Category Archives: humor

Broken $%!# – my new theme song

…and where in Sacramento to hear live music:

I recently wrote to my favorite Sacramento storytelling musician, Justin Farren.  I couldn’t really tell my story properly without the soundtrack of one of his songs.

Once I shared with Justin Farren the highlights of my arrival in Sacramento, including

  • being hit by a car while riding my bike;
  • getting a 911 bill for being hit by a car;
  • receiving, by mail, a ticket for being hit by the car, since the driver said it was my fault;
  • successfully demonstrating to the judge through overabundant pictures and video of the intersection that my story was the true version;
  • finally, discovering that my wobbly, car-crash bicycle had been stolen,
Justin agreed to let me post this link to his song, Broken Shit.  It’s my new Sacramento theme song. He said “that’s a crazy story!” But every time I play his song on my ipod, I laugh, thinking of the crazy irony of that thief somewhere when the wheel falls off my bike.

Justin tells great stories. Just listen to “Where did I leave my sweater?” or “Shade Tree”, two of his other funny songs, or any of his more contemplative material.  When you see some sorry times, you more deeply appreciate the juxtaposition of humor that floats around the edges.

So even though I’m not particularly grateful for the thief with the cable cutter, or the driver who hit me and fibbed about it, (but turned out to be getting married the following week, so I forgave her), or especially, the various agencies that attempted to take advantage of me after I’d been hit by a car, I  am grateful for a sense of humor, persistence, a cheap little camera, and especially, a new theme song.

Thanks, Justin.     Justin’s website (I wish I had a guitar icon here!)

Oh, yes – a couple of little places to hear live acoustic music in Sacramento:


One little poem…

I just heard that one of my poems is being published!  It’s in an anthology of poetry with other writers from the Maryland region.


My poem was inspired by the moment I redefined a good night as: one on which the police didn’t call to say they’d picked up our senior.  


No, not high school senior…


The poem is called Losing Words, written in twenty-eight diminishing lines from the first person point of view of an aging man.  It’s from my collection, Growing Down. You can find it in Life In Me Like Grass On Fire: Love Poems*, an MWA book edited by Laura Shovan.
                              
My advice on helping an elderly family member through the aging process is: keep your sense of humor.  


If you’re going to hunt for a lost pair of reading glasses twelve times in one afternoon either way, make it fun!  Use your imagination.  A little competition with prizes is okay!  It’s part of life. You may as well laugh about it.  Be kind to everyone involved, including yourself. Remember how you’d want to be treated, because one day that may be you.  And your kids are watching. 🙂


Life in Me Like Grass On Fire: Love Poems, available at Amazon.com