I'm Falling in Love...

...with Portland! (I hope you didn't assume that I was capable of really truly falling in love à la les contes de fées and whatnot...) The more I discover and get to know this place Portland, the more I love it. Bars, the political scene, long-time residents, transplants, 'old-lady plays', Jewish mothers, etc. Funny, because as much as I love to leave it, I find myself liking living here more and more...

Thanks to coworkers and good friends I'm indulging in the bar scene (this evening: Produce Row Cafe, 2nd and Oak on the 'East Bank,' gasp!). In general, I'm embracing the 'quasi-hippie half-assed trendy liberal' scene that is Portland (and me by extension?) Am I where I'm from or is where I from me? Whoa. Trippy to think about. I guess I'm getting in touch with my liberal roots (I LOVE when my mom complains that MSNBC is 'not liberal enough')! All this coming from a post-'uber'-Christian. Yikes. And headed into the Peace Corps. But of course! TOMORROW! I'm mailing in all my medical forms to the Peace Corps. Major hurdle. Overcome, with the help of my 'ceases-to-be-amazing' mom. As always.

I am Oregonian, through and through, no matter where I go.

I leave you with this:

YES ON 66 and 67!!! Oregon is NOT Massachusetts!

DAN in JaPAN!

Trying to get medically cleared for the Peace Corps without health insurance...impossible? Nearly. Humbling, absolutely. I'm so close I can taste it--thanks to the Nara clinic, which is for Native Americans, but they served me anyways, and mostly for free. I'm still flabbergasted that I got all the fancy tests and vaccines (suck it polio!) for just a $20 copay...being poor and uninsured for the win! But really, they're one bright spot in the black hole that is health care in America. 'Obama! Get on it!' (accompanied by angry old man fist shake)

My old dentist is only doing 5 or 6 of the 10 fillings the other dentist thought I needed, so that's good. Thursday half my face was numb and my new nickname around the office is Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face. It could be worse; at least I'm not the Joker. I'm well on my way. By the end of next week my medical packet should be in the certified mail, and THAT will be my first victory of 2010!

I dropped my online PCC class today. That was a tough decision, because I really do care about my future, but I've got other bills to pay right now (did I mention how much fun the south of France was last year? Did I?). So I'm officially not a college student anymore. Again. I'm still getting used to the '20-something post-college pre-career underemployed station in life I'm currently rocking. Good friends, cool coworkers, and new Portland discoveries (most recently, Habibi, the best baba ganoush ever; Tube, a divey bar with good music and $2 wells) all help. And waffles. Tomorrow we're having waffles for the first time ever in this house, as my mom just bought a waffle maker. Mmmmboy! As Lauren at work pointed out, it's the little things. I got a kick out of a kid who went to Japan named Dan. DAN in JaPAN! Hilarious. I was cracking up. My coworkers think I'm crazy. Guess the nickname fits on many levels...

Another awesome thing worth mentioning is my return to the theater! House manager of a 2-woman musical that's part of the Fertile Grounds festival, woot woot! Check it out: The Only Way out is Through I just saw it tonight and it's totally cute, and a little crazy. It may explain your mother to you. So that'll be my Friday and Saturday nights over the next three weekends.

F#@$ Christmas!

I spent Christmas eve on an uncomfortable chair in the Dallas Ft. Worth airport, I didn't see my luggage until a few days later, and I ripped my favorite (read: practically only) pair of jeans in the crotch. But my alcoholic family just drank a lot (Bloody Marys, Crown & Amp, a Miles specialty, rum and cokes, fruity things, you name it one of us probably drank it) and ate well (Black Angus, Morocco in Epcot, Shogun) and got through it all somehow (Robot Chicken's Beast and the Beauties helped). We saw Avatar, Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba, and a manatee fart. Seriously, I saw a manatee fart, and Miles said he even smelled it. I even saw my ridiculous future.

I made my brother some pretty sweet 'mostly French music mixes' for Christmas. "Making a great mix is a great feeling" says Andrew. Here they are:

• Les filles adorent -PZK
• Foux du fafa -Flight of the Conchords
• Ca m'enerve -Helmut Fritz
• Meme pas fatigue -Magic System ft Khaled
• Ibiza (Marchesini & Farina Remix) -Desaparecidos vs Walter Master J)
• Everytime we touch -David Guetta
• Sens interdit -Ysa Ferrer
• No future in the past -Nadiya & Kelly Rowland
• Infinity 2008 (Klaas remix) -Guru Josh Project
• Release me (Cahill club mix) -Agnes
• C'est beau la bourgeoisie -Discobitch
• Love is gone -David Guetta ft Chris Willis
• Citoyen du monde -Tunisiano ft Zaho
• Celle qu'il te faut -Kenza Farah ft Nina Sky
• A la bien -Soprano
• Jai ho (DJ Fisun remix) -The Pussycat Dolls

• Flashback -Calvin Harris
• Evacuate the dancefloor -Cascada
• Ready for the floor -Hot Chip
• No dice -Beirut
• We are golden (Calvin Harris remix) -Mika
• Animal (Punks jump up remix) -Miike Snow
• Lex -Ratatat
• Say what you want -Texas ft Wu Tang Clan
• Uprising (Does it offend you, yeah? remix) -Muse
• 1901 -Phoenix
• Romance (Max Moroldo and Paul and Luke reloaded mix) -Fluxx & Lola
• How soon is now (extended version) -David Guetta ft Julie McKnight)
  

So yeah. Here's hoping 2010 is all sorts of awesome. Tomorrow I'm going to be a college student again!