Six shots to your dome piece, home piece!

- BANG! I’m about half way done with a very lengthy review of my new phone, the powerful and praiseworthy Nokia N900. Also, look for thirty straight days of poetry (if I don’t kill myself in the process) on my Soapbox. Shut up, just think of this as the previews for the movie … or the warning shot … your mileage may vary …

- BANG! Speaking of poetry, I’m nervous and excited about the deluge to come. I have percolated the Bizarro poem idea in my brain for almost a year (and I may even have a Black Manta one … why all DC? I need to dream up some Marvel ones, probably … a seed of a T’chaka one is in my brain) and, honestly, I’ve been so fiction focused that it’ll almost feel like a vacation from the politics and intrigues of my latest novel (which is *this* close to being 3/4 done — writing it in quarters).

- BANG! Back to blogging, for the 2.5 people wondering where the second half of “The Reign of The Mediocre” is, I’m just waiting for Blackest Night to finish up … oh, wait, that happens today! Excellent!

- BANG! Last weekend, I think I stopped so many people and asked them, “Have you heard Malcolm and Martin yet?” that my wife wondered if I’d been paid to do so. I am loving the mixtape (big .zip file) so much. The next time somebody complains to me about the state of hip hop, I’m sending them that link and telling them (as my wife loves to do) that they can “sat down and shaddup!” I may even get inspired to try to email them and interview them. Maybe.

- BANG! I enjoyed my time with all of my girls this weekend. We got to chill a lot and laugh, I taught Mooch some t’ai chi (and it’s fun to see her try to work it into her every day life) and Myshell’s jokes have been on fire lately. Since I never feel like I’m choosing sides, and since my techno-lust finally feels sated with a device that helps me do everything, it was super relaxing to just chill. On Sunday, we hung out with one of Myshell’s friends B and B’s husband, having a spirited discussion about politics and hip hop. Good times all around. Hm, this is personal, should it be on the other blog? Too late now …

- BANG! I am supporting between three and three and a half websites at work now, branching into areas I barely understand. It worries me sometimes, given the balancing act, but it sure beats the alternative.

*Hannibal holsters his vocabulary and saunters off*

Playing (Music): “First Girl On The Moon” by the Bangz

… but tomorrow is the start of National Poetry Writing Month, which I did last year (and forgot until I saw Nikki Blak’s blog about it earlier today.

Last year, I started six days late, wrote thirty poems and nearly killed myself. This year, I have a newborn baby and a job that’s been ramping up the stuff they need from me. Will I be taking this year off?

What do I look like, some kinda pansy? Of course not!

So, starting tomorrow, right here, THIRTY DAYS, THIRTY BLOGS, THIRTY POEMS! Believe it!

Yes, I plan to do lots of tankas and haikus. I make no apologies for this. I have a few ideas I didn’t get to last year — a poem from the perspective of Bizarro that my dawg Craig suggested, for example — that will be longer pieces. But they all have to be newly written. No “breaking out an old poem that I wanted to work on some more” — if anybody has ever heard it, it’s not going down.

If I’m alive in thirty days, we’ll all be lucky. Let’s go!

Playing (Music): “Oh Really” by KRS-ONE, Buckshot, Talib Kweli and Geo of Blue Scholars

NOTE: Since this blog is automatically imported into my Facebook page, I apologize if you comment on it and I don’t respond, as I am taking a sabbatical from social networking for 2010. So me not responding is not personal, I just won’t see the comments … until 2011. Maybe. Also including this disclaimer on blogs, but you’re welcome to go to the blog itself and speak your mind, as I may look there …

I went to Oakland a few weeks ago. Never mind why, some business got transacted and I’m back to tell the tale.

Anyway, during my trip I caught up with my Oakland homeboy and all-purpose kook The Truth Sayer, who took the photo below. He enjoyed some of my fine hospitality at Kincaid’s Taphouse, where a sister named Tennille (as in “The Captain and …”) brought nourishment and tolerated our jokes.

The other member of this assemblage of crazy was libertarian crusader and carb-hater Jere Krischel. We may not agree on much politically, but he’s one of the best people I know. He got into Oakland for business the day before (no, I won’t say what he was doing either) and the rental company gave him the sweetest ride — an almost-brand-new Grand Marquis.

Jere picked me up to coordinate with El Sayer of El Truth at Jack London Square, and the ride there was part Blues Brothers and part police chase. With Jere’s ponytail and my penchant for cursing fools out at the drop of a hat, Jere decided that we were codier versions of Vincent and Julius from Pulp Fiction and demanded we do a shot for shot remake. Luckily, Jere is super busy and crazy ADD, so one recreation photo managed to settle things …

“… we definitely needed shotguns for this sh**!”

… for one wildly entertaining night in Oakland. Maybe Jere will post the recording of our dinner conversation one day. I make no promises …

Playing (Music): “Armada Latina” by Cypress Hill feat. Marc Anthony and Pitbull