YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!
Those last coupla weeks were doozies. Busy with school, busy with art, busy with fun…just busy all over. I’m really starting to enjoy being busy. I always used to see busy people as stressed-out people, but I think the trick is to just keep really busy with things that don’t stress you out.
I got all but one small painting done before I left…even if it was only 10 minutes before I left…and now I’m home and pretty much stress-free. Just gotta figure out something wonderful for mom…
Man, I LOVE Portland. LOVE, LOVE, LOOOOVE. I think I only love it because I’m not stuck here, but nevertheless. Excellent restaurants, best vintage stores EVER, funkiest shopping in general, cozy old craftsman houses with stone steps all cushiony with moss and lush gardens. The people are mellow and mostly good, and love their snuggly sweaters and boots and coffee and beer. I’m almost at a place where I feel like I could live there and not be suffocating, as the art scene is finally expanding beyond hammered tin salmon wall hangings and myrtlewood tchotchkes. There’s hope yet. And may I say, Portland guys are sooo attractive. I don’t know if it’s their vampy complexions or their lumberjack/comic book nerd sense of style, but I love them. Adorable. F-U, San Diego brohams.
So being that it’s the first time in well over a year that I’ve allowed myself to NOT be busy at all, I am busying myself mainly by playing with the kitties. Moose is my 20-some-odd pound feline monstrosity who has no neck yet somehow remains graceful when leaping after the dasterdly feather-on-a-string. Zeke is a head case and a GMH story, rescued by my mom from being thrown AT (not in) a dumpster shortly after birth, he was the lone survivor. He is the smallest, softest kitty ever and bears a strong resemblence to a cinnamon roll, both in looks and personality. His tail never, ever, ever stops twitching. Bijou is a cruel joke: soft and gorgeous she will shred you to ribbons if you get too close. My typical greeting from her upon walking into the living room is a low, disembodied growl from behind the couch.
I am reading a Barbara Ehrenreich book called “Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America.” So far I’m not really buying it. It seems like she’s writing to the stupidly optimistic set, which I hope to god isn’t as large as she seems to believe it is. Positive thinking is supposed to beget positive change in one’s life, bringing about health, wealth and happiness, but not without a helluva lotta steps by one along the way. Are there people who believe that ALL you have to do is keep smiling? I believe a positive outlook regardless of your current life situations can shore up your sanity and bolster your confidence. But all it does is protect you from all the “free-radical” negativity and allow you to get your stuff done without too much drama. I see no problem with this. But then I’m only two chapters deep. Whatever, “Nickle and Dimed” was better.
Watching movies, sleeping and hopefully a fun little get-together at a funky little bar on Hawthorne with people I haven’t seen in 10 years is also on the agenda. That was a whole lot of babbling, but my point is, Hooray for Vacations!!!