pesto chango

I have a passion for baking. When I get the urge, nothing feels better. I don't like baking the same thing over and over again. I know that's how you perfect a recipe but it's so much fun to challenge oneself and baking something unusual is an easy way to do that.

Today, I made Pesto Muffins for the first time. I have no real reason why. I'm going to bring them to work tomorrow for my friend who had a birthday last week. I don't really need a reason. I just like to bake. I just need a man now to bake for...

i can't get no sleep

I don’t sleep well outside my own bed. I never really have been able to. I love the idea of camping but I always dread sleeping (or not sleeping) outside on the ground. This was one major concern for me when I toured Europe last year. I never knew where we were going to sleep and I never knew IF I was going to sleep. It turns out that I did okay. I think that the large quantities of free booze helped but I did pretty good even on that day (or two) when we didn’t drink.

Lately I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I always sleep better when it’s colder out so that could be an issue. Also, I haven’t been as active lately so I think that my body may not be as tired. On Monday night, I tried everything (except booze or pills.) I counted sheep, I tried to sleep in the garage bed (for the first time), I rolled this way and that way and I even put a sleep mask on. None of it got me to bed any quicker.

My sister recently sent me this promo e-mail for an acai berry which may be the next new thing I try. I need to try something before I end up working several night-time jobs because I can’t sleep.

party boy

I am a party poop. I don't bring parties down, I just don't like to go to them.

After last night, it's going to be a while before I go back to one.

Without going into too much detail (in order to protect the names of the innocent people involved), ummm...a lot of shit happened. It all techinically started for me around 2:30 am when a cop rolled up on me for sleeping in the back seat of my friend's car outside this party. Later I had a ignorant friend of a friend call me a homophobic name. Then all hell broke loose, ending with the police coming again, me rescuing a friend's child and a lot of us going to the hospital until 10:30 am. Most of it was a new experience for me. None of it is anything that I want to repeat in the future.

I hate parties.

propagandist

I've wanted to be a writer ever since I can remember. When I went to college, I majored in English. I didn't want to teach. I just wanted to write. I knew it wouldn't be easy to make a living off writing but that's all I ever knew I wanted to do. When I was in high school and would go see the family doctor, he would always ask what I was going to major in in college. I would always tell him English and then he would say, "Let me know how that goes. My brother was an English major and now he's managing a Pizza Hut." My mom basically made me double-major in something else along with English. So I chose Public Relations.

I don't like Public Relations. Shortly before I graduated, I realized that I did not want to pursue a career in that field. However, the info that I gathered in my courses have actually come into use when I became more active as an activist.

Today, I went to the Division Street/Clinton Street Fair today to flyer for the Red and Black. As you can read from the flyer I made, they're going out of business and need the help. PR may not be a career I wanted but it's a skill I use.

B.U.I.

BUI, pronounced like buoy, is bicycling under the influence. I first heard about a BUI when I was doing jury duty in 2004. A lawyer was interviewing us prospective jurors for a DUI case and he asked me how I get home from the bar. I told him I bike. He told me that's illegal and called a BUI.

To me, biking home from the bar is ideal. If I am completely inebriated which doesn't happen very often, I will call and beg a ride off a friend. However, if I am just buzzed, I LOVE to bike.

Friday, I went to Night Light for the first time. I had my standard rum and coke with a splash of grenadine in it. Actually, I had several of them. I was probably closer to drunk than I was to buzzed but I still biked it and I made it home fine. I took well-lit, low-traffic roads that I was very familiar with and I made it here.

I had a great time there. It was my friend Jenn's b-day (happy b-day!!!) and lots of people I don't get to see very often were there. I don't think that I would've had half as good of a time if I knew I had to hold back because I was driving or if I knew I was going to have to inconvenience someone for a ride. Go bike (but go responsibly).

the club gig

Riot Cop plays at squats, houses, bookstores, fundraisers, parks and even recruiting centers but not at clubs. I remember our first ‘klub’ gig in Europe at Kafe 44. Technically, Kontrolpunkt in Berlin was our first club but it was dark, dirty (it’s toilet deserves a whole blog entry to itself) and literally underground so it doesn’t count.

At Kafe 44 in Stockholm, we played with Imperial Leather and Insurgent Kid. It was after our return from Umea, Sweden which is way up north. Everyone managed to get sick, it was a eight hour car drive both ways and we didn’t make enough money to pay for the gas. When we arrived at Kafe 44, we got to sit in plush seats, got fed good soup and sandwiches and were taken care of by some of the most awesome people.

We want to go back to Europe this year so we are forced now to play places we normally wouldn’t play. Yesterday, we played at Dante’s for the first time. It felt odd and a little uncomfortable, playing at a for-profit bar so minors weren’t allowed and there wasn’t much political ideology floating about.

Anyway, it did make me realize that I really really want to go back to Europe with these guys. Even at the clubs, the scene in Europe is so much more inviting and so much less…American. Well duh.

some time to forget about time

I feel better.

Cathedral Park was just what I needed to complete my recuperation. It is what I think of when I think of a 'city park,' in the broadest terms with the water, green rolling hills, gigantic structures, docks and ducks. I had to coaxed to go there. I didn't want to drive that far out into north Portland. Fortunately one of my house mates is persistent and was willing to drive. Dean LOVED it. He ran like mad and swam himself almost to death literally. He was swimming after ducks and they went behind one of the big foundation pieces for the St Johns Bridge which is in the water. The water is calm between the shore and the foundation but there's a current on the other side of the foundation. I didn't think he would be stupid enough to follow the ducks out to the current but he did. Then I lost sight of him. I was fine for a minute. Then I started to panic. Ashes and another person on the shore were looking panicked and about came out to swim for him with me. Fortunately he popped his head around the foundation and started swimming back. Stupid dog.

It was a beautiful park though. There is going to be a theatrical performance there on Sunday. We were doing the walk-through today. I stood in for a missing bee handlers (a carrier of the bee puppet). I think I'll go to the performance on Sunday. I'm leaving the dog at home though.

feeling sick

I know that I said I wouldn't use movies as my new things but here we go. Today, I saw the movie 'Sicko.' Coincidentally, I was also sick at the time AND going through my mail when I saw that I received the coverage guidelines for my health insurance. Weird.

The movie is very powerful and very damning of our "health care" system. I've usually had insurance. Either I was on my parents' insurance or I was under the care of the university nurse or then, when I got a full-time job with benefits, on my own. Fortunately, I have never been very ill. I knew this country was fucked up but wow, this movie just exposes a gaping wound in our system. As if I needed another reason to move to Canada (or England or France or Cuba, etc).

not pictured

I loaned my camera to someone overnight so alas, I have no picture to show the nothing that I did today besides loaning my camera to someone overnight and blogging with no photo.

I'm sick. This sucks. I hate being sick.

will work for food

Being hungry and broke is scary. When I moved to Portland and quickly went through the money I had saved up, I started to panic. My diet consisted of one pack of veggie dogs a week. It was hard but I had no choice. Then my fabulous friends turned me onto the joys of dumpstering. It's not the glamorous life but if you're starving, it'll do. I'm a big recycler anyway so it fit in with my code of living. Suddenly, I was learning that I didn't have to slave away at some shitty job just to put food on the table if I just got a little creative.

Back in January, I put myself in that familiar position. I quit my job that I HATED and took a job that I LOVE for a paycut. Suddenly, buying a multitude of groceries or going out to eat wasn't an option anymore. When I started to become more aware that I was going to have to cut corners, I started looking for alternatives. It turns out that a friend of mine was doing a food pickup for a charity, kind of like Food Not Bombs. She needed help with it and the payment for helping once a week for maybe an hour and a half is a selection of groceries. The food I got today is pictured above. Our main liaison at the grocery store left for another store so today, I met the new guy, Justin (for the first time). He seemed nice. The food selection wasn't fabulous. I'm sure he'll get more generous later on. In the meantime, I won't complain. Hey, it's free.

the next five minutes

Today, I saw a snail in the wild, I got lost at Powell Butte Park, I went to a hot dog eating contest (although I was late), I parked my bike in a new bike lot structure, I crashed the Chaotic Shark radio show, I watched a crusty clown hula-hoop to the beat of odd emo, I marveled at an singer who was wearing a sweater in muggy 75 degree weather and going ballistic while playing the keyboard and I went to view an art exhibit by an awesome artist from Oaxaca.

A good friend said today that you can never know what will happen in the next five minutes. I don't believe that's always true but today I let go and let the day happened and it was all joyously unpredictable.

this lil piggy

I had this interesting but unremarkable post planned for today for my new thing but then I pulled the nail off my little toe. Yikes.

The toenail was killed on Thursday, June 21st. Cause of death: forest jogging in hiking boots. The toe had been hurting for some time after the jogging. Then the toenail turned completely black. I started painting them all silver to conceal the death. The body was uncovered today. I was feeling my toes, realizing all of the other nails needed to be cut but this one hadn't grown at all in a month. I pulled it up a little and it came up all the way by itself without any pain whatsoever. It was still attached at the very end of it so I cut it off. I freaked out for a bit, realizing my body has just been modified but maybe it'll grow back.

And hey, even the Mona Lisa is falling apart.

to hug and to be hugged in return

Never underestimate the power of one good hug.

That's sound sappy and sickeningly sweet but it's true.

A client hugged me today. That was nothing new. But this time, I hugged him back. He snuck up behind me while I was sitting at my desk and just hugged me. Normally, I just let them hug and then tell them that's enough. We aren't supposed to hug because of how it could be construed or how some sickos could take advantage of the clients. It also puts you in a disadvantaged position to escape if the client was to suddenly become violent. However, this guy had a really bad day the day before. When he was leaving, he got in an argument with another client. She ended up pushing his head against the window. He ended up getting kicked off the bus and then he tore off his clothing and bit himself hard out of frustration. I saw him shortly after this episode. I took some time to talk him down and into a calmer state. I could tell he was still unnerved though. Then today, he just walked in silently and hugged me with the saddest look on his face. It was heartbreaking. I hugged him back, not for too long but just long enough for him to relax a bit. I could tell it helped him. It helped me. Whatever else went on that day, I knew that I had already helped someone with such as simple gesture of caring and understanding.

interstate love song

When I first came to Portland to visit, I stayed in a motel on MLK and Columbia which is WAY out there! It took me forever to get to downtown. I was fresh to Portland and I didn't know a soul. It was exciting but it allowed for a lot of poor judgment too.

After I decided I loved it here, I moved into a motel that I passed on Interstate which was a LOT closer to downtown. It was the Palm. There were several more motels after that until I got a job here (I was living off unemployment) and a place but I consider the Palm my first home/refuge in Portland. During my stay there, bright lights would shine through the windows at night. It was the light from the new MAX construction. Now look at it! It has changed Interstate Blvd a lot.

Today, for the first time, I rode up interstate all the way from the Broadway Bridge to Lombard on my scooter. I also rode it back. It's a decent ride if you're not in a hurry. I got drenched down to my boxers though due to the rain.

Ah, Palm, I'll never forget how you sheltered the awe-inspired and dreamy-eyed lad that I was back then.

jacked in

My computer has sat like a monolith memorializing my misfortune (i love alliteration!) underneath my loft for a while now. It is super powerful and it wouldn't fracking work. First the thing wouldn't power on (something was loose), then it wouldn't take an operating system (damn you, microsoft) and then it wouldn't hook to the internet (bad ethernet card) but YATTA it's finally on-line.

I have an operating desktop computer of my own for the first time!!! I got to install all sorts of stuff on it and not have to worry about memory! 250 gigs, baby!

For the first time, I am typing up my blog entry on a computer that can MOVE and whose keyboard doesn't infuriate me beyond words.

It's about damn time. Now I should go outside...

picky eater

After I became vegetarian, I quickly realized that I was eliminating a lot of options from my diet so I had better start liking new foods. Soon I was in love with the eggplant and artichoke and so many other veggies. There were also new breads and cheeses to try. It took me a bit to get into the fake meats though. After I started my herbivore diet, I knew that if I was to stick it out, I'd have to have variety on the menu.

That's how I am a picky eater. I hate eating the same thing over and over again. I have to put some space, time and meal in between supper and the leftovers the next day. I will eat the leftovers because I hate waste more than monotony but I change it up a little bit, just to make it interesting. And, hey, I've been all veggie for over 5 years so it must be working.

Today, to add to that variety, I had my first swiss, mushroom and red pepper fritatta. I can't say it was great but...it was...different.

i loathe the mall

Mass commerce is revolting to me. It is so hard to not just start throwing elbows at people in the mall, especially when it gets packed. I remember as a kid, I saw the mall as the epicenter of everything. However, I grew annoyed, little by little as I found out that I couldn't really buy anything unique there. Even if I found a single unique t-shirt in one shop in the mall, I would find dozens more like it in the same store in a different mall in the next town over. I also saw that the mall had no heart, no soul and no clothes I really like anyway. Rarely do I go to the mall now and I always pray that my friends do not see me if I'm there. My cell phone company has a kiosk there where I can pay my bill and there are also the movie theaters there. Tonight I had to buck up and put up with the mall for the sake of seeing the new Harry Potter film which was AWESOME! I can't wait for the final book to come out!

Anyhoo, it was my first time in the mall theater. I don't care for big fandango theaters either but my lack of patience wouldn't let me wait to see Harry in the second-run theaters. It wasn't pleasant and I felt uncomfortable but I would say that it was worth it only because I'm that big of a dork!

998...999....1000

I've been very flaky about working out this week due to the heat so today, for the first time, while it was mildly cooler, I forced myself to do 1000 situps in a row. It was a sloooooow row but I got it done. I also got this blog up to date and I'm going to work harder to keep it that way.

america's next top model

On Friday (7/13/07) I went to a photo shoot for one of my clients. It was great. The guy has worked for my company for almost 30 years. It's so awesome that he is finally getting recognition. He's going to used for publicity material (ads, sides of trucks, etc) for the company. And he's the sweetest, most humble person ever. It couldn't have happened to a better person.

just singin' and dancin'

Relief...sigh.

Today, after Chi Kung, I saw lightning in Portland which is rare. I met my roommates and Dean up at the soccer field to watch it. It was awesome. I miss thunderstorms. They are so commonplace in Nebraska but they're an every-other-year occurance in Portland.

After a bit, I started to head home with Dean and it poured on me. With the heat from the last couple days, rain was more than welcome. I was listening to Destiny's Child on my Ipod and started dancing while singing and slipping around in my flip flops, half-jogging back to my house. Simply joyous.

getting out of the kitchen

On Wednesday (7/11/07) I couldn't take the heat.

Several friends and I converged on another friend's place who had air-conditioning and watched "Willbe Wonderful" which was an endearing movie. We started to watch "Apocolyptica" or whatever that Mel Gibson movie is called but Ashes and I decided to leave. The movie looked interesting but I had no interest in it.

Oh, my new thing was changing a client's depends. It's not like he climbed on a changing table or anything. He just needed help with the tape. It was not the highlight of my career but again, I got big props from the co-workers.

hottest day of the year

I'm pretty sure that it got up around 104 degrees Tuesday (7/10/07) in Portland and what did I do? I took five clients to the zoo. Everybody at work was commending my initiative. I didn't know it was going to be this hot or else we would have rescheduled.

It wasn't my first trip to the zoo but it was my first big field trip with the ATE clients. They were great for the most part. It was just too damn hot. It's weird being responsible for so many people in a public setting. Luckily I was with my friend Connie from work.

I have mixed feelings about the zoo. I love to see animals but I hate to see them in cages. I like "natural environment" displays in the Omaha's Henry Doorly zoo a lot better.

fabulously free

I have WAY too many clothes. I honestly have no idea how many pairs of black pants I have. This is one of the burdens of having worked at a thrift store. Another burden is going to trendy second hand stores and seeing their higher prices or worse seeing the price of clothing NEW!!! The last piece of clothing I bought new was a black pin striped shirt I got at a small goth store on Hawthorne over two years ago. Before that, I hadn't bought NEW clothes since moving to Portland which was five years ago. But I do LOVE to get new-to-me clothes. That's why Monday (7/9/07) was fabulous. I picked up a clothing donation for a local charity with one of my friends. As "payment" for picking up these clothing from various second-hand stores, we get to go thru them first and pick out some items for ourselves. I got the lovely red dress with white polka dots pictured above that I plan to turn into an apron for cooking. I didn't need the feather boa because I already have one exactly like it but can one ever have too many feather boas?

Wyld Stallions!

Today I saw the movie Caballos Salvajes which translates to Wild Horses (not Wyld Stallions but I've never one to pass up a pop-culture reference). It was an awesome movie and pretty much was better than anything else I did today. Sad but true.

However, I said I wouldn't count new movies as doing new things so I'm going to count meeting Mike for the first time as my new thing. Mike is the stylist who cut my hair today. He was cute and nice and I actually enjoyed talking to him. I usually don't like talking to people when they cut my hair. The conversation usually feels forced but it was alright this time. I think I'm warming up to humanity. Yay for me.

hell forr a proofrreadiing perfectionnst.

Hhere's what my laptoop types likewhen itt is unedited. It's rerally been pissing me off. I'm not abad typist. The damn keeyboard just doesn't work. I've tried cleaning it and blowing the airr thrru it but the damn buttons just won't worrk. Iit takes me so long to type shit because I have to go back and edit it. For every ten letters i type, I hahve too use my backspace at least five times to add iin spaces, gett rriid of spaces or get rrid of extra letters. On Saturday, for the fiirst time, I bought a desktop computerrr with aworking keybooard and even i f it doesn't work, it's interchangable unlike the laptop. Plus a friend is going to give me a hard drrive with super memory space. I'm so damn stokedd!!

the roadie

I like being a roadie. It allows me a certain social osterization that I am comfortable with. I don't like the spotlight and I don't like being expected to have a good time. I can be all Daria like that. However, I do like the guys in Riot Cop and I like everything they stand for. Plus I love traveling and I enjoy free beer, free food and free other stuff. So being a roadie (or merch guy as I like to say) suits me.

The bassist for the band today (Friday 7/6/07) had to work late so I had to push his share of equipment across the Burnside Bridge in a shopping cart. This was a first for me because another good thing about the band is they don't expect me to move equipment, just to sell the merch and handle the money. It's a good gig.

the agony and the empathy

So after hiking, my legs hurt again. I went to work at my regular time on Thursday (7/5/07) though. I wasn't there for very long when one of the clients there, we'll call her Nina, passed by my cubicle, stopped and asked me if I was okay. I thought it was a little odd but I said I was fine. Then she asked, concerned-like, if my legs were okay. I had not been hobbling around much, I hadn't mentioned my leg pain to anyone and I hadn't seen Nina at all yet that day. It was freaky.

When people go blind, their other senses become more acute to compensate. I am almost convinced that Nina has some form of empathy. I know it might sound like a lot of gobbledy-gook to people but it was too coincidental for me to easily dismiss. So that's my new thing for the day. I discovered a true empath. That and I wrote "gobbledy-gook" for the first time.

punk pyramid

On Tuesday (7/3/07), I was part of a punk people pyramid. We were shooting photos for the Riot Cop album cover and we decided to do a pyramid. It looks a lot easier than it is. I was on the bottom. We ended up with a 10-person pyramid. I didn't put up that photo though cuz we're keeping it under wraps! Awesome time though.

Shrew, you guys. I'm going home.

(I love good word play. In case you didn't get the title, it's a reference to South Park.)
I generally hate holidays. I'm not a scrooge or anything. I just hate being told when I should be having fun. I don't even like celebrating Gay Pride because I'm usually proud anyway and don't need a committee to tell me when to be more proud. The 4th of July is no exception. It was nice to have the day off work but I really didn't have any interest in the fireworks. That, combined with a healthy lack of patriotism leaves me with nothing to celebrate. So Arturo and I took Dean to the woods.

We went on the Salmon River/Huckleberry Wilderness hike. It was a good escape for all of us. It's cool how everything out there is oblivious to whatever is going on in the human world. While hiking back, we stopped for a bit and Dean took a nap. The poor guy was tired and missed his couch. Also, a shrew ran on the path in front of us. I have never seen one in the wild before. I put my hands down and it ran up my hand and jumped off. So damn cool!

When we were driving back later that night, we left the serenity of the forest and were greeted by the loud bangs and crack of explosives. It was such a harsh mind-fuck. At least I escaped it for one day.

making cents

When I bought my scooter (2006 TNG Milano), I was real nervous. It was the most I've ever spent on any one thing; over $1400. My car(s) have always been cast-offs from my family. My current car (1991 pink Lincoln Towncar) barely wants to work though so I needed something to get around for work and I decided that the scooter would be worth it. And today was a great example of that.

For the first time, I hit all my stores in one day. I filled up my scooter with $2.94 in gas. I have four stores that I have to check on. Two are in SE Portland, one is in N Portland and one is downtown in NW. I also went to a brokerage. All in all, it added up to 40 miles. For work, I get paid $.465 per mile. So I ended up accruing $18.60. That's a 632% profit. And, damn, I got paid to ride around on a scooter on this beautiful day.

Oh, and the above picture is the gas gauge AFTER I did all my scooting around.

screamin' topher

I first realized that I got motion-sick from watching Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo. When the N64 came out I had to take Dramamine before I would play it. I've since have been careful about spinning things, especially amusement rides so it's surprising that I had as much fun as I did at Oaks Park.

My nine-year old housemate had his birthday party there today. First we had the cake, presents, then a pinata (pictured above) and then there was the Scream N Eagle (pictured below).

Normally rides like this are a no-brainer. I see it, my gut says no and I listen. But then this damn blog came along and suddenly my willingness to do something new overrides my common sense. I found myself on the ride with Guy and Arturo. It wasn't too bad. Guy sat in the seat that was directly in front of me so I just focused on him panicking and ignored the rest of the chaos. It didn't even make me nauseous which is saying a lot. The Scrambler however was another story...