--WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU’RE GOING TO CARRY ME

…I like the fact that my children appreciate beauty, that they have retained their sense of wonder.  The other night the near dusk the clouds were a sensational color, something between mauve and cotton candy pink, almost glowing, and I stepped out of my office to tell my son to look out at the sky but he had already got off the couch with his camera phone in hand and was going through the screen door to take pictures.  I called down to him and he said, “Isn’t that just incredibly beautiful?”  He’s eighteen.

He also wrote a song, “A Train to Nowhere,” which he played for me while sitting in my office on the floor with a laptop open for the lyrics and a guitar.  It was quiet good.

My daughter wrote two songs the same day.

I love how much my kids appreciate music.  It makes me happy.

I have a few more days, then they’re gone again, off to college.

…I’m a useless person on Twitter and I’m nearly as bad on Facebook.  Cleverness eludes me.  Not so for these folks on Facebook last week:

-Dear Minnesota -
Why are adults wearing pajamas at Target? Are you dying? No? Then put on some damn pants.

-My daughter yelled "Dad? Who are you talking to?" through the bathroom door while I was taking a shower this morning. I yelled, "myself." Later I explained that it was either a function of 1) being a drama major and becoming accustomed to running lines by yourself and saying them out loud and not caring who hears you or 2) a deep-seated psychosis that will take potent medication and years of therapy to cure. But either way, I told her, the company is good and the conversations are pleasant, so who cares?

-I've been a keeping a secret for a long time. Even I'm surprised by my secret. Here it goes: OBSESSED with the new Taylor Swift album. There it is. To all the people I argued vehemently to that TS sucked, I'm sorry. I like malls and boys and driving in cars with them and sparkly things and I'm evil in new ways. I still think she's awful, but this album is so cheesy I just can't help it. I've let a lot of my friends down, I know, but I'm not apologetic.

-I hate it when people get me earrings for Christmas. Not because I'm horrible and ungrateful, but because I've had my ears gauged for 12 years. That's older than most pop stars.

-A mushroom walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "You can't come in here!"
And the mushroom says, "Why not? I'm a fungi!"

-Overheard this weekend...

Random person: "Who is the audience for your wife's book?"
My husband: "Anyone with $4.99."

-I'm wearing a Burberry trench coat as I speak. Totally naked underneath. Just so you know.

-went to buy milk. got jumped by a jelly donut.

-I know it seems like we’re sliding deeper and deeper into a totalitarian state, but it’s worth mentioning that the ban on ferrets has been lifted in NYC, yogurt is the official New York state snack and we are now allowed to carry wiffle ball bats and ice skates on planes! “Freedom’s just another word for nuthin’ left to lose.

-Went to a Christmas village which felt like a riot/protest/mosh pit. Almost got hot chocolate but I didn't have a sword or bayonet to fight my way into the line

-write sober, edit sober, submit drunk

-Being alive is the most time consuming thing you’ll do all day. Stick with it. Even when you lie down. Cannonballers. Scuba divers. Sidewalkers and drag racers ...

(….And then this bitter post I can’t get over…)

ANYBODY KNOW WHO THIS LOVELY ENTITY IS?

26 minutes ago
Marsha Wright
You fucking bitch you talk about other writers you slut. Where is that gonna get you a poets ditch. Who the fuck do you think you are you lesbo asking to be friends on facebook with Robert Pinsky you dirtbag do you think he likes you sleeze bag what kind of a writer writes lesbian poems fuck you you suck