"JET TRAILS IN THE SKY LEAVE ONE WORD BEHIND"

If you have a sec, which I assume you do if you are here, click over to the Time Out Chicago's blog and read the delightful little piece posted yesterday about Pilcrow Lit Fest. The festival, which, by the way, is just about in order and ready to roll May 22-25 here in Chicago. Sweet!

The navy shot the rogue satellite. The Pentagon said that "due to the relatively low altitude of the satellite at the time of the engagement, debris will begin to re-enter the earth's atmosphere immediately. Nearly all of the debris will burn up on reentry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days." Hi, great. Oh, if I get clunked on the head with a piece of defunct national reconaissance satellite, I'll be pissed, for as we just read, I have a lit fest to swing around by the tail.

"GOLDEN LIGHTS"

Shalom, I'm not dead. Just busy doin' stuff. Working on this and that. Odds and ends. You know how I do. The good news is that I'm about finished for the week and next week, after Monday is pretty light. Whew. I'm glad for that.

You guys, Thursday night at the Fixx was stunningly fun and there was a big, fun crowd and everyone hung out and merrily chatted and laughed after and lots of books were sold and the tip jar for The National Breast Cancer Fund was stuffed with $70!

Elizabeth Crane ruled! Johnathan Messinger ruled! Roy Kesey ruled and brought me a present all the way from Bejing! Seriously-- go befriend all three of them on GoodReads, Shelfari, LibraryThing and, and, and please go buy all of their available work. So great! Unfortunately, our photographer friend who is responsible for such great documentation of each event is recovering from getting turned into a partial robot, so I don't have any photographs to show, but trust me--- it was awesome. Every last bit. Please, please mark your calendars for next month--- due to Thanksgiving and such, it's a week early. Lineup forthcoming.

Let's see. What else is new in the world? I think this is so freaky and I can't stop looking at it.

"GOLDEN LIGHTS"

Oh, and by the by, this month at The Fixx will be wicked awesome for the Fixx Reading Series. I have Elizbeth Crane, Roy Kesey and Jonathan Messinger. Hello? Awesome! Better come a few minutes early to get a good seat, yo. And, stay tuned for the unveiling of the updated poster. Awesome. Awesomer. Awesomest.

"REEL AROUND"

This shit it tonight, bitches. Go.

"I WAS HAPPY TO STAY"

Boy, oh boy do I have a lot to tell you guys. To begin, last night was so much fun! Unfortunately, Emerson Dameron was under the weather, and so rescheduled until next month. But, Jonathan Messinger was so very funny with his piece about liquid-filled mousepads, Neo-futurist founder, Greg Allen was a riot with his piece about a the nature of circles and orbs and lines, and as for me and my piece about fratboys... well, I have an innate inability to hear laugher while trying to create it, so I think my piece about fratboys did just fine, itself. Wait, here, I'll let you read it. S'okay. Gahead. Granted, you'll have to just imagine that I'm reading it poetry-slam style and you'll have to just image that I'm doing the voices of the valley girl receptionist, the drill sgt., and the fratboys, but I'm sure you can manage.

My favorite part, I must admit, was Abraham Levitan of Baby Teeth as the house band. He sat and took notes during each of our pieces and performed hilarious, beautiful, impromptu songs about each. I howled! So funny!

Let's see, post show, I chatted with darling Irish Ho and the wonderful Elizabeth Crane for a bit, made a few new friends including--- this is my favorite!-- a very wonderful writerly lady named Laura who told me she printed out my website pic long ago and gave it to her hairstylist for inspiration! Are you loving that as much as I am? Finally, years of hacking my own mop has paid off!

Then, I chatted more with Jonathan Messinger, Scott Stealey and had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Somerville, the fellow who was in the Chicago Reader's Fall Books issue with me last November... remember? Yes, him. So funny. All in all, it was a lovely night.

Pa Guth sent me a text message at 1am from an out-of-the-country airport as he made his way to his destination. Can't say I have ever gotten a text message from my Dad at that hour, so the timestamp made me laugh while I was having a little post-show bite with Irish Ho. It was prom night in Chicago last night, so we sat in a diner and admired the sparkled dresses and complicated hairstyles and laughed as we reminisced about our own prom nights years ago.

I think that's about it. Oh! I met my new neighbor for a sec. Remember how I hoped for a cool neighbor? Well, I only met her for a minute yesterday, but I think she carried a Nightmare Before Xmas bag. Clearly she is cool. I'm glad. Of course, I gave her my card yesterday, which lists this blog, so she is probably reading this and going, What the fuck? I'm not even here a day and this nut is blogging about me? Hells no. So it goes.