Day 358

sleeping outside makes a few hours of sleep feel like at least ten. the chunky columns and thick overhang protects from any midnight rain and i've gotten used to the howling of the train's pass. the skies grow lighter and lighter and i know that i've almost been up all night but by the time parker comes outside and slaps the flares of my couch head (similar to bed head) i find that it's almost ten thirty in the morning.

i had just posted up yesterday's late night strands when andy got home. he's a blonde kid with black frame glasses from arizona and has a degree in recording engineering. in last week's introductions his resemblance oddly reminded me of the character davey from the ancient claymation series davey and goliath except andy's hair is shorter. but he came and sat down and mentioned that we'd both been here for one and two weeks so far. i would have never really known who 'belongs' in portland and who'd just moved in. if anyone else comes to the house i'm sure i'll 'belong' to portland in their mind.

and we were sharing our observations on this city and the people and we both had confusing conclusions about meeting and interacting. maybe it's relatable to the weird tinge of yesterday morning. maybe not. but this is the first place that i've found thus far where laid back people aren't very outgoing in conversation but who become immediate friends nonetheless. and yet nobody really seems too concerned with context or depth unless it seems to warrent personal explanations for self expression and knowledge for art, music, or bicycle technology. it's interesting and almost attractive in a magnetic sense. grassroots. i've always wanted to use that word in an explanation.

but everyplace else i've been before here had involved a solid flow of people who were both curious about the comings and goings of life and developed the steps relationships as the means for becoming adjusted with the rest. maybe in portland everyone- and i'm not even sure who 'everyone' would be defined as since most 'everyone' i know so far has moved here fairly recently- is used to the dozens of people who'd flocked after reading blue like jazz. maybe not.

it's not a bad thing. definitely not. i do like it here. i just wanted to understand why i liked it despite the strange sub contexts. and i feel that this place in time and variety are good places to be. there's so much balance.

and because of this desire to understand all this i put on my rain coat and borrowed a messenger bag and rode my bike a couple blocks through the rain to palio's. the skies are white and the rain is steady and slow. nobody seems to mind getting a little wet. i'm inside now and my jeans are nearly dry already and i guess maybe i'm one of those people as well.




here's something you need to know. i'm looking to take a break from this blog in order to seek perspective on some things. in order to accomplish this i'm making plans to find a way to cannon beach later this week. the rain has been constant, though, and there are only a couple days that are supposed to be decent and good weather would be ideal for camping and reading on the ocean. thursday and friday are looking to be nicer and i'm planning on taking just my pack, sleeping bag, tent, Bible, and this book. i have a stash of beans and rice and ramen and avocados for the couple days and have some legal pads from the weekend's dumpster dive missions for notes etc.

i just read a line in the book bird by bird that says ''for a life oriented to leisure is in the end a life oriented to death- the greatest leisure of all" and i'm glad to have found this thought in one sentence. i've been trying to understand this idea in long paragraphs and late night postings. but leisure, along with wealth and technology, seems to be the philosophy of the western world's consumerism. that's why i randomly tried to explain life without a cell phone and car etc. that's why i'm trying to stay aware to the connections and developments of everything that has been going on.