Wellness...

(this news item posted on May.27.2005)

First things first:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!!
My good friend Bryan (Drake) is more than 30 today *sniffle* they grow up so fast.

In other news... man do I feel crappy. I've spent 36 of the last 48 hours asleep. When I did try to get up and walk around I almost passed out. I worked all week long to get to my "weekend" (thursday and friday) and then I spent most of it asleep. And there were important things that I was hoping to get to on my days off. I wanted to get work done on the poetry book I'm working on with Anna Walsh. And I wanted to get a lot of work done on the software I'm writing to allow all of my clients to FINALLY be able to update their websites. (I did actually get a lot of work done on that in the last four hours despite my feeling so under the weather.)

Before this week I was really feeling like I was on a roll. All of my performances were going well and I was starting to catch up to things. That Malcolm X dance party thing last week went..well...bad, and I've taken a lot of time out this week to work on my house and my cats and...well...sleeping in near delierium.

So next week can't help but be better no?

be Peace
-Alex

Upcoming Appearances...

and other difficult-to-spell words.

(this news item posted on May.16.2005)

So I had someone tell me that I was frustrating them by only posting about events that were over with. So, by popular (well not really "popular" per se, but let's pretend) demand, here are some upcomming events -- Before they happen even! If you're in Western New York, mark these in your day planner.:

On Friday May 20th, the Buffalo War Resisters' League will be celebrating the national shut down of recruiting stations for ethics training. Here in Buffalo there will be a celebration from 4 to 6pm and yours truly will be rappin and doing my thing.

On Saturday, May 21st, I will forego sleep entirely in order to make it to the Malcolm X dance part for Hip Hop week. There will be awesome DJ Mark Webb spinning tunes, there will be live recordings of Malcolm X playing all through the night, and you'll want to show up on time because I will be break dancing for the cause before heading off to work that night. See the calendar for more details (time & location)

And don't forget that early next month I have an in-store book event at Talking Leaves Main Street for Relations: McEmpire. That's on June 9th and should be a great time.

Okay. So I'm already really tired and now it's time for me to go to work. Such is life.

Youth for Youth

(this news item posted on May.13.2005)

Last night I performed at the Youth for Youth benefit. The young kids at Nichols High School threw a fund raiser for the Mass Ave Project and the Compass House emergency youth shelter, and I did a bunch of rapping and some break dancing while my friend Kirk did some beatboxing.



Bout 150 people in the crowd. Lots of young kids. They really dig the rap music.

Full Gallery = http://www.amprosoft.com/Gallery/misc/May13

be Peace,
-Alex

Back In The Dayz

(this news item posted on May.11.2005)

Hello again,

This'll be a very nostalgic entry. I've been doing a lot of things that have to do with archiving the past lately:

Back in the 1990s I used to burn the midnight oil calling BBSs. It was sort of like the internet before the internet (and it was a bit more local). There was a kind of primitive artistry back on the BBSs called ANSi art and I had written some software to help create ANSi art and it was pretty popular. Earlier today I placed a bunch of my old ANSi art in a gallery on my website. It's kind of fun to look at the old modem speeds and capabilities and such. Click here to check it out.

While I was at it I also added a gallery of Ray Tracing art and a gallery with some of my drawings.

And I've updated the AiV page on my website to include a lot more of my websites. There's plenty of fun stuff to poke around.

And then I also found a bunch of old posts and I used them to extend my journal on AMProSoft.com back a little further into the past.

So that there's plenty of nostalgia for now. I'm glad to finally have gotten to my weekend (Thursday and Friday are my days off from work), and hopefully I can get caught up on some of my work backlog on my days off from work.

be Peace,
-Alex

Can't Stop the Bumrush!

(this news item posted on May.05.2005)

Finally: Out from behind them damn glasses

Took me about 6 months of saving up, but I finally got some new contact lenses. Really nice to be able to see people again. And things. Yeah. Havin fun looking at people and things now that I can see.

McEmpire eBook

My latest Novel is now available as an online book! Click the PayPal button that's half way down this page and join the paperless society. Read my book for just $9.00 online.

More Performing

I spoke too soon about being done with performing for a while. Check the Calendar if you're here in Western New York. I'll be doing some fun stuff in the days ahead.

Oh! And that reminds me... Talking Leaves Books on main street is going to be having an in-store event featuring ME on June 9th at 7pm. I feel so authorly now. Talking Leaves' Main Street location also has copies of the new version of the book. The latest edition of McEmpire has larger type so it won't give you eye strain. Each copy of the book in your local book store is signed and numbered (and if you wanna know a secret, Rust Belt Books has some copies with some REALLY low numbers, sure to be a collectors item some day since they were the first to start selling it).

Mass Ave

The Mass Ave Project open mic was all kinds of fun last night. We're still trying to find that balance. April had too many performers and not enough audience and I felt like I barely got a chance to perform. This month there was lots of audience and not many performers so I ended up performing too much. We're gonna get it together. First wednesdays' open mics at Mass Ave are not to be missed. Start making plans now for June.

And at the Mass Ave Co-op community dinner tonight I got a lot of basketball in. I feel like I am in really good shape. Running around is fun. Aside from all the poverty, and not getting to see Heather much, life is really good I must say.

be Peace,
-Alex

Run Judy! Run!

(this news item posted on May.02.2005)

Let me start off by saying congratulations to my friend Judy Einach who is running for mayor here in Buffalo, New York. The media likes to minimize and marginalize her candidacy, but Channel 7 news and WKBW radio both included her name in their web polls last Friday, and --Surprise! Surprise!-- Judy won both polls. In honor of our exciting poll results, I've added a Judy4Mayor button here on the AMProSoft website.

Last Thursday, me and ice9 performed at something called Poets Against Discrimination. I was breathing a sigh of relief and thinking that I don't have any performances lined up for quite a while, but actually, looking at the AMPro calendar, I see that I have another performance coming up in a couple fridays. Not to mention that the MAP Open Mic is a couple days away.

A new version of my new novel Relations: McEmpire just came out. It's available online by clicking the link and it's available here locally at Talking Leaves books on Main Street. AND...speaking of which... I have an in store book reading event coming up at Talking Leaves on Main Street on June 9th, 2005. AND, I hope to have copies of my previous book, How to Care About Humans, available on paper for the first time at that event. (Thus far it's only been available as an online book.)

be Peace,
-Alex