The Bright Side
Sol made a cameo appearance in Portland today and I found myself awake shortly after sunrise. Adam invoked me in chat and reminded me of kung fu by the pond in Laurelhurst. The park is exactly one short walk including Woodlawn Park on the way to the bus plus one bus ride whose terminus is a bus stop placed at an entrance to the park. No excuses are acceptable in this context. This is part of why Portland is so damn cool*- one bus gets me from almost as far north as you can get and only 8 blocks east to the 39th block east and just south of the middle with spacious parks at both ends with people who practice 2 different forms of Bagua occasionally inhabiting both. Practicing with my teacher's teacher present seems to give me a +3 to all my attributes for the length of the practice. I suppose I'm more aware knowing he's watching (you learn to pay attention to your peripheral vision equally with what's in focus in Bagua) and you get more than 2 people all practicing these arts within earshot of one another and the overall amplitude of the qi is raised and we strengthen one another's practice. My tendency to pick up audio signals becomes useful as I warm up and listen to what Sifu is saying to other students. Then he tells me things in particular and suddenly my mind is in my elbows where they only flickered with awareness before.
After parting ways with Adam I stopped by a cafe he told me about at se Belmont and 55th where the street zigzags. It was the first sunny day in awhile so I decided to go to mt Tabor too. The cafe is in the tower of an old stone Presbetyrian church and it's pay what you can. Yes, that's right- locally roasted coffee that's pay what you can. There's a card swiper for plastic and a wooden box for card reciepts and cash. I think it's called Cafe On the Hill. It's the only cafe in a stone church tower at 55th and Belmont that I know of so you should be able to find it.
*If everyone moves to Portland it will suck. Too many people in one place trashes the place. I encourage you to work to change your community wherever you live and be inspired by Portland rather than everyone moving here. There's too many people and not enough jobs here too. If everyone who loves what they think Portland is from afar moves here they're committing brain drain on their own communities and contributing to overpopulation of the Willamette Valley. Of course if you really want to move here do what thou wilt. I'm not going to stop you. If you're cool I'll probably enjoy your company at some point. Welcome. But please consider the very real issue of too many people in one place. Anyway, why should Portland be the only cool city on the planet? I'd rather see other cities becoming more like Portland than see Portland become more like the rest of the country. Sorry but nowhere else has so many wooded areas accessible by public transit that arrives every fifteen fucking minutes. This shouldn't be the only place that's true.
After parting ways with Adam I stopped by a cafe he told me about at se Belmont and 55th where the street zigzags. It was the first sunny day in awhile so I decided to go to mt Tabor too. The cafe is in the tower of an old stone Presbetyrian church and it's pay what you can. Yes, that's right- locally roasted coffee that's pay what you can. There's a card swiper for plastic and a wooden box for card reciepts and cash. I think it's called Cafe On the Hill. It's the only cafe in a stone church tower at 55th and Belmont that I know of so you should be able to find it.
*If everyone moves to Portland it will suck. Too many people in one place trashes the place. I encourage you to work to change your community wherever you live and be inspired by Portland rather than everyone moving here. There's too many people and not enough jobs here too. If everyone who loves what they think Portland is from afar moves here they're committing brain drain on their own communities and contributing to overpopulation of the Willamette Valley. Of course if you really want to move here do what thou wilt. I'm not going to stop you. If you're cool I'll probably enjoy your company at some point. Welcome. But please consider the very real issue of too many people in one place. Anyway, why should Portland be the only cool city on the planet? I'd rather see other cities becoming more like Portland than see Portland become more like the rest of the country. Sorry but nowhere else has so many wooded areas accessible by public transit that arrives every fifteen fucking minutes. This shouldn't be the only place that's true.