Day One

After a very moving send off from the columbus friends involving an avalanche of baked goods and love, I landed in Portland last night sometime just before midnight. Finished a really good novel on the plane about a woman who stumbles into a radical lesbian collective in the 60's, does a lot of drugs, goes underground, gets institutionalized and finds redemption through skydiving. Very funny and smart. Terminal Velocity by Blanche McCrary Boyd



My dear and fabulous friend Shayla met me at baggage claim and helped wrestle my abundant baggage into her car. in no time we were at 17th and Couch NW, unloading into my tiny furnished sublet. its in a great building, walkable to groceries and Powells books and most importantly work.

The apartment really is microscopic. bathroom door that doesn't open all the way because the tub's so close, one small futon, one table with two chairs, a coffee table, a book shelf, a small closet and room for little else. The kitchen is off to the side with the worlds smallest dishwasher, refrigerator, and stove. and an intriguing microwave that purports to also make toast. I unloaded the suits so they wouldn't wrinkle any more and hit the hay.

this morning i woke up early, pulled my self together and walked to work. i had coffee at Half and Half. super hipsters having grave conversations behind the counter about the temp on the espresso maker being up too high and thereby rendering the coffee "less floral." a little too much attitude for me but the coffee was alright.

Started the job shortly thereafter at the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon. I began the oregon legal career with a wonderful orientation meeting with my inspiring new bossman Steve Wax. He very patiently explained the history of indigent defense, the core values of the office, and then took me to meet the chief judge of the Federal District Court for Oregon, Hon. Ancer Haggerty.
I asked him about this weird poster on the floor of his office on foam core of "bible man" which looked like bobafet and is apparently some sort of christian comic book character.
http://www.bibleman.com/. Turns out it was an exhbit in an old patent case. Judge Haggerty was a big deal on the U of Oregon football team back in the day.

I spent the rest of monday trying to stay alert on very little sleep and filling out forms. After five i walked over to the Ace Hotel and had my first portland rock star sighting. Pat Graham's photos were displayed at the Ace.
http://www.buyolympia.com/q/Item=silentpictures
Rebecca Gates was at the reception. She was in the Spinanes and is easily one of the hottest women in indie rock in my homopinion. her image here: http://newberryphotography.com/pp/photo/38. The guy from modest mouse played a free set but shayla and i are so punk rock that we went next door and ate at the hotel restaurant which was damn, damn good. www.clydecommon.com.

After that it was a swing by powells to get a new novel, a call to my sweetie back in columbus, and now I'm writing this and so to bed.

Maybe someday i'll get a camera and take pictures.