Despite a Vacation my mind is still Racin'
Work had been INSANE. Three weeks where i only got a day off per week, and worked 6 to 7 day stretches before getting a day off. It was....very hard. Again, there were several times where i was so stressed out and tired that i strongly considered walking out...but i can't. So i begged my boss for four days off in a row, made it through just barely, and then had a mini vacation.
Ben and I went to the beach on the 1st day of my vacation. It vacillated between misty to windy to full out rain, but it was so relaxing, and very much needed. Just seeing the trees on the drive there...all the multitudinous shades of green, the smells, especially closer to and then along the actual coastline...OMG. Ben and i talked a lot (i don't remember about what) and were happy and silly but also plenty of comfortable moments of silence too. We went to the Tillamook cheese factory again, which we observed seems to be the favorite vacation spot of the very fat and elderly, not only, but particularly. We went to a pawn shop that we had been to before, they were so picked over it was kind of sad. We drove the streets of an economically depressed looking coastal town full of abandoned buildings and storefronts, which was sad but aesthetically also kind of beautiful. We had awesome salmon jerky on the drive. We ate crab cakes and clam chowder and drank decent coffee at The Big Wave which seems to often be more deserted than it deserves. We stopped by Rockaway Beach (hey isn't that a Ramone's song?) which was rife with spotted squirrel creatures, hiding amidst the boulders surrounding the parking lot. It was too windy so we drove on to another beach, which was even more windy and crazy sand stormy, so we retreated under some gnarly twisted coastal trees and had a beer each. After that we headed home, and it just barely started to get dark along the way. It was so nice to escape, to get the fuck out of Portland for a while, to get away from the house, to try and forget some of my daily stressors, if just for a day. I loved the time i got to spend with Ben, it was wonderful.
Other awesomenesses were also had during my extended weekend. My friend Jesse took me to see Evelyn Evelyn (Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley's conjoined twin musical performance art act) on the 2nd vacation day, stayed over night in the craft room/guest room, and then we hung out downtown before she had to catcher her bus home to Eugene. Jesse is very thoughtful and sensitive and probably more spiritually inclined than i am, we are different creatures but close enough that i feel very friendly and attached to her, yet different enough that she always makes me think about things with a different angle. That is so valuable in a friend, and i miss her already.
On the 4th vacation day i hung out with my good friend Heather who is planning on moving to Seattle. Her partner Chris got an excellent job offer from Amazon so moved up there for the job and now Heather is following him there, and lucky for her he is going to support her for a while so she won't need to get some crappy job and can just focus on getting her new life up there in order. I want to get in as much time as i can with her before she leaves since i trust her more than just about anyone and am going to miss her immensely, even though we don't hang out as much as we should, or as much as I'd like sometimes because we already live on opposite sides of Portland. Heather loves cute and crafty things so we worked on crafty projects together until pretty late in the evening.
I felt like the extended weekend by went by way too rapidly. It did have some good effects, for sure, and i am still trying to hang on to those. But its back to work again now, back into the rush of things. This week has jumped out of nowhere and is already overwhelming me...with some pretty crazy developments. Whew. I'll write that in a separate blog entry, just to break it up a little...i feel like i am rambling a bit, but there is a lot to say.
Ben and I went to the beach on the 1st day of my vacation. It vacillated between misty to windy to full out rain, but it was so relaxing, and very much needed. Just seeing the trees on the drive there...all the multitudinous shades of green, the smells, especially closer to and then along the actual coastline...OMG. Ben and i talked a lot (i don't remember about what) and were happy and silly but also plenty of comfortable moments of silence too. We went to the Tillamook cheese factory again, which we observed seems to be the favorite vacation spot of the very fat and elderly, not only, but particularly. We went to a pawn shop that we had been to before, they were so picked over it was kind of sad. We drove the streets of an economically depressed looking coastal town full of abandoned buildings and storefronts, which was sad but aesthetically also kind of beautiful. We had awesome salmon jerky on the drive. We ate crab cakes and clam chowder and drank decent coffee at The Big Wave which seems to often be more deserted than it deserves. We stopped by Rockaway Beach (hey isn't that a Ramone's song?) which was rife with spotted squirrel creatures, hiding amidst the boulders surrounding the parking lot. It was too windy so we drove on to another beach, which was even more windy and crazy sand stormy, so we retreated under some gnarly twisted coastal trees and had a beer each. After that we headed home, and it just barely started to get dark along the way. It was so nice to escape, to get the fuck out of Portland for a while, to get away from the house, to try and forget some of my daily stressors, if just for a day. I loved the time i got to spend with Ben, it was wonderful.
Other awesomenesses were also had during my extended weekend. My friend Jesse took me to see Evelyn Evelyn (Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley's conjoined twin musical performance art act) on the 2nd vacation day, stayed over night in the craft room/guest room, and then we hung out downtown before she had to catcher her bus home to Eugene. Jesse is very thoughtful and sensitive and probably more spiritually inclined than i am, we are different creatures but close enough that i feel very friendly and attached to her, yet different enough that she always makes me think about things with a different angle. That is so valuable in a friend, and i miss her already.
On the 4th vacation day i hung out with my good friend Heather who is planning on moving to Seattle. Her partner Chris got an excellent job offer from Amazon so moved up there for the job and now Heather is following him there, and lucky for her he is going to support her for a while so she won't need to get some crappy job and can just focus on getting her new life up there in order. I want to get in as much time as i can with her before she leaves since i trust her more than just about anyone and am going to miss her immensely, even though we don't hang out as much as we should, or as much as I'd like sometimes because we already live on opposite sides of Portland. Heather loves cute and crafty things so we worked on crafty projects together until pretty late in the evening.
I felt like the extended weekend by went by way too rapidly. It did have some good effects, for sure, and i am still trying to hang on to those. But its back to work again now, back into the rush of things. This week has jumped out of nowhere and is already overwhelming me...with some pretty crazy developments. Whew. I'll write that in a separate blog entry, just to break it up a little...i feel like i am rambling a bit, but there is a lot to say.