Well, I was a busy worker bee this weekend. New version (2.0) of the WSE came out at Tech Ed, so I had to take down my old downloadable sample (based on the tech preview version of the WSE 2.0) and build a new one taking into account all the changes they’d made to the code. I do that for free, because I love WSE programmers, (aww…)and I have read many tech books with samples where I was like, gee, I wish I could download bits that actually matched the current product release. I vowed my book would actually have up-to-date bits as long as possible…

I’m also trying to read about fifty poetry journals for reviews on NewPages.com, and found a couple where I started to remember why I read poetry in the first place. I mean, I read these poems that were really lyrical, then funny, then cutting, then heartbreaking, all in the right places. Spoon River Poetry Review was one of them, and I also really enjoyed this new journal, Cargnegie Mellon Poetry Review, and one I had never seen before, 5 AM. I guess it’s nice not to have to work so hard to appreciate poetry, you know, when an image just grabs you right off and then every line is perfect, you wouldn’t cut a word, and you can actually follow the train of thought in the poem, but it’s not over-explained, there’s still mystery. I have to say Beth Ann Fennelly has a new fan, I just discovered her. And I wrote about eight poems this week, one of which was worth anything, but still, that’s darn productive, I think.

I’m also writing a grant proposal and working on a tech article or two, and getting ready to start an MFA program. It feels strange to be going back to school again, but let’s face it, in a truly geeky way, I “just love learning.” Plus it’ll put me in touch with people who really love writing and manage to make a living involving poetry in some way. My mom just went back for her Phd this year, which is pretty darn inspiring to me, and she just got to interview the Halo 2 programmer team for one of her classes. She knows more about the game than I do now. Sweet, huh? I was like, where can I sign up for that class again? (PS – November release is what they’re saying now. How long have we been waiting for this?)

So, no barbeques and lounging by the pool this weekend, but I’ll make up for that sometime in August…Also, since Angel is now off the air (sniff sniff, goodbye Buffyverse), and Alias is gone til 2005, and the Daily Show seems to be in endless repeat mode, I seem to have all this extra TV-watching time to work. Now, if they load up all the summer and fall with reality shows, I may start to hate TV so much I will never watch again, and then I could take up one more hobby, like, say, fly-fishing or whale-riding or something.

(PS – Speaking of TV shows – My little brother has been putting pressure on me to go out and buy the DVDs of the Cowboy Bebop series sight unseen, because he is sure I will love it. No offense to him, but since he is an unqualified anime fan who has been known to spend hours watching Dragonball Z (which I refer to as Dragonball Zzzzz….) I want a second or third opinion. Any thoughts on this show? Post a comment!)