busyFriday evenings always seem so full of potential, standing at the front of two whole days of Free Time! So much will be accomplished! Of course, I rarely feel like doing anything productive on Friday evening, but it’s nice to know that unstructured time lies ahead.
Talked with
oh_that_jocelyn for a while. sanguinity called during the middle of that, and I called her back. She gloated about going to a fascinating presentation about a Stanford space project (but she did point out that I could quit my job and apply to it). After that, I called my mother to wish her a happy birthday. Just as that wrapped up, drarwenchicken came home, and I went to cement plans for Saturday breakfast with her, which stretched into almost a two-hour conversation. So Friday was far more social than usual, but time well spent.Saturday: After hunting on eBay for monster action figures, went to breakfast at Bob’s Red Mill. We were the only ones who braved the chill to sit outside. I didn’t have an extra coat in the car, but did have a roll of garbage bags.
drarwenchicken declined my offer to let her have a few of those to improvise with. Then the Errand Phase of the day started. I spent a while hunting for a good action figures, particular one to make into a Mummy. I learned that the Goodwill at the corner of SE 17th & Ochoca is an outlet. They have The Bins. If you’ve never seen the Bins, they’re the penultimate resting place for all the Goodwill wares that didn’t sell in the retail locations. The place is like a warehouse with rows of giant rolling table-sized Bins. The merchandise is dumped in the Bins, and shoppers sift through like archeologists searching for something of value buried under layers of a civilization’s detritus. I find the Bins scary. There are signs warning that there may be Sharp Things in the Bins. They don’t say that there may also be things that bite or suck you into a Time-Space Vortex, but I suspect there could be.
Stopped at the library, then went home. Tried to be productive, but kept bouncing from task to task, without making any particular progress. Finally, after drifting well into the afternoon and not having eaten for ages, I bargained with myself that I could have the rest of the day off if I at least washed dishes. So I did. Finished the day with “Aeon Flux”; of the bunch of DVDs I’d gotten from the library, I’d selected it as “Most Likely To Be Not Very Good.” I was right.
Sunday:
Fun Thing #1: Walking to the Milwaukie Farmer’s Market with
drarwenchicken. She bought a bunch of vegetables, which had to be carried ALL the way home, but the day was pleasant. I was reminded that I need a button that reads “It’s Okay, She’s My Sister” so when I’m checking out other women, they don’t think I’m some sort of jerk.Fun Thing #2: Then
sanguinity and grrlpup had invited me to go for a walk from Leach Botanical Gardens up to the VA cemetery. It was only a 4-mile loop, but it wasn’t until I got there did I realize we were following a route described in the guidebook “Exhausting Portland Hill Climbs On Foot” (I may not recall that title exactly; I was a bit dazed). The views as we climbed the hill got better and better, though. Our conversations made their usual free-form rambling, but as we made the loop through the cemetery, we talked about wills, inheritances, executorships and funerals. Even though the walk was a little more strenuous than I expected, it felt good to be out hiking again. And the company was excellent.Then home, via Thai Mango for take-out, and preparing my comic for Monday. Structured or not, these weekends just FLY by…
