in the middle

A lot of people that I know can pick out astrological signs in people.  It's a bit fortune-cookie-like in that they take a number of traits that a sign is supposed to have and then they say that it describes them or a friend perfectly.  I probably fit the characteristics of an Aquarius.  However, I think that astrological signs have nothing on birth order.  I fit the middle child personality so much more closely than I do the Aquarius traits.

We discussed Family Systems Theory in my class today and, instead of having us randomly break up into groups, my teacher told us to get together in terms of birth order.  There are about 24 people in my class and only 4 are middle children.  The rest are split up pretty evenly between oldest and youngest (with only two being only children).    It was cool getting to chat birth order with a group of other middle children but it felt more like a support group.  We got issues.

I look at most of my closest friends and I think I only have three that are middle children.  It's weird.  You would think that we would gravitate towards each other.  In case you're wondering, middle child syndrome consists of a lack of belonging, reclusion, no sense of purpose/direction, trust issues and esteem issues.  Yes, those are broad categories that could in some amount or another apply to anyone but I think that I exhibit them well.  For some reason, I find comfort in the fact that I fit the middle child profile.  Maybe it's because I found out today that they are others out there just like me.

What else?
Salad month is over.  Thank god.  I liked eating big salads but I'm ready to move on to a meal that will actually fill me up.  I went to Backspace and ate there for the first time for my last official big salad of January.  We haven't posted our opinions yet on the big salads but we will soon and I'll put a link up here.

california dreaming

On my birthday this year, this will be what I'm looking at...

I decided that I'm going to take another birthday vacation this year with Dean.  Again, I'm going to head to the beach.  I thought about going to the woods on the mountain but the cabins there are more expensive during the winter and the only forestry service cabins that have running water won't accept dogs so I'm off to the beach!

The criteria I looked for when renting a beach getaway was 1) dog-friendly (obviously) 2) cost and 3) a bathtub.  Really, the location wasn't significant.  I wanted to be able to get away from it all and just relax with my boy.  I really liked going to the woods last year so I thought it would be nice if I could find a spot where we could walk to the woods as well as the beach.  After many hours spent searching rentals, I came up with California.

Crescent City in California has the beach and the redwoods and I've only been there once before.  There was a farmhouse there for rent really cheap but it's booked up for months.  After calling a few people in Crescent City, I found a rental house that fits my price range, will take Dean, has a bath tub and is less than a block from the beach.  I like the fact that I was willing to branch out a little and leave Oregon for this trip.  That'll make it more special.

What else?
Now I have to worry about how I'm going to get there.  My car broke down while I was in Nebraska.  I have a friend who is an experienced mechanic and needs to make some money to pay her rent for her and her two sons.  I asked her to come over and look at the car and she determined that it was starter.  Once I get that fixed, I'll get my car insured, tuned-up and I'll be set to go.
 

4 out of 5 ain't bad

Today was a somewhat sad end of a string of satisfying Saturdays.  January's been really kind to me so far.  I'm hoping to keep it up throughout the rest of the year.  In particular, the Saturdays have been great and I'd like to thank all who had a part in that.  Today was okay but it could have been better.  I spent most of the day on the computer.  After dining with Sophia at Bay Leaf (trying new big salads), we headed to Hollywood Bowl to meet up with people.

Bowling is fun but with my arm still bothering me ever so slightly, it wasn't anything I could do successfully.  Raven was cool enough to let me borrow his bowling shoes so I could bowl a couple of frames of his game.  Yes, I can fit into a 12 year old's shoes.

theater theater

Today was such a good day (with the retreat and all) that I kind of just wanted to dwell on it and not do a lot else.  However, I didn't have any immediate plans for the night and Sophia and Jen were going to a play so I went along.  We went to see 99 Ways to Fuck a Swan.  It was...weird as one can surmise from the title.  However it was really well done.  I've been by Theater Theater where the play took place many times but this was my first time in.  I need to make more of an effort to go to plays more often.  I had to work hard to stay awake to as I had already had a long day but it wasn't because the play was boring.  I'm just lazy.

retreat

Today, I ran around in the sun, played games with fun people and had my first game of ultimate frisbee.  And I got paid for it.  It's a good day to be a Topher.

I don't normally think much about team building exercises because I'm a cynic.  However, my internship retreat today was set up perfect for just that.  Dave picked me up today and we went to Camp Angelos, a retreat camp in the gorge.  Every staff person (except for the on-calls) for the agency were there.  We began the day playing games.  It felt a little forced but it was a good time to chit-chat.  After that, we had an hour or two of planning for the future of the agency and what we want to see happen in five years.  Then, we did challenges in assigned groups which sort of worked for team building but then we were just left on our own.

I stuck close to the people I work with most often but then started to stretch my social capacity and played 'Catch Phrase' with 14 or so other people in the sun in a field.  It was a fun game but, when they declared they were playing Ultimate Frisbee, I chose to switch to something a lot more active.  This was my first game of Catch Phrase and first game of Ultimate Frisbee.  The Frisbee was awesome!  We played six on six.  Dave, Sarah, Tim, Bryce, Austin and I were on the same team.  We ran around for around 45 minutes, getting the adrenaline flowing and working together; team building.  It worked.  It was fabulous.

waking up with needles in my arms

A few weeks ago, I fell asleep with my arm in a funny position.  I slept so hard that my arm didn't move and it ached in the morning.  Ironically, it continued to hurt (either due to sleeping on it funny, lifting excessively or playing a new rhythmic boxing game on Wii) and now I can't sleep because of it.

After putting up with it so long, I decided to go to acupuncture on the arm.  At the Brooklyn Acupuncture Clinic today, I was asked if I had some time I had to be done by.  I didn't so I told her no.  She began to poke me and slowly afterwards, I dozed off quick.  I thought it was only 20 minutes or so but, when I finally flagged the lady down, I asked if she could take out the needles.  My arm was exceptionally stiff but that was because I was out for TWO hours.  I can't believe it.  I mean, damn, I was flat out passed out for hours in a public place.  I guess it's speaks to the comfort of the Clinic.  They may not have fixed my arm but they did help my insomnia.

doggy dinner date

I know that I go out to eat a lot.  The sad thing is that I would go out even more if I could take Dean to more eateries.  There's the Lucky Lab but it's a ways away.  I've taken him to Haven before but he inevitably gets pissed at patrons while I have my coffee.

Today, I had to pick up the clothing with a new Prius zipcar on Division.  When I went to drop the car back off, I picked up Dean so I could walk him back.  I got hungry so we dropped off at Caffe Pallino (for the first time) and we split a Foccacia outside.  I love this guy.

We watched a special yesterday called Dogs Decoded by Nova.  It was a great little special on why dogs are so awesome.  Dogs are the only species besides humans that read human facial expressions from right to left across the face just like people do.  They also significantly decrease a human's risk of heart attack and, if a person does have a heart attack, they're more likely to survive if they have a dog.  Guess what I'm getting my dad for his birthday!!!

What else?
I benched my weight for the first time today.  I did my regular workout and then I did four reps of my own body weight.  Boo-yah!

hopworks: more than meets the eye

Hopworks kind of epitomizes just how awesome Portland is.  It's a bar on Powell sandwiched in an area with multiple strip clubs.  That alone is enough to make me leery.  It also serves as a sports bar in that people can watch big games there.  Again, not my scene.  However, they are very bike friendly.  They have more bike parking staples outside than any other place I can recall besides the specific bike parking lots.  They also have their bar (pictured above) decorated with bike frames.  If their bike friendliness wasn't enough, they also serve daiya as a vegan option.  At first glance, this is a brewery I would expect to find in Kearney.  However, the bike and veg friendliness is an inherent and valued Portland trait which serves to remind me how glad I am that I live here.  If they were a little less gendered with their bathrooms, I would call this place home but I'll just have to give it time.

For my new thing, I went there with Jen and Justin and ate a(nother) big salad.  I'm looking forward to going back there during pizza month or maybe sooner.

What else?

My local bar, C-Bar has been serving brunch for a while now and today was the first day I tried it.  Actually, it was probably just lunch since I didn't get up until 12:30pm and I didn't get there until after that.  Their brunch menu was very standard except they have homemade veggie sausage.  In appearance, it's a far cry from sausage.  It contains corn and more closely resembles a falafel.  However, it was delicious and will definitely bring me back.

riding that pony!

Dancing is my reward.  I had to read an entire book for class.  It's a good book but it's pretty dense.  Anyway, I was damn proud of myself for getting it done.  I read the last chapter of it at the Night Light because I really wanted a Spanish coffee and I had to eat another big salad.  My favorite quote from the book was, "as far as I know, that was the first and last penile exorcism to be sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services."

So, after homework, I partied.  It was a great Blowpony, really packed though.  The line, pictured above, was snaked up the sidewalk, up the stairs, back down the stairs, around a van and down to the end of the block.  Crazy.  However, it moved quickly enough and I was waived through the door fee cause Airick is awesome.  He also gave me a couple of drink tickets.  I danced my butt off and met up with my friend M2 who bought me another drink.  I was so damn spoiled.  More so than me, I'm hoping that Airick had a good time because he deserved this night to be fun.

It was a fabulous night.  Wonderful.  For reasons I won't go into here, I couldn't stop smiling.  It was just fabulous!

fine dining

When I was in high school, my FHA group went to Lincoln for our state conference.  While we were there, our teacher wanted us to get a fine dining experience.  It would have been finer had we as poor high school students not been expected to pay but it was still a memorable experience.  Mary DaMoude and I shared a tuna pate which I believe was an appetizer.  I think it was $10.  That's still expensive for an appetizer but it's more manageable now.  I do recall being disappointed in its presentation though since they ended up using two olives, a tomato wedge and a half an onion slice to make a happy face on the pate.  I was like, Wow, I just paid for an adult meal and I'm being given a happy face.

Today, Sophia and I, on our quest to compare big salads in Portland, gave the Farm Cafe a try.  It was my first time there but she's been going there for a while and can remember when the dishes were five dollars cheaper (which was only two or three years ago).  The food was definitely not cheap but wow, it was delicious.  I started out with their special drink, the 33 1/3.  Then Sophia and I got their salads, the beet salad and the Arugula Pear Salad along with brussel sprouts, their featured vegetable.  Since she's been there before, Sophia knew we should get main dishes too so she got the Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala and I got the Wild Mushroom Gnocchi in rosemary white wine butter sauce.  To finish off the meal, I had a rose dessert wine.  It was absolutely exquisite.

Looking back, I realized that I am not posting a picture of the dinner because I post a lot of pictures of my food.  I eat out a lot.  I'm aware of that.  However, I don't think that this was a typical dining experience for me.  The food was great but not overwhelming.  The food was pricey but completely worth it.  I can't afford to go there often but I know now where I will go when I really want to treat myself in town.

surviving january

I don't have a picture for today.  My apologies.

I love my job but I will be so extremely happy when I get a promotion just because I won't have to hate January's as much as I do.  Timing each of my clients at each of the sales floor jobs that they do is very time consuming and something that weighs heavily on my until it's done.  However, today I made enough progress to where I can see the light at the end of this dark tunnel.

I started off my day in my store in Clackamas.  I also biked out there just to set my head straight.  I used my bungee cord net on the back of my bike to haul my work satchel for the first time.  I also somehow got off of the Springwater Corridor and ended up biking to from Johnson Creek to the Clackamas Town Center on the sidewalk along 82nd.  I need to be more solid in my route navigation so I don't have to do that again.

Despite my detour, I was able to get a crap-ton of timings done.  In fact, I got all of them done at my Clackamas store (no small feat) and was able to head to my Powell store and do a couple more there.  Hell, I even made it into the office and worked on my payroll for the last hour and a half.  I am a machine!  I talked to a co-worker who spent all day at a store and only got four timings done.  This is her first year though.  I guess experience does pay off.  Anyway, I'll be able to rest a lot easier now.  I'm almost through it!

buffy turns 30

This is so ridiculous that I couldn't bring myself to add it as a "What else?" to my last post.  Today, I went to the Central Library for a birthday celebration for Buffy, not the show but the character.  See, I told you it was ridiculous.  Why it was at the library I still don't know.  Buffy the show ended in May of 2003.  Years later, the creator, Joss Whedon, decided to continue the series but through comic-book form.  Today was the release of the last comic of the 'season.'  Being an eternal Buffy fan, I have read (but not bought) the comic series (thank you library).  However, I have not been happy with it and have chosen to not acknowledge it as the official story.

Regardless, today's celebration was stupid but kinda of light hearted fun.  I miss seeing Buffy at the Mission Theater when I could get together with a bunch of other fanatics and just geek out.  The room at the library actually filled to capacity (around 120 people) and there was at least another 20 people waiting to come inside.  We played Hush pictionary, inspired by one of my favorite episodes, Hush.  There was also cake.  We seriously dimmed the lights and sang happy birthday to Buffy.  At that point, fandom crossed the line into crazy town and I had to bail.

The Buffy birthday episodes were always fun though and I may watch a few tonight, just to reminisce.  Yep, I'm a dork but I'm proud.

justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere

Last year, I heard about the problems that Airick, a queer organizer in Portland, was having with getting justice for the queer bashing that happened to him years ago.  After hearing about his problems with the legal system at the queer forum, I think the DA started to pay more attention to his case, mainly because it was put out there by a number of sources, including myself.  Later on in the year, I got to meet Airick properly as he was organizing a queer night at Autonomy.  He's a great guy and is politically and socially-conscious-wise right in line with my line of thinking.  Yesterday, his trial finally began, although it was already flawed.  Victory was there to support him but there was only a few other people by his side and they were going to all be unable to make it today so I showed up.

The trial yesterday lasted for over eight hours in which Airick was not only subjected to the incompetence/indifference of the DA's office but also to ridiculous claims by the defense, such as Airick was a member of Hells Angels or this couldn't possibly happen in Portland because Portland is too liberal.  It was an emotionally trying day and today the verdict was supposed to be given.  The jury convened to deliberate at 9am.  I was working at my internship but had a few hours that I had worked extra last week so I was able to sneak away for two hours today.  At 11am, they were still meeting and the jury for another trial was still being selected in the same courtroom.  I had to leave but I was filled with anguish until and even after Victory texted out the verdict, Not Guilty.  Airick was put through years of frustration and days of verbal and emotional torment only to come out defeated.  It was ridiculous.  For a full account, check out Victory's report back.

While it ended up being a bad verdict, I'm glad I could be there a little of the time for Airick and I'm super-appreciative that others, such as Victory, were able to be by his side throughout the entire court proceedings.  People think that it's an equal society now that we're gaining marriage rights in certain states and since we can serve in the military but it's not.  If a bashing can be let go in Portland after it was brought up to the mayor/police chief who is also gay, then we have a long way to go before we reach equality.

dietary needs

The holidays were cruel to be kind to me this year.  I used to not eat so many cookies and candies and pastries but my body became used to it over the past two months.  That ends now.  I don't like the idea of dieting but I do like the idea of eating more responsibly and better as well as the idea of making sure I get adequate exercise and the Wii Fit alone does not count.

It helps that Sophia and I chose this month to review big salads in Portland.  Today, I found another salad I liked at the Observatory.  I like the couch there and they had a handful of salads to chose from.   Upon the staff recommendation, I opted for the Greek Salad which I enjoyed very much.  Partnered with a strawberry lemonade, it was a completely satisfying meal.  I'm hoping to carry on a taste for salads past this month.  I order them from time to time but not frequently enough despite the best of intentions.  Here's to hoping that I'll make it stick this time around.

What else?
So, after the salad, I was feeling a little low energy and I had to head to another meeting clear on the other side of town in deep SW Portland.  I passed by Marcos and decided to stop in for a quick latte.  They have a decent breakfast menu so the next time I'm out this way and fall off the salad wagon, I'm going to have their eggs benedict.