SpecimenRemoved: Are you the same Reid Cooper as on LJ?
reidhcooper: considers... who are you?
*** Auto-response sent to reidhcooper: I'm away right now.
SpecimenRemoved: I'm not someone you know - I don't have an LJ - but I've been reading yours and I wanted to ask you for advice for a while.
reidhcooper: wait... you ask me that and then you mark yourself away?
SpecimenRemoved: Hold on.
SpecimenRemoved: Okay. This is a little tricky. I don't use AIM very much.
reidhcooper: well, if you checked my user info on the LJ, you would of known that yes...
reidhcooper: that is me
SpecimenRemoved: I wanted to make sure before just launching into questions.
reidhcooper: I don't know what kind of advice _I_ could give anyone!
SpecimenRemoved: Well, I've been reading, and I want to ask about poetry slams.
SpecimenRemoved: I'm interested in getting into the scene, and you seem like someone who's a regular at Urbana, from what you write.
reidhcooper: What exactly?  Because I can't give advice on how to win them
SpecimenRemoved: I just want to know how you got started.
SpecimenRemoved: How you write, what your inspiration is
reidhcooper: Hrmm... yes... I would call myself an Urbaa regular
SpecimenRemoved: I really like the pieces yu put up in your LJ
reidhcooper: Huh.  Let's see if I can answer that
reidhcooper: My new piece needs some major work, but thanks
SpecimenRemoved: The one you put up yesterday as your entry?
reidhcooper: Yeah
reidhcooper: The ending
reidhcooper: Needs to be wrapped around back to the humor of pop culture references
SpecimenRemoved: I LOVED THAT. It was so fucking powerful.
reidhcooper: I was going to go as stupid as whatcha talking about willis, as stupid as (that line from Perfect Strangers), as stupid as... I KILL ME!
SpecimenRemoved: ALF, right? SUCH A FUCKING STRONG POEM. To be honest, it got me a little wet.
reidhcooper: and then I was going to think of whatever else I could think of... 80's TV catch phrases
SpecimenRemoved: Sorry - I'm a little disinhibited.
reidhcooper: It got Cristin hot actually
SpecimenRemoved: Cristin? Oh, the girl at Urbana.
reidhcooper: She runs the thing
reidhcooper: She's actually be on HBO
reidhcooper: Do you actually write any poetry?
SpecimenRemoved: There's something about a strong...you know, FORCEFUL poem. Just gets me hot.
SpecimenRemoved: That's hwy I love slam.
SpecimenRemoved: I always go straight home and shut my door for an hour - my roommates KNOW not to bother me after I see some live poetry.
reidhcooper: Cause I got into it by doing music.  Then, I studied poetry, and then ignored rules and went to just open mikes for awhile.
reidhcooper: I didn't LEAP into Slam
reidhcooper: I tried open mike for awhile... and actually I plan to go back to it to refine the craft till slamming again
SpecimenRemoved: I've written some, but it's more like, some friends from college and I do a live little improvisation thing in our room or something.
reidhcooper: hopefully by next year I'll be good enough, I can make the team
SpecimenRemoved: team?
reidhcooper: cept, next year they go to Utah
SpecimenRemoved: Wow. Um.
reidhcooper: Bar 13, Nuyorican, and Urbana
reidhcooper: are the three ny teams
SpecimenRemoved: So you're kind of a Grand Old Man of NY Slam!
reidhcooper: Hold on, I'll find you a website that explains this better
reidhcooper: No... not even close
SpecimenRemoved: No, no, I want to know more about YOU. ;)
reidhcooper: Well, understanding this SLAM stuff is a part of me
SpecimenRemoved: Do you get the "stressfullness that is life" (by the way I TOTALLY relate) out through slam?
SpecimenRemoved: Do you ever feel like it's keeping you sane?
reidhcooper: It's the only thing sometimes
reidhcooper: poetry and performing is what makes me bother continuing
SpecimenRemoved: Life is hard.
SpecimenRemoved: Simple, but I think, true.
reidhcooper: I hate that being unemployed doesn't allow me to go to Urbana every week I'd like
reidhcooper: How did you find my journal btw?  I always am fascinated what was the path of people, especially those not on LJ
SpecimenRemoved: You'll get a job soon. I used to be unemployed, so I know how depressing it can be having a whole day to fill.
SpecimenRemoved: I even - before I got my present job - I even had to dance a little in Jersey and I don't know if it was for the money or just to have somewhere to go every morning.
SpecimenRemoved: OMG this is so embarassing...
reidhcooper: dance... you mean... strip?
SpecimenRemoved: I have a thing for Jon Cryer...and he's one of your interests...
reidhcooper: Who doesn't have a thing for Jon Cryer?
reidhcooper: He's so cute
SpecimenRemoved: Yes, strip, but I HATED IT SO MUCH so I quit after like two months
reidhcooper: I have an ongoing battle in my brain "Who's cuter, Jon or Patrick?"
SpecimenRemoved: I thought it would be okay just dancing and taking off clothes but the manager wouldn't give any of the girls stage time unless they sucked his cock once a week
reidhcooper: I have nothing against stripping.  I respect any girl who knows what she has to do to get money
reidhcooper: oh my god
reidhcooper: That motherfucker does not deserve to own that establishment
SpecimenRemoved: And most of the girls had drug prblms or kids so they needed the stage time
reidhcooper: I don't know how financially sucessfull I would be, but I always wanted to do porn or run a strip club that gave women all the power
SpecimenRemoved: Would you have slams there? I would TOTALLY dance there if, li,ke once a week I could do spoken word or somtehing.
reidhcooper: It would be a place where men could come in and see naked women
reidhcooper: their show would be whatever the girls decided
reidhcooper: if a girl wanted to do a martial arts demonstration
reidhcooper: she could
SpecimenRemoved: DEMOCRASY! A totalgirl democrasy. I LOVE IT.
reidhcooper: Like I said, not sure how financially good it would be
reidhcooper: btw, mind if I ask your name?  I kind of like to know who I'm talking to
SpecimenRemoved: Lisa. Last name..maybe l8r? :-P See how things go
reidhcooper: A first name is good
reidhcooper: It just feels weird thinkiong of someone as Specimen Removed
reidhcooper: since I don't even make sense of it.  I understand each word, but not together
SpecimenRemoved: The job I have now is as a messenger for blood samples at BIMC.
SpecimenRemoved: So...I TAKE specimens and REMOVE them from patients.
reidhcooper: wow... that's a pretty wild job
SpecimenRemoved: I dont like a lot of people knowing I'm a girl
SpecimenRemoved: I'm a wild gal ;-)
reidhcooper: well, you said you were a girl in your user info
reidhcooper: I don't talk to someone before checking their Aim info
SpecimenRemoved: What? What uder info? When I registered AIM?
reidhcooper: Yeah... It gives user info
SpecimenRemoved: Can I change that to blank?
reidhcooper: yes
reidhcooper: My AIM
SpecimenRemoved: I will do that...what r ur plans for the weekend?
reidhcooper: Edit Profile
reidhcooper: None
reidhcooper: Very tentative
SpecimenRemoved: None? Not going out at all.?!
reidhcooper: always changable
reidhcooper: Well, no
reidhcooper: I meant, I had things to do
reidhcooper: but not specific plans
SpecimenRemoved: No dates or anything?
reidhcooper: Are you serious?
reidhcooper: You said you read my journal
SpecimenRemoved: Maybe you leave out  some informaiton.
reidhcooper: Oh... true... but no.
reidhcooper: Those complaints
reidhcooper: straight on
reidhcooper: The only thing I have going is this girl who goes to college with my ex
SpecimenRemoved: Yah, but you could be dating girls and not have found the right one (like you said)
reidhcooper: I'm trying to get her to invite me upstate
reidhcooper: or to come down here
reidhcooper: but hasn't happened yet
SpecimenRemoved: Is she as smart as you?
reidhcooper: so, my field is open
reidhcooper: No
reidhcooper: But she's smart
SpecimenRemoved: Than why bother?
SpecimenRemoved: Having someone smart as you is the most importatn thing, I think, when you're at a certain level, you know?
reidhcooper: She's cute, she knows most of what I talk about
reidhcooper: I rarely meet girls at smart as me who are single
reidhcooper: or avaible
reidhcooper: like I'll meet a single girl smart as me... but she won't be interested
reidhcooper: I did not just type the word like
SpecimenRemoved: How can you carry on a converastion with a girl who's not as smart, because there's this guy at BIMC - anyway, tell me how you do it.
reidhcooper: It's not easy... I do most of the talking
reidhcooper: she just tends to laugh
reidhcooper: and I just don't go grrr... when I ask her something silly and she can't come back with a silly answer
reidhcooper: It's nothing serious
SpecimenRemoved: But dont you feellike you're trying to talk to a very goodlooking dog or somtehing?
reidhcooper: I mean, I already told my friend Nick
reidhcooper: She's cute, she's nice, she'd be fun to be with, but I already
know going in it won't be something
SpecimenRemoved: How smart would a girl have to be to be a long term possibility with you?
reidhcooper: she'd need to be able to say something more than "I don't know" if I randomly IM her and ask "Fuck, I'm bored, I have 400 movies, which should I watch... Boogie Nights, Moulin Rogue or Body Shots?"
reidhcooper: I want a legitimate answer when I ask that
SpecimenRemoved: Would the right answer be 'What kind of a mood are you in, what is the song you're listening to righ tnow?'
reidhcooper: when I find a girl who can honestly respond with a real answer. I know she's possibly smart enough to pursue
reidhcooper: it's better than "I dunno"
reidhcooper: as long as it's not "I dunno"
SpecimenRemoved: I have to go soon - put me on your Buddy List!!!!
reidhcooper: I have... if you have no plans this weekend maybe we can talk
more... SpecimenRemoved: By the way - the right answer is Body Shots, because it's callous on first watching but has heart if you pay attention ;)
reidhcooper: heh...
reidhcooper: I do like that film
reidhcooper: Who's that buddy icon?
reidhcooper: I don't watch Hospital shows
SpecimenRemoved: It's from Scrubs...it's Doctor Cox.
reidhcooper: I was going to guess Scrubs
SpecimenRemoved: Because I work in a hospital...and because I like his last nam e:)
reidhcooper: just cause he has this comedy face
SpecimenRemoved: Bye Reid. It was nice meeting you.
*** You have been disconnected. Fri Feb 28 19:12:56 2003.