I have found a bit of "noteriety" so far on three of the six groups I belong to. Other groups are not "vibrant" enough. When I want to, I bounce from one to the other, and get involved in three or four conversations at once. Sort of reminds me of "partying" in the seventies. We would pile six or eight of us in two cars and go "searching for parties" on Friday night. You went where something was "happening" or you "made something happen". I've been kicked out the finest places.
People are reading me, when I post stuff at groups, and I like that, I like it immensely. And a couple of people are now visiting the website, and getting into other sections, and I like this as well.
The thunderstorm of interest hasn't arrived, and I'm reading some pretty good poetry on the groups, too, so the feeling of "camaraderie on the internet (yada yada yada) " is starting to take ahold again. I'm starting to feel addicted, again though. I was trying to keep my posts at the "top of the heap" , but then actually felt like I was "communicating" instead of participating in the useless banter for which internet chat is famous.
I applaud the moderator of the Shortstories4Daydreamers group, Andy O'Hara, who seems to take a personal interest in the people who post on his group. It's almost like his little kingdom, and the feeling is very good "participating". I even noticed that I haven't posted that much of my work there. Lyric Liar is still one of my favorites. There is a good mix of creative souls, and people who read them and comment constantly. The addictive nature of groups, or clubs, as they used to be called, is the feeling that, as I just mentioned, one is going from party conversation to party conversation, and one is also presenting his art and literature to a like minded, creative crowd. I am savoring the flavor of belonging again. It feels special. I'm just wondering if I'm at the point where I want to join more groups, stop participating in the ones I'm already in, or start my own group again. I should think I learned the last time not to have my own. I don't want to stop unitil I'm forced to. And I will wait, as always, to be invited to groups. I will not hit the join button until someone "wants" me to. That's the number one rule.

So far just rain.
It's early.

It's still raining.
And not, as Buddy sang, in my heart, either.
Although it's now Wednesday night, and the sun did seem to come out for "scant minutes" this is another storm, another deluge, and because the ground hasn't dried completely out from the last storm, well, what with the strong possibility of floods. I probably wish I didn't own a sports car right now. The last time this happened was when I was with Pat, and at least we had a Blazer then. The water in Long Beach got up to the tops of doorsteps in the middle of town by the airport. A few more millimeters and people's homes would start to flood. Cars were up to their door handles. And people died. But people love to talk about the weather. It's really the only thing people can't control. I was thinking of a poem title "Whether" as a play on words. As in "nobody really knows whether, they can really predict the weather."
Some whopper.
Reminds me of that time in Nantucket waiting for "Hurricane Floyd" except that was a romantic vacation and I didn't live there. My stuff is here.
It was nice for about an hour or so before lunch in Long Beach. The sun came out and I took my coat off when walking between the two buildings. The sky was blue.
But not for long.
Now it's not only gloomy gus, that was thunder, I think.

Since the last blogpost disappeared into the infinity of cyberspace, I haven't "come back" to write, spending more time updating some of the films I've seen on ElectricMovies, and posting to the groups. This time out, I joined 6 groups, usually because I've been "invited". This dreary drizzling weekend I have transcribed 16 poems from 1972, so have a healthy dose of poetry from the early days online now. I remember when I had the hit counter on the old site, and grew more and more upset when years would pass and no one would hit the main page of the 70's section, which certainly meant no one was reading the poems. Now, usually because I've been posting on groups, at least, even if the site itself isn't getting the hits I feel it warrants, the poems from that period are at least getting read. For a while at least, I still have lots to transcribe, so the "barrel" certainly isn't empty, although the quality of the poems dwindle somewhat, as I post the "best ones first". I still surprise myself, however, and discover "gems" among the detritus every now and then.
I joined a group called GemneyesJournal which is sort of like a blog program as group, where others can comment on your postings. I've seen that on some blogs, and sometimes wish I could have a functioning message board on Allthingsmike, but I don't think I could take the pain that would come when people lost interest, which seems like always what happens in the groups I've been in, but then I never really, except for my own, stuck with it long enough. I'm not even sure how long the interest will keep up in me to keep posting. I would surmise for as long as I receive feedback, which has mostly been positive. The thing that soured me on group or message board interactivity before, of course, had more to do with the splits which occured when one faction of an already existing group would single me out as a "moderator" to the consternation of other group members, who would flame me in return. Which usually caused me to leave. Ah, life is like that, too, perhaps.
So 26 from 110 leaves "merely 84" poems left to transcribe from 71 and only six more from 72.
The current rush of inspiration hasn't stopped, although I got the feeling from a couple of responses to my work that some people still think I am "lonely", and one I think thought I was a shut in. I told her I'd be out and about if it weren't raining. But I enjoy the camaraderie I find online, and that's the only reason for being online. If I feel more people are "reading" me, then I'm more prolific and feel good about myself, and maybe I'll even touch a few souls in the process. Heck, I know I am. Lisa, whose "GemneyesJournal" I joined, called me "a modern sage" and I just about melted. Praise like that is high indeed. I look at personal websites, and marvel at the creativity which pours from mankind, and sometimes I feel that we aren't doomed at all, existence just hasn't played itself out yet, and we have nothing to worry about.
I do hope it stops raining soon. I just know the seats in the car are soaked again, something else I live with having a convertible. It doesn't help to worry about it, they'll get soaked, then dry out. The rain will retreat, the sun will come out, and it will be a beautiful day again.
Heartache and bad weather will always be with us,
But the sun comes out again, replenishing and rejuvenating anew.

The list of posts to go before I'm finished.

1970 13 more
1971 110 more
1972 22 more
1973 24 more
1974 12 more
1975 11 more
1976 13 more
1977 15 more
1978 28 more
1979 16 more
1981 9 more
1982 6 more
1983 22 more
1984 11 more
1992 4 more

I just put all of the poems of 1993 and about 4 more poems from 1984 online.

The work done so far:

1970 9 posted
1971 19 posted
1972 5 posted
1973 9 posted (new posts tonite)
1974 10 posted (new posts tonite)
1975 8 posted
1976 7 posted (new posts tonite)
1977 3 posted
1978 33 posted
1979 4 posted
Years to work on: 1972,1977,1979
1980 7 posted
1981 3 posted
1982 6 posted
1983 13 posted
1984 2 posted
1987 3 posted (all)
Years to work on: 1981,1984
1990 3 posted (of 4)
1992 13 posted
1993 none posted
1994 5 posted (all)
1995 10 posted (all)
1997 2 posted (all)
1999 14 posted (all)
2000 23 posted
2001 14 posted (all)
2002 6 posted (all)
2003 8 posted (all)
2004 5 posted (so far)
That's 244 poems each with their own page and links on each page back to the year, decade, and life.