Matt, his mother Linda and I are on our way to a Forktown Food Tour of N. Mississippi Street. I wanted to update you on the ch-ch-ch-changes on N. Williams Avenue first. This sign was photographed in January.
Across the street, this building has undergone a huge transformation. I even have compare/contrast photos for you. Now:
Here’s what it looked like on 1/28:
And here’s just one picture from our food tour. That is a huge shelf of bitters. Read more about it here.
Powell’s has exiled the YA authors to the suburban enclave of Powell’s at Cedar Hills Crossing (once known as the Beaverton Mall). Still, it’s Gayle Forman, YA author extraordinaire! I had to go, and thankfully friend Sunita was up for the drive.
I thought the reading room in this Powell’s would be bigger, because suburbia and all, but it was actually smaller. And the folded chairs were very close together. And the podium wasn’t as cool. It wasn’t my favorite Powell’s experience. But again, Gayle Forman!
Gayle Forman was in conversation with Blake Nelson (author of, among other things, Paranoid Park). The conversation was great, but was on the same level as the people in the chairs which meant a lot of leaning from side to side. But again, Gayle Forman!
Gayle recruited someone for the audience to help with the reading from her new book I Was Here. A lovely young woman was happy to volunteer.
Blake Nelson was happy to read from the book.
The lovely young woman in question.
The audience was full of lovely young women, many holding books to be signed.
The lovely young women weren’t up to asking a lot of questions, so I got to ask two! After, Sunita and I stayed to have our books signed and chat with Gayle. It was a lovely evening.
(Which is not to say it wouldn’t have been lovelier at the downtown Powell’s. But again, Gayle Forman!)
Kelly got us tickets for Patton Oswalt for my brithday. Today we go. Thank Kelly! (Also, I’m just now noticing that service charge! Preposterous!)
I greatly enjoy the architecture of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts (PCPA) and the Newmark Theater is my favorite among the complex’s theaters. Its small and intimate and has simulated boxes as well as stars on the ceiling.
We were closer than the first row! We were actually sitting in rows of removable chairs where the orchestra pit usually is. We were very close! This is a non-zoomed picture.
And here’s a zoomed one. Patton Oswalt is telling us he’s relieved to be in Portland.
I was quite transfixed by his belt buckle.
This was a great show. He chatted about all manner of topics, my favorite of which was his opining on the day where he had to visit the Post Office and the D.M.V. on the same day. He told us it wasn’t the employees who were the problem, they were on it. It was the customers who were all crazy. Patton Oswalt feels my customer service pain!
If the tell-tale sign of Aunt Carol’s handwriting didn’t tip me off the address label (free from some nonprofit) would.
Inside, a note from my aunt and a folded piece of paper. I recognize the paper.
It’s computer scratch paper. Growing up we had tons of it. I’m not really sure why random symbols were printed out, but Dad would bring it home as scratch paper from his job as a principal. This is actually the good computer scratch paper because you could tear off the dots. The previous generation had dots that were not perforated and you had to use scissors to remove them.
And inside a picture and a story.
What a fun blast from the past.
