on the map

walking distance of my apartment

one of the best things i love about the portland metro is its modest-yet-startling beauty spread out amidst Urbania and Metropolis. i know this photo doesn't look like much, but it's the wide open spaces and all that gorgeous portland sky that gets me every time. and it's less than a mile from my apartment. i know my town isn't quite portland metro, but just south. still, i love it.

holladay park, NE 11th ave

this place always makes me smile, too, because it's a little pocket of pleasant right smack in the middle of corporate buildings and lloyd center in downtown portland. it's not quite The Block at Orange, but then again, The Block isn't quite Pioneer Square, either. so it's a trade off. but this little park is a breath of fresh air and balm for the eyes. portland is known as the city of bridges and the city of roses, but it's also home to the largest urban park in the country, and the smallest park in the world. we love our parks.

all in all, the best place to live in the whole, wide world.

brezsny-on-the-blog

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): "You have to love life when you're in really deep trouble," said poet Robin Blaser. So what about if, on the other hand, you're in only shallow trouble? Do you have a mandate to just sort of *like* life a little more? Or can you, with a little work, exploit the mild disturbance that the shallow trouble provides in order to dramatically pump up your adoration of life? I hope that your actions in the coming week, Capricorn, will be a big "yes" in response to that question. I'm happy to tell you that you can wangle a big boost from a small inconvenience.


hmm, "mild disturbance..." y'know, yesterday i wrote quite a bit at Freedom Revolution about a certain mild disturbance that didn't feel quite so mild. it seemed quite huge, actually. really huge. in retrospect, however, it was less about an external "huge" problem and more about conquering myself.

and what a big boost it was!

of course, that doesn't have to be the only area in my life where i'm ankle-deep in the Teenie-Weenie Wading Pool of Troubled Waters and worrying about tsunamis. i still worry about paring down to two days a week at the salon while, conversely, i'm counting down the four weekends left that i have there. and it's not even as if i'm looking forward to anything grandiose. quite the opposite. i've resolved to take the first free weekend i have and i'm going down to saturday market downtown. it's a fun-filled weekend of bohippian funk and gypsy caravan flair, something my soul hasn't gotten enough of in two years.

i am determined!

but really, that's about all the trouble my fabulicious pronoiac self can conjure at the moment. not that i'm complaining...

everywhere else, in every way else, things are only getting better.

daily deelite

1. thank you, universe, for wonderful friends that make it possible to throw mexican potluck parties entitled "Beanerfest 2008" where good homemade food, lots of drinkage, laughter, swimming, and relaxation take place. oh, and cheesecake.

2. i'm really grateful for cheesecake...

3. i'm grateful for those lovely moments on a warm summer night when i'm driving down mainstreet in my home town and i can smell the summer and night-blooming flowers like the most intoxicating-yet-tranquil incense Nature ever invented.

4. i'm sincerely grateful for a place to lay down my head every single night after such a wonderful, fun-filled day, and know i belong.

5. i'm grateful for the freedom to live my life as i want to, go where i want to, and be untethered to expand and explore my world. i just realized tonight that i know the portland area better than i knew orange county where i grew up and lived for twenty years. i could still get lost down there, but up here? in a >1500 sq. mi. area, i can't get lost. that's pretty incredible.

i'm home here.

a pox on all technology!

i promised pictures of the gorge the other day.

if i remember correctly, i'd also promised pictures (at least one) of me at the vampire ball.

so far, i've failed you miserably. but i swear, the great god BIOS --god of computers and all related modern technology-- hates me. fie, fie i say! a pox upon any- and everything that breaks simply because i'm in the room.

my camera decided to have some sort of grand mal seizure right before the trip. it won't stop flashing at me, takes pictures of absolutely nothing, tells me it's off when it's clearly on, and the list goes on. and the scanner doesn't work, so i can't even digitize the portraits taken of me at the ball.

and believe me, i looked damn hot. 80 bobby pins, ninety minutes in the salon chair, and my best "You Are So In For It" red lipstick with plenty of gloss for the perfect wet sheen, and i was the dark goddess of sultry deliciousness.

there must be pictures, damn it all to the ninth hell!

ah well. i shall find a way (don't i remember something about *mj* buying a new scanner recently? hmm...), and i shall endeavor to buy a new camera. preferably one without epilepsy.

and now i leave you with more delena haiku, inspired by my trip:

raining at the start,
i left the clouds behind me --
stepped into a dream.

enchanting colors,
sun to make me recall home.
i was smiling bright.

sunshine kissed my skin.
music thundered in the car.
wind laughed through my hair.

delena haiku

i'm off to the gorge --
me, the road, and the cam'ra...
possibilities!

pdx: the REAL capital of oregon...

i caught this article over on Forbes.com about the 7 most sinful cities in america. they took the 7 deadly sins, then took the top ten cities per capita.

por exemplo, they took the murder rate for wrath, theft for envy, etc.

what rocks is that portland came out #2 in the category of Lust, second only to denver, CO. of course, before you panic, know that the criteria they used was condom and contraceptive purchase count. so it might not be that portland is the second most sexually active city in the country, but just the most consciencious about safe sex.

the other week i was in the mall with *sy*, and we passed by one of those clothing stores i usually scorn. but in the window display were retro-style shirts, and there was a brown baby doll shirt with pink writing that just made me think, "gods, i LOVE my city!" what did the shirt say? i'll tell you:

welcome to portland. recycle, or we'll kick your ass!