make it a good day

Yesterday, my new thing was going to be Mediterranean Stew. To make the stew, I went and bought a slicer like my mom had in Nebraska. It's a little inclined plastic shelf with a blade in the middle for slicing veggies. However, I got a little careless with it so my new thing was going to the ER at Portland Adventist.

Since I've been in Portland, I've only had Kaiser Insurance until I started this job. Since I've been at this job, I've just been to the doctor once when I had an ear-ache and they did nothing about it. At Kaiser, ER visits were only a $20 copay so I thought that it would be worth it since I couldn't get my thumb to stop bleeding. I didn't cut too much off of it; it was only about 1/8 inch round circle. I bandaged it up 3x and put some blood clotting powder (which stung like holy hell) and it persisted on bleeding through. I got worried enough to go in and they cleaned it up a bit and put a little band-aid on it and billed with 10x what my copay would have been at Kaiser. So I was extremely pissed off at myself. I was upset that I did something as stupid as slice my thumb when the slicer even gives you a tool to hold the veggies (but in my defense, it doesn't work so well for eggplant. I was upset that I went to the ER in the first place and then that I didn't just walk out when they said it would be a $200 copay. So, I was determined to have a better day today.

I had coffee with Andrew, walked Ava to Tabor, took a THC lozenge, deep-cleaned the house, trimmed the bedroom curtains (my new thing), started watching the last season of Continuum, got a bubble tea, read comics in the hammock, met Andrew at Dove Vivi where he bought me dinner, and then met up with friends to watch the new Black Panthers documentary. Mission accomplished.

What else?
Earlier this week, I finally finished the complete Civil War in the Marvel series. I remember a friend telling me about it years ago as it was coming out. Since I've been getting comics on my Kindle, I've been interested a lot more in DC than I have in Marvel but I did enjoy this, mostly because it introduced me to a batch of new characters with whom I was previously unfamiliar. My favorite of these was Jessica Jones (pictured above) so I also got the Jessica Jones:Alias and Pulse series which I finished tonight. I'd highly recommend the series, even to someone who is less than familiar with comics and Marvel in particular. She stands alone enough to make it understandable and it's just fun.

from fireworks to bubble baths: memorial day weekend 2015

I planned to do a post every day and it's even easier for me to post since Andrew fixed my computer last weekend. However, time got away from me and I decided to do a wrap up of the weekend. Here we go:

On Friday, May 22nd, it was the start of the Rose Festival so that meant fireworks! Andrew and I bussed to the waterfront from our house and then met others there. The fireworks show was, as usual, awesome but that wasn't my new thing. My new thing was sitting in a bench I haven't sat in before at Nayar Taqueria. Nayar is one of my neighborhood joints and I've been there quite a bit. However, I've never sat on the bench. It wasn't life-changing but it was a different perspective and really, that's what this whole "one new thing a day" idea is all about. Change it up. It doesn't have to be earth-shattering, just different.

During my class of my graduate program, I wrote a paper on how I will avoid burnout and cited doing one new thing per day. I didn't mention the blog because I hadn't written that favorably about the class here but my professor liked the idea. He said that if I don't "run with the idea" and write a book around it, he may just steal it. I don't think that it's worth a book but I do think that it has validity. We get stuck in ruts and fall into familiar patterns way too easily. This is a way to shake things up, even if it just means finding a new seat.

On Saturday, Andrew wanted to plant our tomatoes and peppers in the garden and I felt like helping. I recently listened to a Joe Rogan podcast with Ron Finley about gardening and it made me want to get into it more. But I had another assignment. Since we have our bike shed in the backyard, we needed a good path to get from the back gate to the bike shed. Andrew had moved some flagstones there but wasn't happy with it so he bought some proper path stones (and moving them from Home Depot to the house was my new thing on Thursday). Being the Tetris fanatic I am, I instantly took to playing with them to derive a pattern that would meet our needs and came up with our path design. It came with its initial frustrations with the stones having to be under the swinging gate but not too low that it was a big drop-off at the start but I eventually found my groove. I didn't quite finish it on Saturday since we ran out of stones and we had friends coming over to visit so I had to clean up but I finished it on Sunday.

On Sunday, I also worked on our dingo-proof fence. My hammock rigging is on the front porch but I really want hang out with Ava while I'm in the hammock so I came up with the idea of a barricade on the porch. I was going to buy a bigger piece of lattice, trim it, and then frame it but Andrew suggested the smaller, pre-framed style which worked out perfectly. I was able to finish the path and get the fence installed all before heading over to Muffin HQ for some board games.

I love gaming on a three day weekend. I love gaming anyway but it can eat up most of a day and then I have guilt but when I've got three days, it's all good. We played Agricola which I love and did a fairly good job in this time. We also played Samurai which was new to me. It's a challenging and unique game which I will play again.

On Monday, I used the stain that was left with the house from the front porch and I stained the fence to match it. It may have well been my first time staining anything since shop class in high school. It looks so good now. We also went for a bike ride down the Springwater Corridor to Sellwood where we went to the Muddy Rudder for the first time. Andrew had been there before but for some reason, he just now introduced me to the place. It's right off the Corridor and I love it. I will definitely be more eager to go for a ride knowing that this place is there. At the Muddy Rudder, I won our first annual Memorial Day cribbage tournament although no drinks were won. Still, I have bragging rights now.

And then I ended the weekend with a bubble bath. I haven't been sleeping great. I will stay up later and then wake up pretty much as soon as it gets light out. Sometimes I can fall back asleep but not always. A combination of some manual labor, a bike ride, a few drinks, a light meal, and then a lavender salted bath had me so relaxed that I'm sure I'll be fine tonight. It was a fabulous weekend. There are things that I could have added on like dancing, a hike, shopping, etc. but right now, I'm completely content.

looking forward

I've been in a rut for a bit. That's part of my excuse for not updating my blog. The rut mainly consists of school and work and the rainy weather. However, we had a semi-dry weekend, I'm skipping school this week to watch the election coverage and I got caught up on my work last Thursday so here's a blog update.

Today, I had a great day, working out in the morning, getting a latte around noon at Powells while I read the latest Walking Dead comic, walking around the hood with Arturo and eating vegan milkshakes at Dick's. I also booked the Gearharts beach house for Christmas with Andrew since I'm not going back to Nebraska until my new nephew's born in January. The beach house is what I'm going to be the light at the end of this school quarter's tunnel.

What else?
I thought about going back to update October but for the most part, my new things consisted of new foods or new experiences at my internship. Here are the exceptions and/or the things that stood out.

On Saturday, October 6th, I went to the last night of the PLGFF in which they showed Cloudburst, a lesbian road trip movie with Olympia Dukakis. I can't recommend it enough. Afterwards, Andrew and I went to the afterparty at Crush which was fun but I liked the kickoff party better.

On Sunday the 7th, I watched the Timbers game at Long Haus on a projector in the back porch which has been nicely redone. Also, I joined Bastard and MLE at Ship's Ahoy afterwards for birthday drinks and good conversation.

On Wednesday the 10th, I woke up to the sound of scratching in the drywall behind my bed.

On Thursday the 11th, I met a new guy, the exterminator named Jason.

On Friday the 12th, Xbox and I had a great conversation about the house. Also, I went to see Margaret Cho who awesome as were her opening acts. So so so funny. I also went to Bare Bones bar with Jen, Ashes and Victory and later Justin and MLE. While we were there, we saw Chris Chandler from OCF. When I stopped him to tell him how much V and I enjoyed his library show at the last fair, he sat down with us and chatted for a while.

On Saturday the 13th, Andrew and I went to Brews for New Avenues. My old internship is really good at fundraising and they almost always incorporate booze into it. :)

On Sunday the 14th, I went to the Walking Dead season premiere at the Academy with Jen. It's a series that's really meant to be seen in the theater! Andrew and I also gave Dean a bath!

On Monday the 15th, I downloaded LibreOffice, a freeware version of Micro-shaft. I like it a lot more and I won't go back.

On Saturday the 20th, I took the day to work on my first paper for the term. I finished it in good time. Sophia made vegan chili so we ate that all day and, after I finished my paper, we played a new game which ended up being a D&D game. Yes, I have crossed that threshold.

On Sunday the 21st, Andrew and I went to see Blood Simple, the Cohen Bros first movie. It was great! We also went to Pastrygirl, the bakery/coffeeshop for the first time.

On Thursday the 25th, I biked to Clackamas for work for the first time since my accident (where the top pic comes from).

On Saturday the 27th, I DJ'ed Ashes' 33rd bday party. Since it was his 33rd, it was a Jesus/religious theme. I went as Lot's Wife (a salt shaker). I was one of only four or five people in costume but I still had fun.

On Sunday the 28th, Andrew and I went bar-hopping up Belmont during the afternoon, lightly drinking and snacking while playing cards. We ended up at Hob Nob Grille for the first time where I taught Andrew how to play Backgammon...and he beat me two times. It was also the 10th anniversary of my coming out. 10 years ago, my friend Joe directly asked me if I was gay and he was the first person I said yes to.

On Halloween, I didn't do a thing except go out to eat with Andrew. I really feel that I failed Halloween this year.

On Friday the 2nd, Ashes and I walked to a client's home on NW 23rd as part of my internship. I love working in the same building with him and getting to do breaks together. It was a lovely day for a walk too!

On Saturday the 3rd, Andrew and I went to the Republic downtown where I ordered a new dish. He's never been there and I haven't been there for years. We also went to Seven Psychopaths which sucked so hard.

And that's it. I'll try to update more often and to take more pictures.

muddling aroung

 Three day weekends are the best because they allow for days like this. Looking at my blog, it's easy to discern my weekend schedule wherein my time is divided somewhat evenly between Dean, Andrew and my housework. I did housework today but then I set aside the second half of the day to doing nothing but hanging out with friends I don't hang out with often enough.

Justin, Jen (Miss Ample Snacks), and I got mojito fixing and snacks and made mojitos in the park. It was a nice chill time. Bastard, Jesse, Gail and Beth joined us later. It makes me wish that all weekends were three days long (or that I was unemployed).

What else?
I tackled the bathroom hard today. As I said on my twitter, It's me vs the bathroom today. May the odds be ever in my favor. #TheCleaningGames

the orchard ride

Laying in an apple orchard on a late summer evening after biking sounds as delightful as it was. I love this time of year.

We biked to Powell Butte today and walked our bikes up to the top from the Springwater Corridor. There, we played our card game and sat and talked. It was just beautiful.

Afterwards, we biked down (which was a bit steep at parts but very thrilling). It could have been the French countryside by the looks of it in parts. We ended up craving margaritas so we went to the closest place (thank you, Siri) which was La Costita where we had gigantic margaritas which were much more sugar than booze. Surprisingly, the food was pretty good.

We concluded the fun day with an awesome ride through the Springwater Corridor at night. I've never ridden it at night before and it was the perfect night for it. The air was just crisp enough to be invigorating and the crickets were singing and all of the other people who I'd normally have to navigate around on the trail were non-existent. It was fabulous!

What else?
On Wednesday, August 22nd, I made up for my jerkishness the day before and met Andrew for a nice dinner at Circa 33. I had the drink A Drop of Poison for the 1st time.


On Thursday, August 23rd, I homemade a new veggie pizza with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and goat cheese in an olive base. It was okay but I should have let the dough sit out longer. I also fixed the screen door latch again by switching the handle with the old screen door and getting creative. It works now!

On Friday, August 24th, I invited Andrew over to the house so we could watch a movie on Xbox's TV while X and Sophia are in Boston. We've been dating for 16 months now and this is the first time we've watched a movie at home together. It was nice but I kept falling asleep because that's what I do.

a masterpiece in three parts

So here's a shocker: I loved the latest (and last) Batman movie, the Dark Knight Rises.

I've loved Christopher Nolan as a director/writer since Memento. When he got money, he was able to really strut his stuff and pull off what may be the best original trilogy in film history (I would say LOTR was the best based upon a novel series). Each movie stands alone as a great film but, when you combine the three, you get interwoven stories, well-developed characters, some solid acting and beautiful cinematography.

I have to admit that I was apprehensive about how Anne Hathaway was going to play Catwoman. I have always seen her as a living Disney character. However, she did a fabulous job, comparable to Heath Ledger's job as the Joker. However, there's no comparison between Anne's Catwoman and Michelle Pfieffer's Catwoman, mainly because Pfieffer's character was written by Burton and therefore completely over-the-top.

My one critique of the movie (okay two critiques) was Bane's voice. Yes, I realize that it had to be obscured due to a mask but between Tom Hardy's muffled dialogue and Christian Bale's raspy Batman, it became difficult to get invested in their scenes. Also, I hate ticking time-bomb suspense scenes. They always seem too contrived. However, those are minor complaints considering everything I was happy with in this and the other two films.

I will probably go see it at least one more time. It is almost three hours long but it almost seems too short because I don't want it to be the end.

What else?
Andrew and I went to see it at the Roseway today after having dinner at Zien Hong, which holds one of my new favorite dishes in town: Pepper-Salted Eggplant. So good!

My new thing today was helping Ashes put up the door to Sophia's room. It's halfway there. Who knew that it'd be so damn complicated to put in a door that's already framed?

that other reality

Last week, while we were enjoying the beginning of Country Fair, one of our friends passed away. Since I've been in Portland, I've only had to attend two funerals. One was for my co-worker's child and the other was for my grandma. I consider Portland to be a wonderland of sorts and death doesn't belong here. Today, I had to face that, even here, death is a reality that will still find us eventually.

I can't say that I knew Syd very well. We had only met a handful of times but I was more acquainted with his partner, Cat. Syd has faced a long and grueling battle with cancer, only to pass away due to the doctors' denials that it had returned. Cat's been with him for over 20 years. I can't imagine what she's going through.

Yesterday was Syd's funeral which was referred to as a celebration of life. It was hard for me to view it that way when I didn't know him very well and I could see that my friend was so clearly suffering. Despite the imposing religiousness of the ceremony and sermon (Syd wasn't a church-goer) and the meat at the reception (Syd was an animal rights activist), it was nice to have such a large gathering of people there to honor Syd's memory. It was also a lovely setting, on the marina on Hayden Island.

Afterwards, Cat wanted to go to the beach so we made that happen. Ashes, Victory, Josie, Jesse, Lori, Cat and I all headed to Manzanita at sunset. We didn't really have a plan other than to get to the beach. Normally, I would have had to bow out of the trip due to Dean but Sophia was able to care for him. Cat also had her little dog Buddha so I bought some treats for her.

 

It was a long drive but it was also nice to be with friends. We got to the beach after dark. None of us were really prepared for a beach trip so we didn't even have jackets, except for Cat fortunately. Initially, Lori was going to rent us a hotel room and told us to buy some food. When we found out all of the hotels were booked, we just sat on the beach by a campfire. The beach was calm and beautiful and not too cold or windy. Sometime after midnight, we decided to head back to Portland. I drove Ashes' car and he drove Lori's since hers was a stick shift and she was too tired to drive. We didn't get back until this morning at 3am.

I love my friends. I love that they would be up for going to the beach at the last minute at the wishes of a friend in need without any attempt to dissuade her or push their own agendas. We're a special bunch and I don't want to lose any more of us.

What else?
In witnessing Syd's ceremony, I would like to get out of making a will right now and instead opt to do the cheap version by posting my wishes on my blog. I don't want a priest there, especially one who doesn't know me. I haven't gone to church in a long time and that's been a conscious decision. To have my funeral be overtly religious would be to dishonor my memory. If I change my mind one day down the road, I will update this. I would have the people from the Spirit Booth at Community Village do their thing but that's not a requirement. Also, I don't want meat served but dairy is fine. I want whatever animal I may own to be there and I want to be cremated. There's a cliff outside Manzanita where my ashes could be dumped but don't pull a Lebowski and let them fly back in your face.

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately so I haven't been updating my blog this week but here's what's happened:

On Monday, July 16th, I woke early in the morning at camp and registered for classes on my I-Phone. I got into the class with my instructor that I had for my generalist class which went along with my internship two years ago. I'm thrilled about that. Also, on the ride home, Tomas taught me how to play Backgammon. I was exhausted and not in the right state of mind to learn the game but I think I got the concept down.

On Tuesday, July 17th, I was hit by a car on my bike. I was and still am 100% fine. I was biking in a crosswalk that pedestrians were in as well on Powell and 28th by the McDonalds. The eastbound traffic stopped and a car was slowing in the westbound traffic but she didn't hit her brake all of the way. I was in front of her when I noticed she wasn't actually going to stop but I couldn't speed past her because I didn't know if the cars in the right lane were going to stop or slow down at all. She tapped by back tire and my bike stopped so I jumped off. I cussed at her and then saw she was maybe in her mid-80s. She pulled over and gave me her info. I released the quick release on my tire and it fell back into place. She told me to get it looked at and I had to spend a good amount of time consoling her. Maybe I should have called the cops because I don't think she should be driving still but I'm hoping she'll realize that on her own.

On Wednesday, July 18th, I got my bike checked out. Corey at Seven Corners had to true the tire but it was fine other than that and he didn't charge me anything because he's super-awesome. I bussed out to Clackamas for a store visit for the first time.

On Thursday, July 19th, I went to Veggie Grill for the first time. I also picked up a book on defending animals called the Bond. I like it so far but it makes me want to quit my job and devote my life to animal activism. Later on, Ashes and I picked up the door for Sophia's room from the store and I bought a spring which I used to fix the front screen door. I also went to the Hunger Games with Jesse. It was okay but a bit long. I'm impressed that I managed to stay awake through it all since it's almost a three hour movie and it didn't start until 9:15pm.

On Friday, July 20th, I made chocolate walnut cookies for Syd's service. I was also thinking that I would bring them to a BBQ that Andrew and I were going to at his friends Mark and Emily's house but they weren't cooled in time.

baddest on the block

There's a house just down the street from our house. It's a rental and it's always been kind of unkempt. I used to take Dean by there when he wanted to eat weeds (for his digestion) until a few weeks ago when the hipsters that rent there cut all of the weeds down. They also tilled up the yard, put some stones around it and made it into a cute garden. My initial reaction was, shit, now we're the most unruly yard in the immediate area.

Our yards have taken over. The grass/weeds are really really long and there are new types of plants popping up all of the time. I swore that I'd work on it after I finished with my paper (and saw the Avengers). Today, I started to work on it (for the first time) but it kind of just looks like I gave the yard a bad hair cut. It's too long to mow over at this point so it needs a weed eater. I borrowed one from Ashes and took care of a small section of the yard but then it started to rain.

We're in for a stretch of rainy weather so I imagine that the plants will just continue to grow. Dean loves running through the tall weeds but I'd love to just cut it all back except for the rose bushes and the irises. Maybe I'll have the ambition to do so when the weather gets better.

door it yourself

Our screen door has been a constant problem since I moved in. The top two hinges were broken so we've had to lift the door up slightly when we close it. I've been trying to fix it for a while now, putting more screws in here and there but it's never lasted. On Friday, Dean ran up to bark at the mailman when the screen door was closed. I wasn't too worried about it but then Dean threw his shoulder into the door and it opened. Fortunately, he came right back. Yesterday, I came home to find the door off of the hinges and leaning against the front porch railing. Now the problem was undeniable and needed to be fixed.

Sophia and I took my first tour of the Rebuilding Center after I measured the door frame. We found several doors that we liked but only one that would fit and had the hinges on the right side of the door. We managed to fit more than half of it in my trunk and Sophia tied it down. When we got it home, I took the old hinges/frame off, took the spacers out of the doorway, and screwed in new holes. The latch wasn't at the right height and wasn't the right width so I had to mess around with that for a little bit but I managed to get it installed. I then bought some white spray paint to take care of the rust color on the mesh pictured above and a few more screws to set the door in properly.

Overall, the door cost $10, the can of paint was $3 and the screws were $1 but the satisfaction of having put a new/old door onto the house (that I like a lot better than the previous door) is priceless.

What else?
To celebrate, I checked out a new comic DMZ from the library and read it on the front porch. I also have a set of solar-powered Christmas lights on the porch so I had a little more light and was able to read past sunset. I'm sooooo ready for summer.

organizing the obsolete

It's rare these days that I pull out one of my CD's. If I do, it's likely that I'm just importing a few songs from the CD to my I-tunes and then I put the CD back. It's a shame because now I don't listen to full albums and I don't really appreciate the artistic message that artist may be trying to get across. However, it's sooo much more convenient this way. If I had the disk space, I'd probably just import every song off every CD I own so I don't have to bother with my discs. Alas, I don't have that much room so I still rely on the disc on occasion.

Since my move last year, I haven't had a spot for my discs. I can't just put them out in the garage either because I do have the periodic need to listen to a song off of some of them and it would just be too cumbersome to have to go to the garage every time. Instead, I decided to follow Ashes' and Victory's lead and build some shelves.

A & V built a big shelf in their living room for their bad cat to climb. It's helped his temperament quite a bit and the other cats like it too. All they did was get brackets and a board at Home Depot (along with screwing in some other book shelves into the wall so the cats can get up with ease). I've been looking around for pre-constructed shelving to put my CD's up. However, doing it myself (with their help) was easy and I got just what I wanted. It's sooooo nice to have the CD's organized again, even if I will probably not actually use them.

release the krakken

I liked tonight. A handful of us gathered for Destonie's birthday and played board games. As I've said before, I love board games. Combine board games with great friends and shots of Krakken (a fine dark spiced rum that I brought and tried for the first time) and you have one fine evening.

What else?

On Thursday, when I was showing the plumbers around, they wanted to see the crawl space beneath the house which meant that we had to get into the shed. The shed door hasn't been on hinges for the entirety of my stay here and probably longer. I pretty much had to undo the sliding bolt, pick the door  up and set it to the side. I found that to be a little embarrassing especially because it's such an easy fix. Today, I stopped at the hardware store quick, bought a set of hinges for under $4 and spent maybe 10 minutes fixing it. Simple! While I was at it, I fixed the front screen door quick although it's a very temporary solution. Still, it means we don't have to lift the door slightly to close it.

Yesterday, I didn't do hardly anything. I was waiting for a call to go do something and ended up just reading my new book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and drinking elderberry tea for the first time.

plumbing out of luck

On 12/6/11, Arturo came over for a visit. We got less than sober and I started talking to him about how our bathroom sink doesn't drain properly so he said that he could probably fix it. Plumbing has always seemed like a task I shouldn't attempt, especially in the state that we were in. However, he seemed confident so we took off the s-pipe and cleaned it out. I don't think it helped at all except to prove to us that the problems were beyond simple solutions.

This weekend, our kitchen sink pipes developed a leak. That was the final straw for Sophia so she called a plumber to come over and see what we need to have done. They came over today during the day so I took care of them. While showing them around, I got to see Sophia's bathroom for the first time. Due to plumbing problems, it's not used so that's how I've lived here for six months without seeing the second bathroom. The plumbers were fine guys who seemed confident that they could fix the problem but they also seemed confident that it was going to be an extensive (and therefore expensive) job. Paying for plumbing still seems like too much of a responsible expense for me or my friends to have. Maybe that's a good indicator that I shouldn't think about buying a house anytime soon.

What else?
I forgot to mention that I bought a new book on Tuesday: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. I just want one more frivolous read before I start school next Wednesday. It's a fun and easy read so I should be able to finish it in one day.

my favorite party

Typically, the client party at my work is the greatest party ever but this was my first year doing it without my partner in crime. Sigh. Even before he began to work in my department, I had arranged for him to DJ the party. Now, due to the stupid stupid nature of everything, he's not here and I have to be dancing on my own.

Despite the fact that he wasn't here, it was still a fun time. Work typically sucks but this is pretty much a day that can't fail. I DJ'ed the party for the first time and a co-workers' friend brought all of the equipment and set it up. Also, for the first time, I played a High School Musical song during a DJ gig. D, the guy who likes High School Musical, not only has all of the songs memorized but all of the routines as well. He was doing one of the routines in the workplace the other day and started teaching staff the moves. I researched it a little and found the song and the routine on youtube. So I played it. I thought I would lose everyone at that point but a good amount of clients knew it and a bunch of other people were willing to dance to anything. D was a rockstar tho. Everyone sort of gathered around him in a circle, cheering him on as he went through the motions of the choreography. It was spectacular.

Really, if I'm going to work here, I need more days like this.

What else?
On Monday 12/5, I ate dinner at the Long Haus. I miss the family meals. While it's not a new thing, trying Victory's new pasta sauce was.

On Tuesday, 12/6, Arturo came over to the house and we decided that we should look at the plumbing so we took pipes off of the sink. I've never done any plumbing other than fixing the toilet tank. It seems rather easy but something that can be initially intimidating.

On Wednesday, 12/7, I sort of didn't work. I can't go into detail though here. :)

'getting caulky' or 'locked, caulked and loaded' or 'I *heart* caulk'

I got some caulk today. Hee-hee. I also lost a screw off my bike this morning so I got to tell my cool co-workers that "I wasn't able to find a screw but I at least got caulk."

My new thing was finishing up my hammock in back. I caulked the wall where I screwed the eye hole in so it didn't rot in the rain. I've never used a caulking gun before but it was relatively basic and cheap and a lot easier to do than fix a rotted wall down the road.

I probably won't post tomorrow unless something amazing happens. Most likely, my new thing will be falling asleep or at least spending the entire evening in the hammock.

What else?
A few of us helped Tim celebrated his birthday today at Portobello. It was fun and I tried some new dishes (like the mushroom ravioli and the pole beans).

the world I know

This song has been in my head lately (I wish I could embed it but it's blocked). The song is sweetly sorrowful and inspirational at the same time. I however am mostly feeling sorrowful.

Today, I got a distressing call from a elderly parent of a client. Basically, the parent was admitting to me that they were being neglectful of their adult child with disabilities and engaging in behavior that was endangering people's lives. I know that she knew that I was going to have to report it. I think that she was telling me to absolve herself. If anything were to happen to her or her child, then she could always say that I knew about it so she believed it was okay. So now I get to be the social worker that gets a child removed from the home. This sucks.

I've had doubts about this job and this line of work before but today I broke down and admitted to myself that I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be responsible for this. I don't want to continue to go to school. I want things to be easy and simple and mindless again. I want work to be just that. Screw job satisfaction. I want a paycheck and then I want to be able to move on with my life. I want a job that has no actual consequences on anyone's life and I want to be able to forget about it as soon as I clock out. Hell, I want to be able to forget about it while I'm doing it.......but that's a lie.

I  wish that I didn't want to do this job. From my front step, I can see the video store near my house. A guy who used to do the same job as me at work quit over a year ago and now works as a video store clerk at this store. As I stopped at home today, I saw him bike to his video store job in his shorts and t-shirt and I was jealous. I miss my mindless video store days but only in hindsight. Retail work was boring as hell and when it wasn't boring, it was stressful. As hard as my job is today, it's given me some of the gratifying and best moments of my life. School is difficult too but it has also been amazing.

I think it's just summer. It's weighing hard on me. Thankfully, I have a vacation coming up.

What else?
My new thing today was setting up my hammock in the backyard. Ashes came over to help me and I messed with wire rope and it's now all secure. I've got to put the finishing touches on it tomorrow but, after the way today went, I really really need this hammock.

outdoorspace

Sophia has been more than generous with her house. Aside from my room, she has also given me the office/man-cave/Dean's room and the back porch. Tim started with the back porch but it still needs some work. I plan to make his vision a reality and get a hammock back there.

I was going to do it earlier this week or last weekend but the rain stopped me. Today, I decided to dig into it and cleared a pathway in the back and pulled a lot of the dead plants from the back. There's also a small plot of dirt back there among the cement and the rocks which Dean has claimed. I'm sure he'll burrow a bed there when I get it to be usable. I didn't succeed yet but I made good progress.

What else?
I walked Dean to Clinton Park for the first time today. I didn't plan on it taking us as long as it did so we didn't get to spend a lot of time there. Really, Mt Tabor is just as nearby and a lot more pretty so I'll probably just go there from now on.

bringing it all together

For the past two months and nine days, we've been overexposing ourselves to the neighbors. When we started painting the living room, we took down the curtains. We have a lot of shrubbery in our yard which hides our windows slightly but I would still run from the bathroom to the bedroom in my robe (although it would be any of the neighbors' problem for looking in the windows.

After our difficult process yesterday, I was relieved to get curtains and put them up. Plus we got sheer which looks really pretty. Ashes also put up our new light fixture and I assembled our floor lamp which also works beautifully.  Really, I absolutely love it. We had a lot of other fun ideas for curtains and sheers but Fred Meyer didn't have the product in stock. Still, I'm tickled to have what we got.

What else?
It rained pretty much all day until 4pm. It started after Sophia left for yoga so I went to pick her up. I met her at the Grilled Cheese bus. This thing is so unorthodox that after living in Portland for nine years and doing all that I do, it still managed to drop my jaw. I got a half-ass picture of it but I plan to go back sometime and actually eat there as my new thing soon.

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.

casey neil and the lawn monster

Today I saw Casey Neil for the first time at the Secret Society for the first time.  I've been so preoccupied with school and work and moving lately that I really haven't had so many good, relaxing moments with friends.  Therefore, I made myself getaway from it all and go to a show with Ashes and Victory for the evening.  Seeing more live music is definitely a goal of mine for this summer.  Casey is normally a musician that performs at the Country Fair.  I don't know why I haven't gone to one of his shows there but I don't think he's going to make it this year (from the tour info that he gave tonight) so I'm glad I got to see him today.

What else?
I tackled our lawnbeast today.  It was a hideous battle that I fought valiantly but to no avail.  I wasn't able to win the battle but I beat the beast back around to the back of the house.  Tomorrow, we will face off again, after the weed eater battery recharges.  After that, I will conclude my war on the yard and turn over the mower to Ashes to carry on the good fight.

eternal spring

Sophia, Jennifer and I painted the living room green today.  When we painted my office, we went from white to a light brown. My room went from one bright color to another and the bathroom doesn't have a lot of light to it so this room is the one that really counted.  Plus, the living room is where we will most likely spend most of our waking hours in the house.  It also gets the most light so making it's white a bright spring green was a drastic change.  I loved it but I think that Sophia's in shock about it.  Of course, she's lived in the house for around 6 years with the walls just being white so I can imagine it's jarring.  I think and hope she'll be happy with it eventually though.

I also took Dean to the house for a while before we started painting so he could get an idea of what we're doing there. He seemed fascinated by it all but eventually settled down on my bed for a nap.  I think he'll be happy with the move too.

What else?

Sophia, Jesse and I went to Apizza Scholls afterwards and I had a new kind of pizza.  We had the New York White Pie for the 1st time along with the our standard Tartufo Bianca with mushrooms.  The White was good but I love the Tartufo.