Greetings to you from Portland, OR which apparently, according to the picture on your left is the "City of Roses." Learn something new every day. From the City of Trees (Boise), to the City of Roses. Whatever city I live in, it smells delicious. Anyways, it has been a blast being on break, as you can imagine. As you know, my mother has moved to the Salem area, so this has been a break outside of the norm. My time in the Salem/Portland area has been filled with delicious food, coffee, wine tasting (Um, had a glass out of a $1400 bottle of wine. No big deal), bike riding, jogging, dog-walking, friend-seeing (BFF Holly), cookie baking, over-consumption of TV and Pinterest (it feels so right...yet so wrong...) and good ol' fashioned "hoopla" (you may use your imagination about what this means). Today, my brother and I were reunited, sharing in a long and varied conversation involving gender, trans-evaluation, and Seinfeld. Rich. Also, POWELL'S.
If you do not know about Powell's, well it is just about one of my favorite places to be, though it can be a bit overwhelming, if you want to know the truth. It is the world's largest independent bookstore, and it is a full city block. I think they have one million books, or some unimpressive number like that. The store is literally so large that it is divided into different sections, each a different color--like a rainbow of literacy. The reason I feel overwhelmed is mainly due to having essentially an unlimited amount of options. Do I want to read about L.A. Gang culture? A guy's trip across America? How to start my own business? Or perhaps how to work less and earn more money? Maybe I want to learn about the lifespan of a jaguar, or how to begin a career in parrot-raising. Whatever the subject, Powell's has a book for you. My personal favourite (I wanted to spell it the British way. This seems like such a classy way to spell "favorite") is the Purple Section, because it is the Sociology and Feminist section, and it also has the bathroom and drinking fountain, definitely making it stand out amongst all the other colours (British again!). A strong second place is the Orange section which offers a copious amount of books on sustainability. Ironically un-green because of all of the paper. You could essentially camp out here and not have to move for hours (unless you want something to eat, in which case you could go to the wonderful little cafe downstairs). I've contemplated hiding out in there after they close down the store, just like Natalie Portman's character does in Wal-Mart in the movie Where the Heart Is, however I can now never do this because I have publicly published this statement, and they will use this evidence against me in court. Powell's is an exciting place to truly experience Portland culture at its finest, and I saw some people with some amazing beards. As you can tell by the below picture, you know that anywhere that appears to have a perpetual issue with rollerbladers (since they needed to post it on a sign) is definitely a place where I want to spend my time.
Anyways, that is all for now. I have been thinking about other things, so I imagine I will write about those things in the near future. As they whisper ever so subtly in Wham's "Last Christmas" (Merry Christmas!) (Go listen to that song, and you will see what I'm talking about). Also, Happy belated Festivus!
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