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RELEASED: SMR 2/2 goes to print TODAY! (I now return to my regularly scheduled life in progress.)

With me now: Take a deep breath.  Hold it.  Release … and … relax.  Emphasis on the release. 

I am proud to announce that Shakespeare’s Monkey Revue – volume 2, issue 2 has finally been sent to the printer this morning.  This issue “Food” themed, and our “Featured Monkey” is Matt Barre, a Boston area chef.  He contributed over a dozen original recipes to compliment the yummy poetry and prose selected for this issue.

I honestly think that when the word gets out about this issue, it will be our best-selling one yet!  The writing covers the gamut as far as cuisine goes, and the tones range from the humorous “Ode to the Haggis,” to the wonderfully weird “Barbie Diet,” to the the poignant reflection on the lack of food in “The Cost.”  And the recipes are nothing less than perfect for SMR.  As a note, there are a few vegan recipes included, though they are not noted as such.  But even for the recipes that do not “suit your tastes,” they are creatively written and entertaining to read.

A note about the cover art: the yummy pancakes on the cover were a whole wheat version of the pancakes Ginger posted a while back.  They were yummy and, I dare say, photogenic.  And the back features ol’ Billy Boy in a bust to go bananas over!

If you place your order today (or even over the weekend), you’ll be on the “ship these immediately” list once they come back from the printer, and you can expect to receive them before Christmas.  So, please, if you still have names to check off your shopping list, consider supporting this independent publication with a purchase.  (Check out the Monkey Mart for more Shakespeare’s Monkeys merch or to purchase a subscription.)

NOW, maybe I won’t be such a ghost around blogland.  Maybe. 

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Ethos Organic Boiled Peanuts

Ok, so I feel like my last post was a cop-out. Really I just wanted to post the link to the bag thing. Sorry about that.

The past couple weeks I’ve been slammed, both at work & at home. We’ve been trying to wrap the August issue of Shakespeare’s Monkey Revue by TOMORROW so that I can have copies in hand for the release party/back yard concert I’m holding on the 7th.

I’m feeling doubtful that it’s going to happen. Again, I feel like I’m doing more than my share of pushing to wrap this. I know a lot of our staff has had a lot of crap to deal with lately, but for Pete’s sake, would it kill a person to drop an occasional email, even if it’s to just say “no” or “ain’t gonna happen” outright?!?

Stephan, if you’re reading this, let me know who you have to take over layout next issue. The only thing I want to do with the next one is the cover. (I’m working on getting someone else to do the internal art.)

So that’s been stressing me out a bit.

Then there’s the concert. Yeah. I must have been nuts when I decided to do that. That’s stressing me out a bit as well. Not the actual hosting, mind you. I really don’t care what people think about our place, so I’m not stressing over cleaning or home improvements, etc. (though the plan IS to finally have the deck stained before people get here). What’s stressing me about the concert is the fact that I haven’t gotten a single confirmed “Yes.” And I was hoping for about 50. AGHHHH!

That stuff aside, our littler munchkin officially turned two over the weekend. Fortunately, at two he doesn’t expect much: cupcakes with sprinkles in Bob the Builder liners were exciting enough, and his favorite gift came from a yard sale.

No wonder I’ve been having weird dreams.

Take last night for instance. Let’s start with the fact that I went to bed later than I probably should have, coupled with the fact that I actually did some reading before I tried to go to sleep. I finally turned off my light to crash, but my dear husband was snoring up a storm. Eventually he shifted and I drifted off to sleep.

I don’t remember what the dream was about, but I do remember a business card and the man it belonged to. It was weird. In the dream, I met this guy and we were both like, “Don’t I know you? You look SO familiar!” Then we figured out that we had gone to the same college and had met at registration. He looked kinda like a young Bob Marley, but wore a cool Hawaiian type shirt in light blue cotton. His name was Jamie. And he was a part-time student, full-time business owner. His business: “Ethos Organic Boiled Peanuts,” which he sold here in South Carolina.

The dream and that “don’t I know you?” factor felt so real that I want to track down this mysterious man with the chocolate skin and demeanor just as sweet to tell everyone in the market for boiled peanuts to buy from him.

Weird, huh?

A few years ago, I had another similar dream experience. That time I woke up with a specific name in my head, a full name that I immediately looked up when I woke. The search turned up a veteran who died in the Gulf Conflict. It was eerie.

Anyhow, yeah.

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In like a lion, out like a…lion.

Wow. Where the heck did March go? When it started, it was with a bang and a mad dash. Four steps into April, and it’s only barely slowing down.

But that’s not necessarily bad. Just exhausting.

So first, some updates.

About a month ago, a friend was diagnosed with cancer. After surgery & starting chemo, he seems to be doing really well. Word is that he’s not had any ill effects from the chemo, and he’s back to work too. Also, another friend’s dad was also diagnosed with cancer. He’s due for surgery in mid-April; the doctors are optimistic. All good news.

The first week of March a big deal (for me at least) opportunity came up to work “full time” from home. Unfortunately, long story short, that kinda fell through. But that’s not all bad either: with alerting my current employer of my consideration of the other opportunity, I forsee that situation getting better in the very near future, especially with evals coming up in the next couple weeks.

This whole month, it seems, has been a whirlwind for SMR. Especially the first & last week. Well, after my 4:30 am the other night, and finally buckling down, the cover & contents are done!

(note, that cover’s for front AND back; folded in the middle)


So I finalized that today & added it to the site store. I expect you all to order a copy. Or a subscription. Or five. 😉

…after all, it’s National Poetry Month!

Anyhow, hopefully this month will provide ample opportunities for promoting (and selling) the magazine. This one got fatter than anticipated. It’s beautiful, though. Really. And I swear I’d say the same thing even if I wasn’t totally biased.

Well, I’m pushing 3 a.m. again, so it’s time I crash for the night. I am SO ready for sleep without this hanging over my head!

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FLAIR-apy and monkeys.

It’s about 3 a.m. I am exhausted, as any normal human being should be at this hour. But I don’t know if I’ll get to sleep within the hour even.

And I have work tomorrow. (Today.)

Fortunately I’ll be going in later since I have a late morning optometrist appointment. But still, yuck.

So why am I up so late? I’m working on the Shakespeare’s Monkey Revue issue 3 layout. It really should be done by now. But the file is huge, my system’s not the fastest, and I’m using an outdated version of Word (or at least, not a version that is as agile as some others). The most irritating part is that anytime I change a format of something — alignment, size, whatever — it keeps updating the style. Then I need to tell it to undo the style update. Both — the initial style update & the undo — take forever and a day. So while Word pokes along, I get to type here. Yay!

Besides losing an inane amount of time waiting around for Word to “think,” I have been wasting more time than I can afford on Facebook lately. And not in any “useful” sort or way either. I mean, I’m not on there writing friends or watching videos or tagging pictures. No. No, I’m addicted to Flair. For those unfamiliar with the Flair Facebook app, it’s similiar to the “sticker” type applications that allow users to pass around silly graphics with pseudo witty sayings, or whatever. What I like about Flair over stickers is:

  • containment – All of the flair you show off is constrained to a “bulletin board” on your profile. Meanwhile, it seems those sticker things go on for MILES. Just clutter, as far as I’m concerned.
  • constraints – There’s a limit on how many pieces you can have showing at once. Granted, that limit is somewhere around 60, but since they’re all contained, that’s not so bad. Also, there are limits on how many you can make or send, so even I can’t bombard everyone with it.
  • uniformity – The “flair maker” takes your uploaded image and “buttonizes” it, making it look like, well, a piece of flair. Every piece is round, clean, and spiffified. I like that.
  • trackability, sorta – here’s where the addictive quality comes in. You can keep an eye on the popularity of the flair you’ve created. For a while, a piece of Mraz flair was my most popular (with a whopping 50ish people having it, ranking it around 20K among all Flair). Now, though, the Mr. Rogers flair I created is my most popular. It’s addictive to see how many people pick up your design… I wish, though, there was some way to see who has your flair, or any specific piece, for that matter.


Lately, I’ve been stressed with deadlines, and then Booger got another ear infection (I won’t scare y’all away with another picture, I promise), and I’m still in the process of deciding what’s going to change (if anything) with my job situation. (I thought that was decided, but it didn’t work out as planned.) Amid the stress, my flair-apy sessions really haven’t done anything to help the situation, but they’ve been pleasantly distracting procrastination sessions. Ha.

I’m still waiting on word (or rather, waiting again). I’ve been working on this post for almost an hour now. I’m frustrated — with the software, with my hardware, with the clock, with the fact that I was only given these ads to place late last night and there’s no way I can do any work on this before 8:30 on most weeknights. I think this magazine is a wonderful, wonderful endeavor, and I am so happy to be part of it, but there are moments I wish Stephan hadn’t volunteered me for this. I kinda want my life back. I mean, not that this is all consuming all the time, but it seems to demand more than I can give sometimes.

Well, it’s officially 4 a.m. now. Crap. I’m waiting for Word again, because it keeps eating my headers in a certain section. Go figure. Anyhow, I think fixing that one last time is the last thing I have to do, so I’m now going to use this lag time to brush my teeth and wash my face.

Wish me restful sleep…

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it takes some good to make it hurt

I swear, my head is about to explode. Or something. The past few days have been a constant emotional roller coaster.

Starting with Saturday, I actually got some work done in my (lame excuse for a) garden. Mostly I just weeded, but I also spread out some plants and generally just felt good about accomplishing that much. It’s hard to garden with two small “helpers” who would prefer a construction zone for toy trucks over a garden any day.

Also on Saturday and early Sunday, I got a lot of work done on laying out SMR #3. I’m feeling good about how that’s shaping up, but I’m still lacking in the cover department, so I’m starting to stress over my creative block in that arena.

Sunday night, I have learned that a close friend has cancer. Today I was told another close friend’s father has it too. I don’t know how threatening either one’s condition is, which leaves plenty of room to speculate and worry. I’ve felt like crying since, but haven’t.

On Monday, I was offered a notable job opportunity. It would mean big changes from finances to responsibilities to habits. But it’s not clear cut if it would be the best move for me, mostly since it’s still not quite what I want to be doing.

Also on Monday, I made some good progress on a pet web/poetry progress, which I’m sure to blog about in the near future.

Last night I went to a good business class & felt empowered.

Today I finished a big project at work which felt like I’d been working on forever, so that was a relief. Then before leaving I spoke with HR candidly about the job opportunity I’d received. Basically, that was left with me needing to decide what I want. They might match the pay. If I ask for it.

Today, thank God for easy, happy decisions to make: I got the email announcing Jason Mraz’ US
tour info — and he’s stopping within an hour of here! So I’m pre-ordering my ticket(s) tomorrow. Oh, happy day — April 17th!! I so need that! Of course, DH isn’t interested in going. I think if I’d press, he’d come. Or if the tickets were free. But he says he really has no interest. And I’d hate to push him to come, because then I’d feel responsible for him enjoying himself, and I wouldn’t really enjoy it. So, I’m going to try to find a “date,” but I might just “go stag”… it could be fun to be “single” for the night.

Life is crazy, huh?

(I am so freaking exhausted.)