The Best of Portland

I saw Ike Willis kill it during the Gemini Lunar Eclipse on Frank Zappa's birthday at the Mount Tabor Theater and the Solstice Puppet Show at Disjecta.

I missed the Monsters of Accordion at the Kennedy School this year, but The Winding Stream party was great. Interacting with and bumping into people from Kboo makes me feel like I'm part of a community with interesting taste in music and thoughtful analysis about the world we share.

I still wonder about what Bonnny Prince Billy said about needed people from the coasts to move back to places like Indiana and Kentucky so they can be good too. But for now, I feel very lucky to be where I am.

Monday I followed my gut and decided to go see Bela Fleck and the Flecktones play with the symphony. The description mentioned holiday season, but I was surprised when it turned out to be a full on holiday music concert with at least two medleys of Christmas carols. It was even more surprising to hear the Tuvan throat singing from Siberia. It was magical.

Last night H. and I had a big night out that was relaxing and fun.

Dinner at the Belmont food carts aka Good Food Here, watching a little Rebecca/Becky hula hooping. Then we came home to watch the premire episode of the Walking Dead. Then we went out to see the band Two Door Cinema Club from Ireland. They had a very enthusiastic crowd. I danced a distance away from my son.

I made him breakfast, went to yoga, he did homework, I made sandwiches and sonn we are going to see Megamind.

Daily I Ching Hexagram Free from Tarot.com

Daily I Ching Hexagram Free from Tarot.com

Poetry and peacock feathers
Web cam strips

Wall Street and deserts
Plagiarism envy

Heartburn fury
Passing fancy

Words filled
Filling nights

Beauty of wood
Carved tea woman

Making my face
with Diane Wokoski

I went to see Scout Niblett at the Mississippi Studios Friday night. She was like an anti-Johanna Newsome. She sang with a straight-forward US accent but talked with an English baby lisp voice. Her music reminded me of Jack White and Patti Smith. I felt lucky to have Suzy to come with me.

I feel like I've circled back to two years ago to start over, but without the ability to get ripped.

I still like the music on my iPod. It feels fresh and meaningful. My mind and it's container not so much.

I'm noticably in the red financially, even with a gift from my parents.

While this knowledge registers in my brain as a message to cut down on spending, it registers in my behavior as a spurt of credit card purchases out of worry that soon buying will come to an end (which is ridiculous). But also of obligations remembered.

Someone suggested that it would be foolish to pass on the last orgy of the Roman Empire, but that person is very cynical.

Yesterday morning I picked up a bunch of trash in the park. I've been collecting things there for a collage since I moved here two years ago. This time there was so much trash I threw some out. At one site there were the remains of two people hanging out: an almost full pack of smokes with one turned upside down for good luck, some cigarette butts, change, mostly pennies and a spiral ear thing. In another area there was an empty Hormel canned meat (spam?) container and parts of the label.

Later yesterday someone gave me a free ticket to see the Decemberists in Pioneer Square. I don't think I'll recount the whole affair, but the September 11th concert underneath the newly securitized Pioneer Courthouse seemed to me to be an example of what is wrong with the USA post-911. I don't blame the musicians.

I left the show before it was over to see an Irish guy named C something Lovett perform a Beckett story called First Love. It kind of pissed me off. I don't blame the actor.

There are rocking chairs here at the Saint Louis airport. The drinks here are overpriced.

But the museums in the park are free.

Moon River

Was playing when I first wrote to describe this rooftop bar scene. I may have lost tha t post. It said I'm soaking up sun, beer, chips and tapenade. The women are mostly wearing black and white, with spots of red, pink and purple interspersed around.

I've been reading Wonder Boys since June. I'm up to 3 am on the first day of the story. That Grady Tripp gets into ba lot of scrapes.

Now Dancing in the Moonlight is playing. I love this song.

Moon over St. Louis

Is there ever; big, golden, round moon. Checking into the hotel alone feels weird. Everything is moons here with a few stars. I'm in between the Redd Foxx and the Tennesee Williams suites. I've got two hours on the folks here and I slept on the flight from Chicago but I'm hesitant to go out. I'm not accustomed to the vibe here yet. I've unpacked. To retire to a book or tv seems lame.

I don't have a plan for Nick. He doesn't get here until tomorrow night.

On the conference, people followed one person's story about dropping his kid off at college with their menories of getting to Reed. The early adult undergrad experience feels so formative. But what is formed? I became a mother of a new generation but I feel like a kid.

Noticing travelling couples I remembered what it is like to have a partner to consult with and bicker. Now I bicker with myself by motoblur smart phone.

After a while of being nervous and not eating, I've been on a bit of binge lately. Ice cream, cheesy sandwiches, pasta, red vines and lots of sunflower seeds.

I haven't had a drink in several days and feel like in the absense of alcohol I'm getting bloated. The idea of a cabbage fast sounds appealing.

I'm behind on some things and when that happens, I tend to look around at all the other things to do and have a hard time starting anything.

Since my last big CD buying spree and the lost glasses stupid tax, I've been spending money on other people which is OK I guess. There isn't anything pressing on my wish list.

I'm getting a little anxious about the Pickathon. Typical for me to look forward to something for a long time and then get cold feet as it approaches.

Onion rings.

I bought a birthday cake without knowing what was underneath the frosting. I hoped it could be a good surprise, but it turned out to white, not to be what the person who it was intended for wanted. Luckily, I got a little fancy chocolate thing too.

12 candles for 38 (3+8) and 1 to grow. I blew them out.

I went to my second estate sale ever on Sunday. They were both eerily the same; same layout of house, same old lady doilies and odd knick knacks, same sad sense of the stuff left behind when a life ends.

My friend who knows about estate sales and being fashionable said I'd be a fool not to buy the grey leather coat with white fur trim at $20, so I did. I also put in a blind bid on a worn dining room rug. The estate sale guy today called and said I can have it for $200. I've wanted an old rug, but I'm not sure that this one really will go with my decor.

It feels vulture-like to buy this stuff from a dead person. Actually, maybe the lady or man of the house just has to move to a nursing home. Who knows? But in the spirit of reuse, I'll try not to feel morbid. I don't when I get stuff from Goodwill. And buying new stuff is probably more harmful in the long run.

Yesterday's yoga class was a great choice.

Making it past tomorrow night will be a relief. I have to bring food to a meeting.

I went to sleep last night at 9 pm despite the fact that a friend said the best band ever was playing. I seems that rest (and not going out) does have a correlation to health, I feel good this morning. Plus the band was named X but was from Australia not LA, so I was skeptical.

My throat is sore and my tongue is coated. I bought many natural remedies.

I consumed a lot yesterday: cannoli, beer, penne

Now and Later 18 Piece Wild Bar

Electrelane

Despite the frequency with which I try to buy happiness, I still overlook things that I could get that would yield such high returns. It's stupid to have a favorite band and only have their last album when there are 4 others to listen to. But now that I have realized what I've been missing, I can fix it.

I'm going to see Los Campesinos with Henry tomorrow. One of the songs on their new album has an organ part that sounds like Electrelane. But it was Annie's basement where the breakthrough occurred, hearing songs I'd never heard before amidst songs I love.

Cancerey microwave popcorn (Pop Secret in this case) can be so good.

Last night I had the worst pizza of my life, probably.

The jizzum pizza in Queens was more unappetizing.

But this pizza was something I'd been looking forward to for a while and was just so obviously going to be a disappointment. The foreseeable, inevitability of it's poor quality and the entire surrounding environment of wrongness was the bottom.

I don't know why I didn't take control and get good pizza, but I think it has something to do with Taoism and pity.

Birthday Cake--I should have remembered

This weekend it wasn't what I bought, but what I failed to buy.

The people who criticize me for not paying enough attention are right (as are the ones who say I pay too much attention).

I'm not keeping track of everything I buy this year so this blog has fallen out of use. But a notable purchase this weekend was a Tapioca, Jasmine? Ice Milk, Huckleberry float at Suzette. A lovely afternoon sweet treat.

I said yes to the make-up counter girl's offer to try on lipstick and ended up with a make-over Friday and some Yves St. Laurent stuff.

Today was goof-off day and I bought some stuff at Cargo in the Pearl District.

I'm probably a little too excited about Liberty of London at Target.

My new favorite recipe is macaroni and cheese with Trader Joe's goat milk cream cheese tossed with pasta oregano salt and tomatoes. I bet it would be better with spinach but I was in a hurry to eat.

I listened to Susan Piver talk about her book The Wisdom of a Broken Heart and Shambala meditation on Pathways before getting out of bed yesterday. It didn't sound like anything new but I took some momentary comfort in the familiar.

I haven't been able to process the Professor John Hall, Zack Bucharest story from 3/6 though.

I've been chilled but there's more sun each day. I have a lot of fruit from a big family brunch. My nieces are all doing great, more fearless than me.

I ordered a new lap top and am shopping for a new phone. Boots should be in the mail. My bike got a new wheel and chain and my car got a 40,000 mile check-up. I paid back the money I borrowed from my son, a plane ticket to SF for the other, paid bar dues and car insurance. (Have I given to Havurah yet?)

The other thing I think I want with my money windfall is a ventless indoor biofuel fireplace and some Liberty of London from Target.

Not trying to record everything I buy is a relief. On my livejournal, I'm trying to keep track of movies I see in a year. It is sad that there are really no books to keep track of. I read the comic House of M.

Good Earth Tea Bag Wisdom

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."

-Alfred Adler

New month here. In the first cycle of the moon in this tiger year a couple of old tigers looked me up. Being one year younger than tigers, I had a lot of them around growing up.

There were a couple of pig guys on Craigslist, which I rarely visit. I've thought about responding to their ads, but worry that I'd just be using them for my own selfish purposes. Maybe men would be a better thing to give up for the rest of lent.

My schedule for spring is getting all messed up.

I like that Obama is going to meet the Dalai Lama during the Olympics.

Shabbat Shalom

The morning walk is reliably good.

I should do what I want to be.

We got here already, despite ourselves,

Arriving as we flee.

I enjoyed the Noah's bagel dog this morning. The Fred Meyer donuts weren't very good, but I liked eating them. The dill pickle sunflower seeds, regular pumpkin seeds and snickerdoodle chunks are all tasty.

I should file my tax return early this year and pay some of my bills.

Today I ate leftovers from dinner last night, a good habit to cultivate.

I'm out of tea to drink at my desk and will see if hot water is good enough.

Before I veer off too much from the original "what I buy" theme, I want to note that I've recently purchased many comic books and a book of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales and have been enjoying hard apple ciders at various establishments(but am not sure if I like it better than beer). Today I tried a new deli/coffee shop--The Black Rooster and find it much cheaper than Kettleman's and good too.

I've been thinking about this:

"what cross-cultural psychiatrists and anthropologists have to tell us is that all mental illnesses, including depression, P.T.S.D. and even schizophrenia, can be every bit as influenced by cultural beliefs and expectations today as hysterical-leg paralysis or the vapors or zar or any other mental illness ever experienced in the history of human madness. This does not mean that these illnesses and the pain associated with them are not real, or that sufferers deliberately shape their symptoms to fit a certain cultural niche. It means that a mental illness is an illness of the mind and cannot be understood without understanding the ideas, habits and predispositions — the idiosyncratic cultural trappings — of the mind that is its host."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine/10psyche-t.html

with respect to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizotypal_personality_disorder

What does it mean to have a mental illness whose symptoms include the beliefs that a person holds?

This guy is interesting to me today. http://walkedwithangels.blogspot.com/

I can't get Deacon Blues out of my head and wonder if it plus other things are warnings about a car accident. Crimson has been coming up repeatedly too.

Gemini horoscope, free daily horoscopes for Gemini

Gemini horoscope, free daily horoscopes for Gemini

Purchases so good I go back for more

2 for $1.00 bags of candy at Plaid Pantry--butterscotch disks, spice gum drops and Bit O Honeys

Hard cider at the Laurelhurst Theater