Crashbox

Portland is an interesting place. 10 miles of hoofing it and poking into many odd little counter-culture stores, asking for work, and just taking in the rush and strangeness of being in a new place have left me dog tired. This is the first time I have actually lived in a large city; it's exciting and weird at the same time. I always liked wandering around in cities, especially S.F., Denver, and towns like those; Portland is cast from the same mold, so it feels new and foreign at same time as feeling very familiar. My first encounter of the day was with a very friendly black man in trendy casual/business attire on the Metro; but every time my gaze drifted even close to him he seemed to get quietly offended. Whatever. The next person I met was in a warehouse thrift-store: [he] shyly asked if I needed help with a 'dressing room'. I regarded him coldly and snatched my purchase from his mushy, lotioned fingers as he tried to fold them perfectly before he put them in the bag. There was a cantankerous old 88 year-old man up on Sandy Blvd. that hated Bush because of the war: 'War is hell, son. I lost 23 buddies in WWII. Don't vote for Bush. He killed 1100 people. Don't matter how bad a person is, if you talk to them enough, they listen.' I wish you were right about the listening, old man. But he owned an International Scout dealership, (for old restored Scouts) so I forgave him. Later, as I was drinking a soda in front of a Starbucks I picked up a paper to try to find the classifieds, and as I read it I began to be extremely irritated by the amount of gay and lesbian ads and articles in it...until I looked at the cover (which had previously gone unnoticed): Just Out. I GET it, I GET IT! I threw the paper on the ground and left it there in the dirt to ROT. Dinner with the Happy Remixer was nice; after my complaints about the homo-ness of this city, he gave me a simple proportion:
S.F.:Gays::Portland:Lesbians. So much for a girlfiend, eh Sean? On the way home the guy next to me wearing the mushroom-print shirt, carrying an Emily the Strange purse, and drawing an elaborate unicorn on his sketchpad asked for the time. I told him, and he pleasantly asked where I was from. In the course of our brief conversation he informed me he was moving to be with his 'partner' in a 'well protected' community. Good. STAY THERE. What is with this city anyways?! On the upside, the day was beautiful and sunny, full of all that Autumn glory I have missed so much for the last few years, and Gillian Welch is coming to town with Old Crow's Medicine Show, and Social D. is coming too! So life is great, and I am stoked! Now to just make some money...