Portland!

So, Portland!

We just returned and so far the biggest downside is/was the 6-hour flight. But that won't matter much if we live there, right?

The Flight: InFlight Trivia kicks ass! I had no idea it even existed until DG informed me that he played for hours on his flight. Basically, it is touch screen trivia and you compete against other players on the plane. Let's just say that PHLLIP in 28D ate my dust. It was the most highly addictive game ever played and when we touched down in Portland I was at the top of the heap, literally. What's awesome about the game is a) it's trivia which I love and b)it shows you who in what row is getting what right (or wrong) and c)it is not unlike the empty superiority felt on being in the 90th percentile on pointless standardized tests.

I spent the entire flight defending my reign, gritting my teeth and internally shaking my fist at the upstart in 33B trying to out-trivia me. I will say that, as in life, Science & Technology kicked my butt and I was kind of embarassed to answer completely absurdly because I coudl see my neighbor playing as well. I tried to shrug it off with snorts or nodding and muttering "Oh, that's right. . ." when a correct answer for how many moons orbit Pluto, or what common kitchen product CIl represents (see, i can't even make up chemicals) trumped my insanely incorrect guess. But you can bet your bottom dollar I was racking up points when "Choose the real name of Elvis Costello" came up. Thank the lord there are no trivia tables in Vegas because I would be there bankrupting my future.

The Baggage Claim: You can always get a good read on a populus at the baggage claim. First thoughts--every guy looks like a hybrid of the musician/actor guy from "Once" and there is a lot of fleece and rugged sensible shoes. But I stood my own in my arch-damaging ballet flats.

The Look of the City (at night): Under the cloak of darkness and jet lag, the topography and architecture/layout of the neighborhoods we whizzed through resembled a wild hybrid (tribrid?) of Los Angeles/Seattle/Vancouver/The Set of Northern Exposure (but I think that was due to the use of tin and wood building that look vaguely ski-townesque).

The Houses: So many Four-Squares, Craftsman and Arts & Crafts bungalows my head is spinning. Generally speaking, my favorite style of architecture, probably because of being inundated with those styles from various t.v. shows set on the West Coast (see: Dylan's bungalow on 90210, the house the kids lived in on Party of Five, etc.) Anyway, all I could keep saying was "I love the architecture!" And, truly, they do a great job of mixing it up with ranches, Victorians, etc.

The People: As predicted, heavy fleece, light to moderate hipsters (lots of ankle boots, assymetrical haricuts and leggings), lots of 40-something ladies with toddlers and/or long grey hair. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And, by and large, the highest number of redheads per capita. Seriously, more than Ireland (and yes, I know that the redhead is not the norm in Ireland). Overall, everyone was super-friendly--from the Simpson's comic book guy cab driver who's greeting was "Do you mind if I don't turn on the meter? I just want to check on this homeless dude I know who I think may have been getting beat up across the street" to coffee shop baristas to waitresses to, well, just about everyone.

The Weather: It only drizzled one day. The rest of the time was sunny/cloudy.

The Coffee: excellent. Actually, too excellent as I completely over-did it the first day with two cups of coffe and a cappucino and was twitching out of my skin by 2pm. I had no idea (though I should have) that it was such a coffee town. I guess it goes along with the rain.

Other fun FAQs--you can't pump your own gas in Portland, you must have an attendant do so. And, no sales tax! Unfortunately, the income tax is high but at least there is public transportation, no urban sprawl and a view of the mountains, right? Also, the museums are free! And, I noticed a Chanel boutique as well as Louis Vuitton downtown. Not that I would ever purchase anything from either store, but I feel comfortable just knowing they are in the vicinity--it lends a certain sophistication to a city. Speaking of shopping--the Hawthorne District had tons of very cool resale/consignment shops chock full of mid-century modern furniture.

Prognosis: Positive!

Apocalypse Now?

Someone gave Chloe Sevigny her own fashion line. I've tried closing my eyes and chanting "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real" over and over again, but alas, it is real. Behold:

Too Much Animal Nitrate?

Surfing gossip, just came across this picture of Winona Ryder and her fiancé Blake Sennett??



So, full disclosure, the guy is the guitarist for Rilo Kiley, a band that I cannot fathom the popularity of nor even listen to for a nanosecond. Their song "Moneymaker" sounds like some godawful rehash from a mediocre bar band from 1998. Every time I hear it, I have to turn the station immediately. Second, does he not look like a weird version of Truman Capote crossed with Brett Anderson from Suede?



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She looks phenomenal, but I fear she has been trapped in a time warp where Brit Pop rules and side parts are all the rage. Okay, that might be now, but they just look too samey. You know, like when this happened with Brad and Gwyneth:



Can you believe that time ever existed?

Okay, enough celebrity garbage for now. I’ve been researching things to do in Portland and I am completely overwhelmed by the interesting things to visit/do/see. First of all, the Northwest Film Center looks completely cool and just the mere thought of a film center complete with theater and retrospectives on Robert Altman makes my heart skip a beat. Viva change!

Procrastination is Living

I stole the title of this post from an interview I just read with Erykah Badu in the NYT. Truer words have never been spoken. While I do not have any multi-platinum records under my belt, I do understand the joys of being unpunctual in your own life. It's strange because I have this compulsion to be so organized and keep on top of things, while at the same time internally I just want to say "Eh, fuck it. None of this will ever be done anyway." That's just my feeling toward errands and watching my entire weekend get sucked up in them. After many years, I think I have found a clever way to trick myself with errand-fun-errand-fun scheduling. For instance, yesterday while DG was playing soccer I coerced my downstairs neighbor to accompany me on an errand to the thrift store to drop off bags and bags of former wardrobe items--not totally fun, but freeing. We followed that with one his errands--a trip to the SPCA to browse cats.

Now, you might be thinking "SPCA does not equal fun." You would only be half correct. I don't know if I've just been out of the loop on animal rescue the last decade, but the SPCA here in our fair city (a renovated tobacco factory, of course) was absolutely jaw-dropping neat. As in private rooms for animals, open floor plan, a gift shop (!) and a huge dog track (not the beting kind) on the second floor. Plus, they have birthday parties with puppies. I was in awe, and, happy that the animals get such cool treatment.

We are still neck-high (deep?) in "The Wire." I can't stop thinking and talking about it. Probably because I'm spending 1/3 of every weekend watching it. There are plans for a field trip to Baltimore. This show makes dock work interesting. Of course, love anything about corruption, politics and cities, so it's a match made in heaven. I do feel it has made me more suspicious of other things--like the white van parked in front of our building.