Interruptions and Asides and Welcome Distractions

You know what's awesome? I'm now eligible for old-lady poetry awards. That's right. Not that there are a ton of over-40 awards, but when they come around, I could totally throw my purple hat in the ring.

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A quick internet search has corrected me. I would throw my RED hat in the ring. Also, I don't recommend doing that internet search. The results are so saccharine you'll have to bleach your eyes. I took one for the team, ya'll.

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Anyway, I'm still working on submitting my full-length to lots of places (i.e. just throwing my hard-earned money at the universe, essentially) AND today is the last day of classes/office hours before Spring Break, so I'm looking forward to my micro-sabbatical next week.

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If it happens. My dad's health is a little precarious at the moment, and we might have to take a quick trip south to help out.

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I plan on working on "Accountability Partners" -- my play that is not my verse play -- and sending out submissions and maybe working on an article. In the mornings. The afternoons will be spent doing errands I've avoided this far into the semester and also grading. Because there is SO MUCH GRADING.

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One last thing I might work on next week is the beginning of a collaborative project on the site New Hive with artists Ryan Seslow and Meredith Starr. Ryan came into the humanities class I team-teach with M.S. at Stuffolk, and he taught our students about using the site to create art & design portfolios or even individual pieces of art that can employ gifs and hyperlinks and all sorts of stuff that's out of my wheelhouse. But it'll be fun and (hopefully) low-pressure and something challenging and different. And that sounds refreshing.

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Lastly, today I'm celebrating my fourth year since re-entering "the baby cave," and I believe that year-four means I'm also officially LEAVING the baby cave. (For good, fingers crossed.) It's been a weird, unexpected, challenging experience having kids, particularly having THREE kids, and of course it's far from over, but it's strange to be consciously (again, knock wood) leaving the having-babies part of my life behind. 

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Of course, my sisters are still having babies. And I'm helping look after one of them (The Bun) during the week, which means I'm not really leaving the baby cave, am I?

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Vampire Toddler (now . . . Vampire  . . . Kid?) has had a good birthday morning so far. She's popped her mylar balloon already after running across the living room with it 60+ times, and requested (and sung to) the following song, which I'll leave you with (you're welcome!):