an eight-year-old's life goals

In the 2000 movie, The Kid, Bruce Willis somehow interacts with his eight year old self. I don't think I ever saw the whole movie but I remember seeing the previews at the video store I worked at and the kid gets upset with his adult self, appalled that he's a grown-up and he doesn't have a dog?!? That line and that idea has obviously sat with me for a bit. In the back of my head every now and then, I think, 'Would my eight year old self be proud of who I am?'

I realize there's a flaw in trying to constantly live up to your aspirations from when you were eight. Most eight-year-olds do not have realistic expectations of adulthood and developing your life based upon your eight-year-old self's dreams would most likely make for an emotionally stunted development. However, there's a certain charm in realizing that your eight-year-old self would see where you're at right now and say, "Heck yeah" (cuz as an eight-year-old, I wasn't about to say "Hell").

While I was at lunch today during my job, I stopped and assessed my current situation. I was wearing my Aquaman t-shirt and shorts, at lunch with my dog, eating pasta (at 24th and Meatballs for the 1st time), and reading comic books, so yeah, I think my eight-year-old self would have approved. Now, if I could just become independently wealthy and a superhero that fights crime, I will have fulfilled the dream.

*the pic isn't mine. i just thought it was cute. if it's yours and you would like me to take it down, feel free to leave a comment.

summer at the beach

I'm not a summer person. Last weekend, it was so hot that Andrew and I really wanted to escape to the beach to celebrate our Ava-versary but it was too short of notice so I booked a house for this weekend instead. It ended up being absolutely perfect.

On Friday, we made it through a three hour drive to arrive in Walport at a new-to-us beach house. Ava was delighted and ran herself silly. Dean liked the beach but Ava derives so much pleasure from running into the water and digging in the sand. It's really a delight to take her here. It's been years since I was here last. As much as I enjoyed it back then, I really like having Andrew here with me this time around.

 On Saturday, we walked across the Alsea Bay Bridge to the downtown part of Waldport. While on the bridge, looking out west, I spotted two sea lions swimming! The water was so clear that you could actually see how quickly they glide while swimming. We walked around quite a bit. Ava found a yellow lab to play with and they switched back and forth between wanting the lab's stick or Ava's ball. On the walk back, we took the east side of the bridge where we could see the bridge's shadow in the water. Within the shadow, there was almost a solid line of sea lions and then another 40 or so on a sand bar. I've never seen wild sea lions that close (even though I was on the bridge) or observed them without a telescope in their natural habitat. It was beautiful.

On Sunday, we headed back. One of the things I love about vacationing with Andrew is that he doesn't linger around in the morning. We get packed up quick so we can get on the road but first, we got brunch. As luck would have it, we ended up stopping randomly in Newport at the Nye Beach Cafe which was delicious.

Really when I want to head to the beach, I want to make it an extended weekend but I will still take this any day. I feel so content right now that I can even handle the hellish weather that is approaching this week.

hiking by landmarks

Yesterday, Andrew brought home bad Thai food. I'm always grateful when he brings home dinner and the place was my idea but that doesn't change the fact that it just wasn't good. It was so bad in fact that it came with fortune cookies. Regardless of how ridiculous the idea of fortune cookies with Thai is, I still ate mine and the fortune said to try something new tomorrow.

I thought it was funny because that's always my goal. However, I have been grasping at new straws lately. On Sunday, I went to see Train Wreck with Sophia, Tim, and Andrew and it was really funny but going to see a movie at the Eastport is hardly new for me. My new thing was trying the Chocolate Shake Porter at Horse Brass later on. Then, on Monday, my new thing was trying a new tincture. Yesterday, I tried the pretzel bagel from Trader Joe's. Do you see what I'm talking about? So, after I got the fortune, I made up my mind to have a real authentically new experience.

I have various hikes bookmarked in my Kindle and the Aldrich Butte-Cedar Falls hike is one I often skip past because it's in Washington and the authors of the hike guide say that the trail is hard to follow. But I felt like an adventure today so Ava and I headed out there after work. I've got to say that I have never consulted a trail guide as much as I have for this hike. The paths were not clearly marked and, even if they were, the guide states that the paths and waterfall have many names and the locals can't agree on them. The guide had me looking for paths signified by a rock outcropping, the remains of a WWII gun sight, a burnt snag, an old fire pit, two 5-rock cairns, a dried up lake, and an out-of-place cottonwood tree. And surprisingly, I found most of the markers! It was like a treasure map only written out.

The waterfall was a surprise. I didn't expect much at the end but it was beautiful, tranquil, and free of other people which was most likely due to the fact that the path is not a simple one to follow. My one big hiccup on this adventure was setting up my camera on a log in front of the waterfall and turning the timer on for a pic. As soon as I moved to get in front of the camera, I heard it fall. I turned around to see it submerged. The batteries had flown out of it so it must have had a significant impact before landing in the water. Que Sera Sera. I hope it starts back up again once it dries out.

Ava had a great time, which is no surprise but as of this evening, she is exhausted and so am I. But I feel satisfied with our adventure and I may go back. I have a better idea about how to get there so maybe I can take Andrew there sometime or, maybe I'll try a new path.

modern blessings

I remember seeing the painting of the first pic above a lot in my childhood. It must have been at one of my grandma's because my mom claims it wasn't in our house. Anyway, Andrew and I went to  Roscoe's today and saw the second pic and thought it was very funny. The framed print was only $10 so I bought it. I don't believe I've actually purchased art in a restaurant or bar before. I'm happy with it.

We also tried Triumph Coffee which used to be Three Friends until the owner closed up the shop and my friend Emily reopened it. I'm looking forward to going back there more often!

What else?

We were hanging out at Roscoe's, waiting for the Far from the Madding Crowd matinee. Yesterday, we saw Ant-Man which was awesome and tomorrow, we've got plans with friends to go see Train Wreck. It's been close to 20 years since I've gone to movies back to back like this. With the global climate change, I could see it happening more often though.

out of gas

When I was in high school, I ran out of gas for the first time. I had my parents' gas card and no viable income so I was determined to wait until I got to the hometown gas station before filling up and came just a few miles short. I started walking and then a couple I didn't know stopped to pick me up in their truck. It was very nice of them but I was very embarrassed. Since then, I've tried to operate on a 1/4 tank minimum. When it gets to 1/4, I fill it up. I've gotten lax about that here and there but I haven't had any further issues until today.

My new-to-me car has a broken gas gauge. The previous owner said that he would just turn the trip odometer over whenever he filled it up and when it got to around 350 miles, he would refill it. I was driving to meet one of my customers today at her apartment complex in Beaverton and the car started dying. However, the trip odometer only said 240 miles. I managed to restart it a few more times and just get to the light at the top of the hill where I would turn into the apartment complex and it died completely. I put it in neutral and managed to push it to where it coasted down the hill and into "Future Resident Parking." I checked in with the office manager and told her my situation. She said it was fine there and gave me a ride in her golf cart to my meeting spot (there are over 400 apartments in this complex so I appreciated the guidance.

After the meeting, I sent Andrew a text about the situation and he sent something to his brother who gave me the car. The car kept saying to check the gauges but they all looked fine except for the gas gauge was fluctuating. I ended up walking .2 miles up the street to a well-placed gas station and bought a gas can. I brought back a gallon of gas to the car and then drove it back to the gas station to fill it up for another 18 gallons.

So, to wrap up this saga, I learned the hard way that this car gets significantly less mileage in the city than it does on the highway.

ocf 2015: the best around

This was the closest I've come to missing Fair since I started going. With all of my family's issues right now, I didn't feel comfortable going into the woods to prance around in a tutu until my mom finally said that they were fine so the week before Fair, it was a go!

Honestly, I think that not having put a whole lot of effort into my Fair clothes took a lot of the pressure off of me and just allowed me to relax. This was by far the most relaxing Fair for me, despite how it started.

On Wednesday going down, we had not one but two flat tires. I wish I could say that breaking down on the way was new but it wasn't. This led to several new things but I'm going to go with the positive and say that my new thing was riding a bike around camp out to our camp gate. This was the first year I've brought my bike to fair but it won't be the last.

On Thursday, my new thing was trying the eggroll booth at Fair. Those are some tasty and significantly sized eggrolls. I also spent my first day walking around with Nikki which was awesome. It took us three years to figure out we were the campiest in our camp and made a great costumed duo.

On Friday, my new thing was escorting a guy named Brandon back to his camp. Normally, the escorting part is a headache but Brandon and his friend were awesome and funny. With my skimpy outfits, a couple of security checkpoints we went through lightly questioned whether I was qualified as an escort and I said that I was. ;)

On Saturday, I relaxed. Like I said, Nikki and I made a great team with our campy clothing but I wanted to take one afternoon without tutus or short shorts and just photograph fair. We walked around a bit and I met a lot of Nikki's friends and took a lot of photos for Nikki. I also got to work gate with Alesha for the first time which was fun.

On Sunday, my new thing was getting a chair massage. Since I was so relaxed yesterday, I put some things on my schedule today; I wanted to see Jason Webley and Chris Chandler, I was signed up for a free chair massage at Security Tower, and I wanted an eggplant parmesan sandwich and I managed to do it all.

On Monday, I took the photos at the top with my timer on my camera and they're probably my favorite fair photos ever. It's the reason that I love fair and I keep going back. The great energy that I get off of these fabulous folks is everything I needed to fill me up for another year. I love my life but the day-to-day monotony of work and all can really get to me and it's good to let go every now and then. Oh, my new thing for the day though was resting a bag of ice in my crotch cuz damn it was hot.

phone sleuth

On our walk with Ava this morning, we found an iPhone 5. It had no charge so the find-my-phone feature wouldn't work so I took the phone home, charged it, saw the Instagram photo notifications that popped up, tagging the phone's owner in pics. I looked up the Instagram photographer on my phone, and discovered that the phone owner was a heavy metal dancer at the 'gluten-free strip club' so I went to the tattoo shop next door where the photographer's husband worked and dropped the phone off with him since DV8 wasn't opened yet. I felt like an amateur Veronica Mars.

PS I hate this holiday. Our animals are terrified & I'm afraid that an overly-patriotic neighbor is going to burn our house down.

What else?

Ever since I've figured out how to get comics onto my Kindle, I've been reading mostly comics and graphic novels. Earlier this week, I finished the DC Comics' series Flashpoint which was pretty good although I didn't care for the ending. Today, I finished the Sculptor by Scott McCloud which was just beautiful. 

giving it forward

I know I just yesterday posted about DIY culture vs the culture of disposability but today I dropped my old car like a hot potato at the door of the Oregon Humane Society. Yes, it still ran but it had issues and I wasn't ready to deal with them. I would have been but then Andrew's brother offered us the Bonneville which is in much better shape. However, since I got the Bonneville for free, I decided to pay it forward and donate the Metro.

After adopting Ava, I get emails periodically from the Oregon Humane Society. The ones that catch my eye are usually advertising cat specials because they came into a plethora of them. We can't take another animal on but I figured giving them my car was a good way to help them out. Yesterday before work, Ava and I went to the DEQ and the DMV and got the new car all set up in my name. Today, getting rid of the Metro was the last thing to do on my list for this holiday weekend so at 12:30, I was free. I went to the gym and then I was really free. I've got two plus days in front of me and not a damn thing on my plate. Plus, I've purged myself of a money pit and extra automobile!

fan-favorite

I was awaken this morning at 2am by the sound of silence and the stillness of the air. Every night, I sleep with the fan on. It's not just a summer thing either; I need the hum of the fan in order to sleep even in the winter. I've had this fan since I lived in Long Haus years ago and at 2am this morning, it finally gave up.

Years ago, there was an article on DIY culture vs the disposable culture. The author had his fan break and he fought the initial impulse to run out and buy a new one and instead took his broken one apart on his own and managed to fix it. The fan then became more valuable to him and it made him constantly second-guess the impulse to purchase his way out of problems. This article has stuck with me for years so when my fan broke, I tried a different plug in and then got out my tools, at 2am.

I'm not electrically-inclined but I thought a fan would be relatively simple. I could see a lot of dust in the back of the fan so I was that was just gumming up the works. I opened it up, cleaned it out with a fine brush and reassembled it...to no avail.

Sigh. I have a lot of issue sleeping in the heat anyway. I tried sleeping under the AC unit but the couch isn't very comfy. I barely got any sleep that night. In the late evening, I walked down to the Foster Fred Meyer to buy a new fan but they were sold out. I caught the bus to Home Depot at Johnson Creek but they were sold out. The Johnson Creek Freddies had a handful of box fans left so I bought one out of desperation.

I turns out that it roars loudly and gives good breeze. I think I'll be happy with it. It's a little more obtrusive so I'll have to figure out something else to use during winter but I'm not going to think of that sweet, chilly, soup-eating, hot-cocoa-drinking time just yet. It'll just make me more annoyed with this blasted summer.