A note for everyone---I have a new phone number. It is:

971.732.2706

Pass it along when you get the chance. Thanks.

By the way, I am back at 'Coffee People' on Grand Ave., and the girl working at the counter is a Goth with the name tag, 'Ashes'. This is fun, I think I am going to keep coming here.

I have been taking care of business and surfing the web for about the last 45 minutes at a local coffee house on Grand Ave in Portland, and so far I have seen:

(3) giggling, shrieking Japanese girls speaking in fast-forward
(1) Very feminine-looking transexual describing fashion and clothing in a deep voice
(1) Middle-aged woman in a Magical Fairy outfit, complete with wings, bells, and pixie-dust
(2) Gay boys (probably)
(1) Lady in full traditional Japanese dress, Kimono, wooden sandals, hair and all

And they say California is weird.

All in all though, this is a very cool town, and my new job is probably the best I have ever had. I am living with two great Catholic guys in a sweet old house way out in the country surrounded by huge trees with an incredible view of the Willamette Valley and Mt. Hood from our back porch. One of the guys is an old classmate of mine from TAC, the other is a kindly nutcase from Indiana, and we have been drinking, gorging, laughing, and jamming on ALL SORTS of instruments from the minute I got here. We were blasting tadpoles with shotguns last night. We are talking about trying to go see a good play. We are also putting together some songs for recording. Life is very, very good.

Sitting by myself in a chill little coffee house in Newburg, Oregon. I have not been this happy or relaxed in a very, very long time...

We made it in thirty-nine hours. The last great road trip in the long and hair-brained adventures of a strange and enviable duo; based in unshakable friendship, California bred, highway fed, and thirsting for all that is romantic and GOOD. Thousands of miles of desert, mountains, rivers, cities, things we had never seen all in a few brief days: this has always been our way. From here we go on to new lives---to the next great things...I am taking on the rain and mist of a seductive Northwest city; he is taking over the world of shopping carts. I possess and am possessed, by a sunbeam through the clouds, a rich moon through the trees, the endless laughter of an angel among the patchwork folds. A levy broke in my soul and what pours out now will flood the plain of God's wise choice, and nothing will ever be the same. And though we are home now, I am not here. The faces I saw and the places that spoke still whisper of songs sung in private, of smiles only felt, of souls that were buried but awaken. Let me live for this. Let these arms never loose their grasp. Let the tires whine across the asphalt forever, carrying me to the Falls at the Edge of the World.

I think I am going to go on a bike ride.

(I just read the Ramdom Englishman's acount of a S.F. Allycat.)

It has been earthquake weather here for the last couple of days...you know, hot, still, humid and overcast. Pretty rare for the end of June in California. Sort of eerie, but fun because it is different from the norm...I wonder which buildings will fall...?

The Matrix ain't so original. It pulled so many things nearly wholesale from other shows...like this one

Don't you love those rare evenings when you get home from work and suddenly find you have nothing pressing to do and you can just sit on the couch or go for a walk or do whatever you feel like doing? It is so nice to really relax for a change, especially when the weather is good here in summertime SoCal, life is going just fine, and new adventures are just around the corner. I spent some of my quiet evening watching the last part of Neon Genesis, a show I can't really recommend as GOOD, but it is certainly impressive, thought-provoking and moving. There is so much in it and it is so beautifully done that I have not fully taken everything in yet. The insights into human nature, and the perceptions of love and loneliness and insecurity are stunning. Nevertheless, as I said the last time talked about it, it is potentially very damaging and misleading philosophically. Watch it with care and discretion---I really think there is a lot of truth to be gotten from it, but don't watch it with your mom: a 90,000-foot-tall naked demi-god girl spilling blood across the universe is more than a little weird.

There have been many times recently when I intended to blog. Cars have been stolen, trips have been made, hearts have been stabbed...I just never got around to writing any of it down. And at this point you can give up the likelihood of my recounting any of it here. However, the frequency of my posting will hopefully pick up a bit. Transition is such a difficult place to be. My mind and heart are no longer in one place or one time. I am disconnected with nearly all aspects of the life that is going on around me and with the doings of my friends; I simply work to get things done, remind myself that I am happy, and struggle for...{[+]} Dreams have stepped down to make room for practicality, and that always sucks. California can be brutal place, especially in the rush and scorch of summer. And I want to go, but it rips the soul a little to think of it, and all the ideas have been crumbling just a bit too much. And now I am stuck once more with a broken car in a place it is not supposed to be, must be moved by Monday, and the bolts are all rusty and breaking...

Relief is too many miles from here---

The sun should not be shining today. There are many questions and spiraling thoughts gripping my brain, and I don't want to leave them for such things as sun and summer and work. My fascination and emotion have been engaged by the so-called philosophy and problems of Neon Genesis, an incredibly well done Japanese animated series. Is it possible to ask too many questions? Questions of the wrong kind? Or maybe it is simply that if God is left out of the picture our questions horrify us because there is no ultimate good. Man's ability to climb inside his own mind and fashion all manner of things out of that confused muck is shocking...it is very interesting that disorder and ugliness come from within man, not without. The human intellect is both beautiful and dangerous---without guidance it is lead to bizarre explanations of the things it cannot cope with; or reduced to sheer primal survival...

Listening to Simon and Garfunkle, up late, thinking about cars and friends and love and life and change. I am so hopeful these days...the tired, lost, confused me has been left somewhere among the empties, spent butts, and scorching sunlight of a distant but never regretted morning. What's next? How will life be tomorrow? Well, I don't know, but the spirit is with me; Jesus promised.

Blogging has been very sparse lately for nearly all of us in the TAC-related blog world. I'm not sure why this is, but I haven't been writing much either. It was such a cult among us for a while and such an enjoyable way to keep in touch...but it has become somehow shallow and warmed-over feeling. I think we could rise again, but do we want to? Sadly, I think perhaps an era has passed.