life, poetry, and movies

i know it's been a while since i last blogged, but i've been busy. the week before last was, to put it mildly, not one of my best, and i felt like troubles were hitting me left, right, and centre. if it weren't for some wonderful friends, i would have gone mad. on the plus side: i had a job interview on wednesday, and something may come of that in the future, who knows. on friday, however, i got a phone call from another place where i'd recently sent my CV, and they asked me if i was available, like, *now*. so, some good news at last.

i started teaching at that place, venetia, on tuesday - one ECDL class from 8-12 and one, for beginners, from 1-5. it's quite a lot, teaching 8 hours every day, especially since many of my students are either real beginners or haven't used computers much and there are 15 of them in each group, but most of the people are nice, and i have already had lovely feedback. :) and i really did miss teaching. this is for four weeks, then we'll see. there is a slight chance i might be able to go back to where i worked before, but i have also been offered another 4-week class by venetia.

my old computer had been giving me a hard time for a while, and i had to go and buy a new computer, even though i soooo can't afford it. it's got windows vista - and if you can, stay away from it. i already dread teaching it some day. poor beginners - it's going to be really, really tough for them. but it's still good to be working on a computer that doesn't crash every 20 minutes.

congratulations are in order for my "little" brother martin, who passed his final exams (masters degree in history) with distinction - which was to be expected, but it's still very cool news! he's going for his ph.d. now ...

yesterday was the first day in nearly half a year that i did not write a poem. i reached day 180 of a-poem-a-day on thursday - unbelievable. i never ever thought i could keep going so long. here are poem titles 170 - 180:

day 170 - Unrequited (Sonnenizio on a Line from Barber)
day 171 - bride, unveiled
day 172 - proposal on the phone (fib)
day 173 - Night Blindness
day 174 - Matte
day 175 - now part III of the poem "rosary"
day 176 - now part II of the poem "rosary"
day 177 - now part I of the poem "rosary"
day 178 - report with weight loss
day 179 - between the lines (fib)
day 180 - report with a little selfishness

i am very grateful for steve's assignment #3 at his workshop - browsing poetry collections for words and using them to write a new poem. apart from the poem i wrote for that assignment (bride, unveiled), that list also inspired Night Blindness, Matte, and rosary.

two of my poems were accepted by bent pin quarterly for their inaugural issue: the art of letting go and Xenon (Xe) - The day I fell in love with a Geissler tube - one of my recent prose poems.

i had a couple of rejections, sent out some more submissions, and am still waiting to hear back from quite a few places.

my fib to forget him, which won second place in the flashquake contest, can now be read in flashquake's latest issue.


spring seems to have arrived early this year, after an unusually mild winter - it's lovely outside, trees are beginning to blossom, flowers are coming out, and the sun is shining.

i've been tagged quite a while ago, to list my ten favourite films - which is impossible for me to do. i love so many movies, i cannot pick only ten. so i made this list and tried to consider different genres, but it is by no means a complete list, and it is in no particular order:

The Piano
Amélie
The Apartment
Dancer in the Dark
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue)
Down By Law
La Vita E Bella (Life Is Beautiful)
The Shawshank Redemption
Notting Hill
Pulp Fiction

some that should be on the list, too: Four Weddings and A Funeral, Love ... Actually, Dogville, Breaking the Waves, The Postman, Lost in Translation, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Ice Age, Muriel's Wedding, Casablanca, Boys Don't Cry, C'era Una Volta Il West (Once Upon A Time in the West), Life of Brian, ...

i tag whoever has not made a list yet, and wants to play.

song of the day: theme from Once Upon A Time in the West by ennio morricone.