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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

 
6:58 PM: spice route [#] [2]

tomorrw i fly to sf to see leeann, and from there we go to morocco. i'm feeling pretty prepared: i've been reading, shopping, packing, learning. i got four vaccinations (tetanus, hepatitis a, typhoid and MMR) and a heavy dose of antibiotics. but i'm still a little nervous. wish me luck!

in between all that i had an interview & meetup with backline, whose services are still suspended. sven & i went to the installation at 23 sandy, where i got leeann a gift and sven discovered a playwriting group. we also saw the bourne supremacy (argh! it's everything i was worried the first movie would be).

i also celebrated the changing of the seasons: i biked to my last farmer's market (it will be closed when i return) and ate my last kahlua pork wrap from lilikoi (they're moving to a new location). for my last bike ride of the summer i biked north on the i205 path to gateway green. sven & i did our traditional hike to the top of powell butte on the equinox, which was very windy and warm this year. but the controlled fires have really taken out a lot of the underbrush and cover, and they have a new bench at the compass rose. because of morocco i celebrate michaelmas a little early this year: i took him to limo, a new peruvian restaurant where cameo used to be and went to the roof for my last stunning view of pdx.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

 
12:26 AM: sendin u good vibes through the universe [#] [0]

i am now 36, but i haven't gotten to write about it yet! i share a birthday with gerrie, maggie & obama. i held an "every minute counts" party: 36 minutes to celebrate my 36th birthday at the corner of hawthorne and 36th. last year i picked a place on se 35th to hold my birthday party, which happened to be laurelhurst park (35th/oak). i enjoyed the unusual format and looked for as many things to do on 36th this year as posisble. so we started at the waffle window, the red light used clothes store, grant park to write my annual birthday poem, had dinner at bread & ink, and then finally to ben & jerry's for ice cream with friends at the 36-minute party. the whole day was a lot of fun. michaelmas took me to the heathman the week after that, per our tradition.

some of my birthday guests kindly posed in the ben & jerry face cutouts:



[1. michael & sven 2. todd & kristen]


[1. miles & amelia 2. teena & philip]


[1. m5000 & mrs.5000 2. shu-ju & the good prince]


but then weird stuff started happening:

* right after my birthday, someone spraypainted graffiti on trixie & the svan: gay, fuck, bitch. when sven contacted the police he called it a hate crime because of the antigay messaging and the crude attempt to modify the "no on 36" bumper sticker. because sven played that card, the police said they were required to respond. it turned out more apt than we knew: the other family in the neighborhood that got hit the same night was a hispanic family -- and someone knew enough about them that they hit a car around the block in addition to the ones in their driveway. our misfortune netted us some neighbor visits, including one who brought sympathetic flowers. mph, al & ben brought pecan pie (thanks!). i felt super lucky that we had bought some anti-graffiti spray a few days before, and it all came off the cars relatively easily. at some point i'd like to do a graffiti patrol to clean it up in other parts of the neighborhood, too.

* not long after all that, we witnessed this craziness at the foster fred meyer. it went on for 20 minutes until the police finally escorted him out of the building.

* then the earl boyles garden got vandalized: vegetables pulled out of the ground, trellis wrecked, the works. that happened in the park nearest us, the one i like to bike to. i went to the community work party, but still: wtf?

* THEN i learned backline is suspending its talkline service indefinitely. my last shift was heartbreaking.

* then shelley & i had a hard conversation, which i think we worked out. but it capped a long string of difficult and baffling events.

in between all that we managed to have a little fun: i performed one last time at opsfest on mt tabor (starveling, cobweb & moonshine). thanks for coming, sven, michaelmas, kristin & todd! and bridgepedal is one of the highlights of august for me: this year i went all the way to the saint john's bridge! i've also been biking to the farmer's market every chance i get and even stopped by the clackamas town center farmer’s & artist’s market. we put bigger baskets on rose and have been tracking down stray rattling noises. sven & i went on a jet boat ride on a very hot afternoon and snuck off to the beach a few days later to find perfect weather. sven & i also got a chance to see cecilia sing in the choir and visited the new apartment she shares with carl. we watched harry potter, bourne identity, district 9 (which made me physically ill), panyo, and have finally finished babylon 5! we also did a few tba events: 10 tiny dances, small metal objects, & erik friedlander. we tried andina (nina gave us delicious cookies!), i finally got to try the "bourgeoius z" cafe (a vegan-friendly deli hidden in the antique mall near us), and portobello cafe (after a failed attempt earlier this year). i've been surprised to discover i'm starting to like coffee -- at least, prepackaged coffee. still, it's a surprise.

alas, the moonlight obliterated the perseids this year. and we're never invited to "bash on the butte," a loud & yearly tradition for our neighborhood. but i finally replaced trixie's windshield, so only the dents on the roof are left to remind us of her brush with a tornado in minnesota.

as far as work is concerned, i was surprised to learn that diylounge won't be offering adult craft classes at collage starting in november, which means i picked up a couple of classes at the studio from refugee instructors. i also resigned from trillium once my two-year term was up, though i'll still be helping them recruit board members. but i'm still a patient advocate with ohsu because it pays so well and is so rewarding.

sven's parents visited last week, and we painted the town red with them for three days: the little red bike cafe, renting bikes on the waterfront, oaks park, tthe whisky soda lounge, the market street mcmenamin’s (marred by poor service), the ohs will vinton exhibit, knit purl (and boy did we have more yarn stores we could have stopped at!), reading frenzy, andina, saturday market, art in the pearl w/ an awesome cajun band, craft museum ("touching harms the art." ugh.), powell’s technical books & silk. whew! i gave sweet bree a trillium catnip that she madly loved.

of course, the big news is that leeann invited me on a trip to morocco. for free! well, i'm paying for the flight to san francisco and the travel vaccinations. still, it's an a amazing opportunity that just dropped into my lap and i'm suddenly glad i've been divesting myself of obligations so i could be available for it. if all goes well, i'll be gone sep24-oct13. eeeee!

in the meantime, i'm looking forward to the new green line max opening tomorrow. until then, i leave you with a text i accidentally received last week:
"Hey its blair. Thinkin of u, sendin u good vibes through the universe. Mis u and how fantastic u are.”
gosh. someone is going to be very sad they didn't receive this. what is appropriate texting etiquette here?