to drive me out there. My budget was tighter than usual, so I picked up a copy of Fluxx. I was hesitant to get this game because hardcore gamers tend to look down on it. That alone should have been a clue that my kids would love it, and they do. I've played it several times with a few adults and they seem to like it, too.

Fluxx is a game that is difficult to envision until you play through it. The rules sheet that comes with it doesn't help much. That's probably because most of the rules are on the cards themselves. Each person starts with three cards. The game starts with a basic rule: draw one card, then play one card. Once players start laying cards on the table, the rules of the game start shaping up.

There are four kinds of cards: New Rules, Goals, Keepers, and Actions. The Keepers are the cards you collect by putting them on the table in front of you. The Goal cards tell you what you need to collect to win the game, but the goal can be changed at any time by someone replacing it with a new Goal card. The New Rule cards change the basic rules and the changes stay in effect until someone plays a different card to contradict them. The Action cards only work for a single turn and can affect any of the other three types of cards. Basically, what you are aiming for and how you can get there is changing all the time. The game never plays the same way twice.

I was surprised how well DJ picked up the game. His reading skills improved dramatically over the past year, but being able to read and put what you read into practice are two different things. M reads several levels above her grade, yet she will not read for practical reasons. If she is making Rice-A-Roni, she expects me to tell her what to do rather than reading the box for herself. I thought I would have the same problem with DJ and this game. His ability to read the cards quickly and strategize went far beyond my expectations, especially since it was the first time he had played.
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Gaming opportunities with adults are going to be scarce over the next few months. School is starting next week, and then the holiday season will be here before we know it. That leaves gaming with the kids. I will be enforcing the "no TV on school nights" rule and I will need something to keep the kids occupied if they finish their homework early. games that make them use their minds should be just the thing. Let's hope that I stick to my resolve and don't go back to vegging out in front of the computer after work.

Poetry Thursday: Writer's Block

This week, our leaders over at Poetry Thursday have decided to give us a free day. You would think that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to post a new poem. Ha! The silence required to write is too uncomfortable for me right now. So I'm posting another old poem. If you are tired of leftovers, try me next week; perhaps I will have cooked up something new by then.

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Writer's Block

I can't put the words together anymore.
I've run out of life
To write about
Since you've been gone.
My life is a volume
That was loved too much
And then discarded.
It is falling apart
Leaf by leaf.
I can't mend the binding
Because the wind is blowing
The pages away
And the cover is gone.
Can you come back
Just long enough
To help me catch the pages
Before they drift too far
And I forget who I am
Or that I ever loved
And was loved?

--Dani Sanders, 19 April 1984

What I Like: Life on Mars

Life on Mars took me by surprise, in more ways than one. For those unfamiliar with the plot, a police officer named Sam Tyler (black leather jacket) is investigating a string of murders in 2006. The case takes a turn for the worse and his own girlfriend becomes a victim. Sam goes for a ride to blow off steam, wrecks his car, and is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he finds himself in 1973 instead of 2006. He is working for the same police department but as one of the rank and file under a loud-mouthed sexist chief. Half the methods he was trained to use for solving crimes haven't been invented yet, and his 21st-century sense of ethics clashes with the brashness of his fellow officers. To make matters worse, he keeps hearing voices that lead him to believe he may be in a coma and that his 1973 world is really a dream.

This British series is a joy to watch. The action reminds me of enjoying Starsky and Hutch as a kid. The quality of the writing, however, is closer to The Sopranos. I am interested in every case Sam works on instead of just waiting to see the "fish out of water" bits. I want to see him go back home but I also care about the people he is befriending in 1973.

I've read that some viewers have been pointing out anachronisms, but the show is compelling enough that I never noticed things like satellite dishes that accidentally made it into the shot. My only problem, which is not the fault of the creators, is that I have trouble understanding some of the dialogue. I cut my BBC teeth on "Eastenders" and have watched a lot of British TV over the years, so I thought that my ear was well tuned to the accent and the slang. Obviously I was wrong because my rewind button has gotten a good workout with each episode!

BBC aired Series 1 of Life on Mars in January of this year, but it just started running here in the US on BBC America. There are only eight episodes in the series and four have aired so far. If you would like to catch up, there is a marathon of the first four episodes running 20 Aug 06 on BBC America.

Poetry Thursday: Marriage

I was unable to complete the poem I was preparing for this week's prompt, so I am going to pull something out of the archives. I know that it isn't very good, but I am working on keeping some sort of routine in my life no matter what.

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Marriage

Looking up at him from her makeshift sickbed
On their faded living-room couch
As he strode through the front door,
His arms filled with her favorite comfort foods
From the Asian market
(Egg rolls, shrimp fried rice, and Darjeeling tea),
She almost forgot that she hadn't loved him
On the day she agreed to marry him
Two years ago.
She wasn't sure even now
After all these months of fixing his meals
starching his uniforms
cleaning his house
And letting him brush her long midnight black hair
(Which soothed him late at night
When he was worried about bills),
What love really was
And whether she felt it for him;
But as she watched him
Standing in their tidy blue-and-white kitchen
The brow of his somewhat ordinary face
Furrowed intently
As he tried to remember how to brew the tea,
A warmth spread through her body
That no passion could induce
And she instinctively knew
That she was safe.
Certainly that was just as good as love,
Wasn't it?

--Dani Sanders, 01 October 1990

What I like: "Flipped" bye Wendelin Van Draanen

If you have elementary or middle-school aged children in your house, then you may be familiar with Wendelin Van Draanen as the author of the Sammy Keyes detective series. She has also written a young-adult romantic comedy called "Flipped" and I loved it. It follows Bryce and Julianna from second grade to eighth grade. Basically, it is love at first sight for Julianna but Bryce doesn't have much interest in girls yet. The story is told in chapters that alternate between Bryce and Julianna's perspectives. The book is light enough that I am afraid to tell you much more of the plot. I will say that Ms. Van Draanen treats her young readers with respect; there are a couple tough situations that, while not described in gritty detail, aren't given an unrealistic happy ending, either. This 200-page novel is quick reading but it still packed a punch for me.

I don't want to set a good example

I just want to eat a bowl of cereal. Unfortunately, ABM has drilled into the kids' heads that cereal is only for breakfast. This means that I can't eat my bowl of cereal for dinner because I will be breaking a house rule. Wah! I am such a brat. I want what I want when I want it.

Poetry Thursday: Singing Along

I would have thought that this week's topic would be easy. Music has pulled me through the roughest periods of my life. There are many lyrics that sound like poetry to me. Surely, I could pick something to create a poem around, couldn't I? Unfortunately, I got stumped. All those lyrics that I know by heart just flew out of my head.

Since my mind has been consumed with my eldest daughter's first formal, I offer this fragment of a poem about the experience.
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Amazingly,
The fellowship hall
Was a sea of ebony,
Beaded
And sequined
And feathered.
Even eighth-grade girls
Understand the elegance
Of a little black dress.

Sadly,
All of this elegance
Was lost
On eighth-grade boys.
What would propel them
From the far side
Of the room
To meet the ladies-in-training
On the dance floor?

Thankfully,
The DJ was experienced
In these matters.
He had the magic formula
To make them move --
"You can't see it
It's electric!
You gotta feel it
It's electric!
Ooh, it's shakin'
It's electric!"
Coattails flapping,
Sequins shimmering,
The party
Has finally begun.

What I Like: "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera

This is one hot track! Other bloggers have called this song boring, but I don't think so. It showcases Aguilera's voice and reminds us why she became popular in the first place. Many critics say that she has a stronger voice than her contemporary Britney Spears, and I would have to agree. The song itself may not have what it takes to become a classic, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear it blasting out of car windows for the rest of the summer.

The video is a good one, but I may be biased. I am drawn to anything that borrows a vintage look. Aguilera has been carrying this 30's/40's-era style out into the street to promote her new CD. I think it suits her much better that the dirty street-urchin look that she was fond of for a while. She will never be called "demure", but her dance moves look less skanky in a satin party dress.

Dress Hunt? Mission Accomplished!

The dress hunt is complete! It took us four hours and my feet are killing me, but it was a successful trip. We went to a discount store called Ross and tried on about 18 dresses. My daughter is not tiny, so it took a bit of work to find a dress that fit her without showing too much cleavage or making her look like the mother of the bride. There was a beautiful black sleeveless dress with a bronze midsection and black lace overlay that I wanted M to get, but ABM said it was too grown-up. We finally settled on a two-piece black outfit with beading around the neckline and the handkerchief hem. Luck was with us when we went shoe shopping, too, because we found a fierce pair of heels for $7! Pictures will be forthcoming.