I've identified Where It All Started To Go Wrong

The mid-80's, just before I started getting stuff into little zines & chapbooks, I went this way when all my more sensible friends went the other one.

I was reminded of the crowd I hung with, so to speak, and someone said... "oh... FNM. 'member?"

Yeah.

I don't like this much any more, but here's where it started to go wrong. Just in case anybody wanted to know...

Um... Oh.

Oh hai. Did you know you can turn on the old Blogger interface and make like none of the stupid changes they made ever happened? I didn't. I didn't because the only real way to find it is to click a little enigmatic sprocket thingee in a corner somewhere that releases a menu that has the option on it.

Jesus I'm glad I have at least a modicum of internet savvy, albeit to a limited degree, otherwise I probably would have never found it. Is it any wonder that people with real lives don't often bother with the internet? No. No, it isn't. As the days progress I find myself more and more wanting to be on their team.

So it's been a while, no? And I'm sure all seven of you that are left haven't wasted a minute wondering wtf was up here; and to that I say good for you. As for myself I don't have much to say, unless it entails bitching about the state of things in a society I more and more want to have nothing to do with.

Politics has been replaced, in my life, with baseball. I find that I have actually reverted to my pre-teen childhood wherein I ate, slept, talked, thought, and cared about nothing but baseball. It's to the point also where I actually don't care if anybody else "gets" it. I mean, who cares if you do or not? I'm me, not you.

"On many summer day I played baseball starting at 8 in the morning, running home at noon for a quick meal, and again with fielding and batting until it was too dark to see the ball. There were times when my head seemed empty of everything but baseball names and figures. I could name the players who led in batting and fielding, and the pitchers who had won the most games. And I had my opinions - about who was better than anybody else in the national game."

Carl Sandburg

Dude, Carl Sandburg was born in 1878, so he's talking about "baseball" as it was known in the late 1880's. "I could name the players.." Think about that a second.

This year I went to a day game at The Cell to watch the White Sox take on the mighty mighty Baltimore Orioles. The Sox played so bad they made them look like world-beaters. Turns out now that, actually, the Orioles are doing pretty well considering nobody thought anything of them.

But wait!

In Auguest I'm going to 3 games. I'll watch the Sox take on Oakland, Anaheim and the New Yok Yonkees, whoever they are. All within a matter of a couple weeks. I'm going to be baseball crazy. As if I already amn't.

In other news there's not much other news. We're winding our way down to the July issue of Thrice and I've still got a MOUNTAIN of submissions to get through before May 31. Ouch.

I'm still working my crazy 3-day/40 hour job. I am also convinced that every one of these online job search things is a scam. The only answers I'm getting (outside of "sorry we're not wanting follow-up, if we're interested we'll call you") is "Hey for $500 I'll let you sell this with me. Then if YOU can get people to sign on for $500 you get a piece of them." Yeah right. Bull.

Don't expect me to care or weigh in on the politics of the day. I'm at a point where I don't give a shit & let's keep it that way, shall we? I've rarely been happier. Conservatives are assholes and liberals are hot dogs. They belong together. Huzzah for the Black Bloc. All I'm saying.

And now, a bit of something that helped inform the culture and make you wonder what it is you're supposed to reply with in the comments...

Baseball, Black Bloc, and Eraserhead. You KNOW you want to hang out with me, don't you? Ha...

EDIT TO ADD: Jeez, forgot the other news. I had a couple poems accepted by The Argotist Press (UK), which is doing an anthology of "Otherstream" writers (not mainstream, see how that works?) and it was supposed to be out in May but now it's going to have to wait until the fall because of printing/printer issues. I'm not very good at touting where to find my stuff. I don't think I've actually told anybody that, to be honest. Maybe one or two. Oh well...

Well, I can't stand the new blogger set up so I'm looking around for a new venue. I'll let you know where I wind up. I can't seem to master this shit.