Update-O-Rama

1. Buddy Guy was fantastic. I ended up trading seats with another guy who was there was with his friends. We both has front row seats, but his friends were on the other side of the hall, so I obliged, which was the best move ever. It ended up that Buddy Guy played most of the show standing by his keyboard player, who was right in front of me. What's more, 5 minutes into his first song, he threw me his pick. Later, he threw out a lot of picks, but those were just in his pocket and it was at the end of the show. He made eye contact with me at least three or four times and above all, played an amazing set. He played a lot of covers (Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Cream, Clapton, Hendrix, Little Walter, etc) and told a lot of jokes, but also jammed quite a bit. It was simply one fantastic show.

2. I have started to send out my newer poems, the ones from my new chapbook contest. I have sent them out to five places already, and I have one or three more places to submit them in a few weeks. It's weird, because the same thing happen every time I send out a batch of new poems---I immediately feel like I just sent out a truckload of crap. I know my poems are okay, but I don't want them to be just okay. I want them to be amazing! I want to get the editors excited about what I have written. Unfortunately, I always feel like I have sent out junk, no matter what I tell myself about my previous successes. I always feel an instant pang of inadequacy and inferiority every time I drop off a submission or hit that "send" button. The truth is my poems are good, and I need to trust that, but I never seem to be able to. I always hate what I've just sent.

3. The end of the school year is drawing nigh. I want to make certain everyone here knows I have the potential ( I originally typed "poetential") to go insane over the next few weeks. Even more so than you already think I am.

4. I am about to send off an amazingly huge Amazon order, but most definitely NO poetry books. I am going to do the noble thing and order directly from small presses for my fix. At least for this coming month when I get to buy MONDO amounts of books.

5. I like cheese