Well, I geared up to start this with the "Friday evening" part on Thursday ... started out OK .. then hit Chapter 2 where it tells me that I need to install MS Visual C++ for that chapter. NOWHERE up till then does it mention needing this ... and so there I was at 7pm trying to lay my hands on a copy of this. The "usual suspects", CompUSA down by me and Best Buy one el stop away, were both out of it, CDW's downtown location had already closed, and so I had to troop up to MicroCenter (involving an El ride, transferring to a bus, and then waking 5-6 blocks ... and then reversing this procedrue). So, I eventually get the program, get it home, get it installed, and get back to the "crash course" ... only now it's about 1am.
I find that this course, which is supposed to take 15 hours (30 half hour segments) was taking me MUCH longer. There were some segments that I just did not "get" ... which would have me stuck there for 3-4 hours trying to figure out what the FUCK they were talking about. I also had a problem with some of THEIR programs not compiling ... and coming up with error messages not anything like the ones discussed in the book. By the time Sunday (Mother's Day) rolled around, I was not quite half done. Now, some sections made perfect sense and I just rolled through them ... and all the programs that I actually had to write worked fine, but I was WAY frustrated by that time. I still need to get back to this.
Anyway, while trying to concentrate on the course, I still needed to get stuff done for Mothers Day ... and OF COURSE, everythign I tried to get done was fucked up ... I needed to get prints done, scheduled some time for that, then discovered the places I went didn't have the print machines that will take film/slides ... so had to re-schedule ... the place where I was getting my Mom her gift was out of it ... and I ended up having to re-schedule a junket to go get that ... all of this re-scheduling ended up for "first thing in the morning", which had me groggy (and falling asleep at the keyboard) most of the weekend. Anyway ... except for a couple of El rides (where I wasn't asleep), I didn't get a chance to write anything but these two poems ... here's #1 ...
STUCK BEFORE THE STORM
distorted day
seen through mirrors
twisted, inverted
what would appear
as break or ease
are seen in truth
as different grinds
alternate exertions
we are unchanged
and apprehensive
unable to synch
with newer plans
we only hope
that currents sweep us
into the pattern
we would achieve
how strange to take
these hours silent
so un-used
to solo ways
so many lures
so unproductive
would derail
intention's frame
somehow adrift
despite these schedules
somehow unsure
of what and when
so unprepared
amidst this planning
so unconvinced
this path is sane
then we ask
are hours wasted
and we worry
are we too late
and we dread
te direr answer
and we pray
the nightmare ends
- Brendan Tripp
05/10/2001
Copyright © 2001 by Brendan Tripp