To be perfectly honest, I don't like most poetry. I understand the value of poetry in history and as a means of expression, and I get the catharsis that comes in writing poetry, and I have even written poetry myself - but for the most part, poetry rarely moves me or impresses me.

There are exceptions.

I happened to tune into NPR early this morning and caught someone reading a poem. I was impressed. So much so that I came home and managed to get my crappy broken laptop working enough that I could look it up.

I don't think this lady has a deviantart, but she has a website. She's a local poet, and has won awards.

[link]

There is the poem she was reading, on her website.

Definitely going to see about purchasing this book.

3 hours of sleep last night, followed by work and then planting spring bulbs in the hard-as-cement dirt here. I am tired.

I think I can sum up things briefly, for once.

Life is extremely beautiful and simple if you allow it to be. It depends more on perspective than on anything else. The catch is that you have to give up, and you have to learn to be accepting. It's worth it.

I have heard that kidney stones are the worst pain one can experience. Could be true. Apparently Pluto had taken up abode in my kidney after he was dissed by the scientific community, but he recently decided to step out the other night and got locked out. He left little friends behind, who might eventually join him on the way to nowhere. 50/50 for surgery next week. (I will not go quietly.) In the meantime I'm on pain pills and water water water. Not so much food, since I can't tolerate it. Good side? It's not appendicitis, and I might fit into that dress in a week or two if I keep up the unintentional bulimia. Bad side? Pretty much everything else, especially the 50/50 thing.

Also, why does excruciating pain or serious injury always happen in the middle of the night, when the only recourse is to wait it out (and maybe die if you don't know what's wrong) or go to the ER? These things can never occur during normal business hours when you could, you know, schedule an appointment with a regular doctor and save a few hundred (or thousand) bucks.

I feel like one of those old people who have nothing else to talk about but health problems. How's your rumatis doing?

No sleep in a long time. Going nap.

Something I have learned - Spending time and energy worrying over the affairs of others, speaking badly of others, and/or trying to conceive of ways to hurt, insult, or annoy others, rarely ever does more than hurt yourself and waste your own time. If you have problems or unpleasant feelings, figure out why, confront the person you dislike, (or the inner issues you have,) find solutions, clear up possible misunderstandings, and move on. Fix what you can fix, accept what you cannot. A direct and considerate approach is so much faster and more effective than brooding and assuming and judging, and it cuts off a lot of trouble down the road. Don't wallow and obsess and fight and gossip and harass - that's all self destructive, and rather than injuring the person you dislike, you mostly just make yourself look foolish.

Just a friendly word of wisdom for the day. We often get so caught up in ourselves that we behave in unnecessary ways, which we eventually come to regret.

Communicate. Act. Let go. And remember that people are all people. Being genuinely nice does amazing things - not everyone is open to it, but you'd be surprised how many people will completely soften up and work with you to resolve issues if you're just thoughtful and considerate to them. Just treat people like friends, not enemies.

(I feel like a cheesy self-help manual, but seriously, this is all true.)

My laptop is really giving out, and I recently got a virus/malware on it, so I'll probably not be around too much, because I just can't bring myself to care enough to try to fix the damn thing. I have an old desktop but it's not going to get much use either. I find myself so completely uninterested in computers and the net. They are not what they used to be, for me.

Shaking off the last of some vivid melancholic dreams from a night ago, they cling to me greedily, for days sometimes.

Going for a late night walk, or as my dad calls it, looking for muggers. It's unseasonably cool here, so it will be very lovely.