Century Link Hottie

The highlight of my week was when the CenturyLink guy came to install a router at work, or something like that. He was the hottest man I've seen in awhile, and it also got me thinking...where do all the black people in Portland hang out? Haven't seen many at the hipster bars I hit so infrequently these days, but I do see them at PCC and on the bus...there have got to be some underground hip hop bars or something...is that racist? In any case, my current insane schedule doesn't really permit hottie-shopping. I'm hanging on in stats and econ, (took the first midterms, so 1/3 of the way through the term!!), and work is work. I'm trying to find the beauty in the mundane (a repetitive/reliable routine is kind of nice), but the nicest thing about it is that I won't be working in this office forever. Bigger and better things are on the horizon. I'm going to be a student again! And buy a bike and hipster glasses. One thing at a time.

I'm anxious to hear from grad schools but also need to enjoy the beauty of this moment of not knowing. Just waiting means I don't have to make any decisions yet, or worry, or start looking for apartments, or whatever. I'm just treading water, nose to the grindstone, earning some cash and taking some community college classes (which I love, have I mentioned how much community college is rocking my world?). So instead of seeing this time as frustrating and wishing I could fast forward to mid-March, I'm going to enjoy the studying, the running I need to start doing and the yoga. Little by little, pang'ono pang'ono.

Malawi, I miss you. I don't think about you too much because I'd get sad, but that's the truth. I wish Zoona and Manzo were here to drink Specials with me. Mmmm specials!

Oh, and I met Megan at Pine State Biscuits on Alberta this morning for brunch, so I'm managing to do some cool ass shit in small increments here and there. And then I got a free supportland card. I love Portland! I love being an Oregonian!

DC

I have descended from the nation's capital back to Oregon, a provincial hinterland full of rain, and soon, reading for my classes. But what a fabulous week! So sweet to see all our hard work pay off, and watch the Inauguration of the president for whom I worked for 2 incredible months from the lawn of the Capitol. With my friend Sally, and hundreds of thousands of like-minded weirdos (something seriously wrong with us nutcases, willing to wait for hours in the cold to see Beyonce lip-sync...or did she?...). Freaking cold, but fur coats for the win!

On other business, I toured Georgetown and American Universities (to which I have just applied). Nothing'll make you feel old like attending an undergraduate campus tour with high school juniors and seniors. Looking at long lists of seriously inapplicable and irrelevant majors (theater? sociology? music performance?), I just wanted to shake them all and say: "Major in something that'll get you a job!" but who am I to dash dreams? Best moment was in the 10 minute movie at American University. The girl and her friends graduate and get great jobs, at Booz Allen Hamilton, or med school at Johns Hopkins, or one of them even joins the Peace Corps!! Hahaha, guess I'm not all wrong. Now I just have to wait until March to hear about admissions decisions. Good thing I'll be keeping busy at a tax office between now and then! ... I can see myself living in DC, although I felt like a country mouse come to the big city this last week, a know-nothing newb who couldn't recognize Supreme Court Justices on site and didn't think to ask what the chef recommended.

I also attended the Staff Ball and toured the White House (NBD). I've never felt more classy paying way too much for drinks and waiting outside in the cold. I saw Lady Gaga in person and George Sr. in portrait (and Tony Bennett). Overall, the trip was a success!

But now it's back to work and school...April 16th, you can't come soon enough!

Lately

The weather's been nice lately, which just makes me wary of what's to come. In like a lamb...

I live on the wrong side of town. I've known this, obviously, for some time (Jantzen Beach is the most disgusting mix of industrial, trashy 'mall,' Vancoovies, and million dollar yachts imaginable...little wonder we hit the bottle so frequently down here). And a beautifully fabulously lazy day in SE yesterday complete with Swedish food, Hamm's, a sunset on a rooftop, and a healthy smattering of hipsters just made it all that much more obvious. (Note: for good Swedish fare and a really cute waitstaff ;), DEFINITELY check out Broder. 3 thumbs up!).

The fair weather has also made increasingly obvious the lack of a bike in my life.

Nerding out - my latest acquisition from putting stuff on hold at the public library, (recommended by Megan), is Career Diplomacy, a book all about my future working in the Foreign Service. [Speaking of my future...yeah, nothing to report. Peace Corps wasn't kidding when they casually dropped the word 'waiting' into their literature a time or two.]

Thoughts and preoccupations of late:

• the earthquake in Chile. as far as I know, everyone I know is okay, despite the epicenter being super close to Chillan. Their homes, (and subsequent safety) aren't so stable. what can I do? not much from here. But I know of a family or two who could use some help, anyone interested.
  
• what will Meryl Streep have to do to win another Oscar? Like, seriously, who will she have to channel? Jesus? Mary? Joseph? All 3 at the same time?
  
• I used to think about being a stateswoman on Capitol Hill someday. But do I really want to run in that crowd? I mean, reading A People's History of the US is making me sick, and it's all the Capitalists' fault!
• I'm so glad I'm not 16 and pregnant. But I'm also so glad MTV made a show about it to remind me how glad I am that I'm not!
• Evan Lysacek on Dancing with the Stars. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!
  

Also sampled this weekend:

The Sultan Cafe - hard to find place but made up for it with yummy hookah, which simultaneously makes me feel cool as shit and miss the shit out of my brother. That shit's good shit!

Pope House - yummy bourbons. sweet bathroom. because of the Kentucky Derby, of course.

The Bitter End - I remember a jukebox, some Gogol Bordello and Johnny Cash. "This reminds me of every bar in Wisconsin." quoth the Wisconsinites.

So at least I'm continuing in my goal to get Portland did. I rode the #4 down Mississippi and that's where I want to try next, wallet- and weather-permitting. Did I really start this post out talking about the weather? How depressing...

Yeah, fuck that!

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future." -Chris McCandless, in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild (emphasis mine)

Word. THAT'S why I don't have a job right now. I'm nurturing my adventurous spirit, thank you very much. (...This year is going to be very trying, I can tell...) Adventure here I come! Relatedly, working on the next step of the Peace Corps application at the moment. Work it out! In unrelated news: I went to yet another McMenamin's today - Oregon City, check!