Photos

Miki got a henna Tattoo with Kody!

Imagine my surprise when I saw this sign at an Adult Theater right next to Voodoo donuts. I didn't even know they played hentai in the U.S.! The hilarious part? Miki had no idea what hentai meant when we were giggling over it...(it's a japanese word for naughty things, usually naughty cartoons. Their anime's are pretty creative...)

Keepin' Portland weird as we waited in line for Voodoo donuts. A line that went down the sidewalk and across the street!

He amde her a balloon hat for free. Miki was so excited!

This was the back of a business card at a T-shirt shop at the Saturday Market...I bought one. It's says (with little pictured) Hexagon, Octagon, OREGON! lol

Miki and I went out to dinner this last friday! Do we look nice? And MAN that shirt was much shorter than I expected >.<

That's it for now! I seem to have run out of room in this entry, it won't upload anymore....

Spring Term

It was fun.

I'll forever be grateful(to myself) that I only signed up for 3 classes. Spanish had enough homework as it was. And I'll never be brilliant at Linguistics no matter how much I study. I just don't have the talent for it. It's interesting, yes, but I have problems memorizing the simplest things.

Like for instance, someone told me that the part of the sentence I was focused on was the preterit, and I had absolutely no idea what that was...

Poetry is sometimes good, and sometimes torture. I'm pretty good at writing threatening poems (in secret) about my teacher to distract myself though....

I still hate poems. I can say this truthfully without a twitch. I still despise Emily Dickinson, but I have been able to admit to myself that not only do I like two different death poems she wrote, I tend to favor her style of writing.

Which is interesting considering before I took this class I couldn't understand why someone would write such short lines that made no sense. But I seem to be waffling between Prosey poems, Dickinson style (with interesting punctuation and everything), and narrated poems.

All of which are interesting, and so different from one another that I wonder if I even have any sort of particular style.

Impulses

I’d like to stab your eyes out

—Just so you know—

For every “innocent” comment

You direct my way.

Especially when you repeat them

Two, five, ten times,

In that gentle manner,

Like you seriously believe

I’ll fall apart right before your eyes.

I’d give you “fall apart”,

If I wished to be convicted of manslaughter.

—But I don’t—

So I let you bumble along

In your delusions

And keep my impulses

To myself.

It was hilarious how everyone interpreted this poem. But not as interesting, I think, as the interpretation of my previous poem. But my teacher loved this, funnily enough, which is odd considering it's about him....I'm pretty good at reading it aloud. I practiced. I needed some humor, and straighforwardness, and venom to make it entertaining. It was lots of fun! Everyone was so surprised when I got up to read my two favorite poems at the end of class and I could recite this one without looking....

That's because I read it aloud on my way home everyday for a week to practice getting my cues down perfectly. The Professor was right about one thing: poems do sound much better if you practice reading them aloud first!

Got my grades back just this last Friday.

I think I did pretty well!

Linguistics: C+
Spanish: B(was it a plus? I can't remember.)
Poetry: A

Woohoo!

Go me :)

I had to sign up for Fall term already...That was fun, lemme tell ya! I registered for British Lit., some writing intensive class, and Spanish 201. I think that's all I'm signed up for. It better be. I'm not up for taking much more than 12 credits anymore, it's a surefire way to burn out, that's for sure.

Although I need to take some sort of art class, but the one I need is already full. If I decide it's absolutely neccessary by fall term, I'll sit in on the class and see if I can get in. If not? I'll not worry about it. I'm going to have to take an extra year here at WOU anyways, I have a bunch of misc. upper level credits to aquire, over 20 credits, and a bunch of required classes for my minor (which the school has somehow managed to erase from my records, a problem I need to rectify), which is Fine Arts.

Ah, who knows: I might take a vocal class just for kicks! Nah, I need to finish school sooner rather than later, so no fun classes for me! That reminds me, I should probably pick up an application or 5 for jobs around campus that hire non-workstudy students so that I have a job this upcoming Fall....

Wish me luck!

Regards from Purgatory,
Monica

Portland part 3

After the donut shop we realized that there was a third section to the Saturday Market under the bridge next to the park.

It was huge!

And the booths under there were MUCH nicer, with lots of space in between them. It's amazing the things we found under there, even though we had delayed so long that the market was closing by the time we had a look see.

I bought a bar of Lavender soap for Miki. But I put it in the shower, pretended to use it a few times and said she could too.....

It's gotten much smaller :)

On the sidewalk near the train stop I saw the weirdest thing...It will take me a bit to find the photo (I plan on posting a blog with just photos from this trip veeeery soon) of a man begging for money. He was rather...forceful about getting me to donate so that I could take a picture, but then he laughed it off like he was joking.

I rather doubt it.

But luckily I only had 45 cents in my pocket so I gave him all I had and took a few crappy photos, and then he hunted me down and let me take a better one in the light :) It said something about his kid being hunted by ninjas and needing karate lessons or something. I laughed SO hard!

Kody and Ai had to ride the Max in the same direction we did, so we got on altogether. The difference? I got distracted a stop or two from where we needed to go.

How did I manage that?

I saw a bookstore >.<

So we leaped off the train to our friends' shocked faces early and waved through the windows.

Poor guys :)

I did get some cool books, though. And I bought Avatar! That movie is amazing. I've watched it 5 times at least, by now.

Which meant we were cutting it a little close to get to the Greyhound station...Even though we had gotten bumped earlier in the day, Miki hadn't been able to get her tickets refunded since she had bought them online. So she was still booked for the 6:15 bus. I on the other hand had returned BOTH my tickets because, apparently, if you buy two tickets at once you can't return just one, you have to return both. Really, I should have bought a return ticket as soon as we reached Portland, but Miki was so worried about making it to the airport that I put it off.

After we left Borders we ran to the Max stop because there was a train there, but they wouldn't open the doors! So we had to wait 15 minutes for another one.

Luckily I had a book to read as I sat on the sidewalk....Miki stood.

When we got to the Greyhound station, life through me a curveball. Miki had been grumpy all day. Things had kept going wrong, or funky, or crappy (other than the amazing weather, 80 degrees at least) but nothing had been able to rid me of my amazing mood. Nothing. Well, someone was certainly trying.

Right outside the doors of the bus station, my flip flop broke. Like, literally. It fell to pieces.

Well, that was annoying.

And then we opened the doors to find that there was a cardboard sign screaming "6:15 bus overbooked!"

Crap.

So I shoved Miki towards the line, assured her I'd find my own way and took off.

With only one shoe on my foot.

Brilliant!

I got into the train station, and....it was empty. And when I say empty, I mean empty. They were pushing all of the benches against the walls and the counters and there were no clerks to buy tickets from, so I skittered around the ppl dusting the floors (man it's huge in there!) and bought the first ticket I could find on the electronic teller. I thought: if I can get there around the same time, Miki's ride can pick me up too, right?

One little flaw: I couldn't figure out whether it was a bus or a train, and I took so long finding someone to help that I missed it.

Because it left at 6:15 too.

So they shuffled me into a back lounge, a nice VIP place I had no idea existed. Weird.

Why was the station empty? Where was there a photo shoot being set up in the back?

Where was everyone?

As far as I could tell, I was the only passenger loitering around. It was super weird.

Until I was put into that nice, comfy, and warm lounge. There weren't a ton of people, but it was obvious that all the passengers were being moved into the back. I wondered why, because this didn't seem normal at a train station, you know?

Well, first thing first, I had to exchange my poor ticket >.<

So I got in line and while waiting attempted to communicate my problem to interested parties. I had a friend in Salem that was willing to get me home if I made it to Salem first, but then I had friends waaaay up in Astoria freaking out and wanting to drive down and get me. Especially when they found out that the train I would be taking would leave until 9:15. Apparently they could make it to me sooner than that.

Well, 9:15 was better than the only bus that Greyhound had offered me: 11:15.

WOWZA!

I wasn't gonna sit in the creepy Greyhound with one shoe in a breezeway for 5 hours for a bus!

So not gonna happen.

So I got my ticket (I was not so secretly pleased to ride a train again) and called off the Coast Guard and sat down for a wait.

Apparently I was a novelty. Because even though I'd been kicked off a bus, had to walk to the train, had to put up with a boyfriend (not mind) being indecisive for an hour in the airport, the crowds at the market, a broken flip flop, an overbooked bus, and missing another bus, I was still cheerful and excited to ride the train.

I had lots of people looking at me funny. But apparently they were suprised/glad I was in good cheer, because I had plenty of people willing to chat and tell me about their escapades!

For instance, the man in front of me booked his train ticket over a week ago, but when he went to get on the train they told him no he'd have to catch the next one.

He was going the same way I was.

Most people were, actually. And most wanted to ride the train.

I never realized how popular the train was! Apparently people like the comfort of it, a lot, and it's not that expensive.

Whereas I paid $18 that morning to ride it (although Miki had to pay $21 for some odd reason) for a night train...I only paid $12!

How cool is that?

So I sat down with my book (a good one at that) and tried to ignore the man across the room desperately trying to flirt with me. He was super excited for the bar car (the coffee he said) for some odd reason and was a little annoying. But I didn't mind too much. The excitement, at least.

The only problem was, I was facing the windows into the station, and the photo set was on the other side of the glass. I'm a photographer, the poofing lights don't bug me when I'm using them. I'm a model, and they don't bug me when I'm under them.

But seeing the light flash around the gauzy curtains just about made me claw up the walls. That and it gave me a lousy migraine.

So I drew myself up(in one flipflop) to see why the heck they were taking so many photos and why they were playing such crappy music (loudly) in the middle of a train station.

I peered around the door frame, and the first words out of my mouth to the tuxedoed chaperon standing next to me was "Why all the beautiful people?"

There were a lot of beautiful people. All the girls had long hair with those wavy curls (the blonder the better) in silky looking sheaths with no backs, tiny clutches, and heels that gave me palpitations even thinking about them.

He blinked at me, eying me a little warily, and told me it was a high school prom.

Prom?!

What the heck?

Who has that at Union Station, of all places?

Prom, who woulda thunk it?

I can honestly say that although not many people showed up, and no one wore such pretty dresses, and it was in a gym, Prom my senior year was much cooler.

Specially since my cousin arranged so much of it *hugz Samantha* she's so awesome!

Although, at my school it was really called "Junior Prom" because the juniors put it together for the Seniors, who were the ones a part of the royalty...or is that homecoming? Urgh >.< Who knows :)

Back to the VIP lounge.

An old lady showed up. She was cool. She came in, complained she was hungry, ditched her stuff with me, and bought me chips!

Which was awesome, because I didn't particularly wanna walk anywhere with my broken flipflop, and I was too tired to go explore Portland or anything even though I had plenty of time.

We had many interesting discussions. I was amazed how much she knew about linguistics, pretty much the only thing we had in common, because we read much different books. I've been hitting a lot of brick walls with people recently when I try to discuss literature...Possibly because I don't actually read literature >.<

Then the man went out to go out and buy coffee and came back drunker than he already was. Okay, so it was annoying that he was in the middle of a hangover. But he didn't smell of liquor, and other than stuttering and having a headache he wasn't acting drunk. But when he went out for coffee to "cure his headache" he definitely got booze instead.

The sucky part was that he had decided to sit closer to the lady and I and try to interrupt our conversations. I don't mind people joining in. I don't mind talking to strangers. But I do take offense to someone deliberately interrupting to only say inane things about wanting coffee.

I'm too polite to say much, but man that lady got vicious! I was actually a little glad, because otherwise I'm not sure he would've left me alone...

I think she talked to the conductor and made sure he was nowhere near us, because he definitely didn't ride in the same car as me.

The train was nice. A little dim, and I think I prefer riding it in daytime better, and this one wasn't quite as nice as the other one but it might've just been the light.

And then I saw someone I knew. Not too terribly well, just enough to know she's a party girl and thinks nothing of excluding losers from her parties....But for some odd reason she was excited to see me.

Uh oh.

I wracked my brain, and I could only think of one reason: She has a permit, and she thinks that I'm adult enough to be in the front seat for her.

Sure enough, she waltzed up the train and said "Moe-nica, you have a license, right?"

"Sorry Trinity, I'm 19. Tough luck. I'm not gonna be the adult in the car for you."

She pouted, and flounced off.

Wow I'm good.

But then she came back a few minutes later with her sob story about how she was riding the train from Seattle with a friend and when they were taken to the train station in Salem a friend had driven her companions car and now they had no way to get it back to Monmouth because she and her companion only had permits and would you please drive for us, Monica?

I didn't have to think on that long. Actually, I didn't have to think at all. I had a ride. I had a ride with a safe person. I had a surefire way home. Who in the world would give that up to play chauffeur for two girls that would probably end up "accidentally" steering me towards a kegger? In fact, I probably would have gotten my arm twisted so hard I would have ended up not driving at all. And I don't know about you, but I didn't want to be designated driver for two other minors OR suffer through permit driving.

Seriously.

So I didn't even think twice about saying no.

Nor did I feel guilty.

What a fun day, huh?

So I went home, and passed out, pretty much. Poor Miki was already out, and that was it!

Regards from Purgatory,
Monica

Trip To Portland Part 2

It never hurts to say something twice, so here I go:

There were a ton of people at the train station.

The orange locomotive sat there, puffing steam, and Miki seemed to be too. Luckily they kept the massive crowds pressing against the orange engine far away from the train we disembarked from, and the door we used to get inside. Unfortunately the entire station was full of people up to our eyeballs. It was ridiculous, really. It took over 5 minutes at least to get from the platform to the doors to the outside, which was a little over 100 feet.

Mostly it was hard because Yuuki had a large suitcase he had to pull.

Last time I was in Portland we walked to the train station from Pioneer Square, and then down to the river where the Gay Pride festival was. I was under the assumption that was because the MAX was nowhere nearby. Imagine my surprise when I found out this Saturday that I could've ridden a MAX from right next to Pioneer Square to about a block from the train station.

I was not amused.

It's a long walk! And it was hot that day.

But I digress.

We got to the MAX stop, and luckily Miki knew which direction to go in. She knows the map better than I do. Which is good, because the one we looked at didn't even have the rose quarter on it and that was where we were going. The train pulled up right away, and we got on.

It was pretty empty, so we got a seat. I was surprised because It was Saturday and the MAX is hardly ever barren on a pretty day. Especially on the weekend.

We rode to the Rose Convention Center and crossed the tracks by accident (my fault) and then crossed back. Apparently Portland has yet another walking marathon for Breast Cancer. Which is interesting considering how huge their normal one is. But that's all right. I guess they walked over a bridge nearby, because the platform was nearly overtaken by women (why do men never walk these?) in bright blue green shirts with the most florescent pink color decorating them that I have ever seen.

The ride to the airport is super long.

I'm also extremely lucky that the company that owns my apartment complex delayed in depositing my rent check, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pay the fare for the MAX. Because I hadn't planned on goiing, I hadn't a chance to make sure I had enough money on my debit card, and I had a grand total of about 80 cents in my pocket.

Bravo.

And since I had in essence invited myself along, I wouldn't have asked Miki for help even if you had paid me.

I'm self sufficient. I have my pride.

There was this man watching me on the MAX. I didn't like how he looked at me. He looked at me in that mean way that some people do when they don't like your attitude or something. I was super excited to be traveling, especially in Portland. My heart was in my throat and I was bouncing in my seat and it was super warm outside.

It made me happy.

I'm not sure what bugged him, actually. It could've been the fact that I was obviously American and he wondered what the hell I was doing sitting next to two Asians that were obviously speaking in a language I didn't. Or the fact that I was sitting there with a shit eating grin on my face, bouncing up and down in the seat right next to Miki, but I was turned in my seat in the opposite direction like I was pretending I wasn't with her or something.

He could've been irritated because it did look like I wasn't with them, but I had sat right next to her when there were like 6 other seats in the section alone that I could've sat in.

Maybe he was angry because I refused to look at anyone on the train in particular, including him :D

But nothing was going to bring me down. Not nosy townies that possibly didn't like my Japanese style shirt. Not Yuuki refusing to speak English. Not my terrible sense of directions that had nearly sent us in the opposite direction several times already. And not even Miki's bad mood, which had been created by the Greyhound's fuck up and compounded by the massive crowds at the Union Station.

I was having a wonderful day, and no one could stop me.

I have never seen the airport so desolate in my entire life.

Not only was there about 10 people from our train going there (and it was the last stop) there was barely anyone inside at all. I realize that we took the door inside that is at the veeery end of the terminal, but we must have walked by 10 empty check in booths. You know, where you get your ticket and check your luggage? They were empty, like they used to host an airline and said airline had entirely cleared out.

I've never seen such a thing before.

So instead of doing things the easy way, Yuuki decided to do his ticket thing at an electronic terminal. And even changing it to Japanese didn't help much so I ignored their bickering over it for several minutes.

Everything was rubbing Miki the wrong way that day, I'm thinking. I think even my cheerfulness was. But I'm used to that. And I figured the rest of the day would get better for her. It wasn't even 1 p.m. yet!

But while pretending I had other things to do, I meandered over to the X Ray machine for Delta Airlines, and pretended not to watch them. Apparently I was successful because not a single worker noticed me.

There were at least 5 just lounging around. 2 or 3 unloading the bags, and one that was tearing into them.

Literally.

No pause.

Pick it up, toss it on the table, open it, and start littering things on the table and the floor.

I was horrified.

I felt especially bad for these two men I met that were traveling around the world. Because when their top loaded knapsacks went through, the security un-cinched one, turned it over and dumped it out.

*winces* Ouch.

I turned the other way when Yuuki's bag went through. I didn't want to see the damage.

I don't remember there being so many shops on the visitor side of the airport. But I suppose they've all been put in since they decided to only let people with tickets through the check point. Which makes sense, I suppose.

I had never flown before 9/11. But the first couple of times I did they hadn't put up the new security yet. Which meant that when they had, I pitched an utter fit in the middle of the airport when they tried to confiscate my shampoo from my carry on.

My mother has never forgiven me for mentioning the word 'bomb', by the way.

And after seeing how ruthlessly they rip apart bags, I think I have finally figured out what happened to my favorite body wash that I never saw again after that trip.

Stupid Heads.

Yuuki decided last minute that he needed to get souvenirs for his family. This was something that I couldn't smile and nod about, or turn the other cheek.

"You wanna get what at the airport?! Are you nuts?"

Case and point: A turkey sandwich with Cranberry sauce cost $7.50 at a small cafe.

Of course, this was another thing for Miki to be upset about. Luckily she saved it for after we said goodbye to him. But between him not being able to decide on souvenirs (we went to several shops before we went back to the first one and bought one of the first items he had looked at) and waffling between lunch foods none of us got anything to eat.

It didn't help that the check-in lady informed Yuuki that he had to get his tickets at the actual gate, and he wanted to go get them right away before we got lunch. It took us several minutes to convince him that once he went through, he couldn't come back. And when we finally decided on lunch and he said "I guess I'll have to get something and take it with me" Miki and I looked at each other askance and commented "Can you even take food through the checkpoint?"

And then he rushed through without any money so couldn't eat anything on the other side of the checkpoint, and when Miki went to go help him out he decided to be manly.

"I have a Snickers bar, I'll be fine. In fact, I have two."

Well.

And after we spotted that horrendously overpriced sandwich, Miki and I just said, at the same time no less, "Let's go."

On the Max back to Pioneer square we got a hold of Ai and Kody. They said they'd meet us at Skidmore Fountain.

I'd never been there, that I'd known of, so I let Miki direct us. She is much better at finding names on maps than I am :)

Turns out Kody and Ai were in Vancouver and didn't want to park in town, so drove all the way to Beaverton to park at Fred Meyers or something and ride the MAX to meet us.

We got to the Fountain at quarter to 2. They didn't get there until after 3. But no worries!

We didn't realize until we got off the train in the middle of the humongous crowd, that we had agreed to meet Kody and Ai at the Saturday Market....

Which was cool. We had bypassed one of those in Salem whilst on our trek to the Amtrak station and I hadn't been to the Portland Market in years, and it looked fun.

It's pretty darn huge, nowadays. I mean, seriously. I remember when my Mum took me when I was 13, give or take, and I thought it was big and confusing then. Now it sprawls everywhere.

I want to take my mum there with me sometime soon.

Maybe she can come down to visit, and we can take the train to Portland for the day?

That'd be AWESOME!

It only takes 25 minutes give or take to get to Salem from here, and we could park, and take public transport for the day. For some odd reason it's cheaper to ride the train at night than in the morning (I paid $18 to get to Portland whereas Yuuki and Miki paid $21 each, but to get back I only paid $12...)....But we could take the train (which I officially love!) and then the max to the market. Both the Station and the market are in the free zone, so we'd only be paying for a train ticket. How cool is that?

Kody had something pretty neat for Miki. A piggy cutting board! It was pretty big. I still wonder where we're going to put it. But since Ai carried it around all day, we accidentally left it with her...>.<

But the market was pretty cool. We saw about 2 thirds of it while waiting for our friends. Miki was all worried that I would have a terrible time. I guess the only reason why she didn't invite me was because Kody would be there, but although I don't want him in my house, and I won't go out of my way to visit him, I don't hate him. So I don't mind spending time with him as long as he's not a total ass.

And he wasn't.

We actually got along pretty well, to both Miki's and Ai's surprise.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Kody and Ai said they were on the next MAX, so we pushed and shoved our way through the crowds to get on the other side of the tracks. I had just seen a MAX go by so I thought they would be there soon. We had stood there, lost, for about 20 seconds when they spotted us.

Poor Kody, hadn't realized that I've grown my hair out!

I keep insisting that I'm going to cut it soon, but even I am starting to have doubts on that. I look terrible and not so girly no matter what I do with it. So it's not like it will effect my modeling too much either way.

Hugs, cheek kisses, 'wow you're looking good's all around. It was nice. I haven't missed him, but it was nice to see him again. And Ai was looking great. I miss her. Specially now that she's got a full time job and is busy all the time!

I don't even get 6 page emails anymore :(

We got rather distracted at the fair, actually. Miki and Kody spent a bit of time at a Henna booth (she's still absurdly proud of the two pawprints on her arm) and Kody got...I have no idea what.

He told the artist to "be creative."

I think there were even lightning bolts worked into the design!

Then, instead of exploring the mysterious back portion of the market that's under the bridge, we took off away from the market to a famous donut shop called Voodoo Donuts.

I guess that Kody loves it. Not entirely certain why, almost the entire menu changes week by week. But they do a few regular donuts too.

The line went out the door, down the street, and across the intersection.

I've still yet to figure out why it didn't go round the corner instead of across the crosswalk.

Not too surprising that it went out the door, though. Even for a donuts shop the front portion was pretty small.

It was the weirdest place I've been to ever. While we were waiting a kid came out with a regular donut (not a cake one. Or old fashioned. A fluffy one) with white icing and Captain Crunch all over it.

No joke.

Captain Crunch.

And his father had a Maple Bar with two slices of bacon on top.

It's a wonder that so many people wanted these things, it was like 85 degrees outside! My sweater was tied around my waist, and I was wearing my first no sleeved shirt of the season (at home in Monmouth it was still pretty regularly 50 degrees) I was even wearing flipflops.

Who eats Maple Bars when it's this bloody hot? With bacon?!

Ai was jealous of my flip flops. She was wearing boots. Poor thing.

So we stood in line for 20 minutes to get some crazy donuts. I wanted a GrapeApe, but the person in front of Ai took the last batch. It was a fluffy donut with purple icing. One half had purple sprinkles, the other half had purple crystals. I was going to get one of those and an Orangutang, an orange one that was just the same as it.

So I just got the Orangutang and a soda. Which I promptly knocked over after I bit into the donut in a parking lot where we finally found some shade.

WHOA!

I've just figured it out, I didn't then, but I think the powder was like, tang or something. I took a bite, and my mouth went wild. I literally shouted "Shazaaam! That's amazing." And shared it with all of my friends. It was like a punch to the mouth.

I saved half and ate it for breakfast the next day :)

Miki wasn't brave enough to get something, but she doesn't like sweet stuff too much either. Too bad they didn't have buttermilk bars. I think she had one of those at the Cottage Bakery in Long Beach, even non sweet lovers like those. They are pretty mild.

Ai got the Cock and Balls.

No joke.

It was a gigantic chocolate bar that looked like a fully equipped penis. It was bigger than a Texas donut!

She even paid the extra dollar to get written on it "Not to size" :D

I had to explain to Miki what that meant....

So like teenagers having a blast we kicked back in a nearby lot under a tree in the middle of the pavement with the sign "Keep Portland Weird" looming over our heads and giggled like children over our snacks.

It was amazing.

The really fun bit, was that while we were in line Kody looked up and said "Does that sign say what I think it does?"

There was a local *ahem* adult theater, that played hentai. As in, Porno Cartoons made by the Japanese.

Priceless.

We took a picture.

:D

*waves* Love you gramma!

continued in part three :)

Regards from Purgatory,
Monica

Roger, Brain Functions Are at an All Time Low

So yesterday was the day that Miki had to take her boyfriend to the airport for his flight back to Japan.

Yes, Yuuki was here this week. For about 4 days. Sadly I never wrote a blog about last weekend, which is a shame since Miki and I went for a walk and got a few pictures :D

But I have to write this up first, and then write a blog about this week and photos of this week can be posted in that. I'll likely write this, then post it, THEN post photos about yesterday.

So hold your horses and check later for some funny photos :D

I slept terribly the night before last. I remember waking up at 3 in the morning and tossing and turning for AGES either being too hot, too cold, too comfy, too uncomfy, before I finally passed out from all of the exertion.

I woke up at 6:50 on the dot.

Lovely.

Went downstairs, grabbed a snack, fed the cats...Then Miki came downstairs all dressed and ready to go and said 'say goodbye to Yuuki'

We shook hands, I stood there awkwardly in my t-shirt and boxers, and Miki looked absolutely miserable as I tried to tell her to have a fun day.

I sighed.

"Miki, do you want me to go with you?"

Now of course, when I said I had absolutely nothing to do yesterday, I was using that phrase fairly loosely. I had nothing to do after I cleaned the litter box, finished writing a letter to gramma, packed and sent Mum's mother's day gift.....

But with Miki standing there on the verge of tears saying "Yes!" with her lower lip sticking out like that, I think I would've told her I was an alien from planet 9 if that made her happy.

So fifteen minutes later I was dressed, in flipflops (it was 50 degrees *shivers*) and standing on a streetcorner with her and her bf waiting for a ride that had no idea I would be there....She was surprisingly gracious about it (the ride-giver) even though I know she doesn't like me....

I had told myself I would bring my camera, but when it came down to it I ran out the door without it. Which was probably good considering I was running down the street and that would've been bad for mr. cammy, and my satchel got heavy enough as the day wore on: no need to give myself heat-stroke from the exertion or something.

So no cammy.

Anyone wanna buy me a point and shoot? :D

jkjk

We got to the greyhound station with a half hour to spare for the bus, and I bought round-trip tickets to Portland. It was only $22 which wasn't too bad. And I knew I had enough in my checking account for that at least, and if I got desperate later in the day, a stop at an ATM to transfer funds would be a cinch.

The bus was a half an hour late.

Okay, that's fine. I amused myself while Miki and Yuuki chattered in Japanese. I didn't feel left out, truly. And this isn't denial either. I knew why I was there. I was there to keep myself from sitting at home all day, miserable, wondering what Miki was doing. I was there to chip in some good old American common sense in case something happened. I was there to make sure Miki had a companion after Yuuki got on his plane. I was there to meet up with our good friend Ai, even though her bf Kody (we quit talking a bit ago) was going to be there. Apparently he being there was the reason she didn't invite me. But we still get along okay. We talk just fine. It's just I don't want him in my house, and he doesn't like my love-life. So everything is fine and dandy. I was there to make sure Miki go home safe-and-sound.

And maybe to have a little fun too :D

But it was 8 in the morning and I would've been pushing it to hope for some fun that early.

But for someone that got approximately 4 hours of sleep, I was in an absurdly good mood. Chipper almost. I think this rubbed Miki the wrong way too. I was so bouncy that I drove everyone nuts. But I tried to keep in contained.

So as Yuuki and Miki wrote in a private little diary that I was definitely not allowed to look at I spotted a woman that I knew. Not personally, but I knew she'd provide me with all of the entertainment I needed, so my eyes were glued.

She was a tiny little imperious Chinese woman that I've seen before at the Beaverton Asian Superstore called Uwajimaya's. Which is weird because I saw her once, and a year ago at that. She was shopping with her husband in a black fur coat (real), with bright red hooker lipstick, her hair tightly curled in some old 50's fashion, and white gloves. The last was what caught my attention, actually.

She wasn't quit so ostentatious yesterday, and she was also alone. But excitement she DID provide.

First she waltzed into the station like she owned it. Clack clack clack clack, her nose up in the air and sniffing condescendingly at us plebians.

I smiled at her.

Then she peered into every single nook and cranny in the station looking for something. Clack clack clack sniff. Until she found the sign that said the women's restroom was up the stairs. The sign also said that a key was needed to unlock the restrooms, but she's far too important for THAT, doncha know!

So she clacked all the way up the stairs, yanked on the door a few times, and then called waveringly down in a tone that tells you that you don't really wanna mess with her.

"This door is locked."

Even I was surprised how fast the station attendant vaulted over the counter with the keys and rushed them up the stairs to her. With anyone else he would've called the person down. He seemed easily exasperated by people. But considering the idiots he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis, I cannot blame him.

Everywhere she went, she was her own little queen. I always wondered what ethnicity she was, but when some relative or another called on the phone and she was chewing them out, I recognized that she spoke Mandarin.

Jack Pot!

I wrote a poem about her. It sucks. I also drew her. It doesn't suck quite as much.

The bus was a half and hour late, right?

Right when it came the attendant told us that there was a problem. It was late because the bus before it broke down, and it had to pick up those passengers. Which means that the bus that should've been have empty, was full to bursting. They could only take 4 passengers, and those passengers were all people that needed to catch transfers to Seattle or something.

I.e. not us.

The next bus was not until 1 something, and Yuuki's plane was at 2 p.m.

Crap!

I am glad I was there. Because I don't think I realized until yesterday just how confusing colloquialisms can be to a foreigner. For instance, did any of you realize that when you ask someone for directions, they hardly ever give you guidebook answers? When I asked the man at the counter for directions to the Amtrak station, he said "Hang a right."

Miki wanted to hear the directions over and over again, but I got them the 2nd try. Mostly because I just need to hear it twice, repeat it, and then I'm good. And it took me a moment to figure out that she didn't understand the directions at all.

Take Center st. until 12th, hang a right, go 5 or 6 blocks until the sky bridge and it's across the way from the Willamette U. on the left side.

Of course I actually thought we had to cross the sky bridge, not that it would be a walking path over our heads, but that's besides the point.

The directions were perfect. But can anyone out there point out anything about that sentence Miki wouldn't get?

Well, the hang a right for instance, that went over her head. Across the way? Uhuh. And she got a little caught up in what Willamette U. might be, when I wasn't really all that worried about it.

It's amazing the things we take for granted, huh?

Needless to say, I got us there all right. Not to say that it was all me, though. I took care of the colloquial, but Miki is the only one that has been to the Salem Amtrak before. So she was the one that knew that the Sky Bridge was something you walked under, and what side of the freeway we needed to be on to get to the Train Station.

I got to ride a train!

Granted, it cost $18 for a one way ticket, and boy was Miki not happy about that. Actually, it cost me $18, but Miki was a few people behind me in line and she had to pay $21 for EACH of the tickets she bought.

That must have sucked.

But I could not help but be excited though. I am like a little kid sometimes, I guess :D

It was sunny, I was sitting in a nice patch of it at the station and was reading a bit here and there. I kept getting interrupted. But that was okay. Everyone was excited at the station yesterday because it was...National Train Day! And the Portland Station was having a Train Day festival. The thing I love about traveling is either nice locals that will talk to you, fellow travelers, or tourists (yes there is a difference.). They are almost always nice and willing to give you random information that you might be looking for, or might need later.

I learned this from my Mum.

Thanks Mum!

She always likes talking to other people when we travel, and even though I do not travel with her very well, and I always hated it when she chatted with fellow travelers, I did learn that it is useful.

So I chatted up a Grandfather there with what looked like his whole family. And boy was HE a font of information! He even recognized the train my Mum and I might have taken to Denver (From Longview WA) years ago, even though it does not run anymore. We did not have to transfer or get off the train once, and you cannot find a train like that to Denver anymore.

I will have to ask Mum. The man said that it actually went south to Portland, East across Oregon, continued across Idaho, through Wyoming, Then it dropped south into Colorado to Denver.

Nowadays the train cuts across Colorado, but you cannot make the trip on one train.

I digress.

So he told me all about train day (And practically all about his family as well. They were cute) and I learned all sorts of things! For instance, when we made it into Portland, I knew that the bright orange thingamabobber we pulled up next to was an honest to God Steam Engine from the 30s!

How cool is that?

Miki does not like talking to strangers very much so I think she likes to ignore it as much as possible when I do so. Which is fine with me. I do enough talking for the both of us. She does sometimes smile or laugh when I talk to someone especially weird. But I am fairly friendly across the board.

The only time I really get rude or unfriendly is when you are one of those drunks that is really a hazard to everyone around you, or you are being really stupid and drunk. I met one of those last night, needless to say. Otherwise they are harmless and I stay away from them.

But I think that the only people I am well and truly prejudiced against are drunks, but I spose I cannot help that, huh?

So the man at the station filled me in on why everyone was wandering around with buttons, children, and excited smiles on their faces. And then the train was there!

We got on a 9:15. We did not have to wait too long, because it took us about 45 minutes to walk to the station, so we only sat for about a half an hour.

Riding the train is exciting!

First, someone in the station gets on the speaker phone and tells you what to do.

"Attention. The North Bound train with the last stop of Portland arrives in 5 minutes. Please wait outside immediately. The train will only be stopping for 3 minutes, so if you are not outside with your ticket ready you will not be boarding."

3 Minutes!!

But it was true.

Train passengers spawned like rabbits. Somehow it went from the 10 odd people in the station to upwards of 50 outside, and then the train pulled up (as Miki was talking to Ai on the phone and planning where to meet up together in Portland) and I hurriedly took a picture before the conductors ushered us on.

Man, trains are luxurious! I am never traveling another way again, I swear :D We were ushered into 2 different cars (us coach passengers) but the areas looked pretty nice to me. I thought about sitting next to a nice looking girl across the walk from Miki and Yuuki (who claimed two seats next to each other because they did not think they could fit his luggage under the table at the 4 person booth) but I decided to sit at the booth all by myself.

For two reasons.

1. They looked like they needed more time to themselves, and I was just behind them if they needed me.

2. The booth across the aisle from me had another family that smiled and waved at me and proved to be chock full of information.

They were even from Independence OR! (Which is right next to the town I live in, btw)

So I had a fun time.

Did you know, that a train rocks a little like those swaying cradles? It is so interesting. I was bouncing in my seat. I was so sad I did not have a camera. But Miki was so upset about being bumped from the Greyhound I was leaving her be (and man was she mad). So no stealing her point and shoot :D

The family liked me. Told me all about what towns we were going through (I still cannot say Aurora or Mullollah river) and even pointed out the Willamette falls to me!

So of course I had to offer some info too, so when we saw a Barge as we were coming into Portland, I told them a few things about them. I did not get to the part where when it is a super hot day they open the cargo holds to release steam. But oh well :D

And then I saw the locomotive!

It was bright orange. How cool is that?

It was also puffing steam, and surrounded by at least a 1,000 people. Holy cow!

I could see Mikis scowl deepening even though her back was too me.

It was hard to get through the station. Very hard. I mean, it is usually packed at Union Station during the day, but this was bloody ridiculous. There were people EVERYWHERE!

So, that ends part one. We made it to Portland! Pictures to come.

Regards from Purgatory,
Monica

Excerpt of Life

I'll have more to write when it's a decent hour and I've managed to steal this weekend's photos from Miki. But I've just woken up (yes it's 6:30) and scribbled down a poem detailing yesterday (to prove that yes, I AM taking poetry) so I thought I might as well share it.

A cascade of strings ripple
Through the Main Street Park
In place of the old shut off fountain.
A quartet of men croon at their gazebo bbq
And Mother Vultures perch the tiered fountain
Basically ignoring their flighty children.
It's Sunday and the playground Utopia
Is full of All Sorts of people:
Chattering Latina Mothers, Superball Kids, an At a Loss Business man.
And even me, The Minority waiting for
My laundry to buzz across the way.
The middle of the park is a perfect view point
So I sit on the old shut off fountain 'cross
From the wary Latina Mothers
And make like a lighthouse,
Slowly gazing 'round to take it all in.
The businessman has brought his notes,
Which he ditches on the lawn to sprawl
On the bench and tilt his face to the sky.
A cute college couple, Barbie and Ken,
Dine at a picnic table with two hobos,
Munching a potato chip and sandwich lunch.
And the Latina Mothers lower their hackles
To smile at my foottapping enjoyment
Of Oye Como Va and Que Sera Sera
While grinning at two boys
Kicking a soccer over my shoes
At the old dried up fountain,
Under the barren rustling cherry trees,
At Main Street Park.

The Picture of Domesticity

A lot of people tell me that I have too many clothes. But the problem is, whenever I get rid of a bunch, I buy a bunch more. And of course there are always those clothes you NEVER get rid of....I kept a Star Wars night shirt from my grandfather (I suspect it's from when the movies FIRST came out.) until it quite literally disintegrated in the wash. I have a T-shirt from 9th grade Cross Country (2004) that's started to get thin and I now have it tacked to my wall...

But I have some very good reasons for having so many clothes. Actually, I didn't even bring all of mine down to Monmouth with me. I only brought about half of my night shirts, for instance.

1. I have a terrible habit of forgetting to do laundry. So it's good that I only have to do it every month or two. Because that's usually when I finally remember to do it. The last time I did it was Spring Break a whole week or so before Easter. I only did it a couple of times before that since Christmas.

2. I have an even better habit of wearing the same clothes over and over. If I had only 10 sets of clothes (like Miki) they'd get even smellier than they already do. I think my friends should be thanking me for doing my laundry so rarely.

So even though I didn't have too terribly much motivation today....I decided to do laundry.

Well, I did get a few things done. Went to Bi-Mart to buy some things to spruce up the patio. A paint scraper to get the tatters of newspaper off the fence. And magazines. I have no idea why one would want to paste those to a wooden fence...And I spose I'll never know considering the rain has gotten rid of most of it. And a stiff brush for cleaning the cement. And getting rid of the moss. And a moss killer that's patio friendly (apparently some types stain pavement) and with any luck it'll rain tonight to speed it up because I applied it this afternoon....Got two boxes of kleenexes on sale for 2 for 3 dollars. I felt like a million bucks for that one. Body wash because I've been nicking Miki's shampoo for that....Pens and Pencils because mine have been all mysteriously disappearing....apparently mechanical pencils and Bic pens seem to be very popular nowadays with Gremlins, and a bird feeder for the ten pounds of bird seed I got from home a month ago.

About time, Monica.

So I couldn't do much with the patio after spreading the powder. I couldn't even pot up the plants I have left that I bought a new bag of potting soil for today because the patio is covered in powder. So I decided to clean my room.

Needless to say this didn't happen.

But I DID get two boxes and a spare foam pad into the closet. Which reminds me: I should probably stop sleeping on top of two at a time. It makes me sink terribly and that must be ghastly for my back. And I got some clothes tossed into my laundry basket. Which I promptly ripped out when I decided I needed to sort through them to find out which ones I wanted to wash.

Yes, I decided to get picky about what clothes to wash. And no mom, I do not sort by colors neurotically anymore. I'm not that paranoid. But I did leave all my whites at home :D

Of course all this wasn't as easy as it seems. Between all of this I was bugging the heck out of Miki whilst she tried to do her drawing project (apparently I was looming), helping her with her wire project for her 3-d class project because I bought a pair of needle nose pliars/wire clippers at the hardware store cause I dreadfully needed them. And then had to fish out the bottle of foaming oxy-clean when a hysterical Miki found out that the wire had a black residue and she had left finger prints all up and down her white wall while trying to measure the wire....

Monica to the rescue, yeah?

And I have chew marks all over my feet from Marin. Thanks Kitten, I really appreciate it. And if I see Ryou prostrating herself and moaning one more time while Marin is trying to chew on her tail (Ryou's tail) I will throw something.

Oh, and Marin has discovered that it's great fun to climb up me if I stand still for 3+ seconds. Therefore I don't. And if I pick her up for any reason it takes approximately 3 minutes to detach her. For all she hates being picked up, she sure as hell doesn't wanna let go!

But I got the laundry sorted, my new nice girly clothes that have been lying on the floor for over a week hung up, and dirty socks tossed into a bucket and I was just about ready to go. Shoved some detergent into a to-go cup (gotta remember to tape the sippy hole one of these days.), shoved the box of Bounce whats-its into my hamper (which I forgot to use. Good things I wasn't washing fuzzy sweaters today...) and went pawing through my collection for a book I haven't read yet.

I settled for one that I haven't read in 4+ years. That works, yeah?

You know what I love?

Family. Family is awesome. I want to hug my family. For instance my mother saw fit to inform me that a Clif bar, leftover popcorn from the movie theater last night, and half of a solid chocolate rabbit was not breakfast.

But you know what's even better than being scolded by your family?

Gifts from your family.

I got to use a super cool one of those twice today :D

You know what it's called?

A TROLLEY.

Oh yes, it is super amazing. So when I bought 2 cubic feet of soil from Bi-Mart today and it weighed approximately 30 pounds more than it ought to have, I didn't have to carry it.

So I decided to be witty, and use this super cool gift for my laundry hamper. Of course my laundry hamper isn't THAT heavy, but I wasn't going to use the laundry machines in my complex.

Oh no. I've witnessed Mikiko doing musical machines often enough recently that I've given up the ghost on that trial. In fact, walking 5 blocks and paying an extra 75 cents per wash load was worth it. Especially since the driers are infinitely cheaper, actually dry your laundry, and hold like 2 or 3 loads.

All of which sound worth the walk.

So I packed everything onto my trolley, plugged in my headphones, snagged my socks, opened the door...

And the clock in the kitchen took a suicide dive.

Like, literally. It flew off the wall, crashed into the floor, and the battery landed aaaaall the way in the living room.

I'm just lucky the silly thing didn't break. But it was loud enough I heard it over my music, which was amazing.

Ryou thought this was the perfect chance to gt

...there is a spider on my lappy

I think it's building a web....Teaches me to sit in the dark while typing...*shudders*

So yeah, Ryou thought this was the perfect chance to dive out the front door, so I had to wrestle my laundry back out of the way and shut it on her nose.

And then she went to molesting my shoes. But they were shoes I was not wearing, so I left while she was distracted :D

I must've looked a sight waltzing down the street with a plastic bucket full of socks swinging in one hand, rocking out to my new almost page-boy cut, and dragging a squeaky trolley with a lime green fuzzy laundry hamper.

I had the sudden urge to call Miki, post her across the street and get her to take a candid shot of me walking along with my laundry...But I didn't.

Let's just say, though, that all the neighbor Mexican kids stared at me funny, and I walked around the main part of town so that no one would laugh. I looked pretty ridiculous, actually. And proud of it!

So I got down there, fed my quarters to the evil machines (3 loads. Not even half of my clothes though) and went to the pub for fish and chips.

Yum.

Took the leftovers back with me to start the dry cycle, and sat down to enjoy my book.

I love how all the Latinos were eying me like I would steal their laundry or something. Goodness Gracious!

I'd only do that if you left it there alone :D

So I finished up, and actually folded my laundry! *cheers* Now let's see how many weeks it will take me to get it out of the hamper and into the closet where it belongs.....>.<;;;

So I started rolling home. And since it was 9 p.m. I decided to screw it and walk on Main st. through town. There isn't anyone out there at that hour anyways besides Latinos in the laundromat and drunks or smokers (or both) at the pub. Although there is a nice new wine tasting place in town that actually seems to serve food....But I guess I'll never get a look see because minors aren't allowed.

On the way home I got stuck behind two Chinese guys. One was super cute and boyish with floppy hair hanging in his face. And the other was not so much with glasses and kinda jocky wearing flip flops and shorts. Man, it was warm earlier today, but tonight it's pretty cold! What are you thinking?! But I walked behind them and it was actually kinda cute to see them together. Because they weren't the two macho guys butting shoulders and fooling around. They were either the super comfortable with each other guy-friends, or boyfriends. Judging by how they rubbed shoulders, swayed together, walked in unison, and why the cuter one's hand kept brushing the pocket the jock had his hand in...

I just love how I was rolling along squeakily behind them. I'm surprised it didn't ruin the mood. But they did start to walk fast after about a half a block of me walking behind them :D

There's a guy I see around the neighborhood a lot. I thought he was homeless because he always wheres this stained old Red Sweatshirt, and smells really bad, and has more hair than Albus Dumbledore. I mostly see him at three in the morning when I'm coming home from the computer lab. He's either pacing the block, or just sitting on the sidewalk. Which usually freaks me out pretty bad.

I mean, what kind of person sits on the same corner night after night in the dark cold night, and doesn't even smoke or something?

To my surprise, I was keeping an eye out for him on his usual corner, looked up...And he was making coffee in an apartment above my head! I saw him this afternoon near the police station when I was walking with Miki and I pointed him out. And tonight I saw him cooking in the same place.

Holy cow, does he LIVE there? 0.o

What a thought. He has a dirty old rucksack that he hauls around, too. I mean, I don't have any problems with rucksacks, but the condition of the poor thing only cemented the thought in my head that he had no home.....Guess I was pretty wrong, huh?

Now before someone starts going on about how walking that late at night isn't safe for me, I'll go on. I live 3 blocks from the computer lab. Only part of it isn't lit. That part is a nice part, nice houses, trimmed lawns: never see the owners cause they are always up to good. Cept for the house with the scary dogs, but I never see them either so it doesn't matter. Also that street has a special home for you know, special people, the needy, and that has a pretty sharp eye kept on it. No, I don't live on the best street in the world (around the corner from PLC, the special place), nor do I live in the best complex. But luckily, my Mexican neighbor happens to like me. And late at night most of them don't hang out on the street corner (thank goodness) so there's no danger for me.

Sides, it'd be bad business for the drug dealer a few doors down from me if I got mugged by my very own neighbors. I mean, how would he get any money if I didn't have any? Not that I'm buying, of course.

But it's the principal of the thing. So I'm pretty certain that I'm good. Not that I'm positive he's a dealer, or what door is his...but it seems pretty obvious to me!

so I think that's it, a normal day in the life of the Monica.

Regards from Purgatory (blasted cats, they're playing chase all over the place! I hope they break their necks)
Monica