Ah, kava…

Had a few cocktails made with kava at a downtown bar named after the stuff. Kava comes from a plant in the South Pacific and has a very pleasantly relaxing effect. My mom described it to me as sort of like the feeling you get from marijuana but without the dullness. Anyway, it’s a nice mild feeling that made sharing drinks and stories with Melissa, Jess and Carrie even more fun than usual.

Before that, Melissa and I shopped at Whole Foods and cooked a real wholesome meal. Kale, soba and a dish that was, umm, inspired by the concept of seitan stroganoff. Her first time eating kale(!), my most elaborate home-cooked meal in a while.

I played a few of my songs for her. I was really nervous. Still, it was fun once I got my fingers to cooperate. Later on, over my kava cocktail and her Brooklyn Brown, we talked about the difference between songs and poetry. I’ve written poetry throughout my life in sporadic bouts. It’s usually for a girlfriend, or just for myself. It gets read a few times and then put away, not to be read again for a several months or years. In contrast, a song has much more of a place in daily life. I play my songs at least once a week, hum or sing them occasionally. My little sister wants to learn to play them. They have lives almost. If you said that a song is a poem with music, you’d be right, but you’d be missing something, too.

Tomorrow, day two of training Software Project Management with Eddie, the Jackie Mason of trainers!