scrabulous!

i am now officially addicted to scrabulous over at facebook. i finished three games yesterday, won the first, then got my butt kicked in the second, and just squeezed past my opponent in the third, even though i was well over 50 points behind at one point. yay! :) and now i am at it again. if you are on facebook and fancy a game, let me know.

alex and i received word from rubicon press that our chapbook is ready to be proofed. we still need a cover illustration, so i have asked my dad to send me some photos. i wish i had known this before christmas, then i could have gone through his tons of photos myself.

and here are a couple of pics of me with gudrun's jakob who is one year old today. happy birthday!







first two pics taken by gudrun.

song of the day: nail in the sky by howe gelb.

december's different colours

purple angel



purple people



mosaic candle



blue moon



green door, what's that secret you're keepin'



snow crystals



rust


more pics on flickr


song of the day: white flag by dido.

my christmas

granny opening a present



dad tickled all shades of pink *g*



mom thinking



martin, listening & smiling



henrieta, who's looking after my granny



me, a tad sceptical



mom's delicious cookies



christmas tree



mom, martin & me at weissensee


song of the day: green fields by the good the bad and the queen.

nic & her body

hooray! finally! everyone, young & old, big & small, blonde & dark, girls & boys, can now recover ms nic's body - that is to say, her chapbook recovering the body is now available through dancing girl press (yep, me = october girl, nic = december girl) or you can contact the lovely lady herself. congrats, fishgirl! i look forward to your words, those lovely little sparkly stars.

prep work queen

*phew* sometimes i wonder how i am going to handle the workload in january - i will seriously have to cut down on being-creative-&-wanting-to-do-everything-myself, prep-work-wise. i've just finished everything that needed to be done for my christmas lessons tomorrow and on friday - thank goodness i had some old material, but i added lots of new stuff as well, mainly songs plus worksheets: from silent night (gorgeous version by mahalia jackson!) to fairy tale of new york (check this out - thanks to chris for sending the link) via grandma got run over by a reindeer (the irish rovers) and christmas card from a hooker in minneapolis (tom waits). *g* diversity rules!

i am not, however, feeling any more christmas-y after going through tons of songs and lyrics and other christmas- related stuff. but then, why would things be different this year?

i have time off over the holidays - friday is the last day for this year, classes begin again on the 2nd. wow. 2008. those 2000-something dates still seem rather odd to me, somehow unreal. i'll be off to my hometown on saturday to be with my folks for a few days.

everyone was really tired today, including me; i have so gotten used to the after-work chat with nathan that i really missed it today - i guess he only pretended not to be there, when really he doesn't want to talk to me anymore after my acceptance note from qarrtsiluni; i had a rejection note from mimesis (*sob*) but with some very nice notes and an invitation to send more work; the company i worked for in amstetten are finally paying me (about bloody time too!); saw the doctor yesterday - still on the same medication (me, not him), though i have a feeling he has considered / is considering increased dosage yet again.

off to bed now, leaving you my favourite christmas tune:



song of the day: fairy tale of new york by the pogues feat kirsty maccoll.

there's always a first time. sometimes even two.

this has never happened before: today when i woke up i thought, hmm, somehow it's awfully light outside for 06.30 ... then i checked my alarm clock and it said 02.30. that could not be right. then i was up and out of bed and i'm afraid i used some not very ladylike words to express my horror when i discovered it was 8! which is when my class starts. i was out the door within 15 minutes despite having to wash my hair. (i tell you, it WAS necessary. you have not seen me in the morning ...)

normally, my body clock is very reliable, and i wake up a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off, but i had a panic attack last night, around 0.30 and had to take half a xanor, because my hands were all numb, and i found it hard to breathe, and needed to sleep - and so, sleep i did. the meds must have switched off my body clock.

then the bus had a mini-accident because the car in front had to brake suddenly, and ... ah, you know. monday, eh?

i was 40 minutes late and i was mortified. my students were lovely though.

and then things went well, i made it home alive, which is good or i would never have read the acceptance note from qarrtsiluni - it was the first time i tried them, and they have accepted a photo for their insecta issue. hooray!

and now i am back from a very nice chat with my friend tom and will watch tonight's episode of grey's anatomy and try to get some sleep. until 06.30. not 8.

song of the day: get to leave by howe gelb off the album 'sno angel like you, a birthday present from my lovely friend sabine.

it's snowing again

but this post is not about snow. except maybe to say that the funny little styrofoam-like snow"flakes" yesterday after work looked rather cute on my new red coat and the black scarf.

bob hewis put on one of his many personas on thursday evening, got out his guitar and played johnny cash songs to a mostly appreciative audience (yes i am talking about YOU two guys and one girl in the corner who would not shut up even during the quieter songs!) at verein08 in vienna. i was especially pleased to hear a song originally written by will oldham (aka bonnie prince billy) called i see a darkness, hurt, and when the man comes around. and yes, bob, you are right: there *is* something sexy about tennessee stud. ;)

i had an hour to catch up on things with birgit on monday, i did not make it to one of the many christmas markets with a couple of friends on tuesday evening because i had a killer headache, i had some lovely girl talk with ms hillary keel on thursday afternoon, i missed my friend bo's emails as well as chatting with gudrun this week, i have become addicted to grey's anatomy, i looooooove my new red coat, and i enjoy the winding-down-after-work sessions with nathan.

i dragged myself to the company christmas party yesterday evening, after having fallen asleep during my PMR exercises, but it was actually quite nice - especially seeing my ex-colleagues from the good old floridsdorf days. the food was lovely as usual, and all i drank was still water.

a long chapter was closed last night when i followed my instincts and made a phone call. the story was one of love and lies, promises and passion, hope and disappointments, happiness and hurting, hellos and goodbyes, longing and loss, and i was one of the three main characters - alongside another woman and a man - and nobody won in the end. i was actually pleasantly surprised by the conversation and felt strangely relieved after the phone call, and calmer than i had in a long time.

song of the day: i see a darkness by bonnie prince billy. even though everything is not bleak today. but it is a beautiful song.

red coat

song of the day: prescilla by bat for lashes.

good things, part 2

two acceptance notes in one day! i'm really happy that press 1 wants to publish three of my poems - a mini-series - in their upcoming issue. now if only my poor old brain would come up with some clever "process notes"!

and i don't know what the world is coming to, but some of the chapbooks i sent out have reached their US destinations within a week. surely that must be an accident. *g*

oh, and ms cartwright-denison, dgp's december girl, is a darling. :)

song of the day: the song remains the same. *wink*

good things

one good thing about having a chapbook out is that one can swap it for other people's books. in the mail today: andrew shields' bilingual cabinet d'amateur. i look forward to reading it. in the mail yesterday: payment from my friend chris - bill bryson's shakespeare.

my students really got into their restaurant role play today - one team ended up having to "call the police" to kick out a bunch of "drunk guests". :)

after work, my colleague nathan said to me: "you're hot, michi."
okay, i made him say it.
and we were really only talking about temperature. you know, hot as in "not cold". but it was still nice to hear it from a man. :-p

loch raven review accepted four of the nine or ten poems i sent them for their winter issue! editor chris george asked me to send my chapbook so they might do a review. yay!

aaaaand i just found out that my favourite live band ever, kaizers orchestra, are playing at arena in vienna in april! woo-hoo!! another chance to see their singer take off his jacket. and shirt. and who knows ... *g*



song of the day: ompa til du dør by kaizers orchestra.

Just Three Words ...

... on facebook is soooo addictive. trust me. bob started it. sylvia is doing it. and so am i. curious?

song of the day: pearl's a singer by elkie brooks, which suddenly popped into my head this morning for the first time in years.

unexpected delight

just checked the trillium website to see whether the issue has finally gone online - it had been loooong overdue when i last checked, but at that time i was actually told the website did not exist! - and it has. my elements poem Niobium (Nb) - Niobe's Loss can be found among the 300 pages of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

i haven't been feeling too well over the last few days, but managed to get a fair bit of prep work done this weekend anyway. i have been sleeping better, but that is probably due to the slightly increased dosage (75 instead of 50 mg) of trittico retard that i have been taking since my last appointment with the doctor. i had my second therapy session this week, the next will be on thursday. tackling one of my number one issues. the progressive muscle relaxation exercises are going really well. i look forward to those 40 minutes of peace and quiet and relaxation every day. in my opinion this is one of the things they should teach in schools!

i'm going to watch along came polly on tv later, do some ironing and submit a few poems to foursquare. a glass of wine would go nicely with all of that, but ... *sigh* it will have to be chocolate instead. :)

song of the day: sylvie by sweet honey in the rock.

late night post-kafka blog post

it's 02:22 and i only got back from the open mic at café kafka ten minutes ago (and that only because michi + night bus = perfect timing)! i really enjoyed tonight, some really, really good stuff, also fun stuff. if i had not arranged to present my chap"box" tonight, i would not have gone, because i fell asleep in the afternoon and woke up with a temperature and felt totally knackered.

i thought there might not be too many people tonight, what with christmas coming up, but it was packed. it was nice to catch up with the regulars, and talk to a few new faces.

i read five poems from secret meanings and have sold all remaining chap"box" copies. the reading went well, too - i was a bit worried, because i did not feel 100% fit, but i was quite happy with it. :)

and afterwards: chat chat chat and lots of laughter. did me good. thanks for listening, jean. thanks for the free "homemade" therapy, martin. *g* thanks for letting me flirt a little, too, hillary. ;)

and now i am sitting here wondering whether nathan has found his pear novel again, or is still looking for it all over vienna ...

song of the day: hey ya by the outkast.

weird dream

i had a really strange dream last night. i was in labour. i gave birth to two babies, then the midwife said "there is more." she paused. she added: "but it isn't just one, they're twins." so there i was with four babies - all of them sons. i had no idea what to do with them. there was a sheet with the time of birth for each baby - it said "00:05, 00:06, 00:07, 00:09". speed delivery, huh?

i have no idea who the father was - there was a man, and he was my partner, but i never saw his face in the dream.

of course we needed names, and i complained that there were no nice (german) names for boys (which is something i have done repeatedly in reality). in the end we settled on max, tom, a name that i don't remember now, and then came up with luca for baby #4. (i actually like luca and max.)

i woke up, but dreamed on later: the babies were already older, and we were looking for middle names then! jeez.

and later i dreamed i walked across a small river on planks, with luca.

hmmmmm.


song of the day: in shock by kristin hersh.

poetry

poemeleon's prose poem issue has gone live, with lots and lots of words by jeannine hall gailey, eve rifkah, mark cunningham, andrena zawinski, and many others. i have two elements poems in this issue: caesium and silicon.

the publication of cahoots magazine has been delayed. soon, they say.

foursquare editor jessica smith has contacted me to solicit some of my work for the next issue - needless to say i was/am thrilled. foursquare's list of contributors reads like a who is who of small press poets. so, i guess i will have to choose a few poems on the weekend.

i received a short "fan letter" yesterday. made my day.

i have begun to send out chapbooks, but some of you will have to wait until i have received the second shipment, because i have already run out of copies - or will have, after tomorrow's open mic, where i will present secret meanings. :)

i have contacted quite a few poets to swap chapbooks with them, and have already received ryan murphy's down with the ship and arlene ang's secret love poems. yay for chapbooks! :)

this is my reply to nathan h's haiku:

december is not
as hot as it used to be
due to being single

song of the day: military of the heart by naked lunch:

we don't need entertainment
we entertain ourselves

another sunday blog post

my first week with the new group of students went really well. they're nice, they want to learn, and we are having fun, too. more good news - i have been offered additional classes from mid-january! this means teaching up to 42,5 hours per week for a while, but i desperately need the money, and it's not too much prep work, because i will be teaching similar levels. and anyway, i can do that for a while.

i wish somebody had told me about progressive muscle relaxation 15 years ago. it's wonderful. sometimes i nearly doze off, and you can hardly be more relaxed than that, right? i have also started psychotherapy. we'll see if this therapist is "right" for me. i had to cancel my doctor's appointment for this week, due to work, but i am going on tuesday. i woke up with a panic attack yesterday morning at 6 - the first in a while. it was not *that* bad, i managed to calm down and go back to sleep eventually. today, i have had numb fingers several times, and i had another attack earlier. so far, i have not taken a pill, but if i keep feeling panicky, i might have to reconsider. :(

i am still not writing. i don't like it, but there seems to be nothing i can do. i have not been reading much poetry either, only ryan murphy's down with the ship; i am in love with a couple of his poems. am currently reading nick hornby's the complete polysyllabic spree, a book about reading/books, and the kind of book that makes you want to take six months off, head to a bookstore, max out your credit card and read read read.

i've been socialising some - hung out with nathan and ronnie at the café kafka most of wednesday afternoon (how decadent), and went to a party disguised as a vernissage on friday evening. on show were eva schuster's beautiful jewellery and leopold schuster's artwork: pencil on paper, plaster, and a mummy. i am now austria's first official mummy groupie - i named him poldi. it'll also be interesting to see if there are any long-term effects caused by spending about an hour in front of a huge drawing of a vagina. someone was taking pictures at the party, i'll post a link if they ever go online.

yesterday i had some close friends (my first-aid-team of the past 3 months or so) over to celebrated my birthday. here are a few pictures:


andi trying to look meeeean (and failing)



dreamy babs



my youngest guest: jakob



michi after half a glass of wine ...



it wasn't really *that* kind of party ...

and now i have to stop procrastinating. prep work to do, christmas cards to write, chapbooks to put into envelopes.

song of the day: dis quand reviendras-tu by martha wainwright.