Spent the day in Piermont and Nyack, walking in the sun, taking in the Hudson and the local shops. I think I got a bit burned, but it was well worth it. Very relaxing.

Piermont had few shops open, but the walk was invigorating. Took time to think about the men and women in uniform, those at home now, those who have fought before, and I am grateful.

We ate lunch at our favorite Nyack cafe (complete with fresh lemonade), then hit the nearby used bookstore. I bought an old text for $3.95 called Latin Made Simple by Rhoda A. Hendricks, M.A.

Back Cover: "Latin Made Simple is a modern, astonishingly effective presentation of a great classical language, organized in a self-teaching method that is unexcelled for the student who must study alone."

Inside Intro: "[Latin] is the thread which connects us with our own history; and when such a thread snaps it severs our relationship to our own past. ... It will seem to you as though the author had at all points anticipated your interests, had guessed your needs with uncanny accuracy, had predicted the questions you would ask at the instant those questions were forming in your mind. ... It is intended for anyone with lively curiousity and active intelligence."

(I had always wondered what had severed my relationship to my past, and now I know. See why I had to get this text?? So cool that the author is like my own personal language psychic.)

The bookstore looked like the owner used a shoehorn to set the stock. Each time we shop there, we find less space to walk about and a forced closer inspection of the book spines, as they ripple out randomly from the shelves. This is just one "walkway."

We finished the day at my parents for dinner and a night of trivia questions; my mom won hands down! And I think her garden beats the ones in Piermont.

There is something about driving around alone on a warm night, weaving on the roads of my county, listening to pop music from the 80s, that makes me incredibly happy and energized. I follow rows of pink gold globe streetlights, pass young families licking double-dip cones on the sidewalk outside the scoop shop, see television screens flicker on the porches of old farmhouses, smell the steak fat burning off the grills at the end of the Saturday night barbecues, watch children wave their hands out the windows of slow-rolling cars. With "Just Like Heaven" on the radio, I drive through town after town, windows down, passing rolling brooks and quiet bright gas stations, churchyards and playgrounds, people jogging into the market for last-minute holiday chips, thin tree branches dipping full in the wind, curved dark doors opening at local taverns. I forget what’s going on in the rest of the world and just drive, see familiar places, find stars between the leaves, feel like I’m part of something--something I own somehow by virtue of becoming me here. And when I reach home I park, sit with the window open, look to our porch and our amber windows, hear the laughter of the gang upstairs. I like arriving home, but there is something about the driving.

"Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"

Today I took off work to relax and work more on my novel, so here I go...

But first ...

A LOST MOMENT

As you may know, I am hooked on Lost. I am still coming down from the Season 2 finale. So much to think about. I use groovy Internet sites to help me track the latest symbolism and who was where with who. We just got the Season 1 DVDs, so we are set for our summer viewing. (Honestly, I don't watch much TV, but come on, people. The show rocks. And that picture is not bad either.)

Today, instead of working on my novel, I have made a Lost purchase

You can find these at Glarkware for preorder. Go get some and send them to all your friends.

I've very proud to say that The Scaly God is here. I know all the work that went into it, and it's great to see it on the store shelves. How cool to walk in and see it for sale with other modules! :) And our launch party was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated!

An actual writing update:

* I mailed out seven poetry submission packets today, ranging low to high poems. It's amazing what I can do when I am not working freelance all the time.

* Tonight I'll order my friend's novel off Amazon. She and I attended grad school together, and I've read the drafts, but I'm eager to read the novel and attend her launch party!

* I've been invited to another publisher launch party -- a client of mine is launching a book, and it's a cool NYC affair. I am happy to go.

* Later tonight I'll actually get a chance to read the poems my friend D sent to me, and then I'll write him back. Finally, a moment to breathe.

Other unrelated things:

* I watched 20/20 the other night and got so frustrated and nauseated that I literally stormed out of the room. Here's a show excerpt from the 20/20 Web site:

"There are nearly 10 million renters today that could actually afford to buy a home, ... but they don't know it. ... You don't need a big down payment. You don't have to have perfect credit. Even if you have credit card debt, the banks will loan you money," he added. "20/20" challenged Bach to help just two families out of that 10 million realize the American dream of buying their first home.

One couple, Alison and Greg Kenyon, from the metro Detroit area, together make nearly $60,000. They have a 2-year-old and a baby on the way and are quickly outgrowing their rental apartment but admit they don't know a thing about buying a home. "Because you get a tax writeoff for your mortgage — it will actually be less expensive for you to own than rent," [Bach] told them. ... Based on their strong credit history, they should have no trouble getting a $180,000 loan. Even though they have a nest egg of $10,000, Bach advises them to take a hard look at their spending.

Next, Bach met the Norrises, Bambi and John. They live in a rented home outside Fresno, CA, with their two children. Bambi is a school teacher, Jason sells tires. With a combined salary of $40,000 (less than the national average), the Norrises are a bigger challenge for Bach. Although they're eager to have a place of their own, it's an uphill battle as they struggle to pay the bills every month. " ... Just cutting back would probably be a difference between a $150,000 home and a $200,000 home," Bach told them. The Norrises have only $4,000 in savings — just a drop in the bucket in the pricey California market — especially since they have big dreams.

Just two months after their first meeting, the Norrises made an offer on a house not far from their current rental. At $180,000, and no down payment, the house is at the upper limit of what they can afford. Still, they say the house is priced under market and, best of all, fulfills some of their dreams — in particular, having three bedrooms.

The Kenyons in Detroit are also thrilled with their progress. With Bach's advice, they got a mortgage and found a house they could afford. At $170,000, it still had most of what they wanted. They closed on the property this week, and now the house is officially theirs.

*****************
Now, in case you don't live on the East Coast, here are the things that made me want to run screaming down the street:

a. Annual combined salaries of $60K and $40K, respectively ... and both couples bought houses (which looked fine from what I could see)

b. Purchase price of $170K and loan of $180K. Holy crap. Around here that is an RV with no tires.

c. "Nest egg" of $10K and savings of $4K. *YIKES* I can't even describe what I've saved for a house, and I still can't afford one that isn't like a hobbit hole.

d. No down payment. I'd never be able to do that and sleep at night.

e. "The bank will loan you the money." No kidding, bud. They'd be happy to loan me what I need to get a decent house around here. I'm just not willing to take it.

My point is that in my area, houses are INCREDIBLY expensive and a loan would be huge. I realize I just have to jump in and buy, but I can't stand hearing about these "experts" who don't get what it's like. If our combined salary were one third of the mortgage we needed to get a decent house here, I'd be thrilled. M just told me to look west, so maybe my commute is going to get rather long in the near future!

Wow, May has been incredibly busy with a ton of family events and activities. But I'm not here to talk about happy parties and cute babies and delicious appey-tizers. I'm here to complain about the concert scene and how much it sucks compared to when I was a kid.

My friend T told me that Spock's Beard was coming to Poughkeepsie, and so D and R and I went to see them at The Chance. D bought the tickets from the box office so there was no fee. Each ticket was $25. The club was rather small, so we were very close to the stage, and although we stood (leaned) for the whole night, it didn't bother me one bit. There were two opening bands, and then SB came on. The music sounded excellent, SB seemed to have a lot of fun, and we had a really good time at a great show.

Yesterday I was home from work and I decided to try to order tickets for Roger Waters and Dark Side. I told myself 100 times that whatever tickets came up on the screen I just had to accept, no matter where they were in the arts center. But of course, when I got online right when they were put on sale, the crappiest seats came up, and Stupid Me did not heed my own advice. I rejected those seats and tried again. Needless to say, the only seats left after that were lawn, so I screwed myself out of the show unless I want to go and get tickets from someone at the parking lot or a broker. I stomped around for a bit, cursing myself, when I realized that I should actually be cursing Ticketmaster and the sick world that is concert-going.

First, Waters tickets were either about $130 or $90. I've only paid that much to sit in the front at a Rush show and to sit relatively close to Peter Gabriel. So to pay that for the back of an amphitheater was maddening even before I tried for tickets. Second, buying tickets is no longer (and hasn't been for a long time) for the fans. It's for brokers, radio stations, affiliated companies, gold card Amex people, and friends of those who are putting on the show. Decent regular people who try to get tickets when they ACTUALLY go on sale can't do it. So to announce a ticket sale date is bogus. I'd love to see that show, but for the principle and cost I can put on the CD.

Based on these two experiences I've basically decided to say screw you to the large concert scene and focus on clubs and less well known / more accessible bands. I used to be able to get decent seats at a large show for a good price, and now they rip you off with fees and charges and can't even offer a good seat. All I know is, I'm thankful that most of the bands that I like are small and/or unpopular. :)

On a side note, John Young finally came to the East Coast, but T and I didn't get to see him either, because he sold out the PA show before we got tickets and then only had a CT show too far away and at an odd location. We were disappointed about it, but we hope he'll be back someday again.