Portland, Oregon, In Hindsight

The Good Stuff:

• Living, breathing neighborhoods
• Quick access to beautiful natural areas
• Best city parks I've ever seen
• The Oregon coast is unmatched
• Public transit is excellent
• Educated population
• It's easy to make friends - everyone is from somewhere else
• Amazing variety of high quality food
• Amazing variety of high quality beer

The Not-So-Good Stuff That Really Counts:

• Job market is shot and bleeding profusely
• Housing availability and price
• Cost of gasoline and everything else
• Dating is difficult at best
• Endless rain

Other Things of  Note:



The Weirdness?

Hipsters and the Keep Portland Weird mantra come to mind. I never quite understood this. If you perceive yourself as weird and go to a place where there are masses of people who you perceive to be like you, then you become normal upon arrival at that place. You were wearing the uniform before you joined, and you're no longer weird. I bring this up because it's clear that many of Portland's hipster "weirdos" never wanted to be able to blend in. I think they want to be weird amongst the weird. It's good to have goals.

Some of what I witnessed in Portland was a weirdness competition that I am certain was rooted in the sudden drop in attention after being surrounded by other, more weird people. How much can you stretch out your earlobes? How long are the braids in your beard? How many tattoos can you fit on your face? What hard drug do you use until you wake up in a strange place? What costume will you wear today as you walk downtown? Will you wear anything at all? Where were you when you scared the shit out of children with your appearance? How much coffeeeeeee did you drink today and was it organic, fair trade, cruelty free, and hugged daily before they stuck it and all its feelings in a grinder? Did you accept someone unconditionally despite the fact that they're obviously a douche? Weirdo.


The Weather?

When I was younger, I was a firefighter. I remember using the fixed deck-gun on top of a pumper truck to soak down a building that had collapsed into itself after being destroyed by a gas-fed fire. I wasn't the only guy on a deck-gun. There were other firefighters on other deck-guns nearby and also on the other side of the building. Thousands and thousands of gallons of water poured into that building until the wetness was wet. Portland is like the inside of that building, all day and all night, for 9-10 months of the year. The other 2-3 months are pretty great, for 5 days of the week. Yep. Awesome. Portland's weather reminds me of this Irish joke about rain: "It only rained twice this week- once for three days and once for four days."  Except it's not funny when you live in it, under it, and on it.


The Homeless Population?

Except to say that it is wholly sad, the homeless situation in Portland is beyond description.



Ultimately, I recommend a visit to Portland at the least. It will be an experience.

In the Oregon Woods

The woods are so thick that you can be in a relatively dark area one minute and then direct sunlight the next.

Jurassic Park or Oregon?

Moss on the trees

That water is 3 feet deep

Bits of Portland

There are little pieces of art like this everywhere in Portland. This one is a label someone painted and stuck to a light pole.

Ice rink inside the mall

VW Bus, The Turbo Version

Oregon Convertible

The two most popular modes of transportation

Portland Saturday Market

Puppet Master/ Street performer at Saturday Market

Pinball machines are in every bar, and I made sure to check before making that claim.

Fall in Portland: Red leaves on the ground next to growing grass

Vivid colors everywhere

Weird Portland, Cool Portland.

Cocky bastard.

 So, I'm sitting in the living room and I keep hearing this muffled racket. It's a combo of squawking, arguing and metal being pounded. I go look out the window and I see two guys leaning over the engine of a car, arguing about how to fix it. Both of them are pissed off, yelling at each other and beating on the car. Then I hear that squawking again and I see this flicker of white inside the car. Yes, that flicker of white was the rooster they had in the car. Weird Portland.

This is an example of how commonly cool Portland can be. This is a trash blind that faces a busy sidewalk. It's made from steel stock with discarded bicycle parts welded to it. All kinds of recycling going on right there.

These kinds of aesthetically pleasing creative solutions are relatively common in residential areas.

Murder on the Mountain

"Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!"

 Remember a movie called "The Shining" where Jack Nicholson played a writer who agreed to be a caretaker for a lodge over the winter? It's the movie where he loses his mind and eventually hacks through a door with an axe, trying to kill his family, and says, "Heeeeeere's Johnny!"

That movie was filmed at a place called Timberline Lodge with is about an hour east of Portland in the mountains. I went there today with my roommate and it was incredible.

There wasn't anything mentioned about the film in the building, but there is some of the best hand-made furniture and beam-work I have ever seen in my life. It was built by a huge crew of unemployed young people during the Great Depression. They were members of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps).

The Timberline Lodge as it is today... through the fog.

Creepy Hallways

Creepy Kids

Creepy Doors

Since this is the only semi-morbid blog post, I thought I would post this nice note I found in the Tillamook forest, west of Portland. It reads "Dead Dog. Found in creek between big rocks. We ate him. 9-10-11."

There could be a false sentence in that quote, but it's hard to read that tiny picture.

Getting a place to live in Portland is... interesting.

When you just drive into town and need a place to live, you are often at the mercy of Craigslist. Here are some good ads:

#1

--House dinner once a week, communal food staples, People's Co-Op membership.
--Friends come over for events such as arts n crafts, singing and guitar playing, cooking and baking (!!!), etc.
--Roommate 1 owns a coffee plant named Moises.
--Roommate 2 is in a ukulele band.
--Space for projects and hugs.
--No cats.

 

 #2

$400 Felony friendly , coed, not on bus line. Utilities included.

#3

Where I live. I found a great room and my housemate is excellent. So are the dogs. I'll be here until my apartment is ready, which should be very soon. All is well. Time to explore Portland some more.