wheels darling muffin

Sophia and I have discussed the possibility of raising kids (not really too seriously) if she ever accidentally has a baby (which will never happen). It comes from my preference for babies. I love em. However, I also love not being ultimately responsible for them and being able to pass them off to their parents after I grow weary of them. I don't think I'm quite ready for fatherhood yet so, instead of a human baby, we had a kombucha baby that I named "Wheels" after the United States of Tara and Sophia added "Darling-Muffin as the surnames.

Wheels is a kombucha mushroom which we put in a tea jar with some sugar and tea packets and some other stuff and let ferment for a while.  In a few weeks, if even that long, we had some kombucha. It's pretty good and it's nice that it can be made so simply at home. Wheels is also spawning another child from it so we're going to be able to bottle another kombucha baby. I got to try some of our homebrew kombucha for the first time today and I must say that we did a fine job of raising our baby.

What else?
Another indicator that I may not quite be ready for parenthood occurred when I was at Freddie's today, buying another tea jar. I was swinging it slightly as I walked up to the counter. The lid unscrewed and the jar went flying and crashed to the ground in a spectacular manner. I hate wasting things and breaking things unnecessarily but that was pretty cool.

let life move me

Today was our annual fair work party day.  Victory is going to be doing the booth with me this year instead of Ashes.  When we got to Community Village today, she walked in with her tool belt and was immediately put to work building stuff.  I did odd jobs here and there to help out.  I never feel like I get much work done at these things.  It's usually in the days right before the fair when I work more.  That's how I'm justifying not coming down yesterday.  It's also a waste of gas.

Anyway, it was a fun excursion and I love seeing everyone come together again.  While Victory was working, a mother had a slight break-down in the village because her son had walked away from the child care group.  Ashes and I and many other people all went around the fair looking for the child who was on his way back to the village already before I even got to the Lost and Found.  If your kid is going to wander, the fair (before opening) is a good place to do it.  There's just a whole lot of good people around and about who have the best interest of their fellow man and the environment in their hearts.

The pic above was from last year's fair, BTW.

multnomah county bike fair

This has been an odd summer so far. For the last two years since I've been going to the Oregon Country Fair, I've missed the Multnomah County Bike Fair because it's on the same Saturday as our OCF work party but it's usually fine because I typically participate in enough Pedalpalooza rides that I don't need to go to the bike fair.  This year, scheduling conflicts prevented us from going down for Saturday's work party so I got to go to the bike fair instead.  It felt right that I should go since sickness prevented me from going on hardly any pedalpalooza rides.  I can't say that the fair makes up for missing all of those rides but it was still nice to attend.

What else?
Jessica and I hit the No Fest in St Johns today in North Portland.  It's a nice neighborhood and I went to plenty of new shops there.  We also both hit the Cathedral Park Kitchen for the first time which was nice although very new.  They have a porch which has a gorgeous view of the St John's Bridge.  After brunch, we shopped around a bit and I bought dog shoes!  He hates them worse than his socks but they stay on better.

I also found the time to hit a potluck at a former classmate's house.  We were in my favorite group project from first year that we did so well on.  It was great to see a bunch of my former classmates again and one of my favorite teachers as well.  I got to meet some new people too and just had a nice relaxing time.  Upon one of the new people's recommendation, I found myself at Powell's bookstore on Hawthorne at 10:30pm on a Saturday night, buying Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.  So far, I love it!

trans-ponder

In Copenhagen in 2006, we spent a couple of days in Copenhagen at Ungdomshuset (which translates to 'Youth House') and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences on the tour.  They were really hospitable and just rad people in general.  One evening, they had a queer movie night where they showed TransAmerica.  I had recently watched the movie at home but I enjoyed it so much more when I got to watch these punk kids sit through it without snickering or making derogatory remarks.  Instead, they just appreciated it and made me appreciate them and European punks in general.  Man, I miss Copenhagen...

Anyway, I digress.  Today, my work paid for me to attend a workshop on working with people who identify as transgendered that present with mental health issues.  I was impressed with the knowledge of the trainer who is a therapist and also identifies as transgendered and I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of the attendees.  The training did more closely resemble a long Q&A instead of a structured training but it was worthwhile (and I got paid so I can't complain). 

Still, I wish that we as a nation and as social workers were further along in this field.  Five years ago, punks in Europe were at this same level.  By now, we as a nation shouldn't have 'Gender-Identity Disorder' in the DSM as a mental health illness.  Most of today's training was around how to work with the mental health issues that present during transitioning.  What I was more interested in was looking at what happens when additional mental health or developmental disability issues that may occur on top of transitioning instead of viewing transitioning as a separate bundle of issues in itself.  I guess we're not there yet.

my return to the land of the living

I don't put a lot of stock into the wisdom of bumper stickers but there's one that Laughing Horse Bookstore sells that I like, "Hate your job? Save up enough money and quit."  I fantasize sometimes about being unemployed.  Really, I have enough money saved up to float me for several months but after this week, I realize that I would have to make sure that I was doing something else (writing, gardening, cooking, etc) if I was going to not be working because I could easily fall into a pathetic pile of nothingness if left to my own inhibitions.  While being sick, I thought I would write more and read more but no, I mainly watched Six Feet Under and all of the action/sci-fi movies I missed out on during the winter and this last spring.

Oh well, today, I was able to feel like a productive being again and get some work done.  My first day back just provided more evidence that my co-workers and people I supervise are great because, after a few hours, I was caught up after being gone unexpectedly for a week.  It's nice to know that I can take the time off to take care of myself without having to stress about everything (or even anything) at work falling apart.

What else?
To celebrate my return and to donate to Bite for Rights, a bunch of us headed to Crush where I tried the Green Monk (pictured above) for the first time.  Cheers!

man and machine

Since I'm no longer living with Ashes, my go-to-techie guy, I have to learn to solve my own computer problems. Today, I fought off my own virus by myself on my computer as well as in my own body.

I was watching an episode of South Park online today at a different website and all of the sudden, a screen like the one pictured above came up.  I freaked out and pulled the internet connection, thinking if I did have a identity-theft-stealing worm on my machine, it couldn't leak any info out if I cut the connection.  This Vista Anti-Virus 2012 was a new feature to my machine and said that I could fix the 32 infections found if I paid the one year subscription price of $69.95, two year price of $89.95 or lifetime price of $99.95.  The price points were the first red flag.  I also thought it looked too clean and eager to help.

I used my IPhone to google Vista Anti-Virus 2012 and I found enough websites saying it was a virus itself to make me a believer.  Fixing it was going to be an issue though because, after I reconnected the internet, I discovered that it blocked any web browser from opening up.  It also stopped me from opening up my task manager.  I found a website which gave me three or four options, ranked easiest to hardest to combat the virus.  The first was entering a fake registration key into the 'Anti-Virus' virus.  That didn't work.  The last option was writing code in the prompt screen during the booting process but I am not that skilled so I'm glad the second option worked, entering in a website for the download link to a spyware program (which got legitimate positive reviews and no negative press out there).  This by-passed the block that the 'Anti-Virus' was putting on my machine and allowed me to download the program which quickly cleaned up my computer.

What else?

As if that wasn't relief enough for one day, I googled the healing process for shingles and realized that my rash was already healed to the point where it isn't contagious anymore.  Oh happy day, I get to go to work tomorrow (and I'm not being sarcastic, I'm really thrilled)!

new blog features

Today I actually paid attention to the little bubbles that pop up when I open a new post page.  For one thing, I switched the formatting of the site to fit better with mobile devices.  If people regularly use mobile to read this and don't like the setup, let me know and I may switch it back.

Also, I went through the comments and the spam comments for the first time.  Apparently, my blog has helped a lot of anonymous people out with their college papers.  Yeah, okay.  But I did find some that I didn't think were spam.  Someone suggesting adding a twitter link so I decided to do that.  A few of the blogs I follow have twitterfeed hooked to their blogs and I thought it wouldn't hurt.  If you want to get automatic tweets when I had blog posts, just click the link on the right under the dates or I think you can click here and it will take you there.  If not, don't worry about it.  You won't gain any more information than you would if you check the site daily.

I will only be automatically sending out new tweets when new blog posts come up unless I absolutely have to retract something I said (which will most likely never happen) or if I end up with a bazillion followers who cater to my every command in which case I will get more creative with my tweets in order to inspire Snoopy dance flash mobs all over the world!  Mwa-ha-ha.  But don't worry, you don't have to do the Snoopy dance unless you want to.

sweetest sorrow

I love a good cry so Six Feet Under was just up my alley.  Normally, a show has to involve a teenager coming out or a dog returning to their owner or an Iron Giant blowing up to get my waterworks going but a sweet, sad song at the end of a show will work too.  Six Feet Under is not my type of show but I regularly check Billie Doux's website and it's a show she reviewed so I thought I'd give it a chance.  I started watching it a year or two ago and then I kind of just dropped it.  I should have stuck with it though because that was some awesome story-telling and acting and rare musical numbers (as shown above) and the best series finale I have ever seen.  I cried for about six minutes straight or at least until Jennifer showed up to drop off my car.  I'm not ashamed to say I was crying because of this show though because it was well worth it.

It's also been very symbolic of the state that I've been in lately.  I've been very down.  Even though I'm getting out of the house, I'm still not seeing my friends or having any fun.  However, viewing this show leads you to believe a few things; it could be worse, celebrate the time you have, and every relationship, whether it's through family, friends, school, work, random hookups, etc, all matter.  Plus this show has a lot of dark humor and it's a little depressing so it's nice to finish it up.  It is summer after all and I'm getting healed up (although still taking tomorrow off too) so I am about through with depressing.

What else?

Straight from New York Pizza moved into the Belmont and 34th area this weekend and today was my first visit there.  I was very happy with the food and the staff was also very friendly.  Plus, it was just a quick walk from my house.  Zach's now has competition for my attention and my late cravings.

declaration of in-dog-pendence

I've been reading Temple Grandin's book Animals Make Us Human (I read maybe three or four books at a time) because I like the way Grandin organizes her thoughts and I admire her work, even if it does lead to more animals dying.  She's at least making it humane.  Anyway, she has a chapter on dogs (which obviously matters more to me than the others) and talks about what would be an ideal healthy situation for dogs.  She recommends company for dogs if owners aren't going to be home all of the time.  I thought about sweet talking Sophia into letting me get a rescue pup but I just don't think Dean would handle another dog always around. He's pretty jealous and needy.  I do think that the cats provided him with company at the other house.  He kind of just stared at Loki (the older boy cat) when we were back over there last, as if to tell him that he misses him.  Loki just stared back.  It was pretty sweet.

Anyway, I am thinking about how this latest move affected him.  I hope that he's not going to think that I'll be home all of the time since I've been with him pretty much all day and night over the past few days.  We need to develop some stable routine that he can get used to and that includes a park of choice.  I took him to Laurelhurst today.  We've been there before but the off-leash area was closed down today.  That's never a big deal if we can walk away from heavily trafficked roads because Dean's always been great off-leash up until today.  We were walking around the park and passed by a guy and his dog playing fetch.  Dean at first walked up, greeted the dog and then kept walking.  We were a ways past them and Dean was by my side when he all of the sudden turned around and ran to the other dog and the guy.  I called him back and he turned to look at me but kept running away.  He never does this so I was thrown for a little bit.

My previous dog Skip was awful about coming when you called him.  I seriously had to pretend to fall down hurt and play dead for a while with him until he came close enough to me for me to snatch his collar and put his leash on.  I've always been grateful that I can just call Dean's name or hold up his leash and he'll come running back to me.

He did end up coming back eventually after I followed him back a bit and I didn't have to play dead.  It's not a big deal if he begins wandering if he's off-leash.  After that walk and all that time off-leash, he was noticeably limping so it's better if he stays on leash anyway. I just wish I knew what he was thinking again.

starting my solitary stint

Right now, two of my best friends are working security for my favorite party in town on it's best night of the year and I could get in free.  Right now, thousands of people are biking naked in what was one of my favorite moments from last year.  I'm stuck in my house because my body has turned against me.

I don't think I've ever had a real disease before.  I think I had walking pneumonia once before but that's fairly common.  Plus it really puts you down and out.  Shingles doesn't really incapacitate me but it is more contagious and more rare.  Therefore, I've decided to seclude myself.

Sophia went away for the weekend and half of next week.  When she told me months ago that she had booked this trip, I said, 'Damn, you won't be around for WNBR but Hot Damn, I'll have the house to myself for pride weekend.  This isn't how I thought I'd spend it.  Still, it turns out that it's a good thing she's gone.  I'm not in a place physically where I can be really social.  I'm trying not to think about my aching side which has meant either distracting myself from reality through a low dosage of oxycotin or watching the fourth season of Six Feet Under.

Since she's gone and I don't run the risk of getting anyone else sick while I'm in the house, I'm just going to stay here.  I'll e-mail my boss in the morning and tell her I'm at least not coming in on Monday but possibly not on Tuesday or Wednesday either.  The doctor didn't say I had to stay home but I do have a contagious disease.  I don't know at work who has or hasn't had chicken pox before.  I also don't know who's pregnant or who has HIV.  I don't want to be the plague dog that infects the whole office.  I don't even want to be responsible for one more person getting sick.  Plus, I'm in pain and a lack of movement definitely agrees with me right now.

Rather than wallow though, I think I'll try to use the time to write or read when I have the energy.  When not, I'll watch movies but I did take today and catch up on this blog.  I also went back and wrote some entries for May, catching up the 18th (entitled gimme shelter) thru the 24th (entitled avoiding the office water cooler).  Feel free to check it out if you're so inclined.  I don't know how many people if any would but it's okay.  It's really just for my referencing anyway.  Plus, it's helping to look back at May because it really was a fun and exciting month for me.  I need to know that I did just have a good time to prepare me for the days of solitude awaiting me.

Who knows though?  I haven't had a significant time away from it all since my birthday and I'm able to basically just chill out in the comfort of my home now so it may not be so bad.  Like I said, I'm not incapacitated so I may be able to get some stuff done around here that I've been putting off for the last few weeks.  Eh, we'll see what it brings.

What else?
I had the Super Falafel today at the Mediterranean cart nearby.  My new things will most likely not be fascinating for the next several entries so I may just exclude them all together and allow myself just to write.  Hope that's okay.

shingles

Crap. I've got shingles. This weekend is the busiest weekend of the year with Pride, Pedalpalooza, potlucks and the World Naked Bike Ride and I have shingles.

Shingles is akin to chicken pox and typically occurs with seniors.  I don't know how I contracted it but I'm distraught.  After hearing the symptoms, my co-worker looked at my rash and quickly diagnosed it as shingles.  She said she had it a few years ago (and she's a few years younger than me).  I went to Urgent Care at Kaiser and they verified that it was shingles.  Fortunately, I caught it in time where it can be treated with anti-viral meds.  Unfortunately, I can't hang around select people, including pregnant women, people who are HIV positive and people who haven't had the chicken pox before.  That's a lot of people so I'm pretty much going to isolate myself for a while....during my favorite weekend of the year.  This isn't fair.

What else?

 They gave me Oxycotin to help with the pain.  I don't know if I've ever had it before but it definitely helped with the pain...and the worry and the self-pity.  I took Dean out for a walk and we ended up going into Buffalo Exchange where they allow you to bring your well-behaved dog in.  Dean was pretty well-behaved and I bought a new shirt so I'd call it a successful outing.

My housemate got off of a 40+ hour long shift today.  She's in architecture and had some deadlines to meet.  After hearing that and the woes of the people at my internship, I truly appreciate my job.

playing doctor

I have no idea what's wrong with me.  I have Kaiser for medical insurance so I'm left to guess on my own as their 'You're probably fine' diagnosis is no help whatsoever.

I took the day off today for a sick day since I'm in a fair amount of pain.  My whole chest, my triceps and my pelvic region all ache like I've been sunburnt or cut by cat scratches.  I've also developed a rash which leads me to believe that it's allergies and not just flu body aches as Kaiser suggested.  The only thing I could think that I may be allergic to that is new in my life is the laundry fabric softener that I decided to try since I have to babysit my laundry now.  Now, I've got to re-wash everything that I washed before.  Ugh, what a hassle and I'm not even sure that the fabric softener is the problem but I have to try something.

What else?
I saw this awesome art piece at Fat Straw today as I was trying to make myself feel better by getting some bubble tea.  I inquired about the cost but the cashier's didn't know and told me to come back when the manager is there.  It would look great in my bedroom!

For my new thing, I tried the Aybla Mediterranean Cart nearby.  The falafel sandwich will definitely bring me back.

stationed on belmont

Belmont Station near my house has a large selection of good and different beers.  I have already been there a few times since moving in but today I decided to grab some food there for the first time.  The food was okay but I have other better options close by so I probably won't be coming back for food.  However, I will be coming back for drinks, especially when they have generous free samplings like they did today.  I really only had to buy one beer and I had enough to equal another beer just in samples.


What else?
I also went there because I was looking for a nice quiet place to read.  For my summer reading, I'm going to start with Kicked Out, an anthology on homeless LGBTQ youth.  So far, I find it fascinating and I'm glad it's a resource that's out there.

I'm hurting right now.  At first, I believed that it was just pain in my abs from my inverted sit-ups that I did at the gym on Sunday but it seems to be getting worse.  It feels like a sunburn but there is no mark on my body.  I called Kaiser for an appointment but they said it's most likely some bug or some remnant of cold that I had a few weeks ago.  They are most unhelpful.

new ways to embarrass old dogs

Yesterday, I took Dean back to the old house for a visit since he has been gone for a week.  He enjoyed seeing everyone again but I think he really missed the carpet.  I watched him go to lay down in carpet and noticed that he walks his front paws down so he can end up in a laying position.  At the new house, he lowers himself slightly and then just sort of throws his hip to the ground with a resounding thud.  He already has hip issues that I don't want him to exacerbate so I sought a solution today.

We went to the Portland Pet Supply store for the first time which is only a few blocks from the new house and I bought him padded socks.  I don't think he likes them but I think he may eventually get used to them.  Once he stopped walking all stupid, he began to walk with more confidence as he finally had some traction in his step.  I still will probably be buying more rugs for the house but I think that socks (or possibly shoes since he's learned how to take his socks off) will help him adjust.

getting to know my laundry

My laundry has gone from being a mundane task to something slightly fascinating, interactive and horrifying.

In my new place, the laundry pipe in the back doesn't drain properly.  Therefore, you have to babysit the laundry.  Yesterday, I got trained in how to do the laundry so today I did it on my own.  Since the pipe doesn't drain, you have to leave the lid open on the washing machine.  When it goes for the spin cycle, you take the tube from the back of the machine and put it in the bathtub and close the lid.  Gross water spews out quickly for a few minutes.  When it's done, you have to open the lid back up and it goes through the rinse cycle.  Again, you have to put the tube in the tub during the spin cycle, close the lid and let the slightly less gross water spew out.  Dean threw up a little bit on my quilt this morning so I had to wash the quilt.  Dean is no longer allowed to lay on the quilt since I believe he is primarily responsible for the wash water looking as dirty as it does in the above picture.

Right now, it's a fascinating process but I feel that I may grow tired of it before too long and I'll probably just advocate for the pipe to get cleaned out so laundry can again become a boring task.

What else?
I went to case manager Dave's house today from my internship.  His last day of work was this past Friday.  It was nice to see everyone again but it's also sad to hear that people aren't exactly happy with the way things are being run there right now.

simple saturday satisfactions

Today was simply wonderful for no reason.  Maybe it was wonderful because it lacked reason and simply was...

I had a few things that I wanted to accomplish today but nothing too pressing.  One of the things on my list today was to buy a new wallet to replace the one I lost last week.  I went back to Herbivore because I love their wallet selection and I really wanted to buy something vegan.  Yesterday, one of the store managers at my work was randomly talking to me about wallets and about how, when you get older, it becomes more of an impairment to have a thick wallet in your back pocket.  It's bad for your spine, etc.  However, as I recently discovered, having a wallet in your back pocket can also easily lead to losing it while biking.  At Herbivore, they had this handy thing pictured above.  Yes, it is putting all of my eggs in one basket but if my wallet can hold my phone, I can put it in my front pocket where I put my phone.  It will take a little getting used to but I think it'll be something I can roll with.

I also went to Panera Cares Community Cafe which is right next to my local Trader Joes.  First off, the bike ride to Trader Joes from Muffin HQ is wonderful in that it's all back streets but all of the streets are designated biking roads.  Also, the cafe is just awesome.  They have prices listed like a typical cafe would but the prices are just the suggested donation price.  The mission of the cafe is that anyone should be able to get a meal that needs one.  If you can pay the suggested price, then you do so.  If you can pay a little more, then you can do that as well which will help keep the place operating when people come in that can't afford to pay.  Sophia heard that 25% of people pay less than the asking price, 50% pay the asking price and 25% pay more so it ends up being sustainable.  I love this idea and the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich was wonderful!

Another awesome and new thing today was that Bob's Red Mill recognized me for checking in to the Mill several times on foursquare by sending me free food.  They contacted me a few weeks ago, finding my facebook account since you can't communicate really through foursquare and said they wanted to give me free new products as a sign of appreciation for visiting the mill so many times.  Today, I got in two packages of couscous and two packages of granola.  Hells yeah.
 
What else?
I ended the awesome day by singing karaoke with Dominic, Ashes and Victory.  For the first time, I sang 'Peaches' by the Presidents of the USA.  I also made my second attempt at singing Love Cats by the Cure.  Dominic first had me sing this song years ago as a scaraoke.  I had never heard the song before so I sang it like Frank Sinatra.  I'm still not that familiar with the song but I was a lot more comfortable and think I handled it pretty well.

getting weird

Living at Muffin HQ is quite different from my last house.  I'm used to having a lot of people around and having to work to have some 'me time.'  However, at Muffin HQ, it's usually just Dean and I.  Sophia works a lot so I have too much 'me time.'  I'm also feeling guilty for Dean being home alone a lot so I'm trying to spend more time with him which equals less time socializing with others.  Today, I couldn't take the isolation anymore and I shouted-out for people to meet me at a happy hour at the Weird Bar.

One shouldn't let the name of 'Weird Bar' fool you.  Oh, it's definitely odd but it's not stupid-odd like the name would leave you to believe it's trying to be.  With a name like Weird bar, one would think that it would try too hard to be unusual.  It's not typical but it still has charm.  Plus it has $3 White Russians all the time.  This dude abides.  Also, I ended up getting my social-fix due to my awesome friends and I got a funny photo opportunity in their bathroom.

pedalpalooza 2011

 

Today is the start of Pedalpalooza which was the source of many of my favorite days from last year.   Unfortunately, those who I enjoyed the kickoff ride with last year were too busy to come to this year's kickoff ride.  I was debating whether to go to it by myself or skip it but I haven't missed one for years so I had to go.  It was supposed to be a picnic and a ride and it was starting in Northeast Portland so I decided to show up late.  I figured an hour late was still early by Pedalpalooza ride time, especially when you factor in a picnic.  However, when I got there, my ride was gone.

I looked around but didn't see any signs of the ride other than a few other cyclists who also thought it was better to be late than never.  Since I was already up on Alberta, I thought I would lessen the disappointment with missing the ride by going to Mash Ton where one of the people I worked with at my internship was having an art showing.  Disappointment was waiting for me again though as I found out their artwork had already moved on.

I was ready to bike back to Southeast with my head held low from multiple failures but I saw that the twitter account for Pedalapalooza retweeted someone's praise of the kickoff ride.  Still, it didn't say where they went.  I looked at the original tweeter's timeline and saw a more recent tweet that said they were at Overlook Park so I busted my butt and got down there quickly.  It turns out that it was the endpoint for the ride but I still say that I made the ride because I biked the route and I followed them.  Plus I cracked open a beer that I brought with me and left with my music blaring.  I bought a portable stereo not too long ago with the intention of taking it on Pedalpalooza rides.  I tried strapped it to my bike rack with a bungee net but I was still worried about it flying off if I hit a bump.  I ended up snapping it into my pannier which was solidly hooked to my rack.  It made for an entertaining ride home and fun was still had despite fate working against me today.  Hopefully the rest of Pedalpalooza will be a lot smoother.

on the sunnyside of the walk

Taking Dean out of Long House meant taking a yard away from him.  He is such a spoiled guy that he wouldn't even stay in the yard without a human escort.  However, it did provide him with a quick place to do his thing and less effort on my part as I didn't have to walk him for a potty trip.  With Muffin HQ, there's not such much of a lawn to speak of...yet...so I've had to take him on maybe four walks per day.

Leaving the old neighborhood behind also meant abandoning the parks that we've grown used to although it was time to move on.  Before I moved, a Reed security guard (on a Segway no less) asked me to put Dean on a leash at the Reed college dog area and I saw a rat on the way to Kenilworth Park.  That's the universe telling me to move along.  Today, we set out to explore the new neighborhood's parks.  One of them is Sunnyside school.  This won't always work, especially when school is in session, but I always see dogs off their leash in the park behind the school so Dean had his turn there today.

He enjoyed it.  There weren't any trees or squirrels so it may not have been all that thrilling for him but it will do.

first class evening

X-Men: 1st Class has been nagging me since last Friday.  I've known I was going to see it in the theater since I'm such a fanboy so I haven't been able to think about much else.  I've been checking the times and cursing myself whenever I see that I've missed a showing.  Tonight, I cut my normal Tuesday plans short.  I was already up in Northeast Portland so I decided to bike to the Roseway Theater on 72nd and Sandy.  It's the first time I've biked up there but it wasn't such a long ride since I've moved considerably further north.

The movie was awesome!  I think that I enjoyed the second X-Men better just because the director Bryan Singer is awesome and the movie was thick with gay allegory.  However, First Class had a fantastic love story between Professor X and Magneto that was written just between the lines.  It was also well-acted and just fun to watch.

What else?

In biking home, I pretty much just aimed south or east and meandered home on the bike.  I biked some roads, including 57th, that I haven't taken before

a most productive morning of rest

I took this morning off from work in order to reward myself for finishing a particularly trying school year/internship/move.  It was originally intended to be completely relaxing but I had to get stuff together that I was missing since I lost my wallet.  After taking Dean to Common Grounds (a first for both of us), I got a new license, student ID and changed addresses for my credit cards.  Tonight, I booked a flight to Alaska, arranged for a room there and became mayor of Zack's Shack.  Look at me being all industrious!

in the neighborhood

Laurelhurst Cafe (which is such a would-be common name that I'm shocked it wasn't taken) is a charming little place near my new house.  It's been several different restaurants in my nine years in Portland but this is probably it's best incarnation and hopefully it's last for quite a while.  Jesse, Sophia and I went there for some drinks and panini sandwiches.  They have a long happy hour so I can definitely see myself going back.  Plus, the sandwiches and fries were really good and I got a free cookie!  Hell yeah.

What else?
I got my office/man-cave/Dean's room set up today.  I really love it and I have a lot of storage space for my crap.  I also moved Dean in so I'm officially here.  While I am sad to leave the Long Haus, I'm excited to be settled.

I lost my wallet last night biking back from my date.  This morning, I couldn't find it and I checked the last place I used it and the place I was after that and nobody has seen it.  It has a lot of pieces of ID in it, an ATM card and a credit card in it (both of which I've canceled).  I haven't lost completely lost a whole wallet ever before so it's a little overwhelming to think of all that I have just lost.  I still hold out hope that someone will find it and drop it in my old house's mailbox or see all my business cards in it and bring it to work.  I doubt it but it would make things a lot easier.

On the lighter side of things, Ashes and I were driving my car back to Long Haus today (since I'm no longer a legal driver without my license) and we saw a young guy walking around shirtless that goes to our gym.  This kid is super-fit.  The definition of his abs was what first caught both of us by surprise.  Then we realized who he was.  Then we were both jealous.  Then we bought some RC sodas and thought about apologizing to everyone who ever had to listen to each of us during our younger days when we complained about not being able to gain weight. :)

good date idea

Since Andrew and I have been going on dates, we have a routine of going for a drink, some food and then a walk in the park.  Yes, it may get repetitive but I enjoy drinks, food and walks in parks so I'm not going to complain.  He talks about Mt Tabor a lot and it is my neighborhood park now so we went there this evening after dining on the patio at the Caldera Public House (my first time).  We walked around Tabor while watching the sunset, biked down to Circa 33 for dessert drinks and then walked over to the sunflower intersection painting at SE 33rd and Yamhill.  It was all nice and all in my neighborhood.  It was all pretty much my suggestion too (after recommendations from Sophia).  

day of change

 It's been a busy month for me so my blog is not updated.  Rest assured, I did at least one new thing every day.  However, between school and my internship ending, moving, getting sick and just trying to be social, the blog's taken a backseat.  I'm going to say that I will go back and update the days that I've missed so far but I'm not 100% positive about that.  It shouldn't be a problem though since most of the things that were keeping me from updating it regularly are no longer an issue.

Today was my last day at my internship.  I have to say that I was looking forward to it being over just because I want to be able to narrow my focus to my work instead of being scattered between school, work and internship.  However, I wasn't looking forward to today.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone.  Turnover at my internship is particularly high right now so me leaving was just another blow to certain people, youth and staff members.  It was particularly difficult to say goodbye to two of the female youth who I have enjoyed talking to and also to Dave.  I hope to maintain contact with him through facebook and his potlucks though.

They bought Voodoo Donuts for me today as a going-away present and also made me a card which was very sweet.  Plus, for the first time, I got Zee.  Zee used to be an Mr Incredible doll but Zee got a makeover and now has a gender neutral pronoun.  Zee is a trophy of sorts for one of the Assertive Engagement Specialists who have made some good accomplishments or who have had a rough time throughout the past week.  Today was the first time I've got to hold Zee and squeeze his tummy so he could say, "I fight for truth and justice!"

Then, as if my last day at my internship wasn't enough, I had to pack up everything at Long Haus for my transition to Muffin HQ.  I slept at Muffin HQ last night in an effort to propel my move forward more quickly.  We're still working on painting the living room (after we got one of the walls fixed) so Dean has to stay behind.  I figured I should be able to bring him there this weekend.  I cleaned my room and bathroom thoroughly tonight because their new roommate is moving in tomorrow.  I was up til 12:30pm, scrubbing the damn toilet.  That's how I roll on a Friday night.

It was sad but I had a great talk with Ashes about what this means and the significance of me moving.  It made me feel a lot better about it.  I love them all dearly and I will miss living with them but I feel that this move will help me grow up some.  We'll see.