It’s improvisational poetry time!
That’s when I write words, and sometimes they rhyme.
These thoughts on a page might form a straight line,
But the thoughts in my head - they are far from aligned.

I just finished moving, a couple weeks back.
Later I found that the drywall was cracked.
^not that it matters, just trying to rhyme
^which made me remember - Cop City’s a crime! [0] https://stopcop.city/

A silly poem might be a remedy for writer’s block.
I decided that just now.
It says nine-sixteen on my clock.
Last night I took a show-

er-gonomic keyboards are pretty neat.
I built one yesteryear.
I hoped that it would cause retreat -
Make my writer’s block disappear.

(spoiler alert) that didn’t happen.
But it doesn’t matter now!
I’m typing, and it’s not for work :)
To express agreement, say “and how!” (I’ve heard this before but I just learned what it means lol)

When writing poems, be ridiculous.
It’s fine to be superfluous.
Rap battles on the middle school bus
Made me quite notorious (among my three nerdy middle school friends, and 0 other people)

Ramadan started a few days back,
So I exercise restraint.
Will the changes become permanent?
Or a thin veneer of paint?

What to do when shortcomings
Are yours, and yours alone?
I’ve heard of why the caged bird sings,
But my cage is my own. [1] Just to be abundantly clear, I do not intend with these words to in any way diminish the struggle of a 'truly' caged bird (i.e. someone who is restricted due to factors outside of their control, and not - as I suggest about myself - someone largely restricted by their own shortcomings)

Disentangle organized thoughts
See the darkness of the sun
Clarity from chaos
An illuminated “none”

Start over; new topic defined:
My mother wrote a card to me.
I’m like three letters behind
like the suffix i-n-g

One for my mom
And one for my friend
And one for a friend I would like
The morning is calm
The sun un-descends
Should I write letters today? I might!

If you just write a few words
That might be enough
To escape.

For real though, I have been meaning to do this since I finished making my new keyboard. Like, I designed it to be the perfect keyboard to me. To make typing more enjoyable (it was already enjoyable, but the split keyboard makes it sooooo much more comfortable). Anyway, I’ve just been getting sidetracked repeatedly and never building up enough motivation to write.

I did just go through a huge move. It’s been hard to focus on things outside of that. But as of the last couple weeks, I have had the blessing of being able to take a deep breath and relax. I still have unpacking to do but the most tedious part is over. Great!

My new house is really close to a bouldering gym. I used to live close to a climbing gym, and that was probably the healthiest time of my life. Not just because of the climbing - but the climbing definitely helped. It’s the type of workout that’s easy to forget is a workout. I’m pretty not great at bouldering (for now). It requires a lot more upper body strength than I’ve ever really had, even when I was climbing. But I’m already improving a lot in terms of grip and forearm strength.

I just realized my power’s been out for like ten minutes lol. My monitor mysteriously went blank, and my wife noticed that the wifi wasn’t working. A few minutes ago I got a text message from the power company saying that they expect it to be handled by noon.

I’ve been playing piano more. I’ve been forcing myself to do things that I used to find boring. Like scales and chord progressions in every key. I don’t hate it as much as I used to. It’s actually nice to have exercises that don’t require too much thought. But I’m still hoping for it to come together cohesively for improvisational playing. I’m thinking of practicing actual pieces again, too. Even if I could play the first four or eight bars of Autumn Leaves or All The Things You Are in every key, I would consider that a massive accomplishment.

I went through a period of not reading quite as much. Now I’m back on it. A lot of my reading lately has been fiction but I’m itching to pick some of my more serious nonfiction books soon. In my new office (one of the bedrooms in the new house), I have a personal bookshelf right behind my desk with all my books (except the super aesthetically pleasing books and comics that I want in the living room). I also get AMAZING sunlight in the mornings in the office. Like the sun shines directly on me for the entire morning. It’s great. My old “office” was actually just a desk in the messy living room, and there was NO natural light in there. It was not awesome.

I also set up a table across from my desk with a sewing machine, and a shelving unit beside that contains a 3d printer, an old semi-functional paper printer, various soldering and sewing supplies, and other random stuff. I’ve already used the 3d printer and sewing machine since I moved. It feels great to have so much stuff packed into a relatively small space, but not feel like it’s too cramped. Maybe I’ll post pictures at some point.

Hmmmmmmm

There have been so many times where I’ve wanted to write about something or another. Or kinda do a checkpoint to make it clear that the mindset I was in when I wrote my previous post is not like a constant state of angst that I am in. I’ve been doing pretty well all things considered. And the new location I live in is pretty promising in terms of (maybe) enabling me to contribute positively to the community.

Ok I feel like I scratched the itch of not having written something in a very long time. Now I feel like stopping. I guess I’ll publish this later when I have internet again.

Footnotes

  • [0] https://stopcop.city/
  • [1] Just to be abundantly clear, I do not intend with these words to in any way diminish the struggle of a 'truly' caged bird (i.e. someone who is restricted due to factors outside of their control, and not - as I suggest about myself - someone largely restricted by their own shortcomings)