Monday, 30 April 2012
Today, I wrapped up the busy month of April by venturing to my University this evening, where the editorial staff of the student literary and arts journal, The Fulcrum, held a release event.
The event, held at the university’s classy Kay Fredericks Ballroom, had food, beverages, and desserts. There were copies of past editions of The Fulcrum free for the taking. The paintings and photographs in the book were on display in original format on easels and some of the authors read their poems and short stories. I was one of those authors, and so I got to read my short story “The Third.”
Here’s a fun fact: Did you know I wrote three pieces of creative non-fiction last fall, and their titles were “The Third,” “Three,” and “Park Three?” Yeah, of course you didn’t know that. Oh – I also wrote a piece called “Andy,” too. “Andy,” along with “The Third” was accepted for publication in The Fulcrum. When one of the ladies heading up the event came over to me this evening and asked which of my works I would be willing to read, I selected “The Third,” because it’s only about one-third the length of “Andy,” and I didn’t want to stand up there and read a four page story when everyone else (I suspected) would be reading a half-page poem.
My wife couldn’t join me tonight, which was too bad, but we didn’t have a baby-sitter. See, we really only have two baby-sitters, and we used both of them in the past week, so we didn’t want to bug either of them again. I put out a call on Facebook a few days ago seeing if anyone wanted to come and have some free food and support me in my big-shot short-story public reading. Alas, no one seemed to give a rat’s ass (this is consistenly surprising to me since I have often ventured far – and at odd times – in support of friends’ endeavors), except for a former co-worker. In a way, it was odd…I wouldn’t have expected a woman I used to work with to care enough to come to this event…but on the other hand, it was fun to catch up with someone I hadn’t seen in two years. Thanks, Tina!
Oh – and if you’d like a copy of the 2012 edition of The Fulcrum, let me know. I took some extra copies. “Andy” details my friendship with a guy named Andy (yes, I know, my title is very clever) and “The Third” has a sexual subtext.
Monday, 01 May 2012
Today in class, we talked about Gulf War, Part One. Do you remember that? I do. It was back in 1991. I was a teenager living with my parents and sister at the time. Here’s a Wikipedia article about it.
One interesting thing we discussed was President Bush’s (also Part One) strong deisre to ensure this “would not be another Vietnam.” He worked to make sure there were clear objectives, that the fighting would be brief, that other nations would back us, that the UN would be the main flag under which the US fought, and that the US exited once the primary objectives were attained. All in all, I think he met those goals – especially considering that he could have ordered the troops to continue on to Baghdad and get rid of Sadam Hussein, but he didn’t.
Anyway, I stayed up late on January 15, 1991 – that was the date the UN set for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. I laid awake in bed with my headphones on waiting to see what would happen once midnight passed in New York (home of the UN) and Washington (home of Bush). I was nervously excited since, for one thing, if the war dragged on for three or four years, there seemed a very real possibility the government would try to draft me and, second as a Witness, I thought any big development like this portended Armageddon.
Thankfully, neither expectation came to fruition. Two days later, the US began bombing the crap out of Iraqi forces.
Wednesday, 02 May 2012
I had a routine physical today. I showed up over an hour early, because I mixed up the appointment time, and I’m just that stupid sometimes. The lady at the front desk said I was welcome to wait and “there’s a chance you’ll be able to get in early.” Hm…I wanted to ask what that chance was. Was it 0.001%? Because I don’t ever recall anyone, ever, getting in to see a doctor early. Instead, I went home for 45 minutes, then went back.
Turns out, I waited for 20 minutes in the waiting room. This wasn’t really a problem, as I had a book with me. I’ve learned to bring books with me to things like this because the absolutely garrish magazine selection in most waiting rooms just makes me more impatient.
The idea of today’s physical was to make sure I was still healthy enough to live, especially after being so sick about a month ago. Turns out, I’m gonna make it!