For those of you who have been hassling me on when the fall edition of The Crow is going to hit the bookstores, knock it off; I finished the deliveries today. And if you’re not hassling me, why not? The staff put some cool stuff together for Volume 12, including some fabulously gory zombie love poetry in honor of Halloween (oh, you know you’re curious) and as always the best poetry and short stories we could get our hands on. One of them is by me, so go pick up a copy and tell me I’m wonderful.

While en route to my sister’s house I got caught in the traffic puddle that is Berkeley. Oop, here’s University Avenue. Everybody slam on your brakes and look around. You might see a hippie.

Stuttering along in stop and go traffic makes the mind wander. You’re not traveling physically so you may as well take a mind trip. While looking out at the sloshing bay and regretting the 20 ounce cup of tea I downed on the way, my mind bounced around all over the place. Here’s where it took me.

Due to a small string of injuries and ailments, I haven’t been to a dance class in a little over a week. That’s a long stretch for me and I’m getting stir crazy. My kid threw some oatmeal around at breakfast this morning and I blew a gasket. Mommy needs to get out of the house and back to the barre.

Are you asking yourself how obsessive I am? Can’t I live without ballet? Of course, I can. I’d rather not, but I certainly can. However, dance is my prime method of exercise and anyone gets cranky if they don’t get to sufficiently stretch their legs every now and again.

If you want to play some version of baseball but don’t have the required players or skills, may I suggest Anarchy Kickball to you?

Anarchy Kickball is played with roughly 8 players. The required ball is of the playground variety and at least 16” in diameter. 24” is better. If that sucker’s coming at you in right field, you should be crossing yourself before you get under it to make the catch.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by what you find in their shopping cart at the grocery store. I know I often peek in the shopping carts of my neighboring shoppers while I’m wiling away my time in line, after the tabloid headlines have ceased to enlighten me.