I sit in the last east coast hour of 2008, evedreaming of what my new place will look like the moment I finally feel that feeling of, ‘Yup, this is all mine and it is good.’

Last night, I experienced my first real good snowfall as a resident of New England. I spent the night trying to get into a groove of editing In Search Of Midnight, but I’ve been an unmotivated insomniac. I doubt there is much worse for an artist than to have a hole night of energy you do not wish to use.

EDIT: While “hole” was an error in that last sentence, it was also fitting serendipity. I’ve also been motivated to lose fake money on Facebook and Full Tilt Texas Hold Em.

Surfing the web, at some point I end up at a news website that features stunning images from around the world. They usually represent the most modern examples of horror, beauty, destruction and hope. Looking at pictures like these, I am alwasy left to wonder where the fuck we’re headed. I consider my own existence and what our society is doing to further and disturb our growth as a species. Since we can, we should, shouldn’t we?

I am always pretty hopeful at the end of the year. But it isn’t an actual stop-and-restart-point, it is merely a marker as we keep rolling through. It is more an excuse to socialize and be merry, than an actual beginning to a time frame.

2009 ain’t shit yet. It’s the 2008th sequel to year one. We decide what it will be filled with. What it will look like and thusly, how it will end again. Life is not chunks, no matter how it feels. It is a beginning and an eventual end. The middle is the sweetest part and you have the ability to make it as delicious as you want.

Life tastes pretty good right now.

Happy You Near. Happy Life Years. Happy Tears of Whatever The Fuck Is Killing You Right Now. Live it up in 2002. 2012. 1943. 3363. Or now.

Now is beauty. Now is what you really want. Design your own now. Let me know how it goes.
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Word to the nerd.

Originally published at Mike McGee Town. You can comment here or there.

So, they got me hosting finals this year! Weeeee! A slam-long dream of mine to host a finals.

So what I might do is break up the night with various haiku. Send me your funniest haiku and the name you want credited. No promises I'll use it.

Shit's gonna be hot.

Here are tomorrow night's finalists, followed by their rank:

Lizz Straight 7
Jason McBeth 8
The Original Woman 8
Queen Sheba 9
Colin Gilbert 11
Andrew Tyree 11
Tara Hardy 11
6 is 9 12
Bobby LeFebre 12
Joaquin Zihuatanejo 12
Joshua Bennet 13
Buddy Wakefield 14
Ayinde Russell 14 (Sac)

There were some upsets in the bouts tonight, but the poetry was stellar.

Not sure what the cut-off will be, but several poets have 12s going into finals.

Some high ranking first nighters are now ranked out and probably will not make it into finals.

I know this post is cryptic, but Henry Sampson has promised me the final-list of finalists...

As I mentioned in my last post, Buddy wakefield's corrected rank is a 6 total. He received a 3 and a 3.

This seems to be the only change in rank I noticed on the list.

Aside from that, part of the slam world that was in attendance now knows the puppet stylings of yours truly. They have been introduced to Mr. Jimmy Awesome.

It takes very little effort to keep me awake all night.

During the National Poetry Slam in 2003, I found myself wandering Chicago and the host hotel every morning until the sun came up. Being summer, it came up pretty quickly.

But here I am again, sober, watching the sun rise in Charlotte, content and excited for today's events. There is an Anything Goes Slam this afternoon I intend to perform in, and I will also get to bout manage and host an event, I am sure. My posts will not be as frequent when I am in the midst of these events.

I intended to post the full results earlier, but there has been some contention with regard to a few miscalculations that would change the list a bit.

IWPS Ranking works like this:
Thursday night everybody does two rounds, a 1 minute poem, then a 4 minute poem.
Friday night everybody does two rounds, a 2 minute poem, then a 3 minute poem.
(see how both nights add up to five minutes of poem? Easy peasy!)

72 poets divided by 12 per round is 6. Six bouts a night, three concurrent bouts around 7:00pm in 3 different venues, then three concurrent bouts around 8:30pm in those same 3 venues.

Thursday - If Poet 333 takes 3rd in their one minute round, then 2nd in their four minute round: they rank a 5 for Thursday night. Friday - If they then take 2nd in their two minute round, and 1st in their three minute round: they rank a 3 for Friday night. Add the two ranks together (5 + 3 = 8), they get rank of 8. In this scheme, many poets can have an eight because there are so many different combinations of 8, or 6, or 12, or 9, and so on, and so forth. There is only one combination for a rank of 4 – you MUST win every bout you're in.

Ranking ties are decided by the scores each poet got. Not sure how that works.

So last night, all 72 poets (assuming everyone made it to Charlotte that signed up) got their first rank.

Here's the list as I wrote it down just a moment ago. I didn't have the patience to copy every name by hand, so here's where I think the cut-off is important. In 2006, the 12 people that made it into IWPS Finals all had a rank of about 10 or lower. I had a rank of 8, and I was fifth place going into finals. I think Jared Paul had the cut-off with a rank of 10, while Sonya Renee had a 5 or something, which was the highest rank that year going into finals. Finals night is clean slate, so rank no longer matters, but for the second night, in my opinion, if you have rank of 13 or higher, you're probably screwed. You never know, but considering all you're going to do is add to your rank, even if you win both rounds, you still end up with a 15 or higher. We won't know what the official cut-off is until tonight, but here's everybody with a rank of 2 to 12:

NOTE: This list, while "official," will change due to the fact that Buddy Wakefield is listed on the PSI results as having taken a 3 and a 12 in his rounds, when in fact, he took much lower 2nd round number. Once corrected, Buddy's rank will be up somewhere near Queen Sheba's.

Lizz Straight: 2
Chad Anderson: 2 (tied with Lizz Straight)
Tara Hardy: 3
Damien Flores: 4
Carlos Gomez
Justice Umbia
Jason McBeth
Original Woman
Queen Sheba
Eric Darby
Rare
Bobby LeFebre
Seth Walker
Bryan Patillo
Colin Gilbert
Kim Johnson
6 is 9
Karrie Waarala
Lucifury
Joaquin Zihuatanejo
Laura Yes Yes
Rudy
Andrew Tyree
Novakane
Henzbo
Scotty Crain
Axiom
Joshua Bennet
Starr
Esme Vaandrager
D.E.E.P.
Blu Bailey
Akua Doku
Dee
Ayinde Russell
Alex Charalambides: 12

Charalambides is the last poet with a rank of 12. Everyone below him has a 13 or higher. Again, I doubt any of them will move up this list, but most of these people will drop down the list tonight.

Others poet rankings of note:
David Perez, my San Jose homie who repped hard in the Bout of Doom, took a beautiful 16.

Ed Mabrey took a 10 and a 10.

For my Canadian peeps who are curious, Zaccheus Jackson and Lara Bozabalian will have to tell you themselves, for I do not gossip about my neighbo(u)rs to the north. Lara's rank was actually posted incorrectly as well and has protested the math to the "authorities." Not sure of her results, but I will ask her when we eat BBQ this afternoon.
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In conclusion, I have my picks for finals, but since I am emceeing and doing bout work, I am keeping it to myself until after finals. I think this event, in its 5th year now(!) has become something so neat and fun and pretty well oiled. I mean, hey, it run by humans! Human poets, no less!

After the bouts and then dinner at the Fox & Hound next door (Dinner Party: Finneyfrock, Bozabalien, Sarah Lihz, Tara Hardy, Buddy, Eric Hagen, Brian Ellis, Zihuatanejo, Carlos Gomez, David Perez, Amy David, Charlambides, and maybe one or two other stragglers), several of us gathered in the hospitality room for some Texas Hold Em. While the room filled up with poets cyphering, watching our game, and whathaveyou, I was trying to divide some chips. Math had escaped me and so I asked the room to divide 47 by 8...

It took 2 minutes for someone to give me an answer. At that moment, we were all real fucking poets.

Lots of awesome. I am bouncing around venues, in awe of everything, snapping photos and texting to my blog from my phone. Wow. I feel like a journalist.

Neat.

Queen Sheeba just got a 30. Wakefield's in the running. Don't know much else yet. It's all so good!

I hope I get BBQ tomorrow.

A lot of high nines in this rock and roll bout. All the vets in this bout are rocking it.

New to me: Henzbo. He just ripped his one minute and got a 29.4 for his efforts.

I just watched my homie, Dave bust his first poem in major competition, he rocked.

Brian Ellis is our sac and score keeper. That's awesome!

Ed Mabrey got a time penalty, dropping his score to a 27.6. That may hurt.

Everyone is remarking on the sheer intensity and quality of the work. I think the delay in the host city switch gave poets a solid chunk of practice time.

There is a marvelous vibe going on here. I dig this shit!

Most of the 2nd rounds are close to finish. I will post official results later tonight. As for now, this is what I know:

What certain poets took in Bout 1

Tara Hardy 1 and 2
Damien Flores 1 and 3
Blair 8 total
Chad Anderson pulled a 1 and 1
But Chad's results are not official.

More to come.

These one minute poems are hot!

Seriously, I am fucking sweating like a sponge in the Sahara.

The joke here is that I am always sweating!

The first round of bouts are finishing up.

I on the other hand, drank too much last night, probably the rest of the week's worth. I should teetotal from here on out. I am finished up too. Wack. I need to learn how to say no Reese's Pieces and whisky.

Bout two is the mean one: Buddy, Mabrey, Perez, 6 is 9, Q Sheeba, and Finneyfrock. Wow.

Results on their way.
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Word from IWPS 08