No one's hoping for better days

Held my last class as a teacher this a.m. Weird, isn't it, how students who all term haven't worn an expression other than :-| suddenly come to life with smiles and praise and well-wishes when you're up there bidding them adieu.

A very effective day, although one devoid so far of poetry. I'll get to that later, around duskish, I should think. Big things crossed off my to-do:

1.) Sent back a stack of NWR rejections (sorry if you were in it. If it makes you feel better, I was rejected by CutBank this past Monday).

2.) Reorganized my CDs! Always tremendous fun. The writer and wit D. Douglas Elridge, still of Boston I believe (please sir, drop me a line) would celebrate this as a true occasion. I'd come home with a new CD case, having run out of room for new records, and he'd do a Han Solo-sort of grin and say "Hey, hey! Congratulations!" as though you had just become the father of a healthy baby girl. I've been doing it Alphabetically ever since the Great New York Thievery of 2004, although having recently watched High Fidelity got me thinking about other possibilities. Autobiographically? There's a reason Dick responds, "No fucking way." But I think that Alphabetically allows for a collection's eclecticism to shine: Etta James, Jamiroquai, Matthew Jay, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Carole King.

3.) Re-formatted my thesis. Which remained a silly task in my mind somewhat, because "the thesis" has ever been a standard / milemarker not of my own design. I have a manuscript now. It's in need of some triage, yes, but an ms. goes beyond the sort of rote & arbitrary requirements of the Graduate School. Whose employees, to be fair, are very helpful when you ask nicely.

4.) Rocked out to Built To Spill's "The Weather" off Ancient Melodies of the Future, which is actually what I'm doing right now! Built to Spill, Eugene OR, next Thursday night at the WOW Hall. Be there or be just sad that you missed it, it was a killer show, dude.

5.) Kicked around the idea of making the site prettier. Ideas?

6.) Kicked around the idea of making the site a center for various reviews: books, poems, lit mags, records, lit crit. Lord knows I've got some backlog. If there's expressed interest, and more than likely if there is not, I'll expand DJ to Galactus-scale. (Galactus, that is, Eater of Galaxies. Don't you know Marvel's Secret Wars?)