O my culture—why?
so insipid, so dry
so denying of the splendid visions that have reverberated
through me
allowing me to see, to see…

when I go where I do go
my left hand falls asleep
for it doesn’t believe
and cannot follow true
cannot break the rules…

I stare at Moon.
I swear upon the Moon.
(O swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon/ That monthly changes in her circled orb/ Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.)
o contraire!  that it constant be:
all my life with its same face always facing me.
it’s merely variable in not remaining full, you see.

but of the far side I dream
the more savaged, thicker skinned region
forever earth-shy as if…
the earth and it collided—ka-boom—
and it decided
never to face the earth again.

then…what is it we see?
the moon’s face glowing or its moon mooning?
if the moon’s hiding its face,
is the Sea of Tranquility its blithering ass?
thank god(dess) then that it is so tranquil
and atmosphereless:
that it doesn’t emit gas.

but whether face or goon,
the moon still presents
the same since all our births.
as if to tell us “nothing changes,” and
“what you see is all you’ll ever get.”
yet, is there not a great assurance in that?
your spouse can leave you, your dog can hate you,
but go out and gaze skyward
and you’ll never find surprise
in the moon’s fixated guise.

Except when the moon, full,  hits the horizon
and a mammoth behemoth it becomes
and makes our scientists dumb
because they can’t yet explain
why the moon’s apparent size ain’t no longer the same
but HUGE

…and we moonwalk and prance
down our path so entranced
cause we're looming and larger
than life.

Lately the Xanga of my Dreams has been less glitchy than the real one.  Maybe I should acquiesce painlessly to somnolence and blog unimpededly as Rip Van Xanga until the next internet revolution sweeps in??

But where is John?  It seems that since the end of year with his flurry of BurmaShave couplets that he's just disappeared.  Used to be he'd come around here occassionaly enough to see if any Xanga issues or Xanga rumors were becoming so sensationalized as to require a response....

Well, John (or any Xangod--Monsur, Dan--else). if you're still here, what are your thoughts on the following difficulties which I think other peeps can attest are being generally experienced:

1) Access over the weekend became unreliable again with numerous SQL Server / ODBC socket errors.

2) The search engine for content is broken.

3) The calendar is buggy with entries before July 2001 sometimes there but other times frighteningly missing.

4) Requests for help and assistance sent last week (early and later) have gotten no response.

5) The archive facility (Premium) has been updated since 12/30--is this broken, too?

I've checked the Xanga Status page that obliquely mentioned packet loss last Wednesday, but it would be a little more reassuring to know if the Xangods even acknowledge the problems mentioned above.

And, oh yes, where is the fun competition you promised us?  But wait...mebbe fix the above problems first??