gl.

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Monday, November 24, 2008

 
8:31 PM: week mend [#] [1]

the house across the street has been for sale for months (over a year, but i'm not quite ready to say two), but the owners finally moved out last week and ever since it’s been a hotspot of real estate agent tours, sometimes up to 6 a day!

on friday, sven & i had dinner at park kitchen, a "tasting menu" that was heavy on the vinegar. afterwards we stopped by the "pretty girl" holiday sale, whose traffic had been so bad this year they were closing early. i really want to support small artisan businesses but it's hard to shop when people are rolling up around you (and when they don't make things that fit -big- pretty girls). afterwards, we watched sarah silverman's "jesus is magic," which i think sven liked more than i did.

on saturday i went to my hooping class and did a little window shopping on east burnside. later that night, sven & i attended "sam adams! sam adams! mayor ex machina," which was billed as an improvised musical. it took me a LONG time to figure out that it was not an improvised musical about sam adams; rather, sam adams ex machina was just going to be the way they rescued themselves from an impossibly ludicrous improvised situation.

on sunday i took rose to "scoot on this," a store that specializes in scooters & ebikes. for the last month i have been seriously considering adding an electric assist option to rose to tackle our hills, to keep them from adding to any inertia i have about fearlessly going north in the city, especially now that it's winter. i've been sticking to the south because it's easy to get home on the springwater corridor trail -- i think over time i could get used to the hill on 136th, but i'm too afraid to really practice because there is always fast traffic on it and no bike lane. an electric assist could help me keep pace on hills like that, which would really open my range of options. anyway, the tech at scoot on this has been a real sweetheart: happy to answer all my questions and seems to understand i'm not willing to do it if the solution is ugly. after visiting the scooter store i went to le sorelle, a trendy-looking cafe in an urban renewal building on foster. it's got a lot going for it and i really wanted to like it, but the food i've had so far isn't worth writing home about. i got home just in time to watch the international space station drift by overhead for several long minutes, as bright as venus (have you -seen- venus lately? yowza!). but after a week of being ill, a 6-mile bike ride that was uphill and had a strong headwind all the way home really kicked my ass. :P

in the midst of all this, my online artist's way community had a big falling out. it remains to be seen what will happen to it.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

 
5:42 PM: not dead yet! [#] [1]

last week was the last stretch of a lot of projects. the holiday sale went well, thank you! i appreciate it if you showed up to support local artisans. i was in charge of food & scheduling cashiers/gift wrappers, so i had just enough time to set up the food before i had to leave part to go to my hooping class (where i bought a small & lighter hoop to do arm tricks with). when i returned to fill the cashiering shift, i totaled up a couple of pretty big sales at the end of the day and held minda's baby for about 20 minutes, so it all worked out great. :)

then i had just enough time to run to the last fidelio performance, which really rocked. we celebrated a birthday for some of the kids in the cast and along with last-night energy there was enough cake and soda to make everyone cheerful and talkative. a woman also passed out yellow roses and tiny trophies that had "fidelio 2008" written on them. i spoke to a super who said she was a classical music fan and she said she wanted to be an opera super because she wanted to be IN the music, which i loved. alas, apparently we got a terrible review in the oregonian, who said, "crowds in the finale moved artificially, ...smiles plastered on their faces, looking desperately elated. Not for a second did I believe them." oh, well.

sven & i watched vera drake, which, unsurprisingly, made me cry (but what was up w/ the music?)

then... i got really, really, sick. i haven't been this sick since i was living with michaelmas, not long after i moved to portland. he kept me alive by feeding me orange juice ice cubes & boiled potatoes. this time sven made me rice and i ate apple chunks. i'm feeling better today, but still weak.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

 
3:56 PM: keep peddling that bike [#] [3]

fidelio performances have begun! thanks for coming, sven, kristen & todd, kamron, michaelmas & shu-ju! on opening night apparently there's a tradition of bringing small food gifts for the other supers: we shared pfeffernussen cookies & m&ms. that first night i also sat by the stage and watched as the curtain rose for the first performance. very exciting!


[oh, gott...]

...and i attended a trillium board meeting & am busily promoting the holiday sale saturday, sven went to brietenbush for a few days, michaelmas observed his 4th arwen anniversary, i went to my hooping class (i love exercise that doesn't make me want to die!), i attended the iprc text ball (more on that later), i officially stepped down as meetup organizer for the portland artist's way meetup, sven & i took carl out to screen door for his birthday and then over to cecelia's for homemade banana cake and a rousing game of uno, i took my dad out to whiskey soda lounge and pix w/ michaelmas & sven, and i wrote my last full moon poem for this series.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

 
3:09 PM: election partAY [#] [4]

a week after the election and most of the close contested races have been decided. we had a small party to watch the results w/ michaelmas, sven & cecelia, which gave us a chance to celebrate obama's acceptance speech w/ freshly baked apple pie.

but i wanted to be happier about the election results than i am. nationally, i'm hugely relieved we aren't facing a mccain/palin presidency, but some of the states really passed some bad stuff.

the good:

* obama won! and remarkably early, too. i'm a little unfcomfortable with the republican framing of this as a "historical moment" for blacks everywhere, as if they didn't play his race as something to fear during the rest of the campaign.

* colorado failed the "personhood" amendment! resoundingly! not one county passed it, even el paso! colorado also (barely) rejected an affirmative action ban. maybe i can go visit again. :)

* south dakota failed the abortion ban, even with exceptions for rape or the life of the mother. i thought after last time they would add the exceptions and it would pass -- so what a big, wonderful surprise that it failed! way to go, south dakota!

* california narrowly defeated the parental notification measure. this is the third attempt. i wish they'd give it a break. thank you, california!

* jeff merkley won the oregon senate by the skin of multnomah county's teeth. gordon smith was pretty gracious about it and yet emotional about the loss. i almost felt bad. he seems like a nice enough guy, but i'm still glad merkley won.

the bad:

* arizona, florida, california all voted to ban gay marriage. wtf people? why do you CARE? though i guess it helps if the mormon church pours over $30 million into a campaign (so much for separation of church & state). and one of my disappointments about obama is that he doesn't support gay marriage, either. i hope california successfully challenges the decision.

* i can't believe arkansas took that one step further and banned gay couples adopting children. not only is this initiative anti-gay, but it also denies adoption rights to unmarried straight couples -- and could affect single people as well. wtf, arkansas? why don't people who don't support birth control or abortion support adoption? are you saying it's better for children to remain in abused situations or in foster homes than with a gay couple? are you kidding me?

* nebraska ended affirmative action. ergh. electing a black president doesn't mean racial prejudice is over, folks!

Monday, November 10, 2008

 
3:30 PM: trillium artisans holiday sale saturday [#] [0]

this is an event i'm helping to organize for an organization that values art & artists. even if it's still too early for you to think about xmas shopping, look below for a coupon you can use until dec23. you can also use the trillium coupon in your chinook book for additional savings!

holiday sales represent the majority of almost any crafter's income. if you want to have the most direct impact on a person, buying a handmade object benefits you, the creator, and the recipient!

--*--

Make this a handmade holiday! Give meaningful gifts this year by supporting low-income artists, your local economy & the planet all at the same time. Meet the artisans, enjoy wine and goodies, and take 10% off your entire purchase!

* Free eco-friendly gift wrapping
* Make & take your own holiday ornaments using recycled materials
* Locally handmade, quality, earth friendly, fair trade gifts

Giving recycled is twice as nice!

Trillium Artisans
9119 SE Foster Road
Portland, OR 97266
http://www.trilliumartisans.org/
503-775-7993

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

 
12:20 AM: happied hurried halloween [#] [2]

in short: more fidelio rehearsals, a white bird performance, a potluck and reading at zenger farm (thanks for coming, kristen, todd & michaelmas! thanks for the flowers, sven!), sven's 37th birthday (which i had to leave early for a rehearsal!), and dealing with cleo's unfortunate pee accidents.

also, halloween, of course! i was a mad scientist, like i am every year i don't get my costume together (which is almost every year). more trick or treaters were actually in costume this year than in previous years, but two of them were talking on their cell phones during the whole transaction! one girl asked me if i was ichabod crane. what?!

a heartwarming halloween story: we carved our pumpkins and sven devised a hanging shelf above our door to protect them from the neighborhood smashers who get us every.single.year. and it worked! one of our other neighbors got smashed, though, so sven & i played pumpkin fairies by replacing them anonymously (and were rewarded with a "thank you pumpkin fairies!" sign on the porch). also, i made the best roasted pumpkin seeds this year.