summary of september

Alright, I give up. I am not going to catch up by posting a whole lot of individual posts. So, rather than try to catch up or skip it (like I did with my May posts which I said I would retro-post but never got around to), I've decided to do a quick summary post. So here we go:

On Sunday, September 18th, I saw the Portland Gay Men's Chorus perform for the first time after Sophia and I watched a performance by Tim at the Portland Gay in the Square Fair thing. The GMC was beautiful but I have been watching too much Glee and I wanted them to break out into an Usher number. :)

On Monday, September 19th, I bought Warm Bodies, a zombie romance book. It's my first romance book but it's about zombies so it's okay.

On Tuesday, September 20th, I went to Country Cat Dinnerhouse. It was okay but I was hoping for more vegetarian options. Also, I had my most dreaded meeting with a transgendered clients parents who were reportedly homophobic. I have heard that they've said some pretty awful stuff at meetings before but I could see them making an effort this time and I really think they're not so bad. Transgendered issues aside, their adult child has put them through a hell of a lot and they still love her enough to have her visit and come to her meetings when they don't have to.

On Wednesday, September  21st, I walked Dean to Long Haus from Muffin HQ for a Timbers game for the first time and checked out a Zipcar to take him back. It's only about 2.5 miles but 5 miles round-trip would have been too much for him. It was cute because Ashes was playing soccer at the park on the way so I let Dean off-leash to run up to him. Dean got to him before I made it there and made Ashes wonder where the hell he came from.

On Thursday, September 22nd, my allergies came back and kicked my ass. For comfort, I turned to Mira's Ladle for the first time. It's a soup cart on Hawthorne that I've walked by a lot. I loved it and I'll definitely come back for more. Mmmmm, vegan chili.

On Saturday, September 24th, I BlowPony'd! I went dancing with Erin again and her friend, other Lindsey for the first time. Ashes, Victory and Melissa were also there. Our friend Nikki was dancing on stage (pictured in the far left above crouched down). It was so great. I LOVE dancing and nothing feels better to me. I had a few drinks but I don't think I got stupid. I was hungry by the time I left though so I grabbed a late nite snack at Zach's. I love that place. It was a great night!

On Sunday, September 25th, we had another comic book/mimosa day. I LOVE these days. Also, I tried Darling Violetta's black bean burger for the first time. It was okay but not as good as their fries.

On Monday, September 26th, I went into Clever Cycles for the first time, looking for bicycling chaps. They don't carry them but I may end up coming back sometime down the road to look for a good cargo bike in which I can haul Dean. Sophia and I also went to the Sweet Hereafter where the food is awesome and the staff is all hot, tattooed guys! Love it!

On Tuesday, September 27th, some random dudes yelled "Queer" at me on Belmont. I wasn't queered up but I think they were just using it as a slang against cyclists. Anyway, it still sucked so I indulged in vegan gelato, a mimosa and Glee to make me feel better.

On Wednesday, September 28th, I had my first class of this school year. I'm only taking one night class and it's on Social Work with Frail Older Adults. It definitely applies to the population I work with as some of the clients are over retirement age and several of them qualify as frail. The teacher seems very knowledgeable and quite funny which will be good since it's not exactly light material. Also I got my haircut at Bishops by a new person. I like to add that in so it will be easy for me to see when I got my last haircut by just doing a blog search for Bishops.

On Thursday, September 29th, I threatened to quit my job. I don't think I've done it in a serious manner like this before. I threaten to quit all of the time, like when the cafeteria goes two days in a row without having a vegetarian soup. However, this time I was serious. The co-worker who replaced my friend started asking me about one of their clients, G, who is one of my favorite people to work with. Her line of questioning led me to believe that she was building a case to exit this guy. I told her if he gets exited, I'll quit. She assured me that she wasn't considering exiting him but I still left my threat out there. At this point, school has begun again and it'll be a lot of reading. Work is overwhelming because I'm having to cover for someone on medical leave so I'm doing a lot of bathroom breaks. I'm just looking for a reason to quit but really, I can't lose anyone else I care about at work. Also, I had a date with Andrew in the evening.

On Friday, September 30th, I went to Alessio Italian Bakery which is right near Cellar Door Coffee by my work. It's cheap and I'll probably go back soon. I also had the Vegan Curry Plate at Bonfire with Jessica for the first time. Yum! I've found a reason to renew my love of Bonfire! However, my night didn't stop there. I rode NE to Alberta with Ashes and Victory in his new car and Jesse, Sophia, Ashes, Victory and I all went for a drink at the Horse's Brass which should be my neighborhood bar but I never go there.

Anyway, that's my September in a long nutshell. I use this blog as a journal for myself so I do want to keep it up but I'll try to make my posts more interesting to read in the future. Even with school starting, I need to allow myself to creatively write and not just recap my days. I'll try to do better next month

are you employed, mr lebowski?

Today, Sophia and I had our first Comics & Mimosas day. We called it 'Funemployment Fantasy Camp' where we sat around the house and did nothing but eat here and there, drink mimosas and read comics, primarily 'The Walking Dead' and 'Y, the Last Man' but I also finished World War Z. It was wonderful as this whole day was. The return of the rain really made the day just feel right.

We did help a person move their belongings into our garage so she can head off to Yoga school but that was about as productive as we got. As if that wasn't indulgent enough, there was a Big Lebowski Night at Grand Central Bowl on Belmont so we decided to go. We each put on boxers, undershirts, sandals, sunglasses and our bathrobes and got on the bus. It was fun but it would have been a little more fun if the bar wasn't so bad. It's called Grand Central BOWL but bowling is more of an afterthought there. It's a lot more of a club with bowling as an ironic feature. The night included a strip tease, pictured above. Anyhow, it was my first time there, my first time getting on the bus in my undies and my first Comics and Mimosas day. Hurray!

What else?
I glossed over a lot of the rest of the week because it either wasn't terribly exciting or I didn't have a good picture or both.

On Thursday, the power went out at Muffin HQ for my first blackout here. I handled it appropriately...by going to Zach's Shack and drinking margaritas and reading my book.

On Friday, I went to Blitz with Victory to watch the soccer game while Ashes actually got to go to the game. It was fun to watch the game there with just me and her but it was nice to be able to talk because her girl cat Fabreeshka passed away this week. It was expected but still very hard to deal with. I can't imagine what I'll do when I have to face that day with...yep, I can't even type it. I know I'll be a complete wreck.

under the influence

Andrew and I have been seeing each other since April. While we only usually see each other every other week, it is still a type of relationship, although I hesitate to use that word. However, I guess I could view it from the stance that I would even have a relationship with the bar guy who likes my book (World War Z) at Zach's Shack or with the lady who works at the coffee cart down the way from my work. Still, this relationship that we have, whatever that may be, has had an influence on me.

I'm constantly giving his media recommendations a try and this weekend, I bought some latex pillows because I really like the ones he bought in the spring. These pillows have been awesome too, giving me two solid nights worth of rest over the last two days. This morning, I tried the beverage pictured above from his recommendation. It looks like a Session beer bottle but it's cold coffee. Normally, I hate cold coffee but this stuff is really really good. And tonight, because he was talking about it, I ordered a 'Death in the Afternoon' at Vintage (with Jennifer and Sophia) which was pretty damn awesome too.

So, I don't really know where this is going. We talked about camping last month but last week he told me he was going camping in early October. Maybe I should invest a little more in this...whatever it is.

bar carlo

Nothing extraordinary to report today. I went to a new-to-me brunch place today, Bar Carlo. It had a lot of seating, plenty of vegan options and no wait so it was a good find. Sophia and I also went to Super 8 at the Bagdad and I picked up some new latex pillows. Go Sunday!

long distance uncling

When I decided to move up to Portland years ago, I knew I had to do it but one of the hardest things was knowing that I wouldn't be able to see my niece Hayleigh very often. At the time, she was six years old. Sometime soon afterwards, she wrote a short little story in school about how if she was the state of Kansas, she would move to Oregon because then she could be near me. It was very touching but ultimately Portland was the right place for me and I couldn't convince my sister to visit, let alone move up here.

Tonight, I was checking my facebook feed when I saw that Hayleigh posted that nobody has ever had a worse kid than her and that she was so stupid. I wasn't sure what it was in reference to but then I saw my sister had posted something right before that, stating that she was sure she left the car that she owned in the driveway...

Anyway, I wrote to my niece and told her that it probably wasn't as bad as it seems and plenty of people were worse and did stupider things at the age 15, like her mom and other uncle but not me. ;) Honestly though, after working with homeless youth, I have seen and heard enough stories to make me see my niece as a little saint. And please, even I rolled the car at age 16. Hayleigh managed to return the car in one operating piece so she's a step ahead of me.

It felt good to be able to be there for her even it was just through facebook. But, after all, she is the reason I am even on facebook in the first place so I'm glad it could be used as a tool for good.

What else?

Sophia, Dean and I walked around the Belmont Street Fair and I bought a little kid's shirt from a vendor for Mr Whiskers! I hope it fits him! Also, when we were walking by a booth selling lawn ornaments, Dean stopped to relieve himself on the merchandise. I yanked him away and Sophia quickly threw water over the items to wash it off. The vendor was cool though and didn't make us pay for it.

I also went on the Diabetes walk again for work. Dave, who organizes it just told me about it on Thursday but he always goes on the AIDS walk so I agreed to go with him. It was okay but not very well organized. Still, I'm glad I could support him.

'that's how you do it'

Today, my new thing was buying tix to ZomBcon in Seattle. I've contemplated going but wasn't sure until I saw the tickets go on sale today and thought, "What the hell. Why not?"

However, the most consuming part of the day was the video posted above. I LOVE it!

buffy the hamburger slayer

Andrew and I went to Hamburger Mary's for the first time for each of us today. It was fabulous. I guess it's sort of a chain but very limited in the number of restaurants they have around the country. I've heard that all of the staff is drag queens which isn't true but I'd venture a guess that all of the staff tonight was gay. The idea of a gay restaurant chain is pretty awesome to me too. It's a fabulous place and I'd love to hit another city and find out they had a Hamburger Mary's too.

For food, it was pretty meat-centric but they have a homemade black bean patty which is huge and a vegan patty as options. Also, their toppings are what make each burger unique and can be done vegetarian for the most part. I had the black bean burger with the Buffy the Hamburger Slayer options which included red wine sauce, garlic cloves, swiss cheese and caesar dressing. It was wonderful and so was my sparkling cosmo! The atmosphere was fun and gay and there was a drag queen there calling out bingo numbers as a fund-raiser for the Oregon Humane Society (as if I didn't already love the place enough)! I'm shocked it took me this long to come here considering it's downtown. I plan to come back when they have Mary-O-ke because a gay restaurant that serves a Buffy burger AND has karaoke simply cannot be missed!

my new favorite movie

I absolutely LOVED Rise of the Planet of the Apes! As an animal rights activist and a misanthrope, this should come as no surprise. However, the remake of the original with Mark Walhberg and my love Helena Bonham Carter sucked so bad, I was hesitant walking into this one. I found myself actually cheering during the movie this time!  Go apes!!!

What else?
My new thing was trying the raw butternut squash ravioli at Kitchen Dances. It was okay but I think I'll stick to their Reuben or quesadilla.

drinking buddies

I have been drinking way too much lately. I'll drink casually with friends on occasion but it seems like there's been a lot of occasions lately. Several years ago, a friend was prepping several of us for a protest and challenged us to stop drinking for a month in order to be physically ready for it. I can't remember what protest it was or if physical readiness was even necessary but I do remember that the not-drinking part felt great and was relatively easy if those in your immediate surroundings were doing the same thing. Maybe it's time for that again.

Anyhow, tonight's new thing was drinking some new bourbon at Romtom's and having two new slices at Sizzle Pie. Also, I hung out socially with Aleesha which I haven't done outside of the country fair before.

bike the butte & the bridge

Today's and yesterday's new things are similar enough that I figured I can put them into one post. My new thing was getting on my bike and just riding.

Yesterday, I was waiting at the Long Haus for a BBQ and then I just got an itch and couldn't wait anymore. Instead I got on my bike and rode to Powell Butte for the first time. It's right off of the Springwater Corridor so it kind of just happened that I rode there. I was really just riding the corridor just to ride. It's Labor Day weekend after all. I should be able to do silly things just for the fun of it.

Today, I was having a drink or two with friends at 442 and I got the itch again. It was almost painful to just sit around on a beautiful day off like today so I again got on my bike and rode. I ended up heading downtown this time with the intention of heading to Forest Park. Instead, I meandered until I found myself on St Helen's Road, heading towards the St Johns Bridge. The ramp up to the bridge wasn't a wide lane so I went on the sidewalk instead, lost control slightly and ended up scraping against the rough wall along the sidewalk. Fortunately, my glove and my handlebar took most of it but I did scrape up my pinkie and my arm pretty good. It stings but it looks tough. The view from the top of the bridge was pretty but the injury hindered my enjoyment of the ride.

What else?

I took Dean to the Rocking Frog for the first time. I've been here in it's previous incarnations but never with Dean although Dean did just come here on Saturday with Sophia and Tim. I had work to do and I wanted to do it outside with Dean while drinking coffee somewhere that had good wireless. Rocking Frog's back porch fit the bill. I will be back!

hanging in the couv

You know what I've never said before on a weekend, "Let's go hang out in Vancouver...Washington!" Well, there's a first for everything.

Bastard is in town so we all went to Beaches, a margarita bar on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington to hang out. It was nice and easy and relaxing. Several fu-fu drinks were bought by all. Afterwards, we headed back to Portland and all hit Zach's Shack (pictured above). Below are some more pics of the 'Couv.