As I've mentioned in previous posted, I take the Portland light rail to work (a.k.a the MAX). Most of the time it is a fairly uneventful trip, I generally nap, read or knit and zone out for the 20 mins it takes. Normally the other passengers are doing the same thing.

I was riding at a different time one day this week, so it wasn't the usual commuter crowd.

There was a small group, obviously friends, talking about there jobs and what they wanted to do. At least that is how the conversation began. One was talking about working in retail and the upsides and downsides. Another then piped up to say "I'd like to get paid for getting laid" hmmm. Interesting. Now please note, this is a conversation they are having in public, and not quietly either. I honestly was trying not to listen, but I was about as successful in that as a fish surviving in a desert.

They then went on to talk about how many crappy movies and parts he'd have to take part in before he'd actually be able to get laid as a porn star. Then they continued to talk about how nasty the female porn stars are, how it would be like "hot dog in the grand canyon".

I mean seriously, do they not care who was around them listening. I mean there could have been small children in the vincinity...

I mean I know we all have the right to say what we want when we want, but perhaps there should be some kind of volume control. I mean, I didn't really want to hear about all this in the graphic detail they were sharing.

Although, it did give me something to write about.

National Park(ing) Day

Last friday was National Park(ing) Day. The premise of this is promote more parking within cities. Portland has more than 34 acres of space dedicated to metered parking, the opportunity last Friday was taken to claim back some of this space for the day and turn it into parks.

I went to go check some of it out. It was fun.

Seasons are a changing

I was waiting for the shuttle at work and took this picture, I can hardly believe its autumn already.

Autumn here is really pretty, its much nicer when the sky is blue though, unlike today.

Yummy/Scrummy

Last night after work, we stopped by the Hotel Monaco to see a friends photographic art exhibition. His photo's are incredible, and if you are in the area you should go and check it out, his work will be on display I believe until August 31.

Once home I made a scrumy lamb dinner. A person at work raises lambs, and I bought half a lamb from him, last night we ate scrumptious lamb steak and a vegetable medley. The vegetable dish that I make in one of my favourites, as it's so easy and tastes so good. I chop up a variety of vegetables (carrots, onion, mushrooms, potatoes, celery, bell pepper), place them in an over dish, cover them with olive oil, white wine, herbs and garlic, then stick them in the oven for over an hour. They taste so good.

For some reason I am very tired this week. I am not sure if its due to the busy weekend, work, emotional roller coaster or what. Realistically, its more than likely a combination of all the above, and some other things that I just can't think of right now. I am fueling myself with coffee, and hoping that helps. I think the excitement of going to the UK is also adding to things.

I spoke with my mum this morning, we are trying to get plans all worked out, so that I actually get the best out of my time there. I want to see my friends, but I also want to be able to spend some quality time with my mum, dad, brother and granddad. Its my brothers birthday while I am back too, and I have no idea what to get him, I mean what do you buy a 17 year old that has everything?

Zoom

Wow, seriously, its been almost a week since I posted… I can’t believe it. It really doesn’t feel like that long. The past week has zoomed by. Thursday was a hectic day at work, Friday, well I am not sure what happened to Friday – it just seemed to come and go.

Saturday, was a great day. I ended up at the Flugtag here in Portland. Oh my gosh, it was packed. We ended up just watching it on the big screen, there was far to many people for me to be comfortable and relaxed in a place I’d be able to see it proper. But, even by the big screen there was about 5 thousand people. The people that make those plane (things), and then run and jump into that stinky river, have to be crazy. I am however, pleased they do it, as it is so much fun to watch. I didn’t get many photos, but I did get a couple, and when I get home I’ll get them posted (although that may not be until tomorrow).

After Flugtag, we headed to one of my favourite Portland bars, Kelly’s Olympian for a few bevies and to meet up with the rest of our friends. Kelly’s is a great place to people watch. Every type of person ends up here at some point, and its not just the people watching I like. The owner of the bar, has a motorcycle collection, and there are bikes and other bits of memorabilia hanging from the ceiling and walls.

Later in the evening we went to go see a couple of lasses singing at a local bar, we’ve seen these girls before, and I think they are brilliant, Beth has a great voice. Then, at some point it was time to leave the bar, we watched some Flight of the Concords, at our friends house, then headed home.

Sunday was the normal routine, breakfast, groceries, Sapronos with dinner, however, there was a slight variation when we left the house to head for the Clark County Fair, to see Queensryche – not the music I normally listen to, but it was a whole lot of fun. The people watching was great!

Monday, like Friday is lost in a blur, which takes me to today, which is a relatively normal Tuesday… so that’s the high level account of what happened while I was gone, it went extremely fast.

This Is The Life lyrics

I am so much like a yoyo at the moment, unfortunately it’s not gravity that is bringing me down. I do a pretty good job of talking myself into a happy confident place, but then something will happen that will send me back down again. I don’t do well with sadness, I really don’t like it (although I am sure that not many people do like being sad). I much prefer to be a happy person, and I am doing my best to get there at the moment.

Well, now that is out of the way… as some of you know I ride the MAX to and from work (not relax max, but the light rail system here in Portland – I have to say that otherwise all kinds of rumours will be bouncing around). Well yesterday was no exception. I was on my way home, thinking about my life (deep stuff you know), and then there was a group of 4 guys who got on to the MAX. It was hard to miss them as you could smell them as soon as they stepped through the doors. I am not sure about the rest of the states, but Portland seems to have a lot of young folk who don’t seem to have homes. This group was one such group. They were a few seats away, and as I zoned out staring out the window, one of them picked up his guitar. They started singing a song, all 4 of them, on the MAX. Now I am sorry, but that sort of thing doesn’t happen everyday. It happens in movies and commercials, but not in real life. I’ve been riding the MAX now for 3 years, and I’ve never seen that before.

The song, what I could catch of it, was a little amusing… something along the lines of “You are what you eat, I am no Golden Arches” of course I wasn’t able to catch much other than the chorus. Well, once the song was done they got off the MAX, and life returned to normal (relatively speaking of course). Now the odd thing to me about this exchange, was no-one on the MAX really acknowledged what was happening, no strange looks, no uncomfortable glances or smiles, everyone just continued with what they were doing, it was as if this sort of thing happens every day. Perhaps it does, just not when I am around.

Peaches

Well I am back after a crazy weekend.

The craziness all really began on Saturday.

While on my way to breakfast, the ex-fiancé decided to send me a couple of text messages, I am not sure when he will come to realize that my lack of response to him, is because I don’t want to stay in touch. He was texting me to see if I would be at the Brew Fest, which I was going to be, but I had no desire to respond to him. I love “delete”!.

After breakfast, Ryan and I had to go our separate ways, I was looking at my blackberry reading the post over at the pub, and wasn’t really watching where I was going. I ended up walking into the middle of a group of pigeons… I have a terrible bird phobia. I felt as if someone had shot me with some adrenaline, my heart was going boom boom boom boom boom. I then popped into the grocery store to get some sun-screen (it was a gorgeous day – I love summer). On my way out of the store, a homeless lady started to tell me her story. I didn’t really want to give her any money, but as I was right outside the store, I offered to buy her some food. I expected that she’d want a sandwich or something along those lines, but nope – she wanted a peach. So peaches I bought.

I then headed to meet my friends and make our way to the Brew Fest. We stopped by the Saturday market on the way, as the festival began later than we imagined. We were able to kill sometime before the drinking would begin. A couple of years ago my friend and I had volunteered at the festival, and we had lots of beer tokens left over. This pretty much meant, that once we paid the $5 for the mug, the rest was free. I normally don’t drink much beer as it has a tendency to make my allergies flare up… but not this day.

I started off with a blue frog, it was ever so tasty. I don’t really remember the names of much else that I drank, there was a surfers summer ale, and a raspberry wheat, but I have no idea what else. But we made our way through several beers, and I don’t think there was a bad one in the bunch. Needless to say, we got merry, rather quickly. The sun helped us out with that. At about 4 we left the beer fest and headed over to a friends house, finally we figured it was also time to get some food (yeah, I should know better by now). One of my friends took a turn, and got a little sick, so we let her take a rest, and chilled out till it was time to move on to see our friend playing at the bar.

Once at the bar, I played some pool, I ain’t played pool in a while, and really, I am not all that good anymore. I seem to remember me being good at it while I was at college, but maybe that is my memory playing tricks on me. I switched from drinking beer to baileys and coffee, it was so scrumy. I lasted till about 11, before Ryan and I got into a discussion which made me flip from happy to sad. (more alcohol fueled than anything else I think). Well, I decided it was best if I just went home, so I called a cab. I feel quite sorry for the cab driver, who had to listen to the drunken ramblings of my heart break for the journey to my house.

The rest of the evening involved me shouting at Ryan about stuff (alcohol fueled again), us sitting at the top of the stairs for goodness knows how long, talking and crying, then a little sleep. Yesterday, I was so tired, we did our normal Soprano’s fix, then went to bed.

It was for sure an eventful Saturday, most of it was fun, the rest just needed to happen – I feel much better after letting that stuff out. There’s other things that happened that I chosen not to write about, its already a long post.

We Are Family

Well here I am again, stuck not knowing what to write about. It's been a little while since I was here, however, I know by now, that once my fingers hit the keyboard something will come.

I went to a(nother) happy hour last night, to meet a friend of mine who was in town for the week from The Netherlands. It was great to see him again, and there was a good turn out. We had quite a lot of fun. We met up at a Brew Pub, which of course only served beer and wine. I really enjoy drinking beer, but it doesn't like me so much. It normally messes with my allergies... but last night it did not. So after a few beers I was having a pretty good time.

This afternoon, I am planning on heading down to the Oregon Brew Fest at the riverfront. I volunteered at the event a couple of years ago, and still have a bunch of beer tokens left over... so they'll be getting all used up today and tomorrow. I just hope my allergies continue to stay at away, so I can enjoy it.

On another note, my mum just sent me such a lovely message. I am going to be over there for 3 weeks within 3 weeks, and I am really looking forward to it. My mum, is also looking forward to "taking care of me". Even though I am 29, I still like to be taken care of by my mum. Of course that doesn't get to happen very often as I only see her once or twice a year... but still... I love my family oh so much, and I really enjoy it when I am over there with my mum, dad and brother.

See, I knew I'd be able to write a post, once I got started :)

Swan dance

I said I'd post a photo of my wrapped up food... well here you go - my drunken swan

Life

Well its Sunday, and almost the end of another week.

This past week has been a crazy one. First off with Ryan and I breaking up, and I've just been really busy - which has been a blessing. Tuesday night I went to Eddie Izzard, oh my gosh, he is just so funny. In case you don't know who Eddie Izzard is:

The above is a clip from a previous tour, but its one of my favourites.

Beside seeing Eddie this week (he made me laugh so hard by the way), I went to see Willy Wonka in the Park (which I already posted about), Friday it was a happy hour with some folks from work, and the first night that Ryan and I have been out at the same place since we broke up. We have many of the same friends, so its probably something that will happen more often.

It was actually remarkably ok, it was only awkward for the first couple of mins.

Last night it was girls night, we went to a place called Montage, its one of my favourite places to eat here in Portland. It's cajun food. The mac 'n' cheese is my favourite. They have what they called Spold Mac - its basically a combination of Spicy Mac and Old Mac (Old Mac being yesterdays mac), but it is so tastey. By the time the night was done, I had a good buzz on, and done more than my fair share of laughing. Its always good to get out with a group of girls.

I don't have the photo yet, but one thing I like about this place is the way they wrap your left overs. They make your left overs into foil creations. Mine was made into a swan last night, they also make flowers, snails, swords, trees, crabs, giraffes and goodness know's what else. As soon as my friend gets me the photo, i'll be a posting it. (the photo that is posted is not mine, I stole it from Helen Y)

Today, I'm going to be off to help one of my best friends pack, she'll be leaving the state soon, and although I am happy for the opportunity that's come her way, I am sad that she'll be leaving. She's a wonderful person, and I'll miss her very much.

The Candy Man

Last night I went to go see Willy Wonka in the Park with a couple of friends. It was even better than I expected - and rather random.

We headed down after work, to the Rose Garden where the show was being held. There's an amphitheatre there, and it was a beautiful evening weather wise.

The cast was a combination of adults and kids.

The set, although it looked simple upon first glance, was actually incredibly put together, there were many combinations which could be created from turning bit around, or flipping pieces up and down by hinges - very cool. We weren't able to take pictures otherwise I would have posted some. After all a picture tells a thousand words.

The kids were so cute, and when they were playing the part of the umpa lumpa's they were just brilliant.

There were some weird, and funny parts though, for which I really do wish I had pictures, as I know I can't do them justice by description alone. Do you remember the part in the movie, or book where they are in the candy boat, and its all psychedelic. Well in this case it was achieved by the umpa lumpas walking round the stage with sign like things in there hands - ranging from Inca mask type things, to kites, to posters with tasselike thingies. It was quite bizzare, and I couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

Then, do you remember the part where Charlie and his Grandad take a sip of the floating bubble stuff...? Well, that bit was very amusing. Of, course with this being outside, there was no way to use lines to make them fly... so instead... they had life size dummies of Charlie and Granddad who flew about the stage attached to poles... Oh my gosh, it brought tears to my eyes.

Now, I may sound as if I am dissing this show, I really am not. I really think they came up with creative ways to make this work and tell the story on an outdoor stage, but it was quite humorous.

When it was over, all us girlies walked back to the car singing and dancing to the Candyman song... yeah - we really can't sing.

To Wish Impossible Things

So I am sure you are all keen to know how my weekend trip was.

It started off great, we took highway 101 down the coast, and saw some incredible views. The Oregon coastline is impressive, the sheer number of trees, the high rising Cliffside and craggy beaches, as you travel south the cliffs turn to long and high dunes, like I’ve never seen before. We spent the night at Coos Bay, and left early for Crater Lake. The drive to Crater Lake was also impressive, especially as we started to move into the mountains following the Umpqua rivers.

We stopped off at Diamond Lake for lunch, I had a little splash in the Lake, then back in the car. I can not describe Crater Lake well enough to give do it justice, nor do the photos give it justice. Ryan and I discussed this a little, and decided part of the beauty and awe of crater lake, is that as you drive through the mountains to get to it, you’d have no idea it was there. Its not until you get to the top of the rim do you see it. Its incredibly blue. Crater lake was created about 7,700 years ago when Mt Mazama erupted and collapsed in on its self. Over time, the crater has filled with rain water and melted snow, the Lake is 1.963 feet deep, and about 5 miles across.

We spent a few hours driving around the lake, getting out of the car at every opportunity to take photos and enjoy the scenery. One stop was at the pinnacles, they remind me of the architecture created by Gaudi, but of course were created long before his time. They were created when Mt Mazama erupted. Hot gas was pushed through the ground and fumaroles were created. Over time as rain and melted snow etched the landscape the pinnacles were revealed.

After making the round trip of Crater Lake we headed to Chemult for our lodgings. Chemult is a small town of 75 people. Our motel was the first on in town, so we pulled in checked in, then headed out for dinner. We ended up at the Chalet for dinner, we had a great rib-eye then went into the bar. We expected to just be there for an hour or two… well how wrong could we have been… it was 1am by the time we left and many drinks later. There wasn’t many people in the bar, but the people that we there were extremely friendly. The karaoke was in full swing within no time at all. If you’ve been to my blog much before, you’ll be aware of my feelings regarding karaoke and my ability to sing… well, with enough drinks I was up there singing a duo with Lea, I don’t think it was too bad.

As last call was called, Ryan and I left and went back to our motel to rest up for the long drive the next day. We this is where the perfect weekend turned sour. We got into a conversation which lead to Ryan telling me that he is not in love with me. He told me he wanted to be, that I am what he wants, but there is just something missing. So that’s it, the wbf becomes xbf.

The drive back home to Portland yesterday was long, I spent the whole time with tears rolling down my face trying to piece it all together – when the cure song “To Wish Impossible Things” pops up on Ryan’s iPod, it just seemed to sum up the whole situation perfectly.

Now we are both trying to figure out what happens now. We are tied into the lease, and neither of us can easily afford to pay the rent on our own, so at least in the short-term we will still be living together.

I know that the pain I am feeling at the moment will disappear with time, and I am just looking for the positives and opportunities that will arise from all this.

More photos:

Friday

It's finally Friday, and I am so happy. The weather here is wonderful right now, and I have no desire to be indoors, however, at the moment I need to work to pay the bills so there's no getting past the fact I have to at least spend some time indoors - oh well, such is life. I suppose if I was really bothered by that fact, I'd look for a new job in which I could be outdoors all day. Been as I'm not going to do that, I'll just stop my whining now.

Today, I'll only be working till lunchtime. Then I am going to Coos Bay and Crater Lake for the weekend. I've never been to either of these places, in fact I have never been that far south in Oregon. This is part of my birthday treat from the wbf. I am so excited.

We leave at noon, and then we'll be taking 101 down. Its going to be so much fun, I can hardly wait. I know this morning is going to take a long time, I am counting down the hours (I'd do minutes, but then it would feel even longer).

I've added Twitter to my blog, and I'll be sending updates there.

Smell ya later :)

Get your Pride On!

This past Sunday was Pride Festival here in Portland. I walked in the parade again for the 3rd time.

It was a blast.

About 125 people from my work showed up and we walked through the streets of Portland. There was a great turn out, both of people walking in the parade, and people on the streets.

Its a sunnier day today

Walking to the bus stop today was much more pleasant. Its' sunny! Woo Hoo!

Gloomy day but pretty flowers.

I was walking to the bus stop, and its a rainy gloomy day in Portland. I looked over where I was walking, and saw the flowers, even though its a rainy day, there's still a splash of colour, and I know the brighter days are just around the corner.

I'm so excited

I am moving into my new place this weekend. Just got the keys yesterday, and I can't wait.

I'll be moving in with the wbf.

The place is downtown, and you have no idea how happy I am to be moving back down there. I've been living in suburber for the past year, and I really don't like it. I want to be able to walk out of my apartment and have something to do, whether it is just to grab coffee, go to the farmers market, or go have a beer.

The farmers market here in P-town is wonderful. I am a foodie, and there is nothing like a farmers market to get a food fix. Fresh fruit, flowers, veggies, plants, pate, bread... and live music.

I am also excited, as I am about to make my 3rd sale on etsy. Someone has put in an order for my dragonfly tags... woo hoo.

Now I have to get packing. I am not fond of packing. I took Friday off work, to get it done, I seem to do better when I have to get it done all at once, but I'm so excited right now, I think I'll start tonight. However packing of course also means getting rid of unwanted/not needed stuff... I came across a box of clothes, that were my favourites, but of course now I don't fit into. Everytime I come across them, I tell myself, I'll lose the weight and be able to wear them again. I wonder if this time that will prove to be true...

Light-Rail Coyote

I was struggling to think of something to write about today, but as I was packing for my upcoming move, I came across my journal from when I first moved here, so I am going to tell you a story of a fun weekend back in August 2005(I have had other ones since then, don't worry, it wasn't my only fun weekend here in Portland).

I was invited to a pig roast at the coast (Paradise City to be exact). I had never been to a pig roast, and I actually have never been to another one since. I must say that the pig didn't look too pretty, but it sure did taste good. We hung out at the beach for a bit, drank some beer and ate. Been as I don't drive I caught a ride with a friend back to Beaverton, to catch the Max (this is our light rail system) back home.

There were a couple of guys on the Max who were trying to find their way into town, for a few drinks. They were from out of town, so didn't really know where to get off, or where to go. I suggested that they went to Ringlers, before heading on to the bar they really wanted to go to. Been as it was a Saturday night, and I had no plans, I decided I'd go back and join them. I was all sandy and wind swept from the beach, so I popped home to clean up and get changed, before heading back out to meet them at Ringlers.

After playing some pool (which of course I kicked ass at), we headed to Kelly's, which was the bar they wanted to go to. Kellys is a pretty cool bar, it was the first time (not to be the last) that I went there. This bar has motorbikes hanging from the ceiling, its the owners collection, he has more, but only displays a few here.

There was a lass sitting at the bar on my own and my 2 new friends (Pedro and Mike), started chatting to her, or was it chatting her up... Christen (the girl) had just moved to Portland, and had gone to the bar in the hope of meeting some people. We ended up going dancing. Pedro and Mike got kicked out for some reason, so we ended up losing them. I met a french girl in the bathroom, and the 3 of us had a lot of fun.

On the way home, we met a lad from my neck of the woods, he was over for a Sunderland v's timbers game. I think we'd also found Pedro and Mike again by now (actually I believe they found us, we'd tried to give them the slip). We shared a cab, and got some food before calling it a night. Christen and I became really good friends, and became regular drinking buddies. We seemed to do well with meeting lots of new people, and seemed to have a crazy story from every time we went out.

I haven't actually in seen her in a long time, we both ended up in relationships, and our friendship sort of fizzled.

I never heard from Pedro or Mike again, although at one Halloween, we did see Mike dressed up as a Gorilla. It was rather odd.

The weekend following the Pig Roast was also interesting. It was a normal Saturday morning, and I was trying to get as many errands done as possible. I'd just received my bonus check from work, so I wanted to go post it to my bank account, I also needed to do some groceries. I was expecting it to be an uneventful Saturday morning... While on my way to the store, I walked past the street it was on, so did a quick about turn before crossing the road. This girl started shouting something at me, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

Turns out she was a prostitute, and thought I was running away from the police, she thought I was a prostitute too. I promise I was dressed decently, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She told me I should become one or a dancer, that I could make a killing, I politely declined. If any of you have seen me dance, you'll find it all the more amusing, I dance as if no-one is watching, or should I say I dance and hope no-one is watching.

I am telling you, there's some weird things that happen here in Portland.