i'll stop the world and melt with you
update update update.... (what's that?)
the poetry brothel
school
The Most Exciting Thing Of Late!
so. the poetry brothel semi-debuted... we got kicked from our theatre b/c our publicity included promises of wine and whiskey and there were wires crossed about the theatre having some sort of liquor license (when in fact, they have none at all.) i felt a little guilty since i was running publicity for a minute and kind of harassed the village voice into doing the lovely (very lovely!) write-up that got us booted, but really, the damage was done before anything was in my hands. anyhow, so we had a "poetry brothel banishment party" down the street and it was ok. i'm cooling my heels on that project for awhile.
school started back this week... i had a bit of a panic attack right before class; it was wonderful to see everyone but i was terrified to workshop. i was actually shaking! but it went over so well, despite the fact i wrote the poem i used only about 3 hours earlier. phew. my friend sharmi and i have made plans to make that not always the case by writing for 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. it's harder than it sounds actually. but it puts my mind at ease, b/c since it's a contest (first one to miss a day buys the other coffee and hash browns, but loses something much more), i'm determined to stay focused. and i think i'll truly write better if i just had more to go on.
but classes were good, nothing too impossible, really great professors. also sharmi and i decided that in order to make sure we went out more after class to just start doing it until we have a reason not to, i guess. unfortunately we're both prone to lingering, but hey, we have good times. and sleep is for suckers. oh! and along with those previous challenges, my friend ben's literary journal finally came out with print copies, and he wants submissions for the next one. so i've got to write something fantastic for that. but i think i'm ready to get busy on all that stuff. our school is also having loads of awesome readers this semester, so i'm hoping to hit up tons. i need community and mentors. exciting!
but of course the most exciting thing of late is what happened last night. (what happened last night?!) so the short story is this: i finally learned how to dj. (!!!) the long story is that i've wanted to dj since i was like 16, but turntables and such were way out of my budget and slowly the obsession faded. i became obsessed with playlists and mix tapes instead. flash forward to sometime shortly after i moved here when i went to someone's birthday party at this club with chimpy and the dj was so awesome that i danced. me! dancing! in public with strangers! and he played stuff i loved and everyone was still dancing. highlights being aretha's respect. oh my my. then flash forward to last may or so when i admitted to my then-roommate mora (aka the most awesome girl ever) that i had wanted to dj for a long time but kinda gave up on it, during a discussion about how much a bad soundtrack can ruin a night. and she's all like, you should dj, you'd be so awesome, you have to do it. and i promised i would. and we went out to union pool and started a dance floor, b/c the dj there on thursdays is amazing. then flash forward to last september (this long story is really really long. i'm sorry. i'm getting to the good part), when jake sinclair started djing and being the obsessive/supportive fan i am, i went although we hated this party he was doing. and it was so fun. i don't remember what i expected, but he played so many songs i loved. songs i would've played. songs i love to dance to. so i started going like every week and dancing like an idiot with or without my friends and basically have accidentally become this crazy dancing type person (though i admit it requires some amount of alcohol. i'm still as nervous as ever.) but it's easier every time. and i got myself on the list so i can get in for free, and jake started giving me drinks everytime he saw me anywhere, and so i usually don't have an excuse not to go. anyhow, to get to the point... i finally decided to stop living vicariously or being chickenshit or whatever and just do it and so i told him i was going to learn to dj, and asked if i could pick his brain. and he was like, oh it's so easy, it's the easiest thing, come early next week and i'll show you. (that's an exact quote. he just kept saying, "it's the easiest thing, it's so easy." ha) that was actually two weeks ago, because of the brothel, but this week i finally went and pretty much it's as easy as he said. he just uses cds, which is what i'd do since my vinyl collection is more than half classical, and then a fourth bowie. i could use lots of practice though, so now comes the hard part of finding somewhere to let me dj for awhile. so anyways, that's the long story. jake taught me how to dj last night, and it was kind of easy. and i actually ended up playing the first song of the night, because after he showed me the basics, he just let me play around with it, and then came back to tell me that they were open, but i could keep going if i wanted. so sweet, but i had already picked it as my last song, so i went back to the other side of the booth and sat with lucy watching the crowd trickle in.
anyhow i hope you can understand my excitement. i was so twitchy and moody half of thursday and all day friday b/c i hadn't heard from jake whether he still wanted to do it (in my paranoid mind, it was this huge favour and super annoying. my mind works wonders), but then he sent me a text shortly after work and then i just got nervous about it not being as easy as he said and me being horrible (after all, he says everything's easy) until i was there and it was just too late to back out. but so now i realllly can't back out, which is good. cause i really want to do this. i love dancing, and watching people dance, and i want to make people dance. you know that feeling when a song comes on and you just can't control yourself? and you just can't believe that someone else knows it, or loves it, and you just can't sit still? i get that feeling every week (though it's also very predictable at this point-- there's still always something where i'm like, "get out of my head!" or "stop stealing my playlists!" last night it was when they played oasis' live forever, which was one of my first favourite songs. gah)
and i think that's all. i cleaned my room over the holiday weekend, and it makes me feel better.
the poetry brothel
school
The Most Exciting Thing Of Late!
so. the poetry brothel semi-debuted... we got kicked from our theatre b/c our publicity included promises of wine and whiskey and there were wires crossed about the theatre having some sort of liquor license (when in fact, they have none at all.) i felt a little guilty since i was running publicity for a minute and kind of harassed the village voice into doing the lovely (very lovely!) write-up that got us booted, but really, the damage was done before anything was in my hands. anyhow, so we had a "poetry brothel banishment party" down the street and it was ok. i'm cooling my heels on that project for awhile.
school started back this week... i had a bit of a panic attack right before class; it was wonderful to see everyone but i was terrified to workshop. i was actually shaking! but it went over so well, despite the fact i wrote the poem i used only about 3 hours earlier. phew. my friend sharmi and i have made plans to make that not always the case by writing for 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. it's harder than it sounds actually. but it puts my mind at ease, b/c since it's a contest (first one to miss a day buys the other coffee and hash browns, but loses something much more), i'm determined to stay focused. and i think i'll truly write better if i just had more to go on.
but classes were good, nothing too impossible, really great professors. also sharmi and i decided that in order to make sure we went out more after class to just start doing it until we have a reason not to, i guess. unfortunately we're both prone to lingering, but hey, we have good times. and sleep is for suckers. oh! and along with those previous challenges, my friend ben's literary journal finally came out with print copies, and he wants submissions for the next one. so i've got to write something fantastic for that. but i think i'm ready to get busy on all that stuff. our school is also having loads of awesome readers this semester, so i'm hoping to hit up tons. i need community and mentors. exciting!
but of course the most exciting thing of late is what happened last night. (what happened last night?!) so the short story is this: i finally learned how to dj. (!!!) the long story is that i've wanted to dj since i was like 16, but turntables and such were way out of my budget and slowly the obsession faded. i became obsessed with playlists and mix tapes instead. flash forward to sometime shortly after i moved here when i went to someone's birthday party at this club with chimpy and the dj was so awesome that i danced. me! dancing! in public with strangers! and he played stuff i loved and everyone was still dancing. highlights being aretha's respect. oh my my. then flash forward to last may or so when i admitted to my then-roommate mora (aka the most awesome girl ever) that i had wanted to dj for a long time but kinda gave up on it, during a discussion about how much a bad soundtrack can ruin a night. and she's all like, you should dj, you'd be so awesome, you have to do it. and i promised i would. and we went out to union pool and started a dance floor, b/c the dj there on thursdays is amazing. then flash forward to last september (this long story is really really long. i'm sorry. i'm getting to the good part), when jake sinclair started djing and being the obsessive/supportive fan i am, i went although we hated this party he was doing. and it was so fun. i don't remember what i expected, but he played so many songs i loved. songs i would've played. songs i love to dance to. so i started going like every week and dancing like an idiot with or without my friends and basically have accidentally become this crazy dancing type person (though i admit it requires some amount of alcohol. i'm still as nervous as ever.) but it's easier every time. and i got myself on the list so i can get in for free, and jake started giving me drinks everytime he saw me anywhere, and so i usually don't have an excuse not to go. anyhow, to get to the point... i finally decided to stop living vicariously or being chickenshit or whatever and just do it and so i told him i was going to learn to dj, and asked if i could pick his brain. and he was like, oh it's so easy, it's the easiest thing, come early next week and i'll show you. (that's an exact quote. he just kept saying, "it's the easiest thing, it's so easy." ha) that was actually two weeks ago, because of the brothel, but this week i finally went and pretty much it's as easy as he said. he just uses cds, which is what i'd do since my vinyl collection is more than half classical, and then a fourth bowie. i could use lots of practice though, so now comes the hard part of finding somewhere to let me dj for awhile. so anyways, that's the long story. jake taught me how to dj last night, and it was kind of easy. and i actually ended up playing the first song of the night, because after he showed me the basics, he just let me play around with it, and then came back to tell me that they were open, but i could keep going if i wanted. so sweet, but i had already picked it as my last song, so i went back to the other side of the booth and sat with lucy watching the crowd trickle in.
anyhow i hope you can understand my excitement. i was so twitchy and moody half of thursday and all day friday b/c i hadn't heard from jake whether he still wanted to do it (in my paranoid mind, it was this huge favour and super annoying. my mind works wonders), but then he sent me a text shortly after work and then i just got nervous about it not being as easy as he said and me being horrible (after all, he says everything's easy) until i was there and it was just too late to back out. but so now i realllly can't back out, which is good. cause i really want to do this. i love dancing, and watching people dance, and i want to make people dance. you know that feeling when a song comes on and you just can't control yourself? and you just can't believe that someone else knows it, or loves it, and you just can't sit still? i get that feeling every week (though it's also very predictable at this point-- there's still always something where i'm like, "get out of my head!" or "stop stealing my playlists!" last night it was when they played oasis' live forever, which was one of my first favourite songs. gah)
and i think that's all. i cleaned my room over the holiday weekend, and it makes me feel better.