3 Things
Saturday Skate Day: In summer, Saturdays are set aside for skateboarding all the day. Due to this Saturday being glorious, we revived the tradition. Errands were set aside. Tacos were made a priority. Life is just better when the sun is out.
The Shawshank Redemption: Did y’all know this is streaming on Netflix right now? A classic, written, oddly enough, by Steven King. Hope versus despair. Good versus evil. Plus, Tim Robbins and a young Morgan Freeman. Def worth a second, or third, or fourth watch.
A Spring Vacation: Sure, I just got back from New England, but to be clear, I don't consider that a "spring vacation." It was like flying back in time two months, weather-wise, back into tear-wrenching 30-degree wind and other East-Coast-in-April mysteries. But next year! I do plan to escape somewhere sun drenched and warm—hot even. Maybe catch a swim and a sun burn? I imagine it to be good for the health of my body, brain and soul.
Favorites 3.21.16
South Paw: I don't like Jake Gyllenhaal. (As an actor—I don't know him personally.) And yet. And YET! I liked him in this.
Going to the dump: Have you been to the dump lately?! You drive into the entrance with your load of, say, scrap wood, they ask you what you have, and then they direct you to an aircraft-sized hangar—of which there are many, each with a giant pile in the middle. Piles of TVs. Piles of mattresses. Piles of plastic. Piles of building materials. Piles everywhere! Creatures picking through all of them looking for even the tiniest morsel of value. It's fascinating. We should all know what happens to our trash after we toss it out to the curb.
Arugula: In love as in food, the bitter things make everything else sweeter. Aaaanyway, I'm super down for this bitter green right now, especially a pile of it raw and chopped up on a bowl of spaghetti or plate of cheese pizza. If you haven't tried it, do.
Coyote Wall in the spring: On Saturday, also known as the sunny weekend day, we drove way out into the Columbia River Gorge and hiked a big ole loop up through rolling green hills sprinkled with yellow and purple blooms, through piles of dark craggy rocks and your odd haunted glade, out onto a wild, sweeping cliff line to get battered in the wind. Mt. Hood loomed the entire time. It was crazy pretty.
4 Things
Retirement ramp: What happened was, I'd been missing my old mini ramp a little bit. I didn't tell anyone, though. Within a week, the universe, along with Colin, Johnny, Niki and Deva, had delivered a lovely used ramp to my residence. Life is, was, and will continue to be a mystery!
Purple cauliflower: New from the farm stand, an immense head of cauliflower in a dignified Easter purple. Blah-white doesn't do this vegetable justice—white things are usually bland, devoid of awesomeness. The new hue (they had orange ones, too! but purple = more fun) made my meal of roast butternut and steamed, deepest-green spinach look not unlike a Matisse painting.
Me And Earl And The Dying Girl: I'm gonna argue here that this movie is a lot more oddball funny (and much less dramatic) than the trailer makes it look. Still, it does make you feel. If you like laughing and also don't mind feeling feelings, watch this movie. Sidetone: I enjoyed all the warm faded greens going on in this film. Nice to look at and such.
Spring, springing: Just the tiniest little bit. We'll take it, though.
3 Things
The Revenant. A revenge story set on the Montana frontier, where the rawest brutality and grand, austere beauty are married by the power vested in Alejandro Iñárritu's camera lens. Nature is savage, and humans are no more than animals, after all. The movie is 2.5 hours long. I wouldn't write about it if it weren't worth the hassle. It is. And all them Golden Globes last night just prove it.
The best cruiser-board ring. Acquired for Christmas via the bargain basement of MapleXO, who doesn't really make rings like this anymore, which is just another reason why I like it so much.
Last week's snow storm. A not-necessarily-predicted snowstorm hit while Portland slept last Saturday night, and we all awoke Sunday morning to a city of zero snowplows under 3 inches of fresh. Calamity! It was the day after the day after New Year's Day, also known as the day you chuck your Christmas tree, and the boys of the Cub Scout tree-recycling program sipped cider on tailgates in the park as people from all over the neighborhood dragged their formerly festive spruces by hand through the empty white streets.
Side note: I like the way my house looks with the powder—cute and kinda old timey.
Favorites 11.10.15
The palette of November: The sun's always hiding behind purple-grey clouds and then piercing through all last minute, putting those lit-match orange trees into high relief. We can't pretend it's not pretty.
Old friends from other places moving to town for a month: Worlds collide. Your old friends become your new friends. Instead of flying across the country for a jet-lagged visit, you can walk down the street and visit them for a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee!
Not having hives: In a random turn of events, last year at this time I was in the depths of an illness brought on by lead poisoning. Maybe you didn't know? I was probably trying to be brave or some shit when I saw you. Anyway, after a year and a half, after a crap load of doctors and a crap load stress, I no longer have dark circles under my eyes or full-body hives. I am backing this!
The season's first really dark, damp Sunday doing nothing at all: Last weekend winter became real. The cat laid on the couch all day, while the dog laid on the floor. I stayed home and cared nothing about the cold or the rain. I read and watched movies for hours, I didn't give a shit. It was impossibly cozy. By the end of January, we'll be anciently tired of ourselves—but for now, things are just fine.
Asziz Ansari's show Masters Of None: Me and everyone I know—even, let's be honest, you.