Ah, Portland, where it's totally normal that businessmen drop everything to go on a bike ride in the middle of the day, because hey, Friday! and not raining! and really,
that's what you do. (Sadly, that's not what
I do, because I work for a corporate monolith with East Coast "work ethic" kind of values, so I'm the one in the office being told to do business dealings with someone while the call keeps dropping out because they are
on a bike ride.)
I thought I would share with you a selection of the varied free Portland activities I have to choose from this weekend, aside from all the ordinary things like the Portland Marathon and the Greek Festival and Ralph Nader giving a talk at Powell's:
+ For the business gentleman I was calling all afternoon:
A community appreciation of the art and craft of bicycling. Very Portland.
+
A Gathering on Economic and Ecological Crises, which should be a rollicking good time for all.
+
Cthulucon: 2009.
Come for the cosmic horror, stay for the unnameable fear! CTHULUCON!
+
The Cheesefest. Actual cheese.
+ Soon followed by
Portland Baconfest 2009, where our vegan-friendly city spends a whole day explaining how bacon is not at all the same thing as meat and does not count. I am told it is sponsored by something called
The Meat Show.
I get my what's happening info from
Around the Sun Blog,
Portland on the Cheap and
Dave Knows: Portland. (The other place Dave knows, FYI, is
Elko, Nevada.) I then feel happy to live in such a quirky place, before forgetting all about these events and spending my weekend doing remedial science fiction reading (DUNE for the first time, currently) while snuggled between boy and dog. You know it's bad when your hermit father practically begs you to go clubbing for 80s video music night while you're saying
I got up at five a.m. every day this week and have been on conference calls all day and Dad, seriously, can't I JUST STAY HOME AND READ DUNE IN THE BATHTUB FOR THE THIRD FRIDAY IN A ROW WITHOUT BEING CONSIGNED TO A LIFE AS A TOTAL SHUT-IN!?In other news, I'm a total shut-in.
Also, I have watched Glee
seven thousand times. FYI: no, there's no fanfic coming (canon is still not a defense for song lyrics in fanfic!) and I am THOROUGHLY EMBARRASSED by how I really kind of can't wait until somebody makes a fanvid to Taylor Swift's "Fifteen." Also, no 'ship, really, because the show is so perfect and they're kids and I'm loving the teen pathos, and Rachel's adorable Love Of Finn is really so adorable, but, you know, he should probably be that first crush or first boyfriend she never totally gets over but doesn't actually
be with forever omg because, god love him, he's kind of a dope. BUT I LOVE HIM. Why do I pretend I won't write fanfic about things and that I won't use song lyrics as a means of plot advancement? AUGHHHH.