Aren't We All Cats On The Inside?
Not sure if the quote is exactly right, but I think I understand what Milo was trying to say. Basically we're all the same on the inside. We all want love, happiness and an endless supply of toys and treats. Milo is the idealist. Otis, on the other hand, is the realist. He answers (again, not sure if I'm quoting correctly), "No, I am definitely all dog on the inside." Otis recognizes that everyone is an individual and that we must accept our differences if we are to coexist in peace. I'm doing it again. Analyzing movies. Culling universal themes from an adorable movie about the adventures of an orange tabby kitten and pug puppy. Will the madness ever end? Don't you bet on it. BTW, if you've never seen The Adventures of Milo and Otis, you HAVE to watch it. A-DOR-A-BLE CITY USA!!! I've loved this movie ever since it came out (in 1989, I think, the year I got married) and Tree loves it too. Yes, we watched the first half of it tonight. We were supposed to watch My Neighbor Totoro, but the DVD I got from the library was too scratched up; the DVD player wouldn't play it. Hopefully the library has another copy.
I feel like I really accomplished some things this week. Thanatology of Moths is finally finished. I had 10 copies printed at Kinko's over the weekend. They couldn't use the MS Publisher file because there were font and graphics problems, but luckily I had a printed copy with me (whew) and they just copied from that. I took the books with me to the Poetry Alliance Reading at Big Car on Sunday afternoon. G. had invited everyone from writing group to read if they wanted, and sunbrae, cultjam76, M. and I accepted. Everybody did great and seemed to enjoy themselves (even sunbrae's favorite Mr. Black-hee). I ate cake, pineapples, strawberries and chocolates and drank some wine. I'm not usually a wine drinker, but this wine was really good (for the nerves and the tastebuds). After the reading I chatted with some folks. One lady was writing a series of poems that dealt with Indiana places and women. She read one poem about the Skunk Woman and another about a female serial killer from LaPorte. Everybody was very nice. I can't remember everything that everybody said because when I'm talking with lots of people I get a little overwhelmed (it's that HSP thing, I suppose), but it was nice to just meet new folks and have them say they enjoyed hearing me read. I even sold four of my books and signed them (that felt a little weird - "you want my signature?"). Two were really trades since I bought a couple books by other poets. The coolest person I met, however, was Jared Carter. In my flustered stated, I told him I had seen his website and then drew a blank after that. I remember he came up to me, shook my hand (a long, firm, soulful handshake), looked at me and said "I'm Jared Carter." I think he said something like "I enjoyed hearing you read" and "this is your book?" but I kind of went googy after that. Later it sunk in. Jared Carter is a very successful Indiana poet. He won the Walt Whitman Award in 1980 and wrote on article called "the Universality of the Local" for the 2005 Poet's Market. Learn more about him here and here. Cool stuff.
Open Minds Quarterly e-mailed me yesterday for my bio. I had a feeling they would contact me soon, since the journal comes out within the next month. So I sent my bio and a couple pictures, although I didn't know how to convert them to the size they requested so I doubt my picture will appear, but hey I'm not complaining! Then I got really motivated, did some revising and sent a few poems for the Ekphrasis Prize (poetry about art), pLopLop (a local zine/journal) and Right Hand Pointing.
Stormie is having a hard week. He's been working 12-13 hour days since his office moved from Muncie to Indy. He's on the couch from the time he gets home until bedtime. He looks so drained. I hope things slow down for him soon. Tree was in a pretty good mood today. She's been moody lately. She's ten and a half, so I wonder if her hormones are beginning to bubble. One day she's happy-go-lucky Tree, the next she's don't look at me or I'll smack you Tree. Of course, I can't judge. I'm pretty moody myself. Not as much as I used to be, but I have my moments. Tree's friend Katrina might come over this weekend and go to a movie with us. No, pikameta, it won't be War of the Worlds. ;-) I think they want to go see Madagascar. Stormie and I started watching The Mists of Avalon on Sunday night, but he's been too tired to finish watching it with me this week.
Random Memory Alert! When Tree was younger (6 or 7, I think), she cut Cassie's whiskers off with scissors. It didn't hurt Cassie, but she was pretty wobbly and couldn't jump or land properly until they grew back. Tree never did it again, once she realized what she had done. At the time she thought she was making Cassie "pretty." It's funny now, but there's nothing more sad that a kitty cat without her whiskers, falling off ledges and bumping into walls.
Oh, did I tell you about the corn dolphin that Tree and I saw on the IUPUI campus the other day? OMG, if you haven't seen it you HAVE to check it out! It's in the courtyard in front of University College. It's a sculpture of a dolphin that is also a shucked ear of corn. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me (I need to glue it to my butt or something). Maybe it will still be there the next time I'm on campus and have my camera (CMF!). I'll never again look at a dolphin, or an ear of corn, in the same way. I just love art. It's so awesome what comes out of people's heads. I remember how amazed I was during my recovery from depression at how much STUFF was inside my head. Did everybody have this much stuff in their head? I wondered to myself. I'm beginning to learn that, like wise Otis said, everybody is different. Not everybody thinks about all of the crap that I do, but that doesn't mean either one of us is any better or worse than the other. Acceptance is the key. Then we'll all be equals, or "cats" as Milo would say.
I feel like I really accomplished some things this week. Thanatology of Moths is finally finished. I had 10 copies printed at Kinko's over the weekend. They couldn't use the MS Publisher file because there were font and graphics problems, but luckily I had a printed copy with me (whew) and they just copied from that. I took the books with me to the Poetry Alliance Reading at Big Car on Sunday afternoon. G. had invited everyone from writing group to read if they wanted, and sunbrae, cultjam76, M. and I accepted. Everybody did great and seemed to enjoy themselves (even sunbrae's favorite Mr. Black-hee). I ate cake, pineapples, strawberries and chocolates and drank some wine. I'm not usually a wine drinker, but this wine was really good (for the nerves and the tastebuds). After the reading I chatted with some folks. One lady was writing a series of poems that dealt with Indiana places and women. She read one poem about the Skunk Woman and another about a female serial killer from LaPorte. Everybody was very nice. I can't remember everything that everybody said because when I'm talking with lots of people I get a little overwhelmed (it's that HSP thing, I suppose), but it was nice to just meet new folks and have them say they enjoyed hearing me read. I even sold four of my books and signed them (that felt a little weird - "you want my signature?"). Two were really trades since I bought a couple books by other poets. The coolest person I met, however, was Jared Carter. In my flustered stated, I told him I had seen his website and then drew a blank after that. I remember he came up to me, shook my hand (a long, firm, soulful handshake), looked at me and said "I'm Jared Carter." I think he said something like "I enjoyed hearing you read" and "this is your book?" but I kind of went googy after that. Later it sunk in. Jared Carter is a very successful Indiana poet. He won the Walt Whitman Award in 1980 and wrote on article called "the Universality of the Local" for the 2005 Poet's Market. Learn more about him here and here. Cool stuff.
Open Minds Quarterly e-mailed me yesterday for my bio. I had a feeling they would contact me soon, since the journal comes out within the next month. So I sent my bio and a couple pictures, although I didn't know how to convert them to the size they requested so I doubt my picture will appear, but hey I'm not complaining! Then I got really motivated, did some revising and sent a few poems for the Ekphrasis Prize (poetry about art), pLopLop (a local zine/journal) and Right Hand Pointing.
Stormie is having a hard week. He's been working 12-13 hour days since his office moved from Muncie to Indy. He's on the couch from the time he gets home until bedtime. He looks so drained. I hope things slow down for him soon. Tree was in a pretty good mood today. She's been moody lately. She's ten and a half, so I wonder if her hormones are beginning to bubble. One day she's happy-go-lucky Tree, the next she's don't look at me or I'll smack you Tree. Of course, I can't judge. I'm pretty moody myself. Not as much as I used to be, but I have my moments. Tree's friend Katrina might come over this weekend and go to a movie with us. No, pikameta, it won't be War of the Worlds. ;-) I think they want to go see Madagascar. Stormie and I started watching The Mists of Avalon on Sunday night, but he's been too tired to finish watching it with me this week.
Random Memory Alert! When Tree was younger (6 or 7, I think), she cut Cassie's whiskers off with scissors. It didn't hurt Cassie, but she was pretty wobbly and couldn't jump or land properly until they grew back. Tree never did it again, once she realized what she had done. At the time she thought she was making Cassie "pretty." It's funny now, but there's nothing more sad that a kitty cat without her whiskers, falling off ledges and bumping into walls.
Oh, did I tell you about the corn dolphin that Tree and I saw on the IUPUI campus the other day? OMG, if you haven't seen it you HAVE to check it out! It's in the courtyard in front of University College. It's a sculpture of a dolphin that is also a shucked ear of corn. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me (I need to glue it to my butt or something). Maybe it will still be there the next time I'm on campus and have my camera (CMF!). I'll never again look at a dolphin, or an ear of corn, in the same way. I just love art. It's so awesome what comes out of people's heads. I remember how amazed I was during my recovery from depression at how much STUFF was inside my head. Did everybody have this much stuff in their head? I wondered to myself. I'm beginning to learn that, like wise Otis said, everybody is different. Not everybody thinks about all of the crap that I do, but that doesn't mean either one of us is any better or worse than the other. Acceptance is the key. Then we'll all be equals, or "cats" as Milo would say.