trip prep in progress

Tags

car, travel

The planning is coming together nicely. The dates are firm: leaving on the 20th (Spring Equinox — can it be any more meaningful that that?!), coming back on the 27th. It’s an ever evolving process: I changed my mind several times, but always for the better. I finally came to the conclusion that I am just not the gambling type, or at least, not the “taking my chances all the way” type. I booked hotels/motels for every night except for the 20th and the 26th, because those are the dates when I will be “on the road” and since I don’t have a clear estimate of my long-distance solo driving endurance, I can’t be sure WHERE exactly I will finally call it a day and stay for the night. I am sure there are plenty of standard chain hotels/motels along the freeways so I am not too worried about it.

summary, a long one

Tags

books, car, epiphany, fitness, health, Millennials, Music, Portland, running, weather

Got tickets for two shows in April: Jackie Greene and Vienna Teng. I already know that the JG show is gonna be a lot of fun, since his Giving Up the Ghost has been on heavy rotation since I got a copy from a friend , and I enjoyed most of the stuff from his back catalog (specifically, American Myth). Not sure about VT, as her new album is not nearly as immediate and accessible as her previous three, but now that I am listening for the 5th time, I think it’s definitely growing on me.

Trail running: the Weather Genie has been exceptionally generous the past few days – it rained at night and then cleared up the next day. The trillium is now in full bloom everywhere in the woods. I marveled at the perfect triangular structure of the flowers, and even the leaves. The air is fragrant, the road leading to the park is covered by a riot of blossoms. Spring is indeed in full swing. 

• Wed: 5 miles (stitches at mile 3 so walked the remaining 2 miles)
• Thu: 6 miles (PERFECT, almost continuous run, with only a few brief moments to tighten the shoe laces) 
• Fri: 4 miles (a challenging uphill run till the turnaround point)
• Sat/tomorrow: want to do +6.5 miles on LED (depends on the weather, or maybe I should start being a real Portlander by running in the rain)

Being outside like this makes me almost loathe the gym. Still need to decide whether to “freeze” (and if so, for how long) or just cancel the account for the summer. 

bar mitzvah / anthropologie / kt tunstall /car

Tags

car, friends, Music, religion, shopping

Got up at 8am, took forever to get ready (flip flopping between two outfits because I was suddenly unsure about the one I picked out last night – why do I always feel that there is nothing to wear when my admittedly small closet is bursting at the seams?), parked 5 blocks away and hurried on in my heels in a typical Portland spring drizzle, and arrived at the synagogue 5 minutes early (I was planning on arriving 15 minutes early). 

Yup, I went to my first ever Bar Mitzvah. Not only my first Bar Mitzvah, but also my first organized religion experience. I have always labeled myself, depending on my mood, as “spiritual but not religious”, “agnostic”, or “atheist”, so I have never attended any kind of formal service in a church, temple, mosque, or any other variation. I often admire the positive outcomes of organized religions, such as architecture, music and particularly, a sense of belonging and community, but can never bring myself to embrace the concept of One Supreme Creator. So imagine my curiosity and anxiety between the time I accepted the invitation and the moment I stepped into the congregation. 

It was completely different from what I expected. I was thinking of a little singing and a long sermon (a mixture of reading the scripture and relating it to a specific current topic), like what I saw on TV. But instead, it was the other way around. Each of us was given a prayer book and the Rabbi and canter alternated in leading the singing of prayers in various parts of the book. There was transliteration of most of the prayers so one could sing along even if one didn’t read Hebrew. I tried but the rhythm was wrong so I just hummed along. It wasn’t difficult to hum, and the songs sounded ancient and beautiful, with a tint of sadness. I was surprised that the Rabbi talked very little and there was so much singing. The best part of the ceremony was when the Bar Mitzvah boy read his essay, followed by commentaries from his parents and other senior members of the community. Both the essay and the commentaries were heartfelt, moving, and even funny at times. You could really feel the love and pride in the room. It’s such a wonderful tradition to have this kind of “coming-of-age” celebration. I don’t remember how I spent my 13th birthday; probably just extra goodies at dinner and some cash from my parents. I was never forced to ponder upon the meaning of life, or the notion of being an adult, and honestly I still don’t want to grow up. Not that a Bar Mitzvah will necessarily make a grown-up out of a 13-year-old boy, but an occasion like this is going to be a such a great memory. 

———————–

I am done with the Portland Anthropologie store. On a whim I walked into the store in downtown Seattle last week and bought this ultra cute top that makes me look 10 years younger in a lovely feminine way. No such luck in the Portland store. I went there this Thur afternoon and was shocked to see a long line at the register!! The other customers were 30-40 year old women that looked like they had a ton of money to spend. Well, not me. I didn’t even see any sales item that caught my eye. It got me thinking how so many things in life happen by chance or serendipity, and can’t be replicated even if you want to.  

Grooving to KT Tunstall and finding myself liking Drastic Fantastic a lot more than Eye to the Telescope.

Went to DEQ again and passed the emission test without a problem. The attendant there told me that I was “lucky” that I only had to go twice, as there was a guy (conveniently retired) who had to make 24 trips before his car passed! Wow, what a car!

neighbors, movies, car, & taxes

Tags

apartment, car, Movies, neighbors, taxes

Two weeks ago: my new neighbor’s dog (still haven’t seen it in flesh): it barked, it bayed, it howled, it wailed, it emitted primal guttural growls… all when the owners weren’t home. I googled the best way to handle a noisy dog, and two tips were usually offered: 1) leave an anonymous note; 2) inform the landlord. Since I am not a big fan of anonymous notes (it just seems very passive-aggressive to me), I called the apartment manager, made the complaint calmly, emphasizing that maybe the owners just didn’t know, etc.. The manager could even hear the howling from his phone while we were talking (yes, it was that powerful and penetrating), expressed his sympathy, and promised to talk to them. 

Now: every night I hear “Down! Down!! No!!! Good boy!!!!” from next door. Guess they finally got a dog trainer or started to train it themselves. Anyway, it’s been pretty quiet (hope I didn’t just jinx myself by writing about this), but maybe it’s just because the dog has abandonment issues but finally got used to the new environment and stopped freaking out. 

Every night music wafts into my apartment from the couple on the other side. Thankfully, they have very good taste in music (aka, similar to mine…) so I don’t mind; in fact, sometimes I even stopped my own music and listened to theirs. So I guess, for now, I will not consider moving. 

Two movies I recently watched:

Vicky, Christina, Barcelona: great Woody Allen film. G and I argued a little while watching. She said I am Vicky and want “dorks” like Doug (her “boring” is my “commitment & stability”), while I pointed out that she is just like Christina, who likes and fantasizes about the “free-spirit, European” lifestyle and notion of love, IN IDEA ONLY, but could never pull it off in real life. Anyway, the ending is rather ironic, but so true. They went on a vacation, flirted with the idea of a different kind of life, but ended up going right back to their former selves (with minor changes). It’s a gorgeous film with brilliant colors and an amazing cast – in fact, I think the Tourism Board/Beaurea/Department of Spain/Barcelona should list this as one of its promotional features. It makes me want to go to Spain! It’s humorous most of the time, hysterically funny in certain places, and a pleasant surprise (I didn’t check it out in the theater when it was running, as the blurb sounded  just another formulaic romantic comedy – and it’s NOT formulaic). 

Watchmen: okay, don’t understand the appeal. Yes, I get the irony and dark humor, but it’s soooooo slow and boring I dozed off several times. 

Went to DEQ yesterday. My car failed the emission test because the testing device wouldn’t communicate with the car computer. Was told to get it fixed by a dealer. Called the dealer, was told that it would cost at least $95 for the diagnosis and more (a lot more) to get it fixed. Called DEQ to see if they could just test the actual emission like they did with older (before 1996) cars and of course the government doesn’t allow it. After a rushed lunch w/ EC, dashed to a dealer half an hour away, waited 2 hours half reading a dull book and half flipping channels between mind-numbing infomercials on back pain relief, Animal Planet’s Weird, True & Freaky, and VH1′s I Love 2003. Finally, to my surprise, and GREAT relief (I was bracing for the huge price tag) was told that the ECM computer was still under warranty so they just replaced it and I didn’t need to pay at all! Wow, best ending to a rather sucky day.

Done e-filing my tax returns. I owe almost $300 in federal and state taxes. Aaarrrggghhh!!! If I am staying here next year, I am so going to start the flex spending and individual IRA thing.

short… sort of, recap

Tags

car, crush, friends, games, gym, neighbors, resolutions, rock band, wii, Work

First day back to work. Gosh, getting up before 9am is torture!!! Honestly, even though I still fantasize about “working from home” as a freelance anything, part of me actually looks forward to coming back to work, as it provides goals, structures, and projects with deadlines, let alone human contact (outside of my usual suspects). Let the craziness begin!

Played the Wii game Rock Band for the first time Sunday. It was a lot of fun, but apparently my taste is too new and/or too obscure for Nintendo. Amongst all the demo songs, the only song I can sing is Orange Crush by R.E.M. The game features mostly classic rock such as The Police, Rolling Stones, and Kiss, or bands that I don’t care about (All American Rejects). Luckily, G didn’t know many of them either so both of us sucked at vocal and guitar (drum is the hardest). After many “failed” rounds, we were officially kicked out of the band because we were hurting L (the 13 year old)’s “street cred”, while he launched into a couple of solos that “ruled.” I feel old… My  saving grace came in the form of virtual bowling (even though I have never bowled in real life) – I beat L by a few points, although G scored three strikes in a roll and was the champion.

My gym is moving to the Pearl District. Why does everything have to move to the fancy schmancy? I love its current location and couldn’t care less about the “executive wood locker” and “exclusive membership” but apparently they desperately need money from the yuppies. Argh!

In other news, my cute neighbor finally moved out Sat. I think part of his allure comes from his elusiveness. He is so private and mysterious that even my friend LL remarked that maybe underneath that calm, nice exterior he is actually an FBI/CIA/NSA operative. Haha… I am getting paranoid! Why do the good ones have to leave? Friday I bumped into the hippie creep (the guy who looks like a hippie but unlike a real hippie, has no love in his heart, and is a total creep) in the laundry room (the battleground of our first encounter) again and I was still fuming at his lack of common courtesy and arrogant attitude. Well, *he* is not moving anywhere! Oh God, please grant me a good neighbor. Thank you. Amen!

I’ve accomplished one of my NYRs. The jury is still out on whether my change of approach/strategy/mentality has actually made any difference. However, it’s good for me to get out of my comfort zone and get myself desensitized. We will see what happens next.

My car was in for the 30k checkup today and set me back almost 400 bucks (if I do EVERYTHING they recommended it would be almost 1 grand, but luckily they were honest enough to admit that some were not immediate concerns. Whew~).