2003-09-04 : Oregon is on Fire, a Girls' Day out and Lo-cal lunch
I woke up this morning, went on a sweaty 30 minute walk (I need to walk at 7 am, not 11 am..it's so fucking hot here! 90 degrees. Well, that seems hot to ME anyway!) and then I stopped at Rose's diner, where they actually have a "lo-cal" menu. I ate 2 little "chicken fingers" (that sounds perverse), a sliced up apple, a small bowl of cottage cheese, tomato slices, carrot slices and a bran muffin. Pretty good stuff and I felt like it was the appropriate thing to eat after exercising (though what I REALLY wanted was a greasy burger and a shake and onion rings!) I really want to try to lose 15-20 pounds. I won't go into what goes through my head when I see parts of my body naked. I want some areas alot more FLAT!!

Yesterday Tracy and I had sort of a girl's day out. We took the bus to Eugene. We ate at McMinimins (or something like that) which was pretty good. I guess they own The Crystal Ballroom in Portland and some bed-n-breakfasts, etc. Then we went to House of Music so I can spend my birthday gift certificate. I ended up making a blind purchase that I"m very pleased with: The Trauma Queens. They remind sort of D4 and The Forty-Fives, etc. Rawkin, Howlin' Neo-garagey stuff. Highly recommended!! I also bought something I used to listen to alot in college but ended up misplacing/losing: Opal "Happy Nightmare Baby" (Kendra Smith is the singer and she was in The Dream Syndicate at one point (who I like, esp. "Days of Wine and Roses)...What else? Oh yes, I bought Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left"...I have "Pink Moon" and I wanted to see what his other stuff is like. He's got a magical voice. Poor dead guy!!

Then we went to Smith Family Books, which is full of new and used books, over-crowded shelves, piles of books all over the floors...what a wonderful place! I bought Ian McEwan's "Atonement", "The Nanny Diaries" by Emma McLaughlin/Nichola Kraus, Augusten Burroughs' "Running with Scissors" and Bobbie Ann Mason's "Clear Springs". I always get So excited when I buy a new pile of books to read. Where to begin, where to begin.....

Then we took the bus home. I could feel sweat in every crevice and crack of my body, it's been icky warm here and yesterday it was so fucking humid I thought I'd suddenly been dropped off in Illinois again!!

Went with Larry when he got home BACK to Eugene so he could pay a vet bill (His cat, Mouse, had to get some shots) and then we went to Max's, which is a dark and very "wooden" bar that Larry has been going to for ages. Tracy and Hans showed up. We all rocked out to Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax", I drank several beers, felt like a zombie in the daylight while drunk and being driven home in the MG...I thought it was sprinkling at one point, but it was just wishful thinking. Then we ate greasy pizza at home and he wanted to watch Star Trek Enterprise, so I scuffed on down the gravel road to Pioneer Cemetery Park, where I listened to the trains go by, smoked cigarettes and ended up peeing behind a tree...Gee, It was like I was camping all over again! Then I came home and laid on many pillows and then Larry and I did stuff that adults do (ha ha) and then he fell asleep and I was unable to sleep, and I had to keep getting Poppy inside the house, cuz now she jumps from the roof, to the back deck and ends up on the ground. Last night I had to let her in through the front door and then 5 minutes later she did the same jump again and I had to let her in through the BACK door. She's a little rebel, always "escaping"!

I should probably start looking for a job, but I really don't want to yet. I'm enjoying hours of doing nothing and sleeping 10 hours a night. As long as the $$ doesn't run out...I need to plan ahead, though. Think I'm gonna go read a book or take a nap or a bath or do something relaxing. Oh yea, I swear that all of Oregon is on fire (or at least lots of parts of it down around here are like some of the Williamette National Forest) and the sky is clogged with smoke constantly. It's crazy, man!!!