riversiiiiide

this place sucks my will to live. i'm now a temp doing data entry and making copies all day and i feel like i've joined the ranks of lifeless zombies living from paycheck to paycheck. i could never do this for any extended period of time. i just don't feel like doing anything between the times i'm at work under those florescent lights, sitting beside the woman who laughs like a chipmunk.

ick

i have discovered that it is extremely easy to get used to not having to pay sales tax, and yet extremely difficult to get used to having to pay it again. weird.

adieu

today was my last day in portland. *sigh* my summer hiatus has been all too short. i had a great time at my jobs and hanging out with great people. there are so many things i will miss about this town. awesome public transportation. a coffee place on every block. finding cheap and free stuff everywhere. people who take time for other people. i could go on for awhile, but i won't. i'm so glad i took the chance and moved here, and i will miss portland dearly.

O' Canada

This is my first time visiting our great neighbors to the north. It is surreal, to say the least. I feel like I'm in this weird twilight zone hybrid of the States and England. Its not really anything like what I expected. But then again, I didn't really expect much. What, did I think they would all look like hockey players and wear weird hats and say 'eh' all the time? Lets just say I'm enjoying my time so far with the Canadians.

shows

i generally don't like going to shows anymore - too many people. but tonight was definitely worth fighting the throngs of drunk people. pedro the lion and death cab for cutie for five bucks. and i couldn't even complain about the sound sucking. it was awesome.

good times

alissa and i just got home from matt's birthday party. its so much fun to hang out with cool people. good food, good beer, good conversation, and bottle rockets. it was a good day.

hipster

i just got a haircut from a friend, and now i look super-cute. i couldn't go back to riverside with the same haircut i had when i left, now could i? so now i look like i've been a portland hipster for the summer. or have i?

refreshing

i'm sitting in my living room and its about 95 degrees in here. i felt like having a beer, so i'm sipping on my suds and thinking - whoever said that a cold beer is refreshing must have been a raging alcoholic. if anything, i feel more hot and parched than when i started. i'm tired.

graduate school

i'm finally getting serious about going to graduate school for an MFA. i've spent a lot of time in the past week researching programs and requesting information. my eyes and fingers are tired from spending too much time on the internet. this is a lot of work.

orphan

alissa and i went to the beach near astoria today, and boy was it windy. we were walking near the water at fort stevens state beach and saw this baby bird in the water all by itself and squawking its little head off. it turns out that its a type of bird whose parental style and migration habits make for a high death rate. we did see a lot of dead birds on the beach. so we took it to an area of the beach where the weather wasn't as severe and put it back out in the water. i would love to think that he's doing ok, but unfortunately i know the odds. sometimes nature sucks.

logic

went to craft night at nocturnal last night and sat at a table next to these guys who were downing a pitcher of beer and playing mastermind. it was both sad and amusing to listen to them talk out their train of logic, since it was obviously slowed down quite a bit. but we went home early because alissa and i both felt like crap. all good things must come to an end.

mrs. degree

what is it with girls at christian schools feeling like they're an old spinster if they aren't married by the time they're 22? its like the entire point of life is to be married and produce babies. i want to shake them and ask them if they think they have any value. and the answer is - 'yes, to be a mommie'. aaahhhhh!!!! nooooooo!!!!!!

homesick

i've been living in portland for six weeks now, and i realized today just how homesick i am. i didn't think it would be very bad, but i want to see my friends and family. a lot. i know that three more weeks isn't a long time, but it feels like an eternity.

irritating people

everyone has been irritating me to a much higher degree today than they usually do. my roommate is upset that we threw out her rediculously ugly chair while she was away. we all hated it except her. irritating. everyone on the MAX on my way home today was really loud and self-absorbed. irritating. we had a shower tonight for someone who used to live here and there were a bunch of girls here that i don't know. irritating. aaaaahhhh! i need to be alone and away from irritating people for just one day!

introvert

today was my day off, and i was looking forward to having the house to myself, as i usually do on fridays. but our new roommate had her family and what seemed like half the neighborhood over and going in and out all day long. i just wanted to scream and kick them all out. but i didn't.

coolness

we just came back from last thursday, and boy do i feel completely un-cool. i don't have enough visible tattoos or wear weird enough clothes to feel like i belong at stuff like that. i come away from gatherings of that sort and just feel so plain and homely. sigh.

ironing and the goonies

not ironing the goonies. watched the goonies while i did my ironing. i usually like to iron, but it was too freaking hot. i felt like i was working in a sweatshop or something. at least i had the goonies to help me feel better. goonies never say die!

snot

this morning i had a student coughing and blowing snot all over the desk and me. i was completely grossed out. he was special-ed, so he didn't really realize that what he was doing was totally gross. even though, it was so disgusting.

hypocrite

sometimes i feel like a huge jerk when i make kids do worksheets and lessons on things like compound predicates and dangling participles. i don't give a crap about those things, so why should i try and make them care?

Arrrrrr

there are seven betta fish at my weekend job. they have been without names for almost a month now. so today i named them all. after pirates.

second degree burns

today at work a little girl burned the top of her hand with a hot glue gun. i felt horrible. but i have been wondering from the first day whether it was a good idea to let children use tools that could possibly maim them.

mobiles

spent the morning making mobiles and listening to 'the wall' on my roommate's fisher price record player. its about a thousand degrees here today. i moved here from california to get away from the heat. shoot.

laundry

i dried my sheets out on the line today and when i brought them in to fold, the smell overwhelmed me with bitter-sweet memories. the human sense of smell will always astound me.