Guys, I think I figured out where my root chakra is...

The makings of a Friday night:
1 apartment.
1 bag of Doritos.
1 12 pack of High Life.
1 12 fl.oz. bottle of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (currently enjoying. pumpkin goodness).
1 television.
1 blog post

I am so wild!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

School is kicking my ass this term. I'm enjoying it, but I'm having the hardest time getting motivated. I think I'm maintaining my grades though. Typography is pretty much the jam. It's weird to be such a nerd about it, but I love it. The whole aspect is enthralling to me.

I have my tickets for Christmas booked. Columbia will be enjoying my full winter break. December 15 - January 7. Columbia, start your New Year's plans. Admittedly, it's slightly daunting to commit to that much time back home. Even last break, 10 days and I was ready to be home in Portland. It's a comfort thing only. I like my things, I like my routines.

Saw the Hold Steady and Sean Na Na last night. They played at this slightly dinky place called Lola's Room, which is the second level of the Crystal Ballroom. It was pretty cool because the stage was just a one step, so all of it felt very basement show-y. Hold Steady killed it. I've always been a moderate fan of them, liked most their stuff but was never fanatical. They put on an amazing show. The crowd was a bunch of prick assholes, but still. Sean Na Na was great. Paddy from Dillinger 4 was playing bass with them and Denver Dalley of Desaparecidos/The Statistics was playing guitar. I had never heard any of their records and I really dug their set. I'll have to check out more of their stuff. CELEB SIGHTING: James and Marty from the Shins were in attendance.

*

The rainy season seems to be starting here. The trees are turning and the days are mostly grey. I love it. The weather here is so amazing. Even when it's pouring outside, I'm still just infatuated. Sure, it sucks to walk from the Bus Mall up to school when the rain it coming down, I'm not a moron, but sitting in front of my window and hearing the rain hit the courtyard or waking up mid sleep and hearing the rain, it's just, I don't know, great. It's all just indicative of my comfort and intergration here. It was rocky getting used to things. There were nights where I wanted nothing more than to be back home in Columbia and now, I have a hard time imagining anything else than being here. Yeah, I still miss home, of course I do, but I think I made a really good choice, the right choice in coming here. It all hit me when I got a card from my Grandmother and in it she said that she felt I made a really great choice. I stared at it and I agreed. Everything I had been planning for is coming together. It took a really bad spurt in my life, a time where I existed outside of myself and more in a manifestation of projected disappointment and anger. It's so refreshing to be wide-eyed and ready to do something with myself. Even if it's years away, I'm glad to be on a track, facing forward and hungry for results.

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My off time has been spent doing everything but looking for a job. It's high time to find one. I have very little money to last me a long time, so it's crunch time. I think I may try for a job at the school. I make minimum wage ($7.50 here in Oregon) but at least I know I will get the winter break I already committed to off. Anyway, in the meantime there's been some things ruling my life and I thought I would list them out in hopes of other people checking them out.

Yacht Rock (Please check this out, it's amazingly funny)/ The Best Show on WMFU / Jim Guthrie "Now, More Than Ever / Coffee / Thai Food / LOST / The Office / Sweaters + Collared Shirts / Okkervil River (especially the new E.P) / The Science of Sleep / Whole Foods deli section / Vitamin Water / Odwalla Super Food / Pumpkin Beer (please someone have a Flat Branch pint for me after Halloween!) / The Rosebuds "Birds Make Good Neighbors" (check out "Shake Our Tree)/ My Brightest Diamond "Bring Me the Workhorse" / YouSendIt.com / this rad-ass screenprint I got at Goodwill that kind of looks like a vagina if it's displayed a certain way / Pumpkin cheesecake.

Well, I've killed a good portion of my night here. I hope dear readers you check out some of those links.

Take care and call me.

m

I'm chasing a ghost.

Well, I'm back in Portland now. Truth be told, I've been home for a week now. I kind of checked out after my vacation. Columbia was simultaneously awesome and draining. I came back feeling a little strange I guess. Hard to explain I think.

It was really great seeing everyone, I got a nice cross-section of the local bands I missed and wanted to see; it turned out to be a pretty good week to come back for a spell. Of course, it wasn't without its drama, or weird feelings, or weirdness in general. Maybe it's to be expected sometimes. I mean, how much can really change in 3 or so months? You would like to think somethings had changed, even within yourself.

Although, I do feel things have changed for me, maybe not for the best and beyond the obvious. I think perhaps I have been spending too much time alone, faced with little else, I had definitely adapted to being my own entertainment and my own facilitator of whatever strange manner of conversation I can have with myself. I found myself a little dumbfounded when it came to what exactly to talk about. There's only so long you can speak about certain things and I'm no longer hip to the going-ons in Columbia. In addition, I began to get really self-conscious about talking about Portland past the usual answers to the usual questions like "How is it?" or "How are you liking Portland?". I didn't want to be all "Portland this Portland that". I guess I just figured, does anyone care? Does anyone care about a Lebanese restaurant that they will most likely never eat at or forget about immediately? Perhaps I'm being a little too self-aware.

The haunts were still the same and I felt like my rut was neatly kept in its same condition. It was pretty easy to fall back in. There's the excessive drinking area, the friend drama add-on, the bars again, that fucking asshole that I really hoped I wouldn't see and yet, saw twice, and then there's the good stuff that makes it seem worth it.

The drama or not, I love my friends and it was really great to be around Jace and Katie again. It was even nice seeing Jon (once we got our business covered). Nathan was having a weird week I think, and I didn't see him very much nor did I really get to spend any quality time with him. And of course Shotwell, who I was very glad to see and hang out with. I even got to see Lisa a few times, which was great, but admittedly a little bittersweet. I'm not sure how/if I want to explain that any further.

By the end however, I was pretty ready to get back to P-town. I missed my apartment (more specifically my bed) and I missed my new comfort zone. The flight back was a mess. I had gotten around 2 hours of sleep before I had to be up and in a car towards Kansas City. Take that plus a 4 hour layover in Denver, where I accidentally bought a 7 dollar pumpkin beer (which was delicious) and paid $8 to use the wireless internet of which I got to use for maybe 30 minutes due to low battery. Shit!

Once I got back, it was just a week full of relaxin and maxin. Plus 2 great shows!

Andrew Bird with Cass McCombs @ The Aladdin Theater Wed. Sept. 27th
In a word, AMAZING. To think that I nearly missed this still give me the night terrors. I showed up after a lengthy bus ride into SE Portland and the show was sold out (only after some girl came up to me and asked me if I was from Columbia. She was a student at Rock Bridge when I worked there, weird!). Emilie had a ticket, so I figured I would at least wait around and say hi meanwhile keeping an eye out for anyone holding an extra ticket. Emilie finally showed up and I was still ticketless, so we stood and talked for a while and then finally like a kiss of fate, a lady walked up to me and asked me if I needed a ticket.
The show itself was incredible. Cass McCombs was pretty awful, but Andrew more than made up for it. I could have lost a limb earlier that evening and he would have made up for it. He played a handful of new songs and wow, his next album is going to be killer.

M Ward with Mike Coyenkendall @ The Crystal Ballroom Sat. Sept. 30th
In another word INCREDIBLE. Once again, I didn't think much of the opener, but M Ward was just jaw dropping. He began the set with his cover of "Let's Dance" but done with a full band and went through a lot of his catalog. Possibly the coolest part was that most everything was played with 2 drummers (one of which was Rachel from Norfolk and Western/ex-Decemberists). The guy is just spot on live. His voice sounds the same as it does on record and his songs were tweaked slightly as to give it a good performance live. Without a doubt I would go see M Ward again and again.

I also saw MC Chris again this week, which was fun I guess. Nate got me on the list and I was sort of drunk when I got there. So why not go to Dante's (easily the worst venue in town) and buy their expensive beers? Guh. MC is always fun though.

To cap everything off, I got my grades! I'm managed a 3.6 GPA last term and I've ended up with a cumulative of 3.8! Yay! Not only does this put me on the honor roll at Ai but I also won a nice merit award (which was an award of $400!). Woo!
And now I'm back at school, in my new term. 2 days in and it's not so bad! However, I am taking Math (bleech), but at least I'm taking some other classes that will be a bit more fun.

Anyway, this post is really long. I should really post more often to cut down on these long posts.

Take care,

m