that is some fancy wood

I ran errands like a good girl. I turned in my forms but it was hectic in the office (they were rearranging) so I opted to email all my questions. No reply yet.

I went to Ace Hardware to check out wood for plank & brick shelves and was shocked! A single thingy of wood was about $12! I wanted four shelves at the least. This is supposed to be the cheaper option. Chelsey suggested a better wood place, so I'll check that out soon. I have a vision for long, grand shelves with spray painted bricks. I want to have things organized properly. A lady at Ace suggested a store on 19th & Lovejoy but nothing was there. I swung by Fred Meyer to get all the fixings to make awesome pot sticker filling. A guy liked my helmet and chatted me up a little. He was nice but not my type. I ran into Mel as well. She has awesome new glasses. I couldn't find the door shoe hanger that I wanted, so I'll have to go to Storables and see if they still have it on sale.

Today was the perfect kind of heat. Warm enough to warrant a teeshirt, but not so warm that I was forced into shorts.

The gyoza was whipped up in no time at all. Only one batch tonight. Cecine liked it. Of course she liked it. I made it.

We met up with Robin to go see Mask of Zorro in the park. It was the...park by a street. Uhh. I forget the name of the park, it was in the North East. The Goose RA's have a list of events to try and get us around to see more of Portland. It was only the three of us (Robin, Cece and myself). It was fun. We sat on a blanket and glared at a kid who kept standing up in front of us. It was a little cool and a wind was blowing but I was prepared with a hat and sweater. Michael Hall was there and he came over and said Hi.

The number 6 bus ends and starts its line about two blocks from the Goose. It took us almost all of the way there. Robin accidentally had us get off a few stops early but it was a wonderful walk through the cute Portland neighborhood (the one where she grew up actually). There were lots of cats to pet or try to pet. The bus back was really quick, which made up for the time spent waiting. A guy leered at us but otherwise it was fine.

I need to parcel the pot sticker filling and give it out to people.

not really in a bind

I've been bad and have been neglecting turning in some of the financial paperwork. Tomorrow I will go in and turn it in. Get out of the place and do something, ya?

I bound a book today. It was from a kit that I bought at Paper Source. It had pre-cut boards and an already bound thing of paper. I should have thought better about it because without the cords, I had no idea how to stick the cover boards onto it. I tried some book binding tape and glued the cover paper onto it. It looks good on the outside but the inside shows really poor craftsmanship. It still should work, it just isn't that great. I cut and folded a bunch of thick, pink paper for another book. This one is following the method that I learned from the course I took last year. I need the mull to make the spine sturdy, it is all sewn together right now. It looks fairly good but it isn't done yet. Maybe it will be a gift, I have plenty of sketchbooks.

Lindsay came over for Project Runway. It was a very good episode. The challenge was to design and outfit for a drag queen. The guy who lost, he was voted off because he refused to make a gaudy outfit. Uhh, it was for a drag queen dude? Yeah. Chris March was a guest on the episode and that really made our day. Lindsay is working on painting a giant head for a light show. She had to make it scary so I gave her my opinion. It looks really freaky now. So cool. She picked up her stuff (and Ibanez's). She will be back next week for another fun episode of good watching.

Cecine and I watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I made a large bowl of popcorn, my specialty. I love that movie. Even though it is my second time watching it, the mystery still took some thinking (and I seemed to have forgotten some part of it? uh). Cece digged it; a good sign that we have similar taste. I also watched Fast Food Nation by myself and I was sorely disappointed with it. Three separate plots (or so) with no ending to any of them. Lots of cameos stringing together a loose moral plot that never really hits home in any sort of way. It almost got there, but not really.

I really need those plank book shelves. I'm sick of the stuff cluttering the side of my room and my overflowing bookshelf. With more space, I can organize things in a proper way.

one year in, all of the rest to go

It is my one year anniversary of near daily blogging. It was on this day in 2007 that I left Seabeck for Portland. I am nearing my 400th post. Pretty amazing, huh? I've kept it up so long, shouldn't be so difficult to keep it going now. Go me!

Fire on the Mountain was delicious. Jim and I didn't get any Twinkies after our meal. I can't even imagine how I finished off the first Twinkies after eating what was the same amount as today. Afterwards we went back to his place and watched The Avengers (with Diana Rigg, he has the megaset) and Snuff Box. It was raining as I rode my bike over to his side, and as we walked to and from the wing joint. Not a bad rain though.

Cecine took Al to the airport. I made cupcakes and caught up on my origami calender. We put together the shelving unit she bought at Target. It was a special "no tools needed" kind and seemed to, in the end, take longer than the "tools needed" kind. But it is functional. We were a great team, I'd say. She has quite a few of the same books that I do. I need to get reading.

Chelsey got her Holly back from Karen this morning.

I watched Funny Games (the recent, US version). I didn't like it right when it ended but when the beginning and the end clicked together, I liked it. It was just okay. Sort of a weird, mind game type thing. Probably won't watch it again. The director of the film remade it shot for shot from the German original (that he also directed).

Oh great news: Shepard Fairey is not going blind. I had read that he was going blind from diabetes, but turns out he wasn't. That is great. He is a wonderful designer.

Oh and the thing I heard from a person that may or may not concern me, it may not be as bad as I thought. I'm so tired of juvenile, high school crap.

twinkies; in print and in batter

I had a dream about getting on a train to escape zombies. When my alarm went off, I fell out of bed in a mad scramble to turn it off.

I worked out about half as much. Probably because I was very sore from the return to getting in shape.

Karen and I were reading from the magazines I recycle bin-dived. Glamour had an article about binge drinking and they quoted a lot of 19 and 20 year olds in it. One 20 year old had pancreatitis. 20. That is my age. I couldn't believe how much these girls were drinking, and they were all underage! Esquire had 18 pages devoted to Steak.

I'm blogging early because Jim asked me out to Fire on the Mountain. They just opened one near his place. Tots! Buffalo Wings! Deep Fried Twinkie!

I heard from a friend that someone she knew was hanging out with a certain someone who was telling someones a list concerning something. I am probably on that list.

bye bye black cat

While I was out watching Amelie, Lindsay came and took Ibanez away. I forgot to call Cecine and tell her she was coming over. Ibanez and I had a good sleep and a good nap together. I'll miss his company. Maybe I should freight Basil down to Portland.

Karen and I are trying to get back into exercising. I did two 15 minute runs. Or one 15 and one 12. I forget, but it was passable. Robin and Diana joined us. We were one sweaty girl posse.

The four of us stopped by Jackie's room but she wasn't in. We left a note on her white board and left for the 23rd area. Karen drove us there but she wasn't sticking around for long. We went to Paper Source, a spot for all things craft. I picked up some official boards for binding books. I hope to get back into it, it is a fun project. And now that there is a store for all my supplies, hurray! I bought a sheet of cute goldfish paper but I'm not ready to use it for a cover. I have other paper anyway. The store was pretty sweet, but better for those who collaged like Karen and Diana.

There was a detour in some antique shops and Lush but we split up pretty quick. They went to World Market and I went to PNCA. Along the way from 23 to 13, I passed by a guy learning to ride a unicycle.

I saw Jackie at PNCA but I didn't tackle her or anything of that nature. The streetcar was crowded with smelly people.

Ibanez and I napped. Jen invited me to go see Amelie at the Broadway Metro. I invited Cecine and Al, they said they would catch up with me later. Robin and Diana had recently seen Amelie so they said no. Jackie was up for it.

Jen, Erin, and another PNCA girl didn't sit with us (they came in a little later than us, not late though). Broadway Metro shows $5 movies every Monday, next week is Harold and Maude and Ed Wood is after that. Pretty fun stuff. I have always loved Amelie. The color, the composition, the characters. Great work. Cecine didn't go, thinking that they wouldn't have enough time to walk there (it is a 10 minute walk, but oh well). After the movie we knocked on Diana and Robin's door and we came in for tea and chit chat.

The weather was really nice and cool today. It was a warm sort of cool. A teeshirt was warm enough. There was a loud burst of thunder early on.

A guy was recycling some magazines and I grabbed about four old Esquires. I got a few stares while I was digging through the recycle bin, but hey whatever. Not like I was in the dumpster?

Artemis Boothe

The new people are just rolling in. I hang around Karen as one of her goons. Today there was a setup of people going to the India Fair at Pioneer Place. I met Jalissa from Bremerton, Emily from Spokane, Kelsey who may have actually been the one from Spokane, and a few other girls. We got on the max but then discovered that Emily was not among us so I got off and jogged back to hang out with her while waiting for the next one to show.

The India Day thing was neat. Very crowded and there was a dancing stage. The young girls were quite good while the some of the older ladies were not so good at keeping in sync. Kelsey and I went back together.

Almost done with The Wire.

Cecine, Al and I did a car trip to Safeway. I didn't really get anything that would warrant a car ride, but I wanted to show them how to get there. I know my way around pretty smoothly but I must remember that not everyone does.

I hung out with Karen for a while in the evening. We poured over Esquire magazine and illustration books. Jackie from Virginia flew in and we went down to get her set up in her apartment. She has come a long way. I'm going to try and make more of an effort to get to know people this time around. Maybe I'll make cupcakes and lure everyone in. I got the fixings to do it.

Holly Update:


I bought kitten food for Holly with some of the remaining money that Chelsey gave me. I told her about it and apparently it was the wrong kind of food. It was the baloney of cat food. I'll return it soon.

Holly seems to be enjoying herself at Karen's. There are lots of dangly things to bat at and items to knock over.

shark punching and camel riding

I woke up early, just in case Cecine or Lindsay came over while I was still in my jammies (which I wasn't wearing because of the heat).

I went over to Robin and Diana's to return the plunger. Their place is so stylish. Those two make a good pair when it comes to decorating. They insisted their place was a mess, I said it was fine. Diana has a cat that is currently unnamed. She was thinking of a cheese name and I put forth Gouda. I showed Robin how to do the quick fold for teeshirts. They I remembered that I left my kettle on so I dashed back.

Later I went back to their place and brought my new art book to show off. Karen was beyond excited when she saw it. Actually, she wanted to get it for herself and so the suggestion of going to Powell's was brought up. Much fun was had flipping through it and basking in the manly perfection of those pages. Some people came by to borrow a screwdriver to install an A/C unit and Diana took up the RA duty of telling them that they could not have an A/C unit. Wimps, can't stand the heat for more than a day.

The RA's had to trade off before we could go to Powell's. When we were walking to the streetcar, we took turns saying what type of saucy adventure woman we thought we would be. Karen was the arctic jetskier that was bayoneting a Nazi and punching a shark with a Nazi emblem on it. Robin was armed to the teeth and waiting to ambush some commies. Diana was a pirate fighting off weasels while caressing pearls. I was riding a camel in the forest while wielding a machete against commies. Yeaaah!! These are clearly better female stereotypes.

Karen bought the last shelf copy of the book and a couple other discounted art books. Diana and Robin left empty handed. While in Powell's I got a call from Cecine (or Cece) and I gave her the number to call to get her keys established.

After Powell's there was a quick trip into Anthropologie. They have a heavy knit skirt that I love there but it is beyond even contemplating getting. Really pretty though. I love their cabinet knobs. Some were coral shaped. There was a detour in Storables. I left my wallet at home which was a mistake because Storables had the PERFECT door hanging shoe storage thing that I need (and on sale). I'll get it tomorrow.

On the way back we played the "my name is ____, I come from _____, and I come bringing _____" game.

Cecine was out when I got back to my place. I chilled, well I relaxed out of the suns rays and hydrated. It is another toasty day. Watched more of The Wire. That show has really grabbed me.

Cecine is very nice. She and Al, her friend, seemed to dig my bookcase. It does reflect who I am and what tastes I have. Later on in the night I was pulling things off and showing them to her. Maybe I was a little overenthusiastic about sharing. Haha. I helped bring up some of her boxes. I shared some of my cheese cake. I played with her snake, Ganesh. She has two snakes, Ganesh is the larger male one, and the smaller female one is currently unnamed. I think we are off to a good start. Ibanez was a little bit anxious from the new arrival. Lindsay will be by tomorrow to get him.



Holly Update: Holly bats at things. She isn't panting much. She isn't clawing up Karen's place.