Diary of a Desert Gal

Oh what a difference 130 odd days make....

2007-01-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

since last I've blogged.

First of all, Happy New Year! Although I was working on New Year's Eve, I had a grand old time ringing in the new year! Work, you say? And FUN? Yes, I say!

Anyhow, no way to get into what all has transpired since my last post, so I'll hit some high notes, and low notes...

Cousin's wedding up Northern Cali Wine country. High.
Air conditioning going out in car in August in the desert. Low. (Still to get fixed)
Got promotion at work. High. (They're still not paying me enough. Low. :P)
Quick trip to Vegas to see best bud. High.
Losing 100 bucks at a black jack table on said trip to Vegas. Low.
Losing 100 bucks to the coolest Elvis-impersonating dealer ever. High.

Finding and buying my CONDO!! Super High! (Closing in a few weeks)

Finding out that my chapbook is going to be published! Super High! (Don't worry, you'll get the post card for ordering a copy)

Seriously, I'm super excited about the little chapbook and happy it found a home!! It's a small indie publisher called Finishing Line Press (www.finishinglinepress.com), and while it won't be avaliable in your local Barnes and Noble, you will be able to order it on Amazon.com. Dude, I'll have a book at Amazon.com!!

Link of the Day

2006-05-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

To combat the ridiculous gas prices:

www.gasbuddy.com

The X-Ray

2006-05-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

The X-Ray

shows two screws and a rod-
metal objects you buy

at a hardware store to hold
a door in place, a curtain

up in the shower. The kind of things
that come in bulk

in small, cardboard boxes, sold
separately for pennies.

The kind of things that now
make his leg a leg and make me

cringe at the sound of any hinge.

Yay for me

2006-05-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

I just got word that one of my poems has been accepted in Barbaric Yawp! It appears quarterly, and is a really cool 60pg periodical.

I'm excited, though they picked a pretty personal poem, one that I haven't shown my parents. Yikes, to tell them, or not to tell them...that is the question.

Yay for me. :)

American Dreamz

2006-04-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Forward: Spoilers ahead. If you do not wish to know anything about the plot of the movie American Dreamz, stop reading now....

Ok, so on my days off, sometimes I treat myself to a movie. The past month there has been little I've been interested in seeing, but for the last couple of weeks I had been eagerly anticipating the opening of American Dreamz. (I know, I'm a dork)

The interest was due to many things- a) I'm a sick American Idol groupie b)American Dreamz is a satire on the Bush administration, of whom I'm just sick and c)I'll see just about anything.

Anyway, I LOVED American Dreamz. It is a total satire of Hollywood, American Idol, and the Bush administration all rolled into one deliciously slick elbow-nudge. There are of course the characters based on real life people: Hugh Grant as a Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowel self-loathing host of American Dreamz, Dennis Quaid as the bumble-headed, but good-hearted inept Prez (he looks and sounds so much like Bush, it's scary. There's even a Laura look-alike- Marsha Gay Harden), the controlling VP played by Willem Dafoe, and the white-trash-turned starlet a la Spears in Mandy Moore.

What I did not expect was the subplot involving an Arab contestant who accidentally gets on the show, only to be recruited by terrorists to blow himself up as he shakes hands w/the prez during the final show. The Arab, Omer, is by far the most complex and compelling character in the movie, and there are some surprisingly gut wrenching moments for such a satire.

Final verdict: Two thumbs up

Some Days

2006-03-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Some Days I Like to Arise

Before the motor of the world
has been turned on to slowly

crank out another day, in what
the French call The Blue Hour.

The hour on the cusp of
and just past the brink of.

An hour whose existence requires
its own name. I like to sit

at my kitchen counter in my good robe
and fuzzy slippers, staring out

at the back yard, letting my coffee
nudge me awake. This morning

is so still the giant fan leaves
of the palm trees dare not move.

The surface of the swimming pool
is an unspoiled mirror, reflecting

but a chink of the universe above,
but a chink of the infinite possibilities

exposed by the optimistic sun.

Apologies to a Fish

2006-03-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

To my fish Trente: An apology for accidentally killing you

I am sorry that for my birthday
I wanted to by myself a fish.
I am sorry that I called my friend

Matt, the fish expert, and had him
meet me at the store on 37th. I am sorry
I rushed to the tanks like a child

at Christmas. I am sorry I loved
the electric blues of your body
and the magnificent fanning of your tail.

I am sorry I had the man bag you up
as I fretted over finding the perfect bowl.
I am sorry you had to ride the subway,

loud and unnerving, cooped up
in a brown paper bag. I am sorry I decided
to put you in the kitchen for convenience,

next to the whiny refridgerator. I am sorry
I ate sushi in front of you.
I am sorry for being too anxious

about feeding you, causing your water to cloud.
I am sorry for once putting you
in a shot glass as I changed the water.

I am sorry for changing your water again
too soon, shocking you to death. I am sorry
he had moved out a few months before.

I am sorry the void
was not yet filled. I am sorry
for trying to make you fill it.

New Poem

2006-03-13T08:16:00.000-08:00

What I've Lived On The Past Three Days

Three big stalks of broccoli
from the organic food store,
a cup of white rice

from the convenience store.
The rumble of your voice
in my ear. Too much coffee.

Two yogurt cups.
Two classic rock ballads.
Two hours of live jazz.

Some chicken and cereal.
The hidden naughty behind your eyes,
and the smile you reserve

just for me. Not enough sleep.
Four glasses of 2% milk,
three over-ripe bananas,

a dozen store bought cookies.
Our inside joke, the scalding touch
of your hand on my lower back.

One good movie and popcorn.
One chapter of Dostoevsky.
One raging wildfire.

Another New Poem and Writing Challenge

2006-03-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

Following in tattered sneakers behind a great poem by Maxine Kumin called "Credo":

Credo

I believe in magic. I believe in the beauty
of tiny rain drops as they land gently

in the pool, shimmering like diamonds.
I believe in the greyness of the clouds

and all it reprents as a manifestation
of evil in the world. I believe more

in the silver lining. I believe animals and plants
have souls. Our dog waited over a week

until we returned from a trip to die.
She looked at us, said goodbye, and was gone.

I believe in the healing power of my mother's
homemade turkey soup she makes once a year

after thankgiving, making enough to freeze
for six months. I believe a good heavy rain

cleans more than the air, cars, and sidewalks.
Between man and woman, I believe in electricity

that blinds. I believe that slugs have a purpose
for thier slow, slimy crawl across the earth.

I believe that whoever invented corsets
should be shot. I believe a mother's spit

can clean caked-on grease off a frying pan.
I believe Beethoven's deaf ears were a gift,

his fingers were not fingers, but magic. I believe
I have been here before. I beleive I never left.

The Challenge: Write your own Credo

New Poem

2006-03-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

ok, just a fun little diddy...

To My First Husband

We were only eight, but we knew what sparks were.
You were just being a good neighbor,

coming to welcome us as we moved in.
I remember I liked your thick mop

of curly brown hair. You stayed for hours
helping me move boxes and unpack.

Within two days, we were playing house,
making my brother play the family dog,

and within a week, before all the pictures
were even hung, we were married. How pure

and right and effortless it all was
to our unformed juvinile minds. We had nothing

but instinct, untapped and raw.
But we knew what we wanted.

Since then, there have been few times
when I have been as sure about things

as I was that day, walking toward you
across the floor in shorts and a tee shirt,

pledging forever, accepting your plastic ring.

Blood Lotus

2006-02-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

Check out this great new online literary journal from some kick ass Spalding people.

www.bloodlotus.org

oh yeah, and I have a poem in there too! :)

80's Highlight

2006-02-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

So I attended the Women in Film Palm Springs networking breakfast this past weekend and got to meet Loraine Dupres, a tv/screenwriter most famous for writing the "Who shot JR?" episode of Dallas! It was great fun, and I'm going to the Women in Film L.A. networking breakfast this Friday, where the guest speaker is the screenwriter of "Memoirs of a Geisha" and whose first credit was one of my favorite flicks - "Shag." Should be a fun time, and trying to work on the whole networking thing.

PS. Finished my taxes for the year! 11 months of freedom! :)

New Poem

2005-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't posted a new poem in a really long time, so I thought I would throw this one up here.

The Casino

The sound of slot machines is different before
noon, as if that is the hour of change from sin

to not, from taboo to tolerated,so at 10am the floor
of the casino is a noisy graveyard, a grim

ghost town of blinking neon begging for attention, and rows
of pitifully empty chairs, save for an old man

in one, slumped, feeding a nickel slot slow-
ly bite after metalic bite. His mind understands

the futility of it all, how he might as well
be tossing his money to the bottom of a lake,

but he comes so that he can tell
he lived another day, he comes to take

the lever in his hand, pull down, and wish,
that single motion, that short span,

and it all comes down to this:
a waiting game that no man has won. No man.

Wanna go to Russia? Call for Entries!

2005-12-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

If you are so inclined, check out this writing contest. Only a $10 entry fee for a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia.

http://www.sumlitsem.org/russia/contests.asp

Only 3 poems and deadline is Feb. 28th!

Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

2005-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Since Bush's re-election in 04, TWO of my greatest fears have come true--the loss of not one, but TWO Supreme Court Justices. Robert's confirmation last week has made me a bit bonkers about who is going to fill the next slot, and now Bush has nominated Harriet Meirs. I don't know anything about Meirs yet, but I want to let everyone know how vital it is to keep abreast and get involved in this issue. The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is HUGE. It affects not ONLY our generation but our children's generation. Everyone has their own hot button issues, and mine is female reproductive rights, which Bush has done everything in his power to make more difficult, or take away. And just the other day, the Senate failed to renew the Violence Against Women Act, (http://www.now.org/issues/violence/100105vawa_alert.html), which should have been a NO-BRAINER. This just pushed me over the edge, and I will now be following Bush, and Meirs, more closely.

There ARE things you can do if you agree with or disagree with her nomination and/or if you want to get more involved in general!!:

Write/call/email your Senators
Sign up for your political party's office in your town
Watch the Meirs confirmation hearings
Write Letters to the Editor

But here is my dumb/naive/asinine question: Bush says that Meirs is a good choice because he knows she will govern "by the law and not on the bench." Which means, he expects her personal opinions not to get in the way of her judgment, which I agree with--BUT-- you cannot tell me Roe VS Wade decision was not made with judgment alone-it was as an emotional issue back then as it is today.

Surprises and Wonderful Rejections

2005-09-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

I got back early this morning on the red-eye from my 'look-see' trip out to LA, which, admitedly a bit to my surprise, I loved. The sun, the palm trees, the cute model-slash-actor men everywhere. All in all, it was a great trip and pretty much solidified my decision to move there in a month. I met alot of nice people, many who are in the industry, which was cool, and got to go to the Entertainment Tonight set at Paramount Studios thanks to an old family friend. Fun stuff!

Anyway, looks like ETA is October 28th, arrive in LA Nov. 6th, after a stop over at Spalding for residency and to graduate! woo hoo!

Oh, and before I left I got a wonderful rejection letter from the Austin Film Festival telling me that the script I send didn't make it to the next round. Not only was it personalized, it was a positive rejection. A couple quotes from the letter:

"Our readers were extremely impressed with the quality of work, and found the decision making process very difficult. Your hard work and great writing effort really shone through.

Entering contests is a great opportunity to bring attention to your work, but we hope you will continue to persue other areas of interest with your script.

The Austin Film Fesival and I encourage you to follow your passion and keep creating new stories and characters."

Anyway. A good letdown. :)

Trip to LaLa Land

2005-09-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, So I have been neglecting my blogging duties, but I am back. A random rundown of events since my last posting:

1. Completed my fouth feature lenght screenplay as well as putting together my thesis project for my MFA program, and they both turned out well if I do say so myself :)

2. Took bartending class for two weeks. Freaking awesome! It was so much fun!!

3. Attended a Steam show in Missouri. What's a Steam show, you ask? A place to kick back with cold beer, ride refurbished tractors and wear overalls. Something I would not normally get to do, but it was a great time, dispite the absolutely rediculous heat.

4. Decided to take a trip to L.A. to check it out for a possible move there. Random? Not really. I simply asked myself if I wanted to be a screenwriter bad enough to move there and the immediate answer was 'yes.' I love New York, but it's not going anywhere.

5. Saw a wonderful free production of Twelfth Night in the park. Lovely. :)

6. Became an aunt for the third time to another adorable puppy named Babe, courtesy of my brother and his girlfriend. :) (See the above picture)

Gotta Love New York

2005-07-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, this JUST happened, and I happen to be at home, and I thought it was a funny story, so I wanted to share...

I was sitting at my computer (which is right next to my living room window, and one window is wide open) working when all of a sudden the sound of breaking glass is heard. Now, my window faces the back little alley way -- Not very scenic, and its where all the fire escapes are.

Now, I live in a safe building, but none the less, breaking glass is never a sound you want to hear at the next building over. So I go to the window and look out, and I can hear where it's coming from, and can see a figure, but it's too dark to determine anything.

But the funniest thing was seeing other people in the building come to their windows to see what was going on. One lady called out "I'm calling the police." And then a guy chimed in with "shut the hell up!"

Then the person, a woman, doing the 'breaking in' calls out "It's me! I forgot my keys!"

And everyone went back to their business. I've alway feel safe here, but I felt even safer after that. Thanks neighbors!

Fun in Philly

2005-07-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of college friends and I met up in Philly for a girl's weekend. Amy is on the left, Corinne is in the middle, and moi on the right. I had never been to Philadelphia, so I was very excited to see the Rodin museum, run up the Rocky steps and ring the Liberty Bell.

Did we do any of that? haha, nope. Instead we decided that we were going to eat and drink our way through the weekend, and we did! Upscale Pan-Asian and wine Friday night dining al fresco at Twenty Manning, crepes and cider for Saturday brunch at Beau Monde, then pre-dinner beer and oysters on the halfshell appetizer at The Oyster Bar (I think) and then Mexican with Pink Cadillac margaritas at El Vez.

I rarely splurge on nice meals, so this was indeed a treat. And we remained surprizingly sober, thanks to obscene amounts of food and water.

So, if you're in Philly and need some places to eat, check out:

Twenty Manning
Beau Monde
El Vez

Diatribes of the Day

2005-07-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is something I just learned at work the other day--did you know that in certain states, it's forbidden to use the word "Imagine" in an text book because it "promotes witchcraft." I was absolutely stunned and completely furious. Since when did imagination become a bad word? The day we discourage imagination in children is the day we doom ourselves.

And another thing. Sandra Day O'Conner has announced that she is stepping down. If you're looking for me, I'll be in Spain, a forward thinking country who has just legaized gay marriage! Bring on the sangria!

Quote Day

2005-06-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Random Quote Day, but, as I often discover, quotes can be wonderful starting points. So, here are some of my favorites.

"In the end, everything is a gag." Charlie Chaplin

"There is no terror in the bang, only the aniticpation of it." Alfred Hitchcock

"I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me." Henri Matisse

"Silence is sometimes an answer." - Estonian Proverb

"Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination." Voltaire

A couple about writing:

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." Emile Zola

"For poems are not, as people think, simply emotions (one has emotions early enough)—they are experiences." Rainer Maria Rilke

and my favorite:

"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. " Vincent Van Gogh

So, what are some people's favorite quotes?

Things that make you go Hmmm...

2005-06-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

As you guys may or may not know, I'm also a screenwriter, so I am, unfortunately, one of those Entertainment Tonight watching lame-lifes. So I bring you a couple of comments on Tinseltown, one involving Edgar Allen Poe. (Wow, two words I thought would never go together)

Ok, so am I the only one who is sick of Tom and Katie? And now that they've announced their engagement (more on this in a sec) means that we can look forward to dazzling tales of dress fitting disasters, best man mishaps (who is his wingman going to be anyway? then again, who cares.) and online voting about where Tomkat should honeymoon.

Here is my question, though. Don't you thinks they doth profess their love a bit too much? I mean, come on. You're a couple. We get it. And please, proposing atop the Effel Tower?! Come on, guys, you've done enough movies to recognize a bad cliche. Now look, I love love, so if they are truely in love, then godspeed. But the cynic in me just can't help but wonder, what with them both having big blockbuster movies openning this summer. mmm, is something rotten in the state of Hollywood?

(ps: yes, I am ashamed to admit I read all the AOL news about the engagement that I could find)

On another block of Tinseltown, I just read in that Sylvester Stallone has written and is set to direct a biopic of Edgar Allen Poe. (read the article here: http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1491357,00.html)
Before you start groaning, I'll tell you why you should be excited--this is the guy that wrote the Academy Award Winning script for Rocky. Whatever you think about his acting, you have to concede that Rocky is a great flick. And I am a big Poe fan, so, yes, I will probably shell out the ten bucks for this one.

Random Links'n Stuff

2005-06-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today is potporri day. I'm including a couple of my favorite links, as well as an article from the newest Poets & Writers that talks about some 'myths' of writing and the creative process. What do you guys think about the article?

http://www.pw.org/mag/0507/galef.htm

a couple of fun websites:

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

http://www.rhymezone.com/ (Ok, so many of you may know this one. Fun to play around with)

Today's Poetry Highlight

2005-06-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a new poem from Rane Arroyo, kick ass faculty member of kick ass Spalding University. I am to stress that this is "just a first draft." Isn't everything? :) Thanks to Rane for doing the writing exercise and letting me post his poem!

Homesick in Africa
by Rane Arroyo

For a pencil, I’ve a grim horse.
I tell God that I’ll name these days

Peach (yeah, right, in this season of
the red scarf). Grenades are fruit

ripening despite our prayers.
Feats of running feet, the blur

afterwards, after words. I rein
the handwriting towards the dream

of New York where brooding turns you
into a fleckless bride (one’s sex

is unimportant). For a diary,
the volcano once my heart:

shoot me instead. A flood of blood.
Write, screams St. Augustine, ride.

Trading Coffee for Khalua

2005-06-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I finally quit my soul-sucking office job. July 1 is my last day and it can't come soon enough!

It stared the Tuesday after Memorial Day, after having spent nine days among people who understand me. I walked into the office and literally wanted to start crying. I knew I couldn't take it anymore. So, I gave myself till lunch to calm down a little bit, and then contacted my boss. Luckily, she is a very understanding woman, gave me her blessing and her business card and told me she was proud of me. (ok, at this point I really did want to cry because I was so relieved)

Now, yes, I need money to live, so I decided to do something I've never done before. Bartend! It will be good money and it won't be an office job, which is just so not me. I signed up for a class at the better bartending school in town that also hooks you up with jobs. I start July 11th!! I can tell it's the right decision because I feel happier than I have in a very long while.

I'll start sometime early August, so look for posts about interesting happenings in New York City bars. :)

Poem from Writing Exercise

2005-06-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm posting the first draft of my writing exercise poem. Thanks all for their awesome poems, and feel free to post them here in the "comments" section for others to see!

New York City Symphony

Along Central Park South, kept horses
in indigo and scarlet get-ups release

their neighs into another peach dawn
while a bleary-eyed beggar sleeps it off

on a stoop next to a twenty-four hour
drugstore. His mouth, an unconscious

volcano, moans against the brakes of a garbage
truck and a taxi horn, both wailing in tandem

at someone playing Russian Roulette
on a bicycle. A neighbor’s clean soprano flutters

about the apartment like a fine mist. The aria
of an abandoned bride clutching

her three year old secret. From underground,
the subway rumble provides the sullen drum.

Writing Exercise: Limited Freedom

2005-06-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Let's face it. Sometimes you need help getting started. This is a great, simple exercise you can do to summon the muse. All you need is a dictionary and imagination.

Pick 15 random words from the dictionary, preferably nouns.

Then use 8 to 9 of those words in a 14 line poem.

The beauty of this exercise is you can play around with your own 'limits.' I usually pick 12 words and use 6 to seven in a 10 line poem, which often ends up being the beginning of a 25 line poem. I promise you will be amazed at how it works. Just try it. Of course the rules are made to be broken. This is just to give you a jumping off point.

So, the assignment:

Use 8 of the following words in a 14 line poem:

grenade
bathrobe
volcano
blade
scarf
bride
pencil
bicycle
horse
drugstore
button
garbage truck
veranda
bruise
Indigo
peach

Extra Credit if you can work in: a body part, the name of a town, and the name of a real person (living or dead)

Happy Writing. I'll post mine when I've written it.

Mad about Mad Hot Ballroom

2005-06-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

In my lifetime, I have cried exactly three times during movies.

The first time was when Gertie's pot of dead flowers bloomed again in E.T. The second time is too embarrassing to mention.

The third time was when the Indigo team from Washington Heights won the New York City Ballroom Dance Competition in Mad Hot Ballroom.

Briefly, Mad Hot Ballroom (http://www.paramountclassics.com/madhot/) follows three groups of fifth-graders from the Dominican-dominated Washington Heights area at the northern tip of Manhattan (aka my own 'hood and proud of it!), affluent Tribeca just steps from Ground Zero, and residential Bensonherst, Brooklyn as they take part in ballroom dancing lessons.

Ok, you're thinking why would I want to sit through a two-hour documentary about eleven-year-olds and ballroom dancing?

Because the movie is not about dancing. It is about life.

Watching these kids as they begin their year-long journey, you giggle at their fabulous awkwardness as they try to learn steps, must (gasp) make contact with the opposite sex as they are paired up and told to "study each other's eyes", and you downright cackle with glee as one self-proclaimed aspiring Broadway star practices devoutly in front of the mirror at home and another girl starts moving her hips in ways that make you hope her mama is strict. You are not laughing at them, you are laughing because you've been there, you are laughing because, at eleven years old, these kids are the perfect balance of wisdom and naivete.

Although the focus is preparing for and getting to the ballroom dancing competition, there are illuminating glimpses into the kids' home lives, their friendships away from the classroom, and wonderful examples of how their new-found skills have helped turn all of them into "little ladies and gentlemen." My favorite such story is about one of the best dancers, Michelle, who was an out-of-control problem child whose visit to the principal's office was routine. "Ever since she's been in the program," the principal states, "I haven't seen her once."

Mad Hot Ballroom is about bridging gaps, the healing power of art, having respect for other cultures, having respect for oneself, being a good looser, and more importantly, being a good winner.

Bonus:
If you like Mad Hot Ballroom, you'll love Strictly Ballroom (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105488/).