seeing the day from the wrong side

One of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows once said, “I like sunrise better when I'm getting up early than when I'm staying up late, you know? It's like I'm seeing it from the wrong side.” I totally get that.

It was a late night last night that bled into an early morning. I went to bed around 7:45 AM. I don’t usually like doing that. I used to but not anymore. My job has successfully suppressed the night owl that lives inside me and has nurtured the early bird within. When I used to hang with my friend Shawn in Kearney, we would head to the donut shops right when they opened before we would each call it a night. I remember watching the sunrise on many bike rides home going up Clinton from Ashes’ former home. I used to love making it all night. It somehow translated into ‘winning’ for me. Now, if I can get a full eight hours of sleep and get up and about and have enough time to make coffee and breakfast in the morning, I count that as a victory. So it was nice this weekend to let go and stay up.

I don’t know if I’ll be doing it again anytime soon though. Or maybe I will…

For my new thing, we stopped and ate at “Pig ‘N Pancake” on the way home. I was surprised we elected to eat there since most of us are vegetarians but I was mentally exhausted and couldn’t come up with a better idea. Surprisingly, they actually did have some good veggie options.

beach bums

The thing I like doing best at the beach is nothing. I love having nothing to do there and feeling completely fulfilled by that!

Nothing was not a new thing though. After walking along the shore, we played a game called Mafia in the evening. It's a fun party game and can be applied to real-life situations. I'm not going to explain it all though. Here's the Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(game)

city of lincolns

The best plans are often last minute. A beach house had a last minute cancellation on Thursday and my friends were called and they arranged a posse of us to head down there and occupy this three story, five bedroom, three bathroom, two living room beach house with a hot tub. It was fabulous.

the fake kind of peace

Today, I went to a video presentation and Q&A session about the struggle of the indigenous people of Mexico. This past week, I've learned a hell of a lot about the struggles for freedom and justice across the globe and specifically in Oaxaca. It's overwhelming really. People, including myself, view the US government as repressive. However, like a speaker pointed out to us yesterday, I don't have to live in constant fear of home raids or getting shot in the street.

Yet, this 'peace' that we enjoy isn't (or shouldn't be) considered peaceful because it relies on the oppression of others. Our government, which may 'allow' certain freedoms for its citizens is also directly responsible for the unrest of many many many citizens of other countries. I am definitely over-simplifying the situation and it has been a 'duh' for me for some time now but it's good to keep reminding myself of it. Also, I became more familiar with the concept of neo-liberalism today which I am guilty of. I recycle, buy organic and free trade and I bike whenever possible but those concepts aren't going to change the world. So, what's the solution? Obviously, we oppose most moves our government makes and fight against this injustice whenever possible but in the meantime, do we just live with the guilt?

hi-ya

Not too much to say but I was proud of the photo. My friend's grandsons came into work today and did a demonstration of Tae-Kwon-Do. It's crazy that a ten year old kid is a blackbelt!

dove lewis

I feel discriminated against from time to time for being queer and poor but also for having a dog instead of a kid. Whenever I have to take Deano to the vet, I tell work I have a doctor's appointment and I use sick time. I never say that it's for my dog because dogs aren't covered. I also don't have the option to have Dean on insurance through my work. I know that sounds preposterous but vet bills can be expensive. Hell, I had to take a promotion at work two years ago into a position I didn't want just so I could afford to get his teeth cleaned.

Today, I went to the Dove Lewis vet clinic with my roomies because she-kitty was sick. Fortunately she wasn't too sick and they didn't have to shell out a whole lot of money but it was still a good sum of cash gone for something that would have been a $20 co-pay through insurance if pets could be covered. Once there is world peace, no more governments, environmental stability and equal rights for everyone, I think that I'll start working on insurance for pets. ;)

pastini as part of the problem

For the first few years I lived in Portland, the seven corners area was a favorite of mine. My future roommates lived down the street. The most friendly local bike shop was just up the street. And the Red and Black cafe was there. The area was low-key. There was an empty Apple (fruit not computer) store down the street and the building across the street was an abandoned butcher shop.

Soon, the butcher shop turned into a Starbucks and a Pastini. The Apple store became a New Seasons Market. My roommates were priced out of the neighborhood. Seven Corners Bike Shop moved out of seven corners and the Red and Black was forced out. I'm sure it will turn into condos soon.

It's weird seeing an area so overcome like that. I now HATE driving down Division because that corner sucks and parking anywhere near there is impossible. It took me a while before I would go to New Seasons. However, I have a good friend who works there now and the neighborhood is shot so why not stop there on my walk home. The other grocery store options (other than People's Co-op) are a lot worse as far as big businesses go. I will never ever go to the Starbucks though. Starbucks as a whole are just bathroom stops for me when I gotta go. But that Starbucks in particular is rotten beyond rotten. However, I did go to the Pastini today.

I hate supporting the gentrification in the neighborhood but work was paying for the meal and I never turn down free food. They did have good options although they had a dish with anchovies in their vegetarian options. Overall it was decent but not a lot of food and it was expensive. But I guess that's the point. I'm not supposed to be able to afford to eat, shop or live around there anymore.

paid to play with pups

Another day, another outing. However, this one was sooo much more fun than the hardware store. Today, I took a group of participants to Scamps pet store for the first time.

I joke with my roommate about the ultimate place of business would be an arcade where puppies run around that you can play with. He thinks it would be better to watch the puppies play arcade games. At any rate, you got to have the puppies. I don't care for pet stores ($799 for a yellow lab!) but it was still puppies and I still got paid! Just one more reason why I love my job!

wood is good

This is one of the scariest images I've seen in a while. Today, I took a few clients on a tour of Woodcrafters and was once again amazed by how little I know about wood stuff. I didn't fail shop class or anything (I didn't make an elephant lamp that didn't work) but I was so much better and more interested in Home Ec. Anyway, I took one client there who perms his hair and wants to go see the opera house really really bad. He's been also asking about Woodcrafters. I assumed he thought they were some hobby shop but no. He was "just fascinated!" with the things that were there. It was a neat place but I agreed with one of the other clients who said, "It's nice but it seems like a place that only a dad could like."

double olive cinema

Nothing is quite as relaxing as old 30s cinema and a relaxing evening was in order for today.

A few of us went back to Flow Form tonight for my first Double Olive Cinema to watch “The Thin Man” and “After the Thin Man.” It was projected onto a giant screen with decent speakers. Hell, it was practically a private movie theater. We all chilled out on couches and enjoyed one of the most refreshing comedic romps I’ve seen in a while. I don’t appreciate classic cinema as much as I should. It’s amazing how much easier it is on the eyes without all of the flashiness, the explosions and such. Also the dialog is so much more wittier. Damn, I am getting old.

J32

This is my favorite party of the year. Like I said on Thursday’s post, every year it gets better. This year, it started off with a too-many-courses-to-count dinner. There were three main “flights” of the dinner. First was the Mediterranean flight. My favorite thing was blueberry couscous. It was absolutely divine. Then there was the Asian flight. There was something called Paiaia. I know I got that spelling wrong but it had noodles and fake fish and the most splendid taste. Damn, I do miss my fish. Then there was the Northwestern flight with the best pesto ever. However, that meal’s deal was sealed with espresso which kept me from slipping into a food coma. Overall, dinner lasted five freaking hours. That was five hours of wine and the best dining I can ever remember having. You know you’re being spoiled when you wish the food wasn’t SOOOO good and there wasn’t SOOOO much of it because you’re getting full too quickly!

I was up next. Along with two other guys (only one in the pic above), I DJ’ed the dance party at Flow Form. We had two projectors, one on either side of the DJ table, showing videos to draw people in. When they were on the dance floor, we cut out the videos, put on some rave-like visuals and I put on my mix. Unfortunately, dinner went a little overtime so we didn’t have time for my whole set. I had to cut it short which sucked at the time but oh well.

Then I got on the bus. Two vans, a bus from the March Forth Marching Band, multiple cars and a bike caravan carried everybody over to the Clinton Street Theatre where we watched the movie we made (see post on 1/30/08). T-shirts that we printed for the party were fought over and then we watched Reefer Madness. I was thrilled because it was our house’s nomination for the J-party movie. It was great to see it on the big screen.

Back in the bus and back to Flow Form. Joe Ball, one of the other DJ’s, did his thing for a while and then we switched over to finish my set. I only had ten minutes left of it though so I spent the rest of the night free-forming it. I actually enjoyed that a LOT more. I just wish I had my whole collection of music (786 songs 4.99 GB) with me. But I made the best of what I had available until 5 am.

I can’t wait for next year!

hey mr dj

I love to dance but if there's one thing I love more than dancing, it's making people dance. Tomorrow, at the J-party, I have a forty minute DJ slot that I am preparing for today.

The J-party is the birthday party for Jesse and Jesse, two good friends of ours. The first year was J2, the second was J4, the third was J8, the fourth was J16 and so on. This year it's J32. Like a proper beast, this party evolves every year, adapting to it's environment and it's patrons and it's participants. It's become a vehicle through which numerous people are enabled to express their artistic, culinary, design, acting, organizational or musical talent.

It's also a last minute operation by tradition. People usually work on their part up to the day of or even the hour of the party. I am no different. At least I got this done today instead of working on it tomorrow evening. I'm not familiar with a lot of audio programs but I have tested audacity before so I decided to use that to DJ. Basically, my bottom line was smooth transitions from mix to mix. I have plenty of good mixes from various talented DJs on my computer. I just needed a way to put them all together smoothly. I put together a 44 minute mix, using everything from Basement Jaxx to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Rihanna to Dolly Parton. I had some Kenny Rogers to put in their but I am already four minutes over. I exported it out at an Mp3. It's sort of cheating because I won't have to do anything but hit play when it starts but it will get the job done and keeps those booties moving! That's all I want.

why i hate fandango

Inflation sucks. I am not that old and I remember going to the movie theater in Yankton, South Dakota for the children’s matinee for $1. I remember that the popcorn in the theater in Curtis, Nebraska on cheap-ticket night was FREE. I realize that I’m not in the Mid-West anymore and times have changed but I had a $10 gift card for “popcorn and a movie” which would only buy the ticket (after I claimed to be a student) and then I could afford the BUTTER on the popcorn but not the popcorn itself. Big theaters SUCK.

I love the second-run and independent theaters. I don’t understand how people can afford the regular ones. I definitely do not understand how families can take their kids to a theater. For tickets for a family of five, it would be forty dollars!!! A small popcorn is $5! So is a small pop! I didn’t look beyond that but it would be at least a $60 expense for an average family to go to the fricking movies!

Despite my disdain for the monstrous metroplexes, it was the only place for me to see “Be Kind Rewind,” which was HILARIOUS. I went to the 10:30 pm showing even though I have to work tomorrow. The movie didn’t get over until 12:30 am or so. It’s weird to be in a place like that when there’s nobody else around. I got a chance to look at the environment there and realize how ridiculous it was. There are neon lights everywhere, highlighting every door and every sign. It’s like a mini-Vegas except that the drinks are affordable in Vegas! No wonder the theaters charge so much. If they’d reduce the excess and the unnecessary, they could save a bundle and cut down on their overhead and make their prices more reasonable. But of course, that’s the nature of the beast, unreasonable prices to make more and more and more money. At least at the smaller theaters, you can tell they really enjoy movies and not just money.

one good day

Something was in the air today. I don't know if it was the weather or the time change but people seemed nice. I was nice. It was a damn nice day.

I started the day off doing my new thing which was going to Papaccino's Coffee place on Woodstock near the Papa Murphys. I walk by this place at least once a week and it looks like the best place to people watch with comfy chair facing the street through wall of windows. There wasn't a lot of people to watch but I had a great veggie quiche and gingerbread latte. Plus, I took a notebook and pen and was actually inspired to write. Hell, I even liked what I wrote!

Most of the rest of the day was spent spring cleaning and hanging out with friends. It was a really good day, for no discernible reason.

419

Today, I gave my dog his due and worked off my guilt for leaving him home while I went to the beach. I took him up to Wahkeena Falls. I've been there many many times before and so has Dean. It's the most gorgeous set of falls in the Gorge and it's less touristy than Multnomah. When I go there, I usually hike up Wahkeena Falls Trail #420. It tends to be a nice trek. Today I started up trail 420 until I passed Fairy Falls and Vista Point Trail #419 shoots off to the left. Normally I just pass it by but today I took it instead.

It was a different view on a familiar scene. My main problem with it was that it ran along (although way above) the highway so the sounds of traffic that I thought I had escaped still permeated the air. When it did cut back into the woods and away from the noise, Dean and I took a small offshoot trail where the path disappeared so I could lay in the moss and soak up the quiet.

The ocean is amazing but my heart belongs to the forest. I think it's a psychological thing which can be attributed to the cover of the woods. I'm feel exposed in the open beach. If you get deep enough in the forest, it can seem like you're alone. For me, that feeling is crucial when I'm trying to escape for a bit. Occasionally, I forget the comfort that the forest, the silence and the fresh air provide. I haven't been on a walk through the woods outside of the city all year. I'm glad I could do this...for Dean. ;)

working on my resolve

For New Years, I resolved to learn sign language. It's taken me over two months but I finally took a class on it. I may still try to pursue it further but today was a good start.

My work is really good at training. I'm required to have a minimum of 20 hours of training in anything related to my field every year. Last year, I believe I logged 87 hours of training. I just love learning new things. So when I heard that there was a ASL class being offered by a system of group homes for providers, I quickly volunteered.

What's fascinating is the evolutionary nature of sign language words. Once an action becomes irrelevant and incoherently represents the word, it changes. I guess the same is said for spoken words, especially in English but I was just surprised to hear that the same rule applies here. You say "cracker" by hitting the top of your fist on the bottom of your opposite arms' elbow because that's how people used to break crackers into their soup. Crazy. A lot of words are a combination of the spelling of the word made easy and several words such as "a", "I" and "is" are often excluded because they are deemed unnecessary. All and all, it looks pretty easy to learn, at least easier than other foreign languages. I think I'll pursue this.

my resting place

Okay, I know it's morbid but this is where I want my ashes spread when I die. There's a cliff just outside of Manzanita. The sign in front of it said Oswald West. It's the most beautiful and powerful location I have ever seen. There are rocks that look like the inspiration for Mordor over the side with caves carved by water where man has never set foot. I first saw this spot a few years ago on a similar journey and it still hasn't lost it's appeal. I could stay there forever and that's eventually my plan.

the first starfish i see

I've only been to the ocean seven times in my life. That's pretty bad considering I just live a few hours from the coast and the ocean is so magnificent. Since I don't get there very often, I'm easily impressed. Today, I was awed by the starfish.

At low tide, the ocean life came to the surface and I got a better view of what's normally just below the surface. There's just so much life there and the ocean has such an easy time concealing it, it makes me wonder two opposing thoughts at the first time. Initially, I began to wonder how we as a species could be so careless with what we dump into the ocean. Just because we can't see the life that's there, we are extra-insensitive to it. Then I wonder how much damage we can really do. I mean, the ocean is huge. I have no doubt that man has taken a significant toll on ocean life but it will be here LONG after we're gone. The latter thought is very comforting.

Back to the ocean life. Starfish look so amazing when they're alive. It's crazy to think that something that is that inanimate could be an animal. We saw close to a dozen of these creatures too and some sea urchins, mollusks and clams as well. There were sea gulls and albatrosses everywhere and a herd of sea lions were sunning themselves on the opposite shore of the bay. Pretty damn magnificent.

morning comes

I love arriving somewhere at night and not realizing the full beauty of the location until the morning. Seven years ago, I was driving through Wyoming and I tried to find a place to stay in Casper. There was a rodeo going on so they told me to keep heading north. I went for a while until I got to a town late at night that had a few open cabins. In the morning, I stepped out of the cabin and saw Bighorn National Forest. It was a gorgeous moment that I will never forget.

Tonight I went to Netarts. My friend's boss has a beach house there that he lets his employees use for free and my friend was cool enough to invite me over. There was enough of us there the first night to get me to sofa city. Still, the sofa faced the deck windows and the above is the view that I woke up to in the morning.

(Okay, so I cheated and posted this post after the fact using a picture that I took the next day but it was too inspiring of a wake-up call to not document.)