It's been a good couple days

Earlier this week I was considering taking the train up to Canada for a few days, since I was getting so bored sitting around in the basement, downloading music and generally being a lazy slob. And because my natural state is a lazy slob it's quite a feat that I reached a limit. But I stuck around here because it was the Timbers last home game on Thursday and I promised my indoor soccer team I'd actually show up this weekend (forgot last week. oooops.), making any trip to Vancouver rather short and expensive. As it turned out, I'm pleased I didn't run away to Canada.

The Timbers put us and themselves out of our collective misery on Thursday by eliminating any chance of making the playoffs, losing 2-1. It was both a heartbreaking game and typical of how this season has played out. We scored first and continued to dominate the game. Then one of our central defenders was given a red card in the first half. I've only seen players get red cards in the first half maybe a handful of times, ever, but it's happened to the Timbers four or five times this season. Though a man down, we continued to possess the ball and outplay Charleston, and yet Charleston got hold of the ball and scored two, the winner coming in the 89th minute. Despite the loss, it was a fun night. The team tried, there wasn't a lot of negativity in the stands and I was just happy to be surrounded by a group of people that love to yell and sing and support a team through thick and thin. There were a few smoke bombs, a lot of pogoing and of course gallons of cheap beer. And it's always nice to see 13,000+ people come out on a school night to cheer on their local club, even if a lot of them are only their for the $2 beers.

Friday, the hangover caused me to hangout in the cool, dark basement and read the news most of the day. The roommate came home and dragged me out to our mutual friend's band's show, and I left from there to head downtown and watch one of my all-time favorite bands, Bad Religion, for the first time. Well ok, I saw them at the Warp tour in Texas a few years ago, but that hardly counts, right? They put on a pretty decent show, and aside from the dumbass that dove off the fifteen-foot tall amplifier stack and crushed a bunch of oblivious people on the dance floor, the crowd was decent, too. There were a few kids there, which is always heartening in these days where it seems punkrock is only followed by a bunch of old-timers.

Today was one of those days that makes me glad to live in Portland. Warm and crisp, downtown shone in the backdrop of a clear blue sky, and my indoor soccer team drank beer in an open-walled bar after our game, soaking in both the sun and the breeze. I had a delicious beer and a cider I'd never tried before, and when I came home from that there was a stack of new CDs that mailman had delivered.

There's another show tonight with my roommates' band, but I was content to stay at home and write you this very boring blog. You're welcome. :D

a few pics

Click for a larger view.

Mt. Hood. Dunno how many times I've posted a pic of this thing, but it's so close to Portland that it's usually the first area I head to when I want to camp. At the time of this picture I was trying to find an alternate route to a remote campsite and wasn't quite sure where I was.

Now this is how logging should be done, leaving lots of big trees scattered about. Often logggers will leave the required number of trees only along the edges and clear out the middle Difficult to tell if it was just a fire, logged, or logged and burned. Fireweed (the purple flowers) makes it all the better.


Summit Lake, the campground I eventually ended up at. No one was there the entire three days I camped. Fish were jumping, ducks playing with each other woke me up at dawn, and the campsite was right up against the water.

fingers-in-my-ears time

Now that the presidential candidates have made their picks, it's time for me to stop paying attention. I didn't even have to wait this long, really; I knew who I was voting for since Obama got the nomination. Everything from here on out is pointless, and anyone who has a couple of brain cells to rub together and reads the news more than twice a year knows how the candidates stand on the issues already and have made up their minds. I firmly believe that those wavering on voting for Obama because of "inexperience", or "is he the right kind of candidate" are covering for their racism, possibly racism they don't even know (and certainly won't admit) they have.

But I let myself get angry this morning while innocently turning on the television to watch a soccer game. McCain's pick for VP just infuriates me. The utter contempt McCain and the rest of these people show for women is unbelievable. He really thinks that if he puts a woman on the ticket that he'll get women to vote for him. He thinks we're that dumb! I'm not going to vote for someone simply because we share the same anatomy, and to think that I'm going to overlook the fact that we have nothing in common in our background (other than hunting and living on the west coast) and certainly nothing in common for our vision of the future, and vote simply for some sort of solidarity with my gender is insulting to say the least.

Having said all that, I have a terrible feeling that Obama is not going to win. This joke of a pairing McCain/Palin are going to run our lives for the next four years. Can you imagine what depths they'll pull us to? I was devestated and mind-blown that Kerry lost four years ago. I simply could not believe the majority of Americans could vote for that bastard again. But I won't be surprised this time - disappointed, yes, but not surprised.

Hurl! (and then whine in pain later)

Just when I think I'm sort of in shape... I go and start a new activity. A few weeks ago, that activity was sawing logs and chopping wood while camping. I know how to chop and saw, it's just been a really long time since I'd done so. This week my roommate has suddenly become infatuated with the Irish game of hurling, which if you're unfamiliar with it, is similar to field hockey or lacrosse. It's played with a big stick, called a 'hurley', and a ball that's slightly smaller than a baseball.

The hurleys got here two days ago and I've ended both nights with a large dose of Ibuprofen and about half a bottle of Arnica (rub-on hippie medicine). My hamstrings are sore, my groin is tight, my obliques and lower back hurt and the muscles in my forearm are so tender that I can hardly make a fist. The outside of my forearm is so covered in bruises from the hurley handle and last week's soccer game that, as my roommate put it, it looks like I have a disease.

But it's a fun game involving some familiar movements like positioning on the field and using one's body to shield the ball from opponents, and completely unfamiliar motions like picking the ball off the ground using only a stick, and swinging the hurley with one's hands in the opposite grip as in baseball. Those new movements have totally tweaked a few muscles who seem to rather have been left alone.

planes, dreams

I've had a reoccurring dream for years, every few months or so, about planes falling out of the sky. Sometimes they come for me and I try to run to one side or another, but there's just no dodging a huge jetliner bombing towards your head. Other times, like last night, a plane on the horizon just dips and falls into a fiery mess and I try and pick people out of the wreckage. I'm sure it's a metaphor for something and I could probably look it up somewhere. I just wish I was smart enough to undo the riddles my own brain has created for me.

Anyway, this might have had something to do with my urge to go to the airport today. I do that every now and then. I get some coffee from Coffee People, find a seat near the window and watch the planes take off while reading or writing in my journal. I had a book to finish (American Gods, if you're wondering. It was fabulous, too.) and I kind of wanted to rid myself of the lingering disturbing thoughts of last night's dream by watching planes go up, up and away, exactly as they're supposed to.

Like most of my time this summer, today's events did not have a point and neither does this blog post. I'm struggling to find a conclusion here, but really, nothing happened other than some nice thoughts and a few overheard conversations, and certainly nothing reaching the revelation(s) with which I'd like to justify this post. But that's what I wanted this summer. Timeless, pointless, rambling, wandering...

A camping pic

Ah, eastern Oregon. Home of desert, cattle ranchers, 9,000 ft peaks surrounded by ponderosa forests, rushing rivers full of trout, and of course... a few people. Who like guns with their ice.

More pics to come...

Summers rule, too

I've been camping and stuff. Will post some pictures when I get a more reliable connection and before I head back out again. Summer breaks are the best. They ought to be mandatory in the employment world.