8/6-8/11: National Poetry Slam, Austin, TX: how I loved saying, "I'm here in my capacity as a legend." What a thrill it was to watch Danny Sherrard win the Indy title. Danny was underage winner of my First Ever Evergreen Invitational last year.

9/1: Carol and I moved from a sublet in Mountlake Terrace to a housemate situation in Arlington (WA). We had sold our doublewide in June and were waiting for our new house to be finished.

9/20-9/21: Edmonton Poetry Festival. I had a terrific time! Offhand I can think of at least a dozen spoken word people that Edmonton would have enjoyed even more than they enjoyed me. But clearly, none of those people have ever been to Edmonton. Lucky for me!

10/9-10/15: Germany. First time in my life I've ever been in a country where I didn't speak the language. Fortunately, most Germans speak pretty good English. Three gigs verging on the magical, for audiences whose first language was not mine. It could never happen here.

10/16-10/22: Spain for the Costa Brava English-Speaking AA Convention. This was one of the great highlights of my life. My daughter Kathleen came over to hear my talk, which made it a unique combination of my poetry, my AA, and my family.

10/24-10/28: Got home just in time to watch the Red Sox sweep the World Series for the second time in four years. God bless the 21st century!!

11/10: CAROL AND I MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!! We're still living among boxes, but it's already livable enough that we were able to host a small Thanksgiving dinner for family. More important, we're in our own space once again!!! And only 12 minutes from the Snohomish venue. LIFE IS GOOD!!!

11/21: I won the Haiku d'Etat at the Seattle Slam, against a field that included two women who have won in the past, Mighty Mike McGee, and Paul Nelson, president of the Washington Poets Association and master of the American Sentence.