I know what you're thinking but this is tea. I bought it at Limbo (for only 25 cents!). It's called Sleepy Time tea. It has lavender and a bunch of other herbs in it that hopeully will knock me out tonight. I've been waking up at 2 am for no justifiable reason consistently. So I went for a long walk, had some amaretto, I'm going to make some tea and hopefully I'll sleep like a baby.
Funny packaging for tea though.
In Berlin, there was rumor of a vegan McDonalds. I hate McDonalds but I was interested in checking out a vegan German McDs. Unfortunately I couldn't find it but today my friend Dom decided to make us some vegan Big Macs here stateside. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Absolutely wonderful.
When I was going to college, I used to scan the Friday newspapers and set up a route of the garage sales I wanted to hit. When I moved to Portland, I was shopping at the retro-stores at least weekly. Then, when I got a job at a thrift store, my wardrobe started to really expand. Now that I do the clothing donations, it's hard for me to actually purchase clothes. However, I could drop a lot of money at my new place for today (and actually leave with a lot of stuff).
Today, I went to the House of Vintage on Hawthorne. My housemates wanted to go to a nearby shop for a Halloween costume and the HOV had clothes out front so I went to check it out. Then I stepped inside and went through one room and another and another and another... The place just keeps on going! And they don't have all of their men's clothes together and all of their furniture together. Each room is like a cool garage sale of it's own. It was more enticing that way to keep wandering. I saw some clothes there with a mark from the thrift store I work at. The HOV only had the item marked up one dollar. The stuff there was relatively cheap, especially for Hawthorne. If there was one store I'd love to locked in at, it's this place.
I don't know for sure where this is. I do know that it's definitely not in Portland.
I had an overwhelming urge to get out of town last night. I'm actually amazed that I didn't just get in the car and go yesterday. I was bored and feeling caged in. When I got that feeling in Nebraska, I used to drive to Kansas just to cross the border. Then I'd come back. I looked at train schedules last night but decided that I wanted to be in control so I grabbed Dean this morning and headed out.
I used our trail bible, "Doin' the Northwest With Your Pooch" to find a trail. It had to be close by and at the beginner's level because Dean is still healing. I found Pansy Lake, outside of Estacada in the book and we headed off on this fall morning. There were clouds in the sky but no real chance of rain. Past Estacada, the forest is always gorgeous but it was especially nice with the leaves changing colors. It took me a while but I found the right road. However the road was closed. I thought Dean and I could keep going on foot but the road was blocked off well behind the trailhead. Still we walked in the middle of a highway on a majestic fall morning in a forest in the Northwest. It was so serene. We hiked past several downed trees and I wondered if they were the reason for the road closure but then we saw that they were just an additional effect. The cause was half of the road falling down a small cliff. It was very 'Life After People.' There were several trees, leaves and even animal droppings in the road. I even saw a spiderweb on the highway. It was gorgeous. We didn't find Pansy Lake but that just means we get to try again soon.
I love the guy in the pic above but I've fallen for a new Fat Kitty because it has falafels! I have been eyeing the Fat Kitty Falafel stand for years now and I just visited it for the first time today and I only regret it because I know I will be going there a LOT now.
I could probably eat falafels every other day. I absolutely love them and this place serves up a great falafel, even if it is $5. But what I'm going to go back for is the guy there. He is probably the coolest person I will meet this season. He's an older, heavy set guy with raspy voice who really really wanted to talk and had a lot to say. He opens with his opinion on people thinking Palin is a breath of fresh air. Then he starts talking about Chem-trails and Karl Rove's blackmail list. This guy was fucking awesome. My original intention was to grab the falafel and go but I ended up hanging out for a bit longer but it was obvious that the dude really likes talking to people and doesn't have nearly enough people coming by. Well, I'll be fixing that!
This is my first October here in the states as a case manager and that means a trip to the pumpkin patch with the ATE clients. I was looking forward to this but then I found out where we were going, to the pumpkin "patch" on 90th and Powell. This "patch" is right next to a McDonalds and is super lame. One of my guys, who always rides shotgun when I drive, called it early on when we pulled up to the place by yelling, "Where's the patch? This isn't it!" Usually we go to a better one closer to Gresham but that closed down and this is what we're left with.
Despite the lameness of the place, being out on a beautiful fall day like this with my favorite guy riding shotgun was worth getting out of bed for.
Today, I explored my Scottish heritage. There's just one problem. I'm not Scottish. Still, I want a kilt and I decided to check out the Scottish Country Store and browse the kilts. However, they didn't have 'kilt' browsing available but if you know what clan you belong to, the lady at the counter could give you an estimate on the cost. Just so I didn't appear like the tourist I was, I answered, "Yes," when she asked me if I was Scottish. The story evolved to my mom being part Scottish and our name's Gregory. Don't ask me why I chose Gregory but I found out that they belong to the MacGregor clan (duh) and their hunting tartan is a beautiful burgundy and forest green plaid. Unfortunately, it costs around $300 on the cheap end and $550 on the high end. Luckily my mom's a seamstress and could make me one for a lot cheaper. Maybe she can get in touch with her Scottish heritage then.
The Alberta St neighborhood has changed a lot in just the six years since I've been in Portland. It's now described as "Artsy, fun, funky, quirky." In other words, gentrified.
Gentrification is an awful beast but before that beast sets in, certain steps have to be followed. First, there's the setting. Poor people, generally people of color, get pushed into a certain area of town. Then there's the leachers, artists and funky poor white people, generally younger, who settle the area and move in because of the cheap rent. Then there's the devourers, an upper class of folks who feel that the area is quirky now and, since the white people made it 'safe,' they can set up their boutiques and bars and charge $6 for a vegan grilled cheese sandwich.
Tonight, I went to two new places on Alberta Street. The first was Common Grounds. They moved from their old location closer south. It was wonderful and I'm going to go back there. Jeffrey, my one time massage therapist, is there. However, afterwards, we went to Bye and Bye cafe, a vegan bar. Hipster is too mellow of a term to describe the...hipsterness of the place. It was hard to keep my edadame beans down.
I know that gentrification is a touchy issue but it's also a sickening sight. My friend Amy grew up in the Alberta neighborhood. She moved away for a while, got married, had a few kids and was looking forward to returning to raise them in the Alberta neighborhood but when she went back to Alberta, her neighborhood was gone. A-O-way to go, hipsters.
I've become such a hermit that taking the bus to Gresham rings all my Stranger Danger bells. I think that ultimately it's healthy for me to sit next to strangers and pretend not to engage with the guy who's complaining about his wife (who's right across the aisle). I took the bus to it's last stop, deep in the heart of Gresham. I text'd my housemate whom I was meeting as soon as I crossed 92nd, 146th and again at 184th. I wanted to be sure I wasn't waiting at the transit center that long on my own. Gresham isn't a scary area and it was only 7pm but it's starkly different than Portland metro. Stranger.
Today I took my first big walk-a-thon walk. This one was easy. All I had to do was tell a co-worker that I wanted to do it and he signed me up. It was for Diabetes and a good co-worker arranges it every year. Last year I was in Europe so this year I decided to do it. That and he agreed to be on my AIDS walk team so I pretty much had to do his walk too. It sucks that he signed up 12 people but only four showed up but I like everyone that I walked with so that was nice.
For this walk, there was a 1-mile, 3-mile or 6-mile option. Each walk gained the same amount of money ($100 from my work) but we felt ambitious so we did the six-mile. Six mile city walking really isn't that much and it was through an area that I never walk in. It was a beautiful Saturday morning for a walk in the brisk early autumn air. What a fabulous way to start a weekend.
When I run errands, I plan them in a circle. I don't like to drive one block out of my way and I never back-track. Today, I needed to go to the vet for meds and I planned to do it on my way to or back from my store. However, time constraints got the best of me and I wasn't able to do it. On my way home, I had the time but it was going to be eight blocks out of my way. My OCD kicked in and I couldn't bring myself to drive that extra 16 blocks round-trip. Also, it was rush-hour and traffic was SLOW. So I got out and walked.
I parked on the road off Powell that I would turn to go straight home. I had plenty of time and my headphones with me so I hoofed it. It felt good and I would highly recommend others try it when possible.
In the early 90s, virtual reality seemed like it was going to take over everything. I was sure that by now, we'd all be sitting around with big clunky goggles on, virtually working, taking vacations and interacting. Fortunately, I'm wrong a lot.
However, the Wii does seem like a step towards that, except for the goggles. Today, we did a 'team building' exercise after work where three co-workers and myself stayed an hour late to bowl. I realize you can play the game by flicking your wrist from a seated position but what's the fun in that? We were doing the full motion, trading off the remotes like one would take turns with a bowling ball. It felt all too real if I would've had a beer and uncomfortable shoes on. I want a Wii!
The above pic is a screen capture of the Dude who was bowling in the lane next to us.
It's not the tastiest thing I've ever tried but my new thing today was a lambic. Maybe peach isn't the best way to go when making a beer.
Today, I went to watch the presidential debates at Crush. Alright...that's a lie. Today, I went to drink chocolate martinis and gossip with my friends and pretend that there wasn't a puppet show happening on the TV behind me.
I couldn't care less about the debates but it's Tuesday and I wanted to hang out so I agreed to watch them. Fortunately, Crush was only willing to show an hour of them and then it was onto gay trivia where I sang a duet Triviaoke (Summer Nights from Grease) and we ended up getting 3rd. I think we're actually going to study before doing it again because that's something I actually care about.
I like to have my opinions checked every now and then. I've been thinking lately how I haven't really had someone challenge me as of late and I haven't really had the opportunity to defend my position(s) to anyone either. Well, luckily that changed today.
We have a guest staying with us who has done a lot of cool work and who I really respect. He's working with communities that I haven't began to approach and with different cultures that are truly foreign to me. Tonight, we hit a couple of different benefits, meetings and events, one of which was Red and Black's anniversary party. (See the above pic)
Anyway, our friend was talking about vegans. He wasn't coming down on them but he did state that it's a real unusual concept to groups that he's worked with in Mexico. I haven't thought about it too much but veganism really is a privileged diet. I'm not saying that vegans are wrong but I do think that a good number of vegans get hoity-toity on meat-eaters and even vegetarians but exclusive vegan food (and a healthy diet along with it) can be expensive and rare in a lot of parts of the world, including some parts of the US. Veganism is fairly easy here in Portland but this is a small unusual corner of the world.
I've always considered veganism an eventuality of mine. I believed that was the natural progression for me. I would go from meat-eater to vegetarian and ulitmately to vegan (but not fifth-level vegan). However, I really don't think that I could do that now and not just because I love eggs and cheese. My new thing was doing some various different activites but I also one new perspective as the result of today.
One of my favorite lyrics to any song is from Garbage's Bleed Like Me. It says, "JT gets all fucked up in some karaoke bar. After two drinks he's a loser. After three drinks he's a star." That is so true.
Tonight, we sang. I started off doing some of my standards. Luckily, we got there early enough to sing at least four songs each so I was able to try a new one out, "Darling Nikki" by Prince. My housemate has recently turned me onto that song and it's my favorite Prince song now. Unfortunately he shrieks at the end and I didn't have quite enough drinks in me to do that. However, two of my companions who have never sang before each got up there and they were stars.
At work, I have to occasionally deal with violent participants. I had to deal with the aftermath of two different participants' behaviors at two different sites today. Violent outbursts are new for one of my participants so my new thing was taking a former supervisor of hers to see her and try to reason with her. The other one normally has outbursts but her behavior was a lot more severe this time. I was out of the office at the time handling the first participant. When I returned, it looked like people had just survived a hurricane. Some of the victims were angry, several were crying, others were receiving medical attention. Just another day at the office.
My boss was attentive to the situation but she's seen so much worse. When she used to be a supervisor, she would have to replace the group's refrigerator at least monthly because one participant or another would destroy it. She had one guy throw the copy machine out the window. She's had to go toe-to-toe with violent clients who could be line-backers. No wonder she's looking forward to eventual retirement.
It's All Hallow's Eve. I started the morning at 5:30 am, putting on a grease paint mask for my Robin costume for work. After a day of not itching my face, we went trick or treating with Dean as my Batman. Dean loves following the kids but I really think that he wanted to head up to every doorstep with them. After that, we went out to dinner and were surrounded by Fruit of the Loom characters. Then it was off to the party.
