Thursday morning, early October

Dear Internets,

< (good-natured) whining >
I keep expecting things to calm down - the last few weeks have been a blur of furniture merging, Goodwill trips, Craigslist posting, houseguests, music festivals, needy tutoring students with pushy parents, multiple day-long meetings with vendors that melt my brain, presidential debates, and, far too occasionally, sleep. As my brother-in-law put it, I'm kind of burning the candle at both ends, which can't go on forever. But I think (hope) things should calm down by early November. At the very least, I'll have a few days off. Despite having a fairly full plate, I'm thinking of signing up for this in November, if only because all of the current craziness has led me to accumulate about 33 half-written blog posts.
< /whining >

My ACL post is coming; my memories of the weekend are still a little too jumbled up to have made it to paper yet.

In the meantime, I thought you all might be wondering if anyone took me up on my tagging challenge. (Probably you are not wondering about that, but I am giving myself the benefit of the doubt, Internets.) Indeed, the always-delightful Talia took me up on my offer to write bad poetry for anyone who responded to my tag.

In honor of Talia (and her super-awesome Tony the Tiger slippers), I present:

Cupcakes are Contagious

It's morning, our computers are not yet warm
"Time for our daily dose of frosting," we think
We yawn, we stretch, we click... and finally, we smile
Our screens once again a delightful shade of pink

At last, a Cupcake to engage us

Would she really mail us cupcakes? we wonder
We bet she would; she's tackled more difficult projects
Football, Christian rockers, park salvation, Spain, London,
and tacky student service director rejects

That Cupcake is couragious

To read her blog is to discover truths:
"missed connections" are newsprint addictions
flaky baked goods are better than flaky boys
judgy hipsters are walking contradictions

And Cupcakes won't betray us

We'll come back, of course, and bring our friends
Tomorrow morning, and the next, frosting on our minds
For a treat that's as sweet as plum pie
(but perhaps a bit kinder to our waistlines)

Because Cupcakes? They're contagious

If anyone else would like me to make the Internet's eyes bleed with bad poetry, I am more than happy to write an ode to anyone who responds to my tag. (I won't hold my breath.)

Love always,
Jane

Wordplay, pt. 2

Dear Fellow Trivia Buffs,

About a week ago, I challenged the Internets to a game of trivia. Here are the answers to the questions I posted, just in case Google is broken or something.

-What city was originally named Lutetia?
Paris

-What country's Latin name is Helvetica?
Switzerland

-What is the only winning poker hand that requires at least one wild card?
Five of a Kind

I promised to write a poem about anyone who gave the correct answers in the comments. Perhaps wisely, no one responded. However, I decided not to let you get out of hearing my bad poetry that easily. Here are poems for my two commenters on that post.

Saving Diva Haiku.

Diva of Finance
I wonder if her first name
is really "Saving"?

Still here? Yay! Here's more:

Talking Cupcake Double Take.

In a land where dorks defend their chairs
With baked-goods slander and awkward stares
And skirts are made of human hair

Mermaids swim by on roller skates
Cupcakes converse on gilded plates
and lady lawyers emigrate

You may learn a thing or two
like owl pellets are not poo
And things taste better with tofu

Cupcake photos tempt your eyes
(and stomachs, and perhaps your thighs)
But basil might just steal the prize

OK... I am going to stop now, before you pull an Oedipus on me and gouge out your eyes. If you are celebrating the 4th of July this weekend, have fun and be safe!

Love always,
Jane