Still a Gypsy

Went to see student conductors last night at the COFAC recital Hall at Western Illinois University. It was wonderful. You can really tell when someone is just standing there waving their arms around and when the music actually appears to stream from the conductor's body. When conductor and band mesh into one entity. The music was beautiful. I was even excited during the one note holdthey do to warm themselves up, and get on key! I think there was some sort of vibrations from the instruments I was feling. I left the recital hall reeling. It was the most wonderful thing I was able to do all semester!

I had some major stressors this week get lifted off my shoulders. Severalstudents pressed our professor in Shakespeare classto move the date of our paper to be Wednesday. We were all excited when he relented to us, especially since I had not even begun to work onmine, and I need to print out the pictures I need from the sites. I'm very pleased. There wasalso a resheduling for an exam for cultural anthropology to next monday instead of this one. I'm pretty excited. My portfolio for Creative Writing is due in the middle of April and I've got another portfolio due in a week. Haven't really looked atthat either. Got nine bucks out of someused CD's at Capitol Music, that was nice. I feel as though I wasted five bucks at Walmart, as I sused a gift card to purchase some apples and some bananas. The bananas are fine, but I'm not so sure about the apples. Kind of mushy. Might just eat them anyhow. I could dice them and throw themin the freezer or put them on oatmeal. I'll take a bit out of one more and if that's the case I'll freeze or cook them. I guess that's what I get for settling for sale apples. I should just stick with the ones in mesh bags that look prettiest. I didn't used to be like that. I would settle forsecond best. I'm tired of being that way. Time for quality in life!

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There was a notefound in a off-campus mailbox that stated there wouldbea shcool shooting today. All classes have been cancelled and the school is on lockdown. All residence halls are only accessible by students who have keys. I went home, as I didn't want to be on campus during all this mess. I'm doing good. I'm looking forward to the end of the semester. I'm sure the campus community will press serious charges on whoever posted this threat, as there have been so many school shootingsin the last year or so. I made sure I called diffrent places, and firends so that they knew I'm ok. Go to

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A woman from Quincy, Illinois, my hometown, was tortured to death by a 35 yearoldwoman and another 40 something woma and four children in varying ages. What is disgusting is that people knew this woman was an angry woman. The dead woman, Dorothy Dixon, was mentally retarded and was supposed to be getting SSI checks. She made This Riley woman her payee, and was forced to rub her feet, basically do her bidding. This Dorothy had a child and was pregnant with another child. I saw her story on CNN. I knew this had happened, but it is such a heinous crime that CNN has a story online about it.

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ok, we have heard of Hijacking planes, and carjacking as well. It seems a man in a small town in Missouri decided to hold an Amish man at gunpoint and steal his horse and buggy in order to get himself to his trailer in I think Jamesport, MO. Look at the story in www.wgem.com

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I'm having a pretty good week this week. We were able to host a writer named Rick Bass on campus. He does lots of nature writing and activism. I enjoyed his talk, but I didn't really have too manyquestions forhim, and itseems as though no one else did either. He gave a craft talk on Tuesday and on Wednesday he did a reading. It went by pretty quickly. I don't know why people were in such a funk tonight. I guess either way, the dude got paid, and that'swhat counts. He lives off the grid. I'm proud and jealous of him for that.

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I have returned to my familiar place in Macomb, IL.Ready to tackle the ins and outs of finishing the semester at school. I'm already looking forward to what I'll be doing this summer...lots of fishing and Blues in The District. I can't wait to just relax!

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Well, Spring break is officially here, wish I could afford cancun! I actually can, but I chose McAllen TX instead. That's where my mom lives. We are both stoked!

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Not much to report event wise. I'm going to work my two nights frying donutsand then on Monday morning I'll be heading down to Quincy to spend time with my family. I'll stay there til friday, and then I'll come here to restbefore going towor on saturday night. Then it's back to mydailygrind! wheee!

Another wonderful coffee experience is going to the Washington Perk, inside the Granite Bank Gallery. There, you'll find something to decorate your home, and something to frame your artwork in as well as family photographs. The coffee is awesome. I would definitely recommend a stop in there for lunch. Very elegant. Nice arry of salads and they also carry awide variety of cold drinks. The seating is exceptional and there is even a place to bring your child. There are toys as well as magazines for your enjoyment. This is also a WIFI hotspot, so you can catch up on deadlines, or just sit and check your email. Just outside is Washington Park, a nice place to relax and have lunch. I'm more than sure you can pick up an internet signal there too.

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Mugshots on Jail alley was a unique coffee experience. It wasn't too good at first, but new management came in and took the place to wondrous heights. It had a soup menu evry day, thanks to the former owner of TW Soup Co. The guy could make a mean vegetable soup, with Brussel Sprouts. OnFriday nights there would almost always besome sort of live performance. Two or three dollar cover charge and you got a refillable coffee for somewhere around two bucks! The music was wonderful. Often times there would be a folk singer, or some local band. There was one band in particular that was great, they were from St. Louis. The Monads! They have a myspace page too. I don't do myspace, but if you type their name in the search box, you'll find them. They rocked! One could be seen playing a set of spoons, or even a washboard. Mostly it was a banjo, a sttring bass, and a regular guitar. I miss the coffee....the joy of getting up every ten minutes to go to the bathroom. That place, and those months were specialto me.

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We are discussing race and ethnicity in Anth 110 thess days. There was a viewing of a film, actually it was a show called WideAngle, in which people of Brazil instituted a quota system in order to get more minorities into their prestegious college in Brazilia. There was a girl on this show that definitely considered herself black, and she was against this whole idea of quotas, as it really puts the focus on racial diffrences, and not on exam scores. The problem with going strictly be exam scores was that the poorest neighborhoods didn't get a fair share of test prep, while the middle and upper class people got to learn in a clean and quiet environment. The poor school was very distracting, and teachers had to work very hard to teach over the roar of the crowds of studentsin the hallway.

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I'm really quite fond of this one. It's easier on my eyes. I do notice that there is a place where I could insert some htmlcode in order to possibly place a box to do my shout outs. I am not proficient in html code. I also tried to get the blogrolling thing, but I have yet to check my email to see f they have sent me my code yet. Once that happens I can get my list of others here.

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My Creative Writing professor, that is!

It was an intriguing discussion. We talked about how I should do my writing, and discuss my upbringing, with my three dad's and now two moms, well, mom's girlfriends, anyhow. It is hard for me to see the material right now, and apropriate it into my writing. It is also hard for me to see the landscapes I need to see to bring the proper level of color to my writing. At least this is the case for my essays. My poems are something completely different. It's much easier for me to write a poem, cuz it's such a hit-and-run activity. Maybe that's a project we could do, as poets. Just run up to either people, or places of business, hurry and compose a poem, recite it and run away! Like beautiful form of terrorism. What should we call it? Suicide poetry? Poetry bombing!!! That's it!

Well, I have managed to get myself turned around and headed into some semblance of normalcy. I know I won't be fully normal, but at least I can dosome things this week other than sleep nd skip class! I don't have any papers to think about, although I need to get to work on a pice os writing for my creative nonfiction class. I had a wonderful conversation with my creative writing instructor. I suppose I;'m going to be working on familial arrangements as a source of story. Should be interesting work, might reallyhelp meprocess these things.

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Well, I have managed to get myself turned around and headed into some semblance of normalcy. I know I won't be fully normal, but at least I can dosome things this week other than sleep nd skip class! I don't have any papers to think about, although I need to get to work on a pice os writing for my creative nonfiction class. I had a wonderful conversation with my creative writing instructor. I suppose I;'m going to be working on familial arrangements as a source of story. Should be interesting work, might reallyhelp meprocess these things.

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I have been up all night long. I have not slept since about 7 pm last night, as I make the donuts on weekends. I decided to blog about it simply to see if I could put a few coherant sentences together when exhausted. It seems as though I am able to do this successfully.

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Has anyone ever had words come into their mind and use them without thinking about what the definition was?  It happened to me on Mr. Dilger's blog with the word "modality."

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I've been struggling ever since I got my new laptop with my spacebar. I'm getting sick and tired of having to go back through all my writing and put spaces where there are none! I'm tired of hitting the submit button on a piece of writng or an email and not realizing hor screwed up it looks on the page.

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The weather today is awesome!!! I'm more ready for spring break than ever. I'm hoping I get to doa few things. Not sure how it will work out, but I really just want to relax and do nothing. Spend time with my Dad, maybe hit a coffeeshop or two, see relatives and friends. Will probably spend a bit of time at the nursing home seeing Wes. Dad has been bringing cigarettes to him. That is awfully nice of him. He knows I wouldn't go if he didn't, and I wouldn't, quite honestly. I'm not a big fan of nursing homes. I am sure there is an argument for going, like "You would want to see people if you were in there!" ok.

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I know some people who blog as well and would love to give them a shout out on the side someplace, but I don't know how to do this. Any veteran bloggers out there want to share this procedure?

I think I've settled on something that is artistic as well as a bit more professional looking. Tell me what you think.

Well, I had to update the color scheme. I didn't want anyone showing up here to feel like they were looking at something by a child. I'm not sure I like the flowers around the top end of this thing, but we'll see as time goes by. I want to give a better presence online than what most do. Employers will often times look at students' online activities, to see if they are a good choice to be hired for their company. I don't want to give anyone any reason to be alienated from me. There will be multiple changes to the color scheme in the next few days as I settle on something that reflects my character.

I make donuts for aliving, just for now, while I'm in school. I like the fritters we make, but I know they are detrimental to my health. I only ate one donut last night, and do not plan on eating any tonight. I'm really trying to cut back on junk. It's not a very easy thing to do when it's so prevalent in our society. There is no real food. Restaurants are very expensive. I'm going to have to tighten the belt though, because I'm wanting to pay for things and get some things done. I'm going to Texas in a few months to spend four weeks with my mom. I loved being down there with her last time, so one big hoohaa left before I have to get a life and a real job. I graduate in december, so time is  coming to a close on school. I'm in that process where I fel so worn out by the thought of even going to class, worn out by not being able to enjoy great literature, for the fact that the professors want me to analize it in writing and I just don't really care about the writing enough to spend timewriting about the writing. People when they write, don't expect their stuff to be picked apart. They write for people to enjoy their work. You can only enjoy a few things in English classses, because the rest of the timeis spent worrying about what the instructor wants out of your research papers. If I'm going to have my nose in a book, I want to ENJOY that book, without inhibitions.

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Well, I notice someone has made comments and I'd like to welcome you to my side of the earth. I see you are a fisherman and I'm sort of bent that way, I, again plan on doing that with my dad as the weather and schedule permits. We don't have much of a lake to go to, but we enjoy some good river fishing. I might try some lures, I just don't have much luck with them, but I could give them a shot. I like to eat bass, at least stripers, as they are so much easier to clean than buffalo and carp. Those fish are wonderful, but they are pretty tough to clean. Dad can clean them relatively easily, but I just don't have the muscles to handle them quickly. Knives need to be very sharp as well. We'll see what summer brings.

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Went out for my ritual Saturay morning coffee at the Old Dairy, and had a good discussion abut what college is doing for me. I want to get it all down on paper, as I'm going through this entire process, so I have to keep going in order to see the immensity of what I'm doing. I'm not going through anything that others before me have not struggled with. I guess I'm supposed to glory in the fact that I'm even thinking about it. This means that I'm somehow moving toward normalcy! That will be a truly strange place for me. I've always been slightly off kilter. Didn't truly mature intil I hit my mid to late twenties. I can handle that sort of honesty now.

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