So the time I allotted for worrying has officially arrived: the market value for my house has nosedived.

I ate too much sugar last night woke up in the middle of the night and despite counting down several times by seven from 1498 and entreaties to my invisible friend, who is now downgraded to imaginary friend because I go by "a friend in need is a friend in deed" I was awake for four hours. That friend was probably looking over some Kansas City reverend's shoulder at some verboten computer images. Because that's more rewarding than dealing with a soul in pain.

My computer is on the fritz. This is a pity because I made PNG files showing the major contributors of the school board director incumbent's 2007 campaign, who live in another city and would not send their children to public school let alone public school in this city, are also the ones who gave heaps to defeat Initiative 1098, an initiative for an excise income tax on state residents earning more than $400,000/year. The father of our wealthiest citizen was FOR Initiative 1098, the man the wealthiest citizen left in charge of his company was not for the initiative. The latter man funded the incumbent.

I'm supposed to be doing a walkaround blitz in my legislative district. That'll be fun with no sleep.
I am very sour on US politics now. My councilmember running for Attorney General, my state representative, my state senator are not going to get $ from me. "No, you chose to endorse someone who wasted money our schools desperately need. I am assuming you knew what this man did for 3.5 years before you endorsed him. Nobody told me in Immigrant Class that voters are supposed to elect people who misappropriate their funds and sit on big financial scandals without telling their fellow elected representatives. Why don't you put that in your campaign materials if American voters are so okay with that."

My husband took a deserved break from us this weekend, taking the scooter out to the peninsula to Neah Bay and Port Angeles. All that was fine but he didn't have to tell me how much he enjoyed it.

Meanwhile I am trying to get my kid to write poems as directed by his teacher for weekend homework. He is defaulting to Dorothy Parker variations: "if I had an AK-47" "if I had a howitzer". I am attempting to show him Wendy Cope (UK light verse poet) poems about English weather and football so his teacher'll be impressed. How hard can it be to write a poem?

1. Think of a subject, topic or image. Like weather.
2. Brainstorm/word association. Preferably adjectives and nouns.
3. Use senses: touch, taste, sight, sound, smell.
4. Find words that rhyme.
5. Identify and use a meter scheme.
6. Put some truth in it.

Here are my images, for example, of Seattle Rain:
* Odin's stale gym sweat
* The inside of my eyelids
* colour of a prison door
* damp cold teabag

Example rhyme of truth:
This June I had to wear a sweater
July by leaps and bounds was better
...October is cold with mist
November we make plans to spend
The best part of December pissed.

To his credit he did manage a poem about the National Hockey League teams.