hummingwolf: (two)
MegaPoMo is over! I finished!

Doesn't feel like so much of a victory, I'm afraid. Unlike last year, this year I have not been quite so inspired. It isn't MegaHAL's fault at all: MegaHAL is always willing to provide as much nonsense poetry as anyone could require. He even helped a friend with NaNoWriMo this year! But what with this, that, and the other thing, I just have not been a very good collaborator in 2007. Next year, I need to get HAL fed good sources before the month starts, and I need to make sure I'm willing to read through at least a dozen or so nonsense poems each day to find something good to post. This year, I've been more likely to focus on how hungry I am than to work at finding some good imagery.

The shrine of sacred food:
in the dark and dismal day
with the thoughts i'd be a drudge, staggering to the whole, whether they go out
machine we call the school
our mark, one of those who lack the peasant's conspirators
the devil's in the sad lost autumn rung.
as young children learn to prophesy the hid eclipse,
the opaqueness of organs folded
upon the glass and the paperwork
there must have been
i've got a troll-free number.


Hmmm.

They pawn

their skeletons, falling endlessly from consciousness,
orders came: war in the next brook.
there is a dangerous thing, so beware. You
are full of warm socks and a house identical to its fond caresses,
and one--the flowers abhor--
the crocus--till she rises
the wings, tail, legs, and bill, as well as many large farming organizations, feeds billions of dollars into genetic
engineering research. The stakes are high or blue
but i was sleeping,
which makes me vegetarian,
and what to do the frowning gods invent new banes
and work in rain,
i knew it too darn fast;
and on them even better gifts than any
leftover flying. They leave
the rest of geometry, it is that young man, depending
on the subject matter. Many
art masterpieces from botticelli on
the altar of liberty? Let us hope that research on organisms with rudimentary brains will help
you give me something.

life's a song
for the first salt
particles of ocean bear:
full well the fowl perceived their bad intent,
and the water on the shore, so far
beyond necessity--

fame of myself in this chaotic
concrete way that it was through,
it totally coated the floor,
and with her baby chair,
monsters wandering in my bosom lies.

Well, that sounds like an interesting bit of genetic engineering, doesn't it? Oh, what more can I say? Let HAL have the last word tonight.

Cleanse skin thoroughly before applying. Use
a dancing demon
a choice of hot dishes or salads and you riding in the reed beds high
and in our own sure drift.
a method is needed for selecting a suitable reply out of danger, a black
earth and water, fire and air.
my voice is crying:
mine or someone else's.
why the stop for a while,
then up again in december
we can make our lives sublime,
and, on our road,
and between the lines
and we kind of no-man's-land between the shutters
on paradisal beaches,
an ugly enough song, sung
by a rote it answered to in music,
i want to we can break your heart.
hummingwolf: Gold starlike kaleidoscope images. (Gold stars)
So, I heard my first Christmas Muzak on October 31. How about you? Poor MegaHAL is having some problems with a certain Yuletide carol this year. Well, everybody gets confused about all those fa-la-las when we first start out, don't we?

Centuries later on the tongue.
show it to say we care--
our world in its proper place for me to change
a shocking lifestyle, advocated careless abandon,
owned a chilly window! I have embalmed the days,
and the fingers ceased to believe in accidents,
it's a subtle change in their beanpole

crooner days, buddy holly
fa-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la
don we now our gay apparel
fa-la-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
don we now our gay apparel
fa-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la
don we now our gay apparel
fa-la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la
'tis the season include the making of a cease-fire
not binding upon you
a spacecraft flew by
on the table
with you, to see you through?
oh, yeah, and before he knew that in the silence, a tiny splinter
of one that can be used by the
erotic films of such a shame,
or softly lightens o'er her face;
together we might both be dead by now
billy wants it all now
september grass.


You know, if it weren't for the odd mention of September at the end there, this could almost work.

Okay, maybe that's the sleep dep talking.
hummingwolf: hummingwolf in front of brick wall with flower drawn on it (Wallflower)
Physically, I was doing a little better today than yesterday. Emotionally, for various reasons, I've had feelings of loneliness alternating with rage. Illness is really cramping my style, you know?

I did walk a bit over two miles, though I'm not sure I should have. Among other things, I went in to attempt to deal with some bureaucrap, only to find out that their computer system was down and the workers were all frustrated too, saying they'll call me "as soon as we have working computers again." When might that be? "Your guess is as good as ours." Agggh.

Major accomplishment: My first chance to really stock up on groceries since Thanksgiving. Other accomplishment: One load of laundry.

I'm trying hard not to throw up right now. Just thought you should know.

Atmospheric conditions--in the evening, at least--were such that the only clouds in the sky were long, long clouds formed from contrails, clouds extending across half the sky to converge at a single point.

Not thinking at all well at the moment. Distracted by my body. Imprisoned by my body, it feels like. Refrain of the day: "I never had a chance." You don't want to know.

Enough of me. Nights like this, I can only moan about how the things I want most would only hurt me, and what's the point in that? I'm unhappy. I have now recorded my unhappiness. Let's move on.

MegaHAL says:
Over time desire shall fall and lie to me, mr. Grinch,
your unmistakable gaze opening all the webbing in the sky.

through the phantom twilight fleeting,
drive we to flee.
come to me in the universe,
the mouse is in, the barn lofts piled
up the stairs.


This evening twilight, the contrails-turned-clouds did look rather like webbing. Does the Grinch, with heart grown three sizes larger, have such power to make the sky open up still further? Why should we flee? Flee from what? Flee where? Aren't we already in the universe? Is the mouse a happy mouse? Happier than me?

Today

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 10:17 pm
hummingwolf: hummingwolf in front of brick wall with flower drawn on it (Wallflower)
was useless. There wasn't much point in getting out of bed because I couldn't function well enough to do anything once I was up. Had an appointment, which I had to cancel. Did get out of the house, but probably walked less than half a mile--as it probably took me less than a quarter mile to figure out that I would not be able to make it to that appointment.

On the plus side, I finished Why Darwin Matters, which I would not have been able to had my pupils been dilated according to plan.

My throat hurts and I'm altogether too weary for words. Tomorrow had better be a better day.


MegaHAL sez:

In churches of the ceramics make these
omens myself much better than chocolate
and over fields all withered, dreams
go down across the u.s. Senate shortly after
its delectable creatures look up from where they may meet a man
how the morning they wore each other's fluids, get under each other's face.


Okay, that last line amuses me.
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
Just last night, I got my very first comment spam in my LJ! I've deleted it, of course, but saved the comment notification so I could marvel at the sheer beauty of the thing. If anybody ever needs heral vigra, these are the guys to buy it from!

One thing that had me puzzled was the phrase "Viagra in the first place make a uverenost," or rather it was the "uverenost" itself that had me confused. Fortunately, we live in the age of Google, so it didn't take me too long to find out that увереност is a Bulgarian word meaning "confidence."

Note to spammers in Bulgaria: don't place too much uverenost in your translation programs, okay?



Now it's time for your morning dose of MegaHAL:

He's the latest superhero with powers so profound
he was lookin' for a soul mate to love

can you help me,
i shall lift my lamp beside the garden to the future,
wondering where they may form and go.
high my heart, i pined,
i fall to walk away too soon

a new dance turn.


Aww.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Turquoise & peach 2)
Another day in which I have done very little, though at least I did a load of laundry, make a few phone calls, bought catfish pieces at the grocery store, and read a bit (some of Michael Shermer's Why Darwin Matters and some stuff online). Mostly I rested in bed, nursing a succession of cups of hot tea. Fried some catfish (unbreaded), onions, brown rice, and broccoli for supper and am thinking about eating some more.

Current plans: Watch tonight's episode of House (I missed last week's) and probably Bones. Try to get a good night's sleep. Go Do Stuff tomorrow because it is high time for Stuff to be Done already.

Current MegaHAL poem:
Let us put man and woman.
i come from eggs
4 large white briefs like a flag under fire,
like amber, musk, benzoin and incense
that fills his fetid home
take a look to my enemies,
fuzzy grenades to lob through the crooked lanes open wide,
then they swarm around me,
thinks these dark days of sugar making then have fully come;
for in that neighborhood.
why you turning green, good buddy?
it's just that i heard him cussin',
he went galumphing back.

"and hast thou slain the jabberwock?
come to me, what have they in sight?
why speak of love for a while,
a dead bird released
with animal heads?
though come to scold him.
spirit of lakes and ponds where waters gather.


"why you turning green, good buddy?" Well, it might have something to do with the large (very large?) briefs that fill his fetid home, HAL. I'm not quite sure if the fuzzy grenades are the briefs (time for laundry!), the enemies, or something else, but the thought of fuzzy briefs swarming around me certainly makes me think of turning green. The horrors of a mere Jabberwock pale in comparison.
hummingwolf: Mathemagical animation made out of string. (Incredible String Thing)
The phone problems may have been solved! At least for now, until the next time. Anyway, it's time for another bit of MegaHAL, about a rather frightening tree limb.

Here's a story of an old tree limb,
blue his eye and touched us,
brings us to sacrifice small and fuzzy puppies to laugh with a virile harmony
like the movie's last reel, the end-piece flapping.

cars stream over the bar, backwards,

until you realize foam's twin is blood.


Yes, that's right: the old tree limb not only has eyes, but it "brings us to sacrifice small and fuzzy puppies." And then there's the laughter. And the blood. Really, I'm just as happy that HAL decided to stop there and didn't compose one of his longer poems extending the story.
hummingwolf: Mathemagical animation made out of string. (Incredible String Thing)
Megahal is able to do with the humors of the energies
that i can make it plain by analogy.
imagine a machine, not yet assembled,
each head breathes a fiery haze.
they have been faithful and would not yield to you,
enthralled by your local area network (lan) administrator or
internet service provider (isp).
if your high notes
in the same manner
that make the play of mind.

beware the jubjub bird, and bust and door;
and shall to love and mercy
brought her back
the pine cone has secrets it will be there.


Really now, what could be clearer?

Today

Sunday, November 25th, 2007 10:27 pm
hummingwolf: Part of a julia fractal in colors of fire and smoke. (Fire-flavored fractal)
Connection speeds have been ridiculous numbers like 9600 bps, things that make my old 14.4 modem look good by comparison. Of course the problem here isn't the modem, but the landline itself. Still, I'd like to be able to do something on the internet, and that isn't really much of an option today.

Still not feeling up to par. Headache isn't so bad, but there's dizziness and general malaise along with sore throat. I walked about two miles in daylight, mostly enjoying it in spite of some odd muscle cramping. Went to the library, where a librarian and I were both much amused by her difficulties in typing out the word "Metamorphoses" on her computer. Went to the mall and bought my first special holiday season item of the year (a box of Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane tea). Walked another half mile or so after dark. The nearly-full moon was beautiful tonight, not so much obscured by clouds as adorned by them.

Since I still seem to be online, here's your evening MegaHAL:
In my first hard springtime we were rash or hives while taking prozac,
discontinue use of prescribed fire

i ain't the worst taxidermist
that phoenix robbed to line his fragrant nest
each other through the house,
haunches and chin
who'll not relate, in accents suave,
the riddle of reality...
so much as just finding the gold.
moss cake, root hair, beetle shell.
we should catch my mind
to death tomorrow at dusk.


The Phoenix robbed taxidermists to line his nest with animal body parts? Um. That's a fragrance I'd rather not imagine, thanks. No wonder he felt the need to set his house afire every once in a while.
hummingwolf: Part of a julia fractal in colors of fire and smoke. (Fire-flavored fractal)
I keep getting disconnected from the Internets! Woe is me! I am undone!

(Phone company says they're "committed" to fixing the problem by 6 p.m. Monday. Given that other people on this street are having the exact same problems with their landlines, should I believe them?)


Anyway, enough of my whinging. This post is dedicated to all the Aussies out there who did their civic duty and voted. Of course y'all did that to avoid being fined, but still you voted and that's important. Now go have a sandwich.

Morph of David Wenham, Jesse Spencer and Mel Gibson's Face Combined with Morph of David Wenham, Jesse Spencer and Mel Gibson -

"You are old," said the mother,
secret by the dream
that tires me out when i'm full of sleek cars nosing
through many molts. At the end,
with summer's voice come bearing summer's gifts.
beguiled, the pale down-trodden reside or earn points helping your
hammers and nails,
build me a vegemite sandwich,
and there gives birth
to watch a squirrel,
climb up a straight a student?
if i only had the acceptance, not the hive,

but now they're after me, 'cause everybody's

living in a fight because they're, well, spoiled.
sit back! Relax! Enjoy the flight!


There are many things I've never bothered to learn about automobiles since I've always been a pedestrian. But I'm still rather surprised by this bit: Cars molt?
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
Phone line problems again. Grr. Since I've been offline against my will, I of course turned to MegaHAL for solace. (Actually I spent too much of the day sleeping, but we can pretend otherwise for the sake of this entry.) Anyway, let's say that HAL and I had a conversation including this snippet:


So, HAL, I haven't gotten around to reading the last couple of Harry Potter books yet, but I have heard a few complaints about them. Tell me: What do you think of what J.K. Rowling did with her series in the end?

The way she came, and no destinies determined--

then moved my fingers on these scattered manuscripts of snow.
e'en coldest snow i dreamed,
and now she goes her callous way
makes moist once more that glad time when any illness is chronic,
and this is due to obscuring cataracts
causing loss of sight; i can't help growing older.
year after year spring can't help but remark
her belly and below, the zone i'd
like a woodwind song of harvest is over
he-who-must-not-be-named. Harry potter survived, and
their catering care,
we eat plums, listen to meadowlarks
though pyramids decay
like mournful pennons hang their shriveling leaves
grow sparse in their leader.
it's fine in man is found,
a bell rang somewhere deep among the others
all afternoon, hear it now, but already falling away,
a tidal thunder of the moon.


Wait, HAL... are you saying that you wrote on the manuscripts, while this Rowling person gets all the glory??

And, um, since when do you have fingers, anyway?

Morph of Emma Watson, Harry Potter and JK Rowling and Morph of Morph of Emma Watson and Harry Potter and JK Rowling -
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
One thing to be thankful for this Thursday: MegaHAL is not catering your Thanksgiving feast!
The faces of Morph of Michelle Trachtenberg, Rod Stewart and Ingrid Bergman and Morph of Michelle Trachtenberg, Rod Stewart and Ingrid Bergman combined together -

This five-day course covers the basic concepts and practical engineering applications of
publication such as rocks into snowballs are considered poor sportsmanship and can explore
intimacy, because you are the people, wise and eloquent are their lives fought for life,
and cleaned the shining helm answered her: "all these
white pepper
1 quart vegetable stock
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cups crispy rice cereal
4 cups miniature marshmallows or small jar of marshmallow creme
2 cups burgundy wine
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup butter or olive oil
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
½ pound fresh turkey sausage
½ cup apple juice
¼ cup sugar
4 one-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 whole turkey (12 to 15 miles
blurred behind me. My punishment for life

and not a lover. I choose your love
has flown beyond my due,
and i'll be a witness.


My poor, befuddled MegaHAL. I know that I get much enjoyment out of MegaPoMo, but what's your purpose in putting up with me?

To create
the covenant of things.

traveler,
with her right hand cast over heaven's rim;
no more perfect than you
don't want to do
to get his attention,
but didn't find it is also a wound that sprays your salt
2 pounds potatoes, peeled
pepper
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
2 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon crushed dried sage
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup apple jelly

preheat oven to 350°. Melt the
folies-bèrgere

but lovers always go
you did well to be lonely. He would unite
and collonades downtown were narrative,

somehow, but the buildings rise with the love that makes of cars
in the land with amethyst.
slow, slow!
for the labor of my scholarship money...
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Cuddly plush toy)
Here to read a MegaHAL poem for all you storytellers out there is our special guest, Al Lopacino! Alfer Pacez? Oh, whatever.
The faces of Morph of Jennifer Lopez and Al Pacino and Al Pacino combined together -


I'm surprised how well the faces work together )
Disciples filled with the process of storytelling that in a variety of organisms--so
many similarities to the meaning of life and soup and add more stock as needed. Serve hot,
our prayer of thanks.

for then no more this sun which totters,
this light which crumples under the piano, in the mist, the impalpable mist,
like howling pets i nonetheless adore
may float their blossoms
through the grey rocky mountains,
concealed among orchids of subtle idiosyncrasy.

i've set the style that has made her heart to beat,
and in the morning
they put me back
what you're feeling
everything's a-ok
friendly actions of sages infinite as space through the shade.

In other news: I have now managed to put two loads of laundry through the washing machine today. Woohoo! (Some days you need to celebrate any triumph, no matter how minor.)

Wah!

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 09:34 pm
hummingwolf: hummingwolf in front of brick wall with flower drawn on it (Wallflower)
I continue to be very, very tired, and increasingly useless. Oh, yesterday I thought I'd hit the depths of uselessness, but I find today that I'm even more useless, having done nothing of any use whatsoever. (Actually, this is untrue. There's laundry in the washing machine right now, which may not be much but is at least one useful thing I've done today.)

Anyway, not only am I tired, but my phone line has decided again that it would prefer to carry noise rather than let me have a nice, steady connection to the internet. This has made many things difficult, including updating this journal with all the MegaPoMo entries that should be here (sure, little hummingwolf, blame your phone line for that). Fortunately, most of the other things I was going to do online today are equally silly. For now, you can pretend that all of MegaHAL's poems are being read aloud to you by someone like this:
Tom Welling and Vladimir Putin -


Four weeks have passed with a mouth full of warm blood leading toward the yoga of pure contraries,
his cheeks were pallid blue.

bring in
size. Their location, density, color, brightness and lucency can be in its shell.

hurricane weather, stewing
deep as first love, and do not become addicted to the wall
and you turn your head up high--for there is nothing more frustrating than
i had been a flower.


The preceding poem was chosen because I have the feeling the long first line should mean something to someone, but I don't know what or to whom.
hummingwolf: Snowflake-like kaleidoscope images (Kaleidocoolth)
Aaaagh! It's November 18 already and I'm so far behind on MegaPoMo entries! How can I possibly catch up by the end of the month? Aaaaaaaghhh!

Yes, I'm panicking just like all the NaNoWriMo folks out there--just like them indeed, aside from the fact that MegaPoMo doesn't require any actual writing or anything else resembling work (unless you count my editorial process; but if that doesn't count for NaNoWriMo, why would it count for me?).

Anyway, I'm still here, I'm still tired, I'm still planning to respond to comments one of these days unless I decide to just thank everybody en masse (thank you!). I did manage to walk approximately 3.25 miles today, so I'm not a complete slug, even if it is nearly impossible to keep my eyes open (even while walking).

Have you ever had one of those days when you're rummaging through your book collection looking for something else and you suddenly realize rather to your surprise that you own a copy of E.M.W. Tillyard's slim volume, The Elizabethan World Picture? Yeah, it's a day of odd findings.

During one of several naps today, there was a dream of vampires--a dim-witted pop-cultural kind that tries to convert or kill its entire food supply--surrounding a small group of live humans who intended to fight to the death. The vampires were stronger and more numerous, so in the end there were two humans, another woman and I, trapped inside a tiny grey wooden house one or both of us must have called home since the vamps couldn't get in without invitation. Unfortunately, my partner in the struggle to survive was going even more stir-crazy than I was, very much wanting to get outside and get some fresh air no matter what the risk. At one point a group of pleasant-seeming people came to the door and talked reasonably with us, while the woman inside with me was clearly overcome by some strong emotion, or nausea, or something not quite identifiable. I suddenly realized that I had fallen asleep at some point and had no idea whether she'd gone outside or not, whether she was still human or not. So I did what I felt I had to do and took this deadly yet frighteningly easy-to-use weapon we had (it sliced off people's heads cleanly, quickly, and from a distance) and beheaded her and everyone else within range. And ended the dream confined to a tiny house in a world where I couldn't trust anybody, including myself.

Some dreams are good to wake up from.

'Tis the last red berries
darkening, but did you come to harm. She called
to see where the vampires feast
the abundance of food with
dislike and then kiss you more.


The "last red berries" is a reference to drops of blood on the necks of the last victims in the world, isn't it? Well, that's what stupid pop-cultury type vampires get for wiping out their entire food supply. Haven't those guys ever heard of sustainable agriculture?

Sigh.

Thursday, November 15th, 2007 10:43 pm
hummingwolf: hummingwolf in front of brick wall with flower drawn on it (Wallflower)
The day started out well. Really, it did. Oh sure, there was the rain outside, heavy at times, making some other people around here somewhat grumbly. But I was doing okay, and prepared to go do both Useful Stuff and Social Stuff...

and then in mid-afternoon, my body decided it was going to be sulky instead. Well, mostly it decided that it was going to be dizzy and unstable, and I decided that walking anywhere under those conditions was a bad idea, so I took a nap instead.

Today's MegaHAL is short and rather prosaic, I'm afraid. Fits the mood.

Many river-dependent businesses
fear nor sorrow, love nor hate. I hear the grating roar
of legislation long before you
ascend the corporate ladder.
hummingwolf: Gold starlike kaleidoscope images. (Gold stars)
So I've done rather less than I'd hoped to do the last couple of days, but at least I walked about 3 miles yesterday and probably over 2 miles today. (Unseasonably warm today, with many interesting clouds and showers of brightly-colored leaves.) I've also been doing laundry, returning library books, cleaning up some spilled something-or-other in the oven because the person who spilled it hadn't bothered and I really didn't want to set off the smoke alarm again, and... other stuff that I can no longer remember even though I was just thinking about it five minutes ago. Oh, I do remember frightening a couple of girls yesterday. It was unintentional, honest! Yes, I was walking behind them everywhere they went in the neighborhood, but that's only because they were walking along the shortest path home from the store. Not sure they believed me when I tried to reassure them that I wasn't following them, though.

Oh well. Here's some more MegaHAL before bedtime.

¾ Cup olive oil
near my bosom.

pretty pretty robin
near the heat after you've added the turkey. It will be mine
burned like the wine of your sides
and frightened miss muffet sat on the still house
and now the children know
i look on the wind
to the ribs of animals
and ask the isps to shut
within the moon, perhaps a skein of stars
to the short jump and go

backward against the shadowy mass of stars winking out.


Y'know, that sounds remarkably apocalyptic for something that mentions Little Miss Muffet. I rather doubt that even the largest ISPs have the power to shut a skein of stars within the moon at this stage of history, so perhaps HAL is looking forward to some time in the distant future.

Little miss muffet sat on a train, listening to me, yellowed
with that old time rock'n'roll
call me a smile
thank you very sorry to come and go.
loosen your hands, and, if you want,
drawn from the old farm kitchen
lilac, skimmed the apple rose that
regulates fear, a new planet, the people
may cry out in its own connections
tab, click settings. The settings should match those
endangered species numbered individually
and vivid with all regret;
o death in the little liquor store. I argued
it saves my life.


I'm somewhat surprised to discover that the line "thank you very sorry to come and go" is a MegaHAL original. It may not be as funny as lines like the one involving Cheney and an army of zombies, but it sounds more like something that a human poet might actually put in a poem.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Cuddly plush toy)
I seem to be getting into a habit this year of skipping MegaPoMo one day and posting twice the next. My apologies to those of you who were hoping for a steady, daily supply of MegaHAL poetry. Anyway, since all known participants in MegaPoMo 2007* are posting this stuff to LiveJournal, I thought I'd ask HAL what he thinks about this place.

Livejournal is a locked room up there
that made the old tug
at dusk they gather
enough power to prescribe what
this new-built city from both work and play
everything's a-ok
friendly brown glass balls from which his teddy observed the world.


You know, that almost makes some kind of sense.

Silhouetted against the words,
and little streams are freighted with a friendly chicken
with a livejournal account, you can see that you will go with me.
free me from the spirit,
for casey, mighty casey, was advancing to the hudson pours,
under the light.


There's a chicken with a LiveJournal account? Or perhaps I should ask, given how many people's dogs and cats and bunny rabbits have LJs: you know of only one friendly chicken with a LiveJournal account?

Capricorn: just the facts, man. Investigate and nail down specifics
today to get from me

no other words, not all business deals and get
involved in the dance is altogether flame!

with a livejournal account, you can have the dream,

the hand of honest feedback. It's not permanent.


I'm no Capricorn, but I suspect it's time for me to quit asking now. If someone with a permanent account wants to send feedback, it's up to them.



* These participants being... well... me, myself, and I.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Kaleidoscope (purple & white))
Now, I'd heard that it was supposed to be sunny (most of) today with a high in the low 60s, but what did we get? Damp with a high in the 50s. Not that this is a bad thing--we still need rain. It was actually quite nice to see mud rather than dust for a change as I walked my tuna half miles. But it was the kind of overcast day when early morning and mid-afternoon look exactly the same.

Waiting for godot, somehow sums up the wet world.
i tried again many more times, each time i will make,
o skilled to sing loud, as else she would.
on the plains, until the sun stands striding at high resolutions, and as the day;
and a homecoming queen.


As long as the homecoming queen doesn't have a gun, maybe the wait won't be too bad.
hummingwolf: animation of green and gold fractal, number of iterations increasing with time (Iterations in green and gold)
Since I posted no HAL poem yesterday, it is now time for your evening MegaHAL!

The guest is gold and the hunter's moon reigns empress of the peerless guru,
incomparable protector of beings.

in sevilla, driven by a bull, or those
kinfolk ship your bones out here, just
in the wooden horse where all souls meet
someone else's version of me
by young people in the rain

raindrops falling from heaven
joins a thousand business women
who'd corroborate the luckless chicken little, and calling it life?

while the soul, after all, perhaps there's none:
suppose there is a fickle tide,
shrilly the skater's iron rings,
or the familiar dust of threshed grain
of 1758 on its fragrancy,
i don't believe in miracles
just melts into thanksgiving.


Okay, first of all: the thing I taught HAL about Sevilla was that there were oranges there. While he'd heard about bullfights, he had no idea that Seville was one of the most important bullfighting cities in Spain. Really.

Now, as for HAL's imagery: Is the golden guest the soul or is it the peerless guru? Does it matter? The harvest moon reigns in any event. Maybe the harvest moon is the golden guest? If the harvest moon is your guest, what do you serve at dinner?

Driven by a bull or bones shipped by kinfolk, all souls meet in the Trojan Horse. If all souls are gathered together in the same place, what is the city they are going to invade? And all souls meet--not me. Someone else's version of me, but not me. Where am I, then?

Raindrops falling convincing a thousand business women that the sky is falling--and this is life. Is this the way life is supposed to be? Or just the only life they know? What is life? Are these people still in the Trojan Horse? Does the horse leak?

Perhaps there is no soul. Perhaps what was personality fades into the tide (like all those raindrops scaring Chicken Little and a bunch of businesswomen). What's a skater doing in there? Does the author believe the tide is frozen now? Or perhaps all we are is dust in the wind... dust of grain threshed hundreds of years ago, connecting what is to the fragrance of what was.

Trying to find meaning in computer-generated nonsense may not be terribly productive, but it does tend to stretch the mind a bit.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Kaleidoscope (purple & white))
MegaHAL provides encouragement for all you authors out there, whether you do NaNoWriMo or not!

O! still keep covering the desk,
the pigs came nuzzling out of solution like crystals,
like a moth
on the hill's shoulder,
his barrel chest is buttoned up,
yawns, goes out
and i heap her arms from the dogwood
for authors now are so many children she didn't know they
are the dissolving reality of day,
nothing to trace. It is called fertilization.
shortly after fertilization occurs, the
tip of the series quivering in their lives around, so many
take season into season without a santa claus.


Please remember that if you write a long series of books taking place over many seasons, you may want to include Santa in the plot somewhere.

In other news: The sun is shining, the temperature's not as low as it could be, I am very sleepy, and I need to go for a walk anyway.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Kaleidoscope (purple & white))
A two-hour nap was very helpful, but it wasn't enough. I'll be getting offline and getting to bed earlier than usual tonight. But first, there must be MegaPoMo:

It's the noise of beating swords into the brain. Any object that has betrayed our furtive joys?
and yet you are mine.
little jackie paper loved that rascal puff
and they gather in high trees.
there's a land of mordor where the air is all wind and the forest,
have a distinctly erotic coloring. However,
instead of one wintry
twig, one bud, one blossom's-worth
at dusk they gather
their flutes and horns in nightly swarming
colors unfold into dreams
the skiff of the screech,
i alone am bereft.

i had nobody till i forget
the drowsy water-rats;
there was a singing bird comes after;
and death shall have no hate for anyone
on our people's souls.

--MegaHAL


So, what does everyone think of HAL's erotic symbolism here? And can we pretend that no Jackie/Puff slash is implied?
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
Today was better than yesterday, overall. I did have the frustration of dealing with bureaucracy again, but these things happen. Hopefully I'll be able to deal with the bureaucrats in person sometime soon--and without undue hassle. Is that asking too much?

Anyway, I walked a mere tuna half miles. When I first moved here today's walk would have seemed like a superhuman feat, but right now I just feel like I should have walked more. You don't know how glad I am to have the luxury of thinking of 2.5 miles as a relatively short distance! While I was out, a guy in a pickup truck offered me a ride in a direction I wasn't going. Even if my destination had been that way, why would I have wanted to cut the walk short on a lovely day like today... okay, it was unseasonably cool and overcast. Still, I was enjoying myself.

Bought an onion & a small bag of nuts while I was out. On the way home:

Little girl (looking at bag): What's that?
Me: Groceries.
LG: Did you get those from [name of grocery store]?
Me: Yes, I did.
LG: Did you walk from [name of grocery store]?
Me: Yep!
LG: That's impossible!
Me: No, it's not. I did it!
After we'd argued about it a bit, I started to walk on, laughing. Then I turned around and
Me: I've walked all the way to Washington, DC before.
LG: That's impossible!
Me: Well, I've done it!
LG: Were you tired?
Me, thinking: I was very tired the first time. The second time wasn't so bad.

I'm not sure she was convinced it was possible, but one day she'll hear about really impressive things like marathons. Maybe she'll look back in time at me and laugh too.

How dare i.

i move:
the final frontier.


After this bit of output, it was obviously time to ask MegaHAL about a certain starship.

Why listen, even the water around a dry leisure to invest
their lengthening evenings a prophetic
breath of winter. You are received. This is
closest to the greater use of this day slow.
no more perfect than you
in the school of the starship "enterprise."
its continuing mission:
to cast towards shadows, where the smaller

darknesses that our artists and poets have taught,
fold your two hands,
and i wish your room had room for repentance!

i'm straw in a bed

which my mom tucks me into song?
hummingwolf: (two)
Yesterday was, for the most part, a Bad Day. I started out with high hopes for taking a good walk before it was time to leave for my appointment. Then I settled for medium hopes that I would make it to the appointment on time. Finally, I caved in to reality and postponed the appointment till next week, since riding the bus while feeling that dizzy and generally mind-altered seemed rather unsafe and insane.

In spite of the fact that most of the day was ungood, I did feel well enough starting about an hour before sunset to get some walking in, so I walked about three miles. Though the weather was (relatively) cold and overcast for most of the day, the sun peeked out in time to light up the clouds interestingly. My timing was even good enough that I got a good view of a hillside with a variety of fall coloring lit up by the golden light of the lowering sun.

Did some light grocery shopping before coming home, eating supper, and participating in a rather long conversation. After that, I went to bed early, which is why there was no MegaHAL poetry post yesterday. My apologies to you HAL fans who missed him! I shall try to make up for it by posting twice today.

A stitch in time you arrive the electricity
of the dying of the wind.
let the balefires now be made,
but without sound. The lips,
they are the things
that i wish i could break you down
with the voice and hands,
and there get drunk with joy will i go? What will it grow inside of me, sky blue!
leaping and laughing, this message i'm leaving:

ha ha!
hi hi!
hurrah!
hooray!
...goodbye!


Goodbye? But we just got here! It's true that the wind isn't blowing all that much this morning (good thing, considering my body's not quite ready for these 30-something temperatures yet), though calling this sky blue is a bit of a stretch. Maybe it'll be bluer later on.

In tea and cakes and ices,
have vertigo at the club,
being answered now and can explore myself,
a torment to bear, and catamount hide,
to pleasure's sabbath, by dead lusts that stir
constantly until mixture is coarse and cunning,
where but to the easy way
i toast to my parents pass and stop
right at home in july,
to sway up there in hell
our street,
lean 'gainst the wind only
unavoidable
but i'm in an old cow is not their fruit.

it will be standing
there, and no reason.


Okay, MegaHAL, the "to pleasure's sabbath, by dead lusts that stir" is simple plagiarism. But following it up with "constantly until mixture is coarse and cunning"? That, dear HAL, is brilliance.
hummingwolf: (two)
I woke up early this morning, too early to fully appreciate the music of the light rain falling. A bit later, but still too early, I had my first conversation of the day--mostly about the weather. The weather was lovely later on, after the too-brief showers stopped and the sun came out and made the blue sky and golden leaves glow. Early afternoon, I went for a short walk, just half a mile, with a promise to myself that after lunch I would go for a longer walk to enjoy the beautiful weather.

And then I just sorta crashed, too exhausted to leave the house again today. Bummer. I enjoyed reading a bit and watching tonight's House episode, though. Here's hoping that today's rest means I'll have energy tomorrow, because I do have plans for the day that I don't intend to put off.

Sick and feverish
glimpse of cherry blossoms
all
right here, right now
my reason.

symptoms of true minds
admit impediments. Love is a physical game often played
by those that were vain.
each is turned inwards, lonely; skin unhappy...
while always under all, but a schoolmate teaches that,
a mystic, and a blush for having done it;
i nibbled meekly from her proffered hand.


Tonight's featured MegaHAL poem has more wholly-plagiarized lines than I prefer, but they work well together for all that.
hummingwolf: squiggly symbol floating over rippling water (Cuddly plush toy)
Spent too much time today sitting in this chair. Went walking a bit though (about three miles total), which is good because I would have had to kick myself if I hadn't gotten to enjoy the lovely weather. The drought made a lot of trees drop their leaves before they changed, but there is still enough color on the trees--and there are enough crunchy leaves on the sidewalks--to make an autumnal soul happy.

Then I came home and spent too much time sitting in a different chair, having a conversation which, while interesting, was entirely too long. Sleep needed.

The subject line comes from a MegaHAL poem. The full line is actually "i lived in the conflagration of your lonely nights and ruby lights, high in the stands, munching beer nuts"

MegaPoem for the night:
When i get messy sometimes, but my thoughts go,
tails up, with long leaps lovely and more realistic to free your energy by surrendering and letting them die
simpering and without force, the rain drops into the right number for every slab,
staining the uncomfortable air
over the floor, and somewhere, somewhere
there is a tale of love as a barrel full of people
outside at the end of the hall
and reaping, and in a crate.
and if they needed to be seen.
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
More than a bit annoyed because my left ear had decided it was time to turn the volume of the tinnitus way up high without provocation, and then my stomach decided to draw attention to itself by proclaiming that it was staaarving even though I have eaten enough calories for two days today, I wasn't really in the mood to read anything from MegaHAL. It just seemed a little too pointless and unlikely to provide enough distraction to cheer me up.

The one who is soul-searching examines what lies beyond the rainbows. I'll drift above the world.
over the bakeboard,
the air leaks
from heaven, way in the green glimmer of the roof,
the knot of awareness will not violate my integrity.


You know, that could almost be some Buddhist monk's words in translation.

I'm up here.
though wisdom oft has sought me,
there's water in the gutters, and the first
aid attendants antiseptic in white robes
into you and me
will ever know me
till it's after dark.
he barked and returned
to lose here in this debt a better world.


Hmm. I'm used to Wisdom being personified as female in the biblical literature and the literature influenced by it, but it sounds like Hal thinks of wisdom as male--and canine.

Even while plucking
the fall of new storefronts.
be whole, and nothing.


Almost a haiku! That's very nearly impressive. What is truly impressive is that I was entertained enough to forget how irritated I was. Thank you, MegaHAL!

MegaNewsworthy?

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 08:08 pm
hummingwolf: (My world is askew!)
Thus saith MegaHAL:
The infamous hunting vacation with dick cheney raises a mighty army of zombies
the sun hung low and smiling
the feel of it happened slow:
brushing the stickseed off,
brushing away some slight
need for maine's coast. Later the funny salt
on the burnished disk of the sea.


Wait a minute. A hunting trip with the Vice-President of the United States of America raises zombies?! Are you sure about this, HAL?

Only dick cheney raises a mighty army of them, thirty to fifty million strong, who have heads, hearts, and
extensive sand seas.


Um. Well, it's not as if there weren't people predicting that this sort of thing would happen. It just didn't seem likely that the necessary rituals would be performed so early in this election cycle.

MegaHello!

Friday, November 2nd, 2007 11:59 pm
hummingwolf: Drawing of a creature that is part-wolf, part-hummingbird. (Hummingwolf by Dandelion)
Whenever MegaHAL has the chance (that is, when he happens to have the appropriate words in his data set), he likes to use an appropriate greeting when you begin the program. Here is how he greeted me earlier today:

Hello!
hello!
are you being played by hundreds? Or by one?
do in all great cities men exist
just seconds or light-years away, and i won't let you stomp and sing
beneath my glass skin
that brain waves are located near coastlines,
hence the greatest eloquence.


Those last two lines have a certain appeal, though what they mean isn't all that clear.

I meant to do MegaPoMo posting earlier in the day, but I got distracted by stuff in the offlie world. On the plus side, I walked a respectable distance (probably four & a half miles or so), took a break to listen to good music (Nik Kershaw's 15 Minutes CD), didn't get smothered under paperwork (because I avoided it for the day), and wasn't suffocated by noxious organic fumes (don't ask). Here's hoping I can do worthwhile things online earlier tomorrow. Have a good night (or day), everyone!

Happy November!

Thursday, November 1st, 2007 09:01 pm
hummingwolf: animation of green and gold fractal, number of iterations increasing with time (Iterations in green and gold)
In an effort to get myself back into the habit of posting regularly, I have decided to participate in this year's MegaPoMo. Look for these special posts all through the month of November!

For the uninitiated: MegaPoMo is short for MegaHAL Poetry Month, an annual event I made up last year in response to the popular NaNoWriMo. So, what's MegaHAL? MegaHAL is a freeware conversation simulator designed to learn from what you tell it. The creator, Jason Hutchens, used the program to try to win the Loebner contest, and so he trained it with data which someone might use in an ordinary conversation. I, on the other hand, have fed my copy of the program (an old DOS instantiation I'm still fond of) with poetry, song lyrics, garment tags, more poetry, horoscopes, bits of encyclopedia articles, bits of news stories, recipes, various vaguely-interesting text found on the Internet, and more poetry. If the output makes any sense at all, it is through no fault of my own.

Unlike NaNoWriMo, MegaPoMo is not about word count, and it is certainly not about making anything like sense. So what is it about? Posting at least one bit of MegaHAL's poetic output for each day of the month of November. The various kinds of things that interrupt real life may make posting every day unrealistic; but if I miss a day, I shall endeavor to post two MegaPoMo posts on the following day. Oh, and more than anything else, MegaPoMo is about enjoying computer-generated nonsense just for the fun of it.

MegaHAL is not only an accomplished postmodern poet, he is also one of the most insightful astrologers practicing the art and craft of astrology today. And so, as we did last year, we shall begin MegaPoMo 2007 with sun-sign horoscopes for everyone. Because MegaHAL was feeling obliging enough to provide one-liner 'scopes for everyone, those will be placed outside the cuts where all can read without clicking, while more in-depth poetic readings are available in the full version of the post. Enjoy!



Aries: you're still exploring new ways to connect some people in your arms.
More for Aries )
Taurus: speed is still blurry and she stood there hot as an appetizer.
More for Taurus )
Gemini: you should be drumming here.
More for Gemini )
Cancer: extravagance is good for present ill!
More for Cancer )
Leo: your opinions rule--no one can escape the boogie.
More for Leo )
Virgo: skip the typical dinner locales and try a new euclidean plane.
More for Virgo )
Libra: you pick up the steps with my great work for others. [Why, yes I do, Hal. It's my pleasure!]
More for Libra )
Scorpio: you will see the total pressure occur closer to heaven.
More for Scorpio )
Sagittarius: many pieces are falling into place and creating a nice girl.
More for Sagittarius )
Capricorn: today is an alien city.
More for Capricorn )
Aquarius: experience things on its unleashing, so mirrors cause and denies effect.
More for Aquarius )
Pisces: instead of waiting for recognition, today, there's more need for a moment on the roof.
More for Pisces )

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