And what better place to spend time clarifying your thoughts as the bathroom. 🙂
Tag: fun
PKO Senior Dissertation
This autumn and winter, I’ve been helping a senior in high school with her high school dissertation, which is what her school calls the culminating senior project. I was one of three committee members and my job was editing. I had great fun looking over PKO’s research paper and her journal entries.
PKO’s focus was on animals. Her paper was about Animal Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. She also volunteered at the Oregon Humane Society with dogs, teaching them commands to make them more adoptable. During that time she kept a journal, which included information about the different dogs she volunteered with as well as instructions for teaching commands to dogs.
Her teacher said it was one of the top three senior dissertations she had seen.
Well done PKO!
Top 10 photos of 2015
Each year in December I go through the photos taken and pick out 10 to display on my wall for the next year. Here are this year’s choices:
The bassist for Jilt and some mood lighting
Patton Oswalt at the Newmark Theater
Fans of Gail Forman at her reading.
A shadow of a stop sign
Daisies breaking free of chain link fence.
Bird and Mt. Hood.
Sara, an appropriate shirt for the setting, and the couple we were spying on.
Macbeth at the Lone Fir Cemetery
My toes at the beach
Various McLains working together to get the perfect shot.
New Year’s Eve Plans
New Year’s Eve is my least favorite day of the year and so, with Matt out of town, I made some plans. Double feature!
The beautiful Hollywood Theater has the Roadshow production of Quentin Tarintino’s The Hateful Eight. To hear more about what makes the Roadshow different, watch this feature. Samuel Jackson says you should go. And when Samuel Jackson says stuff, you know it’s true. So I went!
And look at the bendy screen! It’s so big, it didn’t even fit within my camera lens.
After the Hateful Eight, I had some dinner at a trolley sushi place, and then went back to see Joy. It was a good way to spend the holiday.
My favorite part of my white elephant gift.
Every year, friends have a White Elephant Christmas Party. It’s always very fun, and fun to see what burbles to the surface as White Elephant gifts. This year, Jeff opened a present that included two DVDs (Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Lost in Translation) and also a mix CD titled “My favorite songs of 2015, by Jane, age 7.”
I asked what the titles were, and Jeff read them, to a lot of jeering from other (male) party goers.
I got to choose after Jeff, and so I stole from him. I gave the two DVDs away, but kept the CD.
Matt and I listened to it in the car and I can say that Jane, age 7, and I don’t have the same taste in music. And both Matt and I were surprised at how many of the songs were about sex. I think Jane, age 16, will listen to this CD and be aghast at how much went over her head. But I love that Jane, age 7 has an opinion about what kind of music she likes. And that’s why I was happy to take home this CD.
Jane, age 7, by the way is the daughter of one of the other party guest. Her mother said the mix CD was a party favor for her birthday and also that there are favorite songs Mix CDs for Jane age 6, 5, and 4. Which is also pretty cool.
Crayons in desk are older than me.
I cleaned out my work desk today and found these gems. I’m pretty sure both are from long before I was born. I can’t say for sure the price of crayons during the 70s & 80s, but it sure wasn’t fifteen cents. (And as an indication as to how far we are from that price, I just had to write out the amount because I don’t have a cents sign available to me in this writing platform.)
None of them looked like they’s been colored with.
I put them back in their cases and sent them off to the Goodwill. If you hear a media story about really old crowns selling for hundreds of dollars, don’t tell me about it.
Early birthday present: Elizabeth Gilbert at the Newmark
Kelly spotted this opportunity for a birthday present and so we went. We were excited to also get a book with our admission. (Especially me, who didn’t pay. :-))
The Newmark Theater is my favorite theater in Portland. One of the things I love is that when you sit in the balcony the view plunges straight to the stage.
I only managed to capture a so-so photo. But what with the zoom and the dark and all, this was as good as it got. I would say that bemused acknowledgement of her good fortune is probably a core Elizabeth Gilbert feeling these days.
This is either the third or fourth time Kelly and I have seen Elizabeth Gilbert speak. But this time, she talked about the redemptive power of group singing (something I’ve been yammering on about for years) and had us all sing to end her talk.
We sang “Take me Home, Country Roads” which, aside from being a song I’ve known all my life was also a YRUU standard. Neither Kelly nor I needed to google lyrics.
Found because I walked on the opposite side of the street.
People familier with me will not be surprised to know that I tend to walk certain specific routes from place to place. I encounter this tree on one of my routes home from the library. However, I usually walk under it, not on the opposite side of the street.
But in doing so, look what I discovered hiding.
Cool beer display.
Why not turn that vintage Westinghouse refrigerator into a fabulous beer display case?
(I’m subtracting points for refrigerated air constantly escaping the display case, but giving so many more bonus points for how it looks.)
I had to peek inside the butter keeper.
At the Beaumont Market.
A Trip to Edgefield
I took myself on a short vacation to kick off my spring break. Here’s where I went and you can see the bus stop where I disembarked. It takes about 90 minutes door to door to get to Edgefield. Only one transfer!
Copula as seen through blossoms.
Grape vines ready.
I planned to check in exactly at 3:00, so as to maximize my stay. Since I was early, I took a little walk. Of course I headed straight for the vegetable garden.
Potatoes had been planted, and this chard was doing well.
The first asparagus I’ve seen this year!
Mustard. Bolting;
Edgefiled has many nice cobb benches.
It turns out many people had the same idea to check in exactly at 3:00, so there was a bit of a line. But just look how big my room was!
Two beds, two chairs and a couch! I booked late, so all the regular Full-single rooms were taken. But I was very happy with the couch and chairs. There was a lot of sprawling and reading.
On my way to the Power Station for some food I found this pretty plant.
Fulfilling my stamp requirements, I purchased a Beer sampler. I discovered that 1) I was not a fan of the Termanator Stout (too bitter). 2)Both IPAs did not wow me. 3) I was completely in love with Ruby Ale. Like I would actually order it of my own volition, not just to get a stamp. 4)I liked the Seasonal Madness, which had the word “red” in the title. 5) I really liked the Brewer’s choice, but alas do not remember what it was.
Also, as a public service announcement, I also did not drink all the sampler on my own. I drank three of the samples and sipped on the other two enough to confirm I did not like them. Even with eating a pizza, three samples were probably my limit. Which is how I like it. Being a lightweight is quite cost effective.
Also, I never did read the back of the sheet. Perhaps when we order another sampler so Matt can get his stamp.
The rest of my Edgefield visit involved reading quietly in my room, doing my usual McMenamins plan of choosing a different bathroom every time, soaking in the soaking pool in the morning when the pool was mostly deserted and it was pouring rain.
It was a lovely visit.