I is dead, said the Poet

From just about any viewpoint... today has sucked. The lake maintains the same disgusting pale brown-greyish colour it's had for the past week. The wind has been whistling through the cracks in my windows since about 5:00 yesterday, it's cold, and I didn't finish the review I had due today because I simply could not come up with anything to say. And, in an attempt to not be late to class again, I made the foolish decision to try to finish said review on campus. So I printed out what I had and went to wait for the bus, which was ten minutes late. Then took another five to leave because about 40 people got on it. Then at the Broadview stop, another 15 somehow crammed on (which is astounding, because when I got on, I was basically standing by the bus driver). Then along 55th, we picked up at least 7 more people. Random people on the streets were staring. Each of us was intimately familiar with the five other people squished into us. (Good thing it was morning and no one had really worked up an academic funk yet.) I didn't get to campus until five minutes before class (I was counting on 20, which is the usual), so I had to deal with just not having the paper. But back to the bus... getting off of that thing, we must've looked like clowns pouring out of one of those tiny cars. I'm surprised the thing still moved. There wouldn't have been an ounce of disbelief if the bottom of it had started scraping against the street or something. I have no idea how we fit that many people on the bus, but the bus driver was actually good-natured about it, which is singularly stunning in the whole history of CTA bus drivers (because even the jolly one we had last year, who I miss, would've cracked down upon the ridiculousness exhibited this morning). They were supposed to have fixed these buses. But apparently they didn't take into account that about a quarter of the people in the Shoreland have started walking/biking to campus, and on days like this when the wind's a good 30-some miles per hour and you can't bike without being blown over, suddenly the load on the buses increases.

I actually forced myself to participate in class today, though. The instructor was... stunned. In hindsight, his expression was rather hilarious. Wait until I do it again Tuesday (must make up for my silence this quarter, it's been atrocious). So I promised myself I'd get a smoothie when I go downtown today for the photography lecture I have to go to. And tomorrow I'm actually going to the north side for a poetry reading/The Chicago Review's 60th Anniversary Party, and since I've already invited my roomie along, I can't get out of it. Which is good, because otherwise I'd be like "oooh, I don't want to go". But, as a further reward to myself for putting up with the crap the world seems to love to heap upon me, we're going out for sushi first. It's been ages since I've had sushi, and I've had the weirdest craving for it lately, so... sushi!

And, since I've been in the habit of recommending things to people at complete random, I think I should pass along Edward Dorn's Gunslinger. It's the only poem I've read for class this quarter that I've actually liked. Partially because I listened to it (the complete version), and the reading is very cool. But also because it's nonsensical and playful in a way that doesn't annoy the crap out of me, or make me feel like I'm missing something important. Oh, and it's basically a western epic with random grammatical/literary jokes. Yes, listening to it is a good hour-long investment, but it's worth at least listening past the first five minutes or so, after which it gets into the dialog, which is the best part. (Those of you that know me well enough, though, will realize why I had to stop listening to it about seven minutes in the first time because I was laughing too much, mostly at myself for laughing.) I actually got the full book out of the library today, and I'm already halfway through it (it lacks the illustrations of the individual volumes, though, which is kind of sad). I was smirking at it entirely too much on the bus... "You're about to get yourself described" is an excellent threat, and I aim to use it someday.