xylopoet

As things align in my favor on a reliable basis, it would so be reasonable, possible, and necessary, for me to attend a portugal. the man concert, in celebration of my new status - fresh out and free from a long term relationship, shining for nobody but me! It’s become a routine for me: I have an open schedule, and the right numbers to obtain a ticket and travel costs. Where will we be? I check the band’s online page, and find a rescheduled show, a sign of destiny for me since the new date and city were actually ideal timing, and a fine place to visit.  Cleveland, Ohio. Never have been, and curious about culture, I decided to drive the 7.5 hours over the course of two days, and planned on sleeping in the backseat of my car. Mapping out the route was easy - 2 and half hours to Harrisburg (a city I saw them in before :)), 2 and half hours to Pittsburgh (another city me and them were in :)) and 2 and half hours to my final destination. I folded down the backseats and covered the base ...

The song that goes the hardest on the most recent album is Summer of Luv. Absolute anthem! Perfect tune for the season, for every summer to come. When my favorite band cleverly titled their tour Winter of Summer of Luv, I was thrilled to see the lineup throughout the East Coast. Looks like the kickoff show is in New Haven, Connecticut, just outside of NYC, on a Sunday night. Score, we’re there. I saw on twitter once the band played a super cute venue in Washington DC, a room with a 450 person capacity. It was called The Atlantis. I continue looking online, the livenation ticket sales website. The tour had a stop there! How close we’d all be, and how homey it would feel. I purchased tix. But! Come to find out the night of the show, upon arrival, the venue wasn’t The Atlantis. It was called The Anthem. Mixup. We had actually already seen them at this concert hall two Winters ago on that tour with Alt-J. Nonetheless, the fun persisted. Then I see the most important date on the whole tour ...

Thanksgiving means I’m grateful for successful seasons of my show as a balloon artist. But as winter dawns, my business loses its platform at farmers markets, fairs/carnivals, and down the shore, so I starve. When I returned to NJ after 10 daze in Cali early last November, my schedule was wide open, my money was dwindling, and my jaded state from “making ends meet” was meeting me at my wits end. Your thirties are about knowing your options, and having the self-respect to pass on most of them. By this time in my overall experience, I had and moved on from every job possible for an undergrad. I've done dozens of lateral moves from one company to the next, but the most clear evidence in my struggle to land somewhere proficient for my desires, is my evolution into a character who is undoubtedly unhirable. It’s like all the roles you could fill based on typecast and experience, if you’re growing the right way, shouldn’t speak to you anymore. It’s like you gain your exact emotions, and...

Everyone’s family is a lil quirky. Both my brothers got married in October 2023. Weddings are fun. These 2 were stylized as two distinct yet equally enjoyable events. My twin had a super traditional gathering, in South Jersey where the majority of the guests were nearby. The whole shebang - fancy venue (same one where our aunt n uncle tied the knot some 30 years ago), classy dress code, a live band, photographers, gifts galore, and a priest officiate. My younger bro decided on a destination wedding. With approval from all of us, they basically eloped and invited everyone to be there. To Las Vegas - sometimes what happens there stays, and on occasion, what happens there follows you forever. Between the two soulmate swears, I found myself to be an ideal sister at each event. It was my highest honor to be a professional poet and “Grooms-Girl”, a term coined for my role in the wedding party in Jersey. Standing on the side with the best man and groomsmen, I love moments or scenes where my p...

When I was connected to the commune, there was a group of us involved in making one 4-day weekend a year a Festival on the campgrounds there. Pioneered by my then partner, we spent 4 out of our 5 years together planning, preparing, and putting on an event we called QuinkFair. The concept of the festival was “to spark transformative experiences”. The word “quink” was a made up word, said to mean “the opposite of trauma”. Trauma is an occurrence where your life becomes worse because of it; and a quink is when an occurrence causes your life to become better because of it. People of the festival essentially are there to interact for the cause of making positive change, personally and community-oriented. Each year at QuinkFair, I marked milestones for me, true to the reason for the season. My transformations included falling in love (it’s own way) and energizing a partnership with My Man; my character expansion through my festival persona; and overcoming an alc*hol addiction. While the we...