I’m a newb. I was amused yesterday to see a squirrel sitting on the bird feeder tray and astonished this morning to see a doe with tongue outstretched to get at it. What’s next? Fortunately, cougars-mythical and otherwise-are carnivores.

First rays of sunshine in too long and I was stuck inside. I needed to rearrange my manuscript and prepare it for the submissions process. I needed to practice too which means lots of memorization. Got to get off-book. This is performance poetry after all. Weekend Aural Heather rehearsals with Roderick went well. We don’t agree on which poems to perform live but we’ll work it out. A lot of them are wordy, which works fine on the cd but a live show has to be engaging and people get taxed pretty easily it seems. Of course it depends on which venue and audience. Coffee houses and festivals might provide more receptive audiences but I think it’s critical to present a dynamic set of works. In any case, I’ve been working on procuring the contract and the tour so it’s a good feeling to get back to the music.

I bought a Shure 58 microphone the other day. I think it might be the first time I’ve ever done that though I’ve certainly sang into enough of them over the years. I’ve come a long way from beg, borrow, steal to go and out and get what I need. I have the wherewithal and some strong support now. I desperately wanted to be independent as a young adult and I lived on my own for nearly ten years. It was very much a hand-to-mouth existence but I was resourceful and young. I bought many of my clothes at thrift stores and didn’t have many possessions. I could move in a matter of hours and often did though I found a one-bedroom apartment for $250. a month in Echo Park and consequently resided there for four or five years. It had rooftop access and my friends and I had many tar beach parties up there. On the fourth of July we would watch the fireworks from Dodger Stadium. I worked part-time so I could devote most of my time to performing in LA’s blazing post-punk scene, writing songs and poetry. I was happy—a little misguided, a little confused but living my life, my way. I was very conscious of the fact it was precious and a gift I was giving myself. I was going to have a happy childhood, dammit.

More on this later. I’m bagged. It’s been a long day but I managed to catch up on email, meet some deadlines, practice and get some work done on my manuscript.