Today was a good day because I finally discovered how to get a better signal from the small radio that I keep in the kitchen: hang it from a cabinet knob, twist the antennae back inside the cupboard, and let the wooden door hold the rig in place. In the mornings, and when I come back from work I like to turn it on, though before, I could barely hear anything the news people were saying because of the heavy AM static. If I held it in my hand, the static would stop, but when I let it go, it would come back. My body must be conducting radio signals. Something about the air, my blood, the saliva in my mouth, nervous system, picking up signals from wherever signals come from. 

When I first got this radio and set it in my kitchen, I was just happy to have a radio. Over time I became dissatisfied with the signal and stopped turning it on. I think I also stopped spending as much time in my kitchen. Occasionally I would listen to some very earnest Christian radio because at least I could get a clear signal. One night on the Christian station they played a public service announcement about how they found pieces of an old boat high up in a mountain, evidence of Noah's Ark, and went on to say that the world actually wasn't that old. Or at least not as old as the scientists say it is. They might be right about a few things, those Christians on the radio, but I'd like to hear them explain dinosaur bones. 

For awhile I was thinking of getting an internet radio for the kitchen, something better than the radio that I have, one where I could listen to NPR back in the Bay where they play the talk news shows all day long. Forum with Michael Krasny from nine to eleven, and Fresh Air would come on at two. But I didn't. Never even looked up internet radios on the internet. I don't even know if they exist. But I also think that eventually, I believed one day the signal would change. Hoping a little, but doing what I could: picking it up, moving it around, shaking it, attaching wires to it, and turning that little black dial trying to get everything lined up just right. Maybe this all seems like wasted effort, but I'm satisfied with the way things have worked out.