Oh yeah, so about that skydiving adventure.

My friend and I had been talking about going skydiving for years. This is my traveling adventuresome friend, who went to Australia/Belize/Costa Rica with me, who did a 30-minute intro scuba dive despite fears of hyperventilating, who walked across perilous hanging suspension bridges in another (tiny) country with me, who wants to visit every continent soon and has almost done so, and while she won't be joining me for my 20-day Antarctica journey she has her own plan to get there...

So anyway, I knew she was serious. The original plan was the class-5 rafting trip with some other friends but she had to postpone. I replied, "No worries, we'll make our own adventure - how about skydiving?" (I think I got the reply in record time. It was something along the lines of "YES!!!!")

We opted to do this on her actual birthday a few Sundays ago. I made the reservations well in advance, but because the day was so foggy in the a.m. they had to make up for the weather with the earlier groups and we ended up waiting a really long time.

In that really long time, where we were able to wait on the field and watch the take-offs and landings, I went through the following thought process:

• Hour One: Holy bloody hell. We are going up THAT HIGH?? I can barely see the jumpers! They look like stars in the sky!! What the hell have I gotten myself into?!...

• Hour Two: Hmm... overall it doesn't look so bad. People are taking off and landing just fine. Lots of people.
  

• Hour Three: Our safety instructions, which literally lasted THREE MINUTES and consisted of "don't walk into the plane propeller" and five other safety tips that basically culminated to "just effing do what your tandem guide tells you to do and enjoy the ride." I walked out thinking, "Um, I think I need another three hours of safety training," but since I'd signed a liability agreement hours earlier which specifically stated that I understood that "sport parachuting is not a public or essential service and is not of great importance or practical necessity"* and also that "parachutes do not always open," I figured that would be a moot point.
  
• Hour Four: More watching of the take-offs and landings. Oddly calming, despite the group of gals who landed and wouldn't leave the bathroom area because they were convinced they would puke from the adrenaline rush. (They didn't. But suddenly I was convinced that I would.)
  
• Hour Five: OMG really I am ready can we just do this already? At which point I get geared up by a great tandem guide named Terry, who senses my apprehension but also picks up on my exhilaration. He managed to address both adequately in the 15 minute ride up.
  

And from there, it was a 15 minute plane ride up to 13,000 feet complete with instructions and peripheral guidance to the mountain ranges from Terry, followed by an "are you ready?" question as I was sitting on the edge of the plane about to jump (I mean really, what other answer could there be?) and then a minute of intense 125 mph free-fall followed by 8 minutes of 25mph floating and viewing lots of mountains in a 360 degree radius.

So, basically, it was awesome and I hope to do it again soon if an interested friend comes to visit during skydiving season. I went to cross it off my "list" but it's not there. Maybe because I knew it was a done deal?

________________
* I disagree wholeheartedly, BTW.

I need to re-prioritize "learn Spanish."

If I get irritated at someone who has just picked up and moved here to "scope it out" to see if they want to stay, when I basically did the same thing 18 months ago, does that make me acclimated, or just rude?

Or both?

Or maybe just jealous. This Texas-born person had just come from somewhere in South America, and from the sound of it (because boy, was she chatty, which was not exactly well received after I'd spent the day on an airplane) she'd been traveling worldwide for quite some time. Apparently she got by as a "spiritual healer" - although I have never seen a spiritual healer wear so much makeup and tight clothing before, nor have I ever met such a person from the state of Texas.

My friend's sister has almost convinced me that after Antarctica I need to hang out in Argentina and Chile for a while. It's incredibly tempting...

Really. Not in Kansas anymore.

Bush bumper stickers everywhere.  (Really?  Still?) 

 

Mosquitos and humidity (though just a bit of both, so I shouldn't complain too much).  A family reunion of sorts where everyone my age is on their third husband and/or fourth kid (and everyone except me is drinking a lot), where my mom actually said to someone I'd never met before, "Well Jen(n) never got married" - as though I was a 95-year-old spinstress pining away for lost love instead of a 34-year-old independent woman not remotely interested in that nonsense.  THANKS, Mom.

 

Dad's started in on the guilt about moving back east after reminding me to brush my teeth and explaining to me who Jay Leno was - he hosted the Tonight Show for a decade or so, in case you weren't aware.  This is before he turns the water back on after we've been gone all day, and after he unlocks the 19 locks to the house.  Fort Knox has nothing on this place.  If I had a car here he would offer to wash it.

 

Dial-up internet, 5 TV channels, Peets in the freezer from Christmas '07 because I forgot to bring any fresh grinds with me this time.  My second oldest friend has a kid.  (The oldest friend?  Not so strange that she's a mom.  This one kinda freaked me out though.) 

 

And the pool hall I loved as a kid is now a 7-Eleven.

 

Five days is plenty, me thinks.

Not in Kansas anymore.

How is it possible that my parents' house gets smaller every time I visit?  How on earth did I ever live in that tiny bedroom as a teenager?  We drove the route home from my old (also now tiny) elementary school after dinner and I remember it feeling like such a long walk 25 years ago...  A block with three houses felt like a mile.  Tonight it was a couple strides.

 

More interestingly, were my parents always this entertaining, or am I just appreciating them more with time and distance?  They have been married for 47 years.  Perhaps they are just appreciating each other more with time.  It comes across in their interactions with each other, with me, even with perfect strangers like the highly amused server at the restaurant who laughed at them mocking each other as they themselves laughed.

 

The moon in the cloudless eastern sky was amazing tonight.  I saw stars, I hear crickets.  I smell autumn.  It's not quite here yet, but it's close. 

 

Blue crabs and Old Bay seasoning are in my future.  This is a good thing.

 

I'm starting to think that five days is perhaps too short of a visit this time.

 

Wednesday three.

Three things I'm looking forward to over the next five days, in no particular order:

• A mini-middle/high school reunion (thanks, Facebook!). Lots of people will be out of town but the RSVPs are such a mixed bag that it's sure to be amusing.
  
• Meeting my dear friend's newborn, and, more importantly, wine with her and her sister. They're a good sanity check for me.
• Seeing family I haven't seen in ten years.

Over and out. Have a nice long weekend!

Public service announcement.

Pumpkin tempura reheats in the toaster oven quite nicely. I would not have expected that.

Now you know.

Question o' the day.

Should I be concerned that an internal training document refers me to Wikipedia "for more information"?

Thought for the day...

... "Total Harmonic Distortion" would be a great band name.

More with the yin-yang.

First, a small tribute to Facebook which I cannot take credit for.

Agreed! I have played Scrabble with my 8th (and also 10th) grade "homecoming" date who lives in middle America with his wife and lovely daughters. I have reconnected to someone in a more significant way because I posted a note about a first concert that he and I shared when I was half my age. I have had lively alcohol-induced conversations about life in general with my first ever real boyfriend, who I haven't seen since 1992. I have been the recipient of a whole hell of a lot of good music and movie recommendations from people I knew anywhere from 3 days ago to 20 years ago. I have been able to share music/movie recommendations with people I haven't verbally spoken to in as many days/years. I have bonded to good friends even more so, by knowing what they are doing/reading/eating/listening to on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. This has all been fun.

On the flip side, I have been stalked by people I do not wish to ever talk to again. I have rejoined the worlds of my elementary school classmates only to comment on their cute kids but "hide" their God-loving or soliloquy stati which I end up reading through RSS anyway. I have been reminded of painful memories I wish to forget. And I've been put in some pretty awkward situations because of who I've chosen to be "friends" with (hint: don't befriend people at work).

Worst of all, I have wasted a hell of a lot of time on this stupid web site. I can't even justify the majority of it to Alzheimers prevention through Sudoku and Scrabble, either. (But playing those repeatedly with a good friend has been a good thing, for sure, for both my sanity and my eventual 67-year old memory. And hers, I suspect!)

So... in the end, I think I just need to unplug and start volunteering again. And writing again. I mean, really writing. Again. And figuring out this whole life plan. Life's too short.

________________
* I can't immediately find a direct reference, and this link does not do my memory of this episode justice, but what I recall of it (other than the usual Jan drama) is that Aunt Jenny brings other cultures and tons of fun to the Brady family, and it turns out that even though she's not particularly attractive, she's been proposed to by kings and she's declined in order to live her own life, and travel, and just BE. That sounds lovely right about now.

On the one hand...

... having someone ask you the exact same set of non-invasive personal questions three times over the past 2-3 months, and having this same thing happen with 2 other people (different questions, same concept), makes one feel somewhat invisible.

 

On the other hand, watching brand-new folks be assigned weekly kitchen clean-up duty within a month of their start date, when one has not had the "privilege" of this assignment even once since starting 14 months ago, makes one feel happy to be invisible.

Not at all Friday five.

Five things I still haven't gotten used to after 16 months in Portland, in no particular order:

• Not pumping my own gas. Whenever I drive to Washington State - which is usually just for hiking - I try to buy gas just so that I can do it myself. I feel like such a girl when they pump my gas for me.
  
• Having to go to a liquor store to buy hard alcohol. I hadn't actually purchased any until Saturday's cocktail party. Liquor stores make me feel like an alcoholic and/or Maryland resident, with their "closed on Sundays" nonsense and brown bags for the bottles.
• The longitude/latitude. It was still light at 9pm last night.
• Cart-topia. This place is food cart heaven, and I've only tried a handful. Must remedy that in the coming months. Starting with this one, followed by this one (which I tried to enjoy a month ago but was foiled by their lack of veggie hot dog delivery that morning).
  
• Driving 15 minutes and being completely immersed in nature. Looking forward to a friend's visit this weekend and some hiking in the Gorge.

And also? Toxic chemicals that actually clean things, unlike those eco/people/pet-friendly substances they pass off as cleaners? Totally underrated. Believe me, I've tried all the eco-friendly cleaners and I've fought tooth and nail both the mold on the bathroom walls and the gross kitchen sink. (I owe part of that to living in a very old apartment, but in the 16 months I've lived here, it's never looked like it did when I moved in.)

In prep for said friend's visit, I finally bought this, and the bathroom and kitchen have never been cleaner. All I had to do was wear gloves and keep the windows open.

So really, I mean, what's all the fuss about?

[Cough, cough. And why does my head burn where I scratched it with the hand I used to spray the sink? Man, I hope I don't get a bald spot there. At least I will be able to see the bald spot in my shiny new clean sink.]

Public service announcement.

A&E on a sick day will make you feel soooooooooooo much better.

Seattle daycation.

I didn't spend much time there. I spent more time in the car than in the city, in fact. My primary goal was the Jim Henson exhibit at the Experience Music Project, and I'm glad I saw it. Lots of old storyboards of Muppets/Sesame Street skits I first saw on TV thirty years ago, and original drawings/origins of some of my favorite characters.

Other than that, I spent enough time to get the obligatory Space Needle shot...


I stopped by the space-themed 826 Seattle where I found the most amazing book about happiness written by middle- and high-school kids. Why is it amazing, you ask? Partly because before each entry is a self-written intro to the artist. Henri, for example, loves to "draw cheese-square-chubb-chubb looking things," and Eliot likes "pie and boom" (as in, things exploding). The restly because those kids know happy.

I was looking for Capitol Hill, got lost and stumbled upon Easy Street Records where I saw that Shins free concert two years ago. After an hour I'd purchased a gajillion used albums including stuff I wanted (Halo Benders, previously unattained Elliot Smith and Rilo Kiley, etc) as well as the soundtrack from season one of Sifl & Olly. (Oh, Chester...)

I had dinner with someone I've been friends with for 20 (!) years and his lovely fiance, and after dinner we stopped at a nice viewpoint in their neighborhood where you can see the funky EMP amidst all the high-rises and the Space Needle...


And then the sun started to set...


And then it was 8:15pm and I had a 3-hour drive ahead of me so I headed out. But I exited I-5 and turned around to get a shot of this:

I had no idea they named themselves after a street. The name is suddenly not interesting anymore... therefore, neither is the band... and that kinda makes me sad. Or a music snob. Or just an idiot.

I'm not sure which.

Friday five.

Five things that did not suck this week, which was a particularly strange week, in no particular order... was there a delayed full moon that someone didn't tell me about?

• A BSG season 4.5 marathon last Sunday. All I have left is the finale, and I'm holding off until Sunday for that. Because Sunday is before Monday and if I ever need a pick-me-up before THAT, it ain't football, it's the BSG finale (even with the "meh" reviews I've heard, "meh" is OK so long as it's) followed by...
  
• America's Best Dance Crew! This is my American Idol, people. I have a stake in Beat Ya Feet Kings, Vogue Evolution and Rhythm City. (And Mario Lopez is my Ryan Seacrest. Erhm... I think I would actually prefer Ryan Seacrest. And when do I ever say that? To be fair, though, he was my favorite part of Knocked Up. And when do I ever say that?)
• Scoring front row center seats to David Cross next month. I can't recall the last time I had front row center anything, so this is pretty exciting. I must remember to turn off my cell phone.
  
• I really am going to Seattle tomorrow for the Jim Henson EMP exhibit and some other Seattle-ish shenanigans. Goal #1 will be crossed off as of Sunday.
  
• The Comedians of Comedy, who are about to take my mind off a crazy, crazy week. I thought it was July that was supposed to never seem so strange, not August. I should have a talk with Colin Meloy about that.
  

Like Seaside, only better.

The first day trip was a hike near the coast (near Seaside, but not quite), followed by Tillamook's 100th Anniversary Cheese Fest, followed by dinner and beach time at Manzanita. So, in that order...

Saddle Mountain was great. A nice, challenging hike up to the highest peak in NW Oregon, with green everywhere:

And lovely views of the Pacific ocean from the top:

I haven't seen fog like that since San Francisco. I was surprised at how happy it made me.

The clouds (and/or my newly cleaned but suspiciously creaky camera) were not cooperating, but we also had views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St Helens and a few others off in the distance. I hope to return in early summer - the wildflowers we saw were mostly dead by this point, but the sheer volume of that dearly departed foliage promised some amazing pictures sometime around May of next year.

The next stop was the Tillamook 100th Anniversary party, which appealed to me for two reasons: "free cheese" and "petting zoo." The free cheese was alright, but the little disgruntled calf in the upper right corner of this photo made the entire trip worthwhile:

He's actually FROWNING. Come on. Calves can frown?! Maybe he's upset about the premature white. At any rate, there's an LOLcat caption in there somewhere. Add it to the comments if you wish.

After free cheese, it was decided that fish & chips were a mandatory end to the adventure, seeing as how we were on the coast and not having fresh fish would be a travesty. A tour up and down the 101 near Tillamook wound up in Manzanita, a lovely coastal town with lots of free parking and a ginormous, gorgeous beach...

... and a pub with amazing fish & chips - and if we were interested later, "Karoake from Hell!" (TM).

We were not interested in "Karoake from Hell!" (TM). But we were interested in this poor little jellyfish, all alone in the sand, apparently deceased, and decided to spiff it up a bit:

Unfortunately, with the help of the tide spiffing turned to vampiring, as is usually the case when I tend to be involved with things, for some reason... and the innocent jellyfish ended up being a part of something amazingly awful:

But then the tide washed the entire drawing and the entire jellyfish away, leaving a clean slate for the person wishing to draw some sort of nauseating initials/heart message.

The sunset wasn't much to look at, but the enormous coastal cloud surely was:

... it spanned the length of the coast as far as we could see. And the moon peeking through the pink was not too shabby either:

We've now started what you might call a "petition" to have a satellite office in Manzanita. I don't think it is going over too well with upper management.

This weekend is Seattle. It is, dammit. And then, a check mark.

Not the same as the other post.

Think of 15 movies that will always stick with you... maybe it's the movie, maybe it's the actors or maybe what was going on when you saw it... don't take too long, write the first 15 movies you can think of in 15 minutes... (These are in no particular order.)

Unlike what I posted on FB which would be possibly bad because of #2 and #8, I've included why these will stick with me because I think that's the most interesting part of the story.

1. Hair (makes me cry every time I watch it, which is at least once a year if not more)
2. Fight Club (I am not my $^%& khakis!!! and come on, who didn't love seeing Jordan Catalano being beat to a pulp?)
3. The Muppet Movie (every minute makes me smile)
4. Some Kind of Wonderful (Watts is my hero)
5. Say Anything (Lloyd did set the bar awfully high...)
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street (saw this in the theater, had nightmares for weeks, still get sucked in whenever it's on cable... possibly the best horror flick I've ever seen)
7. Once (lovely, absolutely lovely, all of it)
8. Office Space (I am not even going to go there, but I do have a red Swingline stapler that my BOSS AT THE TIME gave me, so that says a lot right there)
9. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (that counts as one, right? the only films - other than Serenity - that I've seen in the theater where I've literally been on the edge of my seat)
10. Home for the Holidays (I watch this every Thanksgiving and Christmas religiously)
11. The Breakfast Club (no one captured the suburban white teenage experience like Mr. Hughes)
12. The Princess Bride (best characters all around, every single one of them... the book is even better!)
13. American History X (that scene... you know which one... this is about what sticks with you, not what you like)
14. The Lost Boys (I think this was my intro into the downfall of vampire obsession... oh, and Coreys!)
15. Annie Hall (the lobster scene is amazing)

Belated Wednesday three.

Three quotes from John Hughes films that I say ALL THE TIME.

• "It's called a sense of humor - you should get one - they're nice." (Duckie, Pretty In Pink)
• "This is ridiculous, ok I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. What - I'LL GO. Shit." (Cameron, Ferris Bueller's Day Off)*
• "So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social. Right?" (Bender, The Breakfast Club)
  

There are many more that I adopt as needed, such as "I think your [friend/mom/boss/etc] and my [friend/mom/boss/etc] should get together and go bowling" (again, Bender). Or "break [his/her/name's] heart, I break your face" (Watts, Some Kind of Wonderful).

But these three, I repeat word-for-word. RIP, Mr. Hughes, and thank you.

________________
* Usually said when ramping up for mandatory fun at work.

50 questions. (I prefer 20.)

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7am (usually, 6am, but THE HOT)
2. How do you like your steak? vegetarian
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? (500) Days of Summer
4. What is your favorite TV show? The Daily Show
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? right here, right now... for now
6. What did you have for breakfast? a browning banana
7. What is your favorite cuisine? all of it except #8
8. What foods do you dislike? red meat, white meat
9. Favorite place to eat? home (specifically: couch) (thanks, C)
10. Favorite dressing? Annie's Goddess
11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? used Toyota Corolla
12. What are your favorite clothes? flip flops, t-shirts, boxers
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? there is always a chance for anything
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? wait - you got a cup?!
15. Where would you want to retire? a cabin in the woods July-Dec, a house on the PNW coast Jan-Jun
16. Favorite time of day? quitting time
17. Where were you born? in a suburban MD hospital
18. What is your favorite sport to watch? hockey!
19. Who do you think will not tag you back? n/a
20. Person you expect to tag you back first? n/a
21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? n/a
22. Bird watcher? only if they are big or teeny tiny, otherwise I tend not to notice
23. Are you a morning person or a night person? um... mid-afternoon
24. Do you have any pets? not anymore
25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? not yet
26. What did you want to be when you were little? teacher
27. What is your best childhood memory? summers at the community pool
28. Are you a cat or dog person? cat
29. Are you married? (heck) no
30. Always wear your seat belt? ehhh... usually
31. Been in a car accident? no
32. Any pet peeves? OMG where do I even start...
33. Favorite pizza toppings? the Greek ones
34. Favorite flower? anything still in the ground
35. Favorite ice cream? B&J peanut butter cup
36. Favorite fast food restaurant? does Burgerville count?
37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? 0 in MD, 1 in CA, 0 in OR
38. From whom did you get your last email? one of the US
39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? REI or maybe Powell's
40. Do anything spontaneous lately? yep
41. Like your job? nope
42. Broccoli? it's what's for lunch tomorrow... and the next day
43. What was your favorite vacation? all of them
44. Last person you went out to dinner with? myself (unless David Foster Wallace counts?)
45. What are you listening to right now? Jon Stewart in the background
46. What is your favorite color? orange
47. How many tattoos do you have? 2, and another coming at some point
48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? o
49. What time did you finish this quiz? 8:38pm
50. Coffee Drinker? aw yeah

At least I'm not THAT guy.

Yesterday I broke down and did laundry and ironed. You may have heard that it's been HOT in the NW lately and both tasks made me tired and even more HOT just thinking about them.

So, between the HOT and the weekend company, I avoided laundry for three weeks (and ironing for five weeks) through a festive combination of wearing clothes I forgot I had that didn't fit very well, wearing the same pair of jeans/the same jean skirt multiple times over multiple weeks, wearing clothes that caused people to think I had a job interview, and wearing clothes I bought during a trip to Ross/Nordstrom Rack in a fit of HOT despair last week when it was 100+ degrees.

This weekend I could not put it off any longer. I was literally down to overalls, denim shorts and my (actual) interview suit. So on Sunday I did laundry and I ironed and I sweated and I drank lots of cold water. I also finally watched two movies that had been sitting on my TV forever. They were good ironing movies.

Scratch: OK, when they go a little inter-galactic (as in, seriously pondering what kind of music the aliens are making) on the audience, it's a little weird, but overall I enjoyed this documentary. Mix Master Mike is always a fave. DJs Q-Bert, Z-trip and Babu are amazing, and the rest of them are totally inspiring. It's really an art, it's not just noise, and to hear them talk about their craft was really interesting.

DiG!: Anton is a scary stalking freak of a genius songwriter, and I need to buy all the Dandy Warhols' albums immediately. I mean, they're a Portland band for Pete's sake! Where have I been?! (I might need to pirate some Brian Jonestown Massacre too. He's crazy and I have no desire to support that, but he's also brilliant.)

By the way, both DVDs were recommended eons ago by people way cooler than me, and for that I am grateful. But I'm more grateful that the last season of BSG is finally on its way.... followed by the latest season of Dexter, followed by...

I should also re-queue The Graduate.

Due entirely to the blistering sweltering heat, I attempted to see Adventureland last night at the local $3 theater with A/C. Got there about 25 minutes before the show, and it had already sold out. Today I learned my lesson, and at lunch I succumbed to paying full price for a showing of 500 Days of Summer later that evening. (So did about eight million other people in Portland. But all of this is neither here nor there, unless you live in Portland and are considering a movie Thursday night, which I doubt applies to anyone.)

This movie (? film? flick? not sure where it falls on the spectrum), featuring two of my favorite people I don't actually know, really touched a nerve. Because I've been both of them at one point or another, I could relate to both equally, get mad at both of them equally, hope for the best for them equally. So that was kind of fun in a "relive all your past mistakes" kind of way. If you like that sort of thing.

The rest fits into a Wednesday three of sorts:

• The chemistry between them* was pure magic (they worked together on Manic - which I saw a while back, but might need to re-queue) and apparently have been good friends since.
  
• The bouncing back and forth chronologically worked for me, and it was especially fun (to my sick, sadistic mind) to go from Happy Day #54 to Miserable Day #477 back to Happy Day #65 and then on to Miserable Day #478. It really did feel like how one would reflect upon a bad breakup.
  
• I am buying the soundtrack immediately. Overall the songs were stellar, and the expectation/reality sequence was set to the most perfect Regina Spektor song ("Hero" I believe?), and, well, I need it. So there.
  

________________
* I could've said She & Him, but I didn't. You're welcome. They both do sing in the story, though.

Waaaaaaaaaah.

That is all.

Wednesday three.

Three FB stati I won't be posting, in no particular order:

• ... is about to rip that stupid windchime off her neighbor's house... who hangs a noisy windchime right next to an apartment building with no A/C, for Pete's sake?
• ... is going on day three of heat-induced headache. Meh.
• ... 's Thursday is the new Friday.

OK, that last one might actually get posted. Oh, and also, going on week 3 of no camera. A camera-less girl in a fail-heavy town. Sad, really.

Like Monday versus Friday.

The fairly disappointing Death Cab for Cutie show in 800 degree weather Friday night, followed by an attempt at karaoke, followed by funk night at a local dance spot, followed by collapsing into bed around 1am? That was so like a Monday.

The amazing Blind Pilot/Andrew Bird/Decemberists show in 750 degree weather Saturday night, followed by home, cheese and crackers, and settling in to fall asleep to SNL? Yeah, that was definitely like a Friday.

Damn, I'm old.

Because I couldn't decide which to post on Facebook.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST [The Decemberists], cleverly answer these 15 questions.

1. Are you male or female: Sons & Daughters
2. Describe yourself: Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
3. How do you feel about yourself: I Was Meant for the Stage
4. Describe your ex-boy/girlfriend: The Hazards of Love 1-4
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Won't Want for Love
6. Describe your current location: Summersong
7. Describe where you want to be: On the Bus Mall
8. Your best friend is: Billy Liar
9. Your favorite color is: Shiny
10. You know that: My Mother Was A Chinese Trapeze Artist
11. What’s the weather: Isn't It a Lovely Night?
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: Margaret In Captivity
13. What is life to you: The Perfect Crime
14. What is the best advice you have to give: We Both Go Down Together
15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Bandit Queen

I do love how both #15s included a "queen" reference, though.

Belated Friday five.

Five mall observations, in no particular order:

• Wet Seal and Pacific Sun really ought to sell bathing suits. Especially Wet Seal.
  
• People older than me should not be taking the "Forever 21" store name so literally.
• Hot Topic is NOT punk rock!*
• No, employees of island merchandise stands, you cannot rub something on my hand, ask me what kind of cellular service I have, and/or otherwise interrupt my shoe mission. (I got downright mean at one point.)
  
• Cinnabon is pure unadulterated evil.

________________
* Another State of Mind, on the other hand, was totally punk rock. I love watching these bands articulate the sad state of worldly affairs and capitalism in completely brilliant and coherent sentences, right before they go onstage and scream unintelligible lyrics into the mic while slamming into each other. Rawk.

"Climbed a mountain and I turned around..."

I really had no intention of summitting Mt. Adams this weekend. At 12,281 feet, it's one of the highest peaks in the Cascade range - higher than Mt. St Helens, higher than Mt. Hood... I mean, look at it:

It's GINORMOUS.

I went along to support a friend. In the weeks leading up to it I got a little anxious... reading all the blogs and looking at all the photos made me pretty nervous, seeing as how my hiking lately involved small day packs on dirt trails with pretty flowers. Not to mention I'd barely been to the gym since blowing my Achilles tendons out hiking in the Bend desert. But I figured no matter how far I made it, a weekend camping on a mountain wouldn't be so bad.

We camped at the trailhead the first night. In the morning we headed up about 2 miles to a nice spot just below Crescent Ridge to camp, acclimate and watch "Mt. Adams TV" - people trekking up the first meaty slope:

I was hurting a little just from that short trek, and was very thankful for the ability to offload most of the weight in my pack and rest up for the big day. Around 4am the next morning we set out armed only with essential layers, gear, food and water on our backs. The air was crisp, the snow crunched under our crampons and the sunrise over Mt. Hood was beautiful:

My first goal was to make it to the top of Crescent Ridge so that no matter how much farther I made it, I could at least try glissading down the mountain. We made it up easily. The next goal was Lunch Counter, which wasn't a terrible hike, but beyond that it was just steep and brutal, and we took it one step at a time. (As one blogger notes, "I don’t think I have ever used as much profanity on a hike as I did on this one" - and I would agree.)

(side view - yes, this is what we were "hiking" up)

At one point about halfway to Piker's Peak, the false summit, I decided I was done. That would've meant that my friend would turn around too and I was there to support her... so I begrudgingly plowed on.

(view of Piker's Peak from below)

Finally we reached Piker's Peak and the real summit loomed ahead. Now? NOW? Now I was DETERMINED. Another thousand feet of moderate, well marked elevation? After 2500 feet of crazy, treacherous, terrifying, unmarked elevation to Piker's Peak? No problem.

And so we made it to the summit, and took the obligatory summit photos and surrounding view photos:

(Mt. St Helens in the distance - it's not erupting, I just need to have my camera cleaned)

Mission accomplished, we donned our waterproof layers and slid down the snow in about a tenth of the time it took us to climb up it. (Glissading, by the way, is my new favorite manner of travel. I'll ride a mule to the top of any mountain if it means I can be a human luge all the way down.)

While I'm proud of my accomplishment, I have to say that I prefer this view of Mt. Adams from now on:


... and it's unlikely that I will ever hike in snow again. Or sand, for that matter.

Early Wednesday three.

Having been pretty successful in my 2Q goals, and still keeping to the 1Q goal of reading more, I am optimistically posting my 3Q goals:

• Take at least two day trips to faraway locales. Day trips are a little stressful - you only get two weekend days, and driving for most of one of them is never that appealing, but I do loves me a road trip, and I think the recent AAA article on Seaside (I mean, really - I've been to the coast ONCE since I moved here over a year ago? Come on!), coupled with the Muppets exhibit at Seattle's EMP, should cover me. But I recently heard about a hike near Bend that offers stellar panoramic views, so I might have to squeeze that in too.
• At least one new restaurant every week. This will likely be a lunch spot because I'm not overly fond of breakfast (and therefore I live in the wrong town) and dinners are more expensive. I'm hoping it won't be dominated by carts during the week because I already have a long list of NE/SE places to try. But the main point of this goal is that I've won two cool things through Yelp! Portland and I really need to increase the volume of reviews to feel justified in winning more free stuff. (I actually think I've won the two contests I've entered because everyone else is too lazy to reply to messages, but... I'll use this as fire instead.)
  
• Five new Portland bands. With the NW Musicfest in September this should be no problem, but I'm really trying to cut back on the bigger "I've seen them 18 times but I can't miss them"* shows and check out the up-and-coming, local, cheaper shows.

And as always, one thing on The List wouldn't be a bad thing, although I've already got 2009 and 2010 covered.

________________
* The only exception to this is The Decemberists. I will kill whoever I need to kill to see them every time they are in town. That's my official police statement, if anyone asks.

One picture a day - check.

OK, so I may have missed a few days. But still. Some days I took many, many pictures. Overall, "A" for effort, especially since the whole impetus behind this was to have subjects for my Photoshop class, which I ended up having to cancel because Photoshop 6.0 <> Photoshop Elements 6.0 (I could hear the laughter in the reply - "yeah, maybe if you had Photoshop 10.0 the non-Elements class would be okay but your version is SO OLD...").

Anyway, here are some of my faves (that do not involve flowers - spring made it so easy to take a photo a day):

Prineville, OR

Apologetic graffiti artist - Portland, OR

Wrist stamp for Berbati's Pan

From the Broadway Bridge - Portland, OR

Laurelhurst Park - Portland, OR

Near Portland State University

Several "Portland Failblog" shots were also documented elsewhere.

Incidentally, I'd forgotten about the Photoshop 5.5 tutorial my dear friend (erhm, completely legally) gave me when he built my computer for me. Four tutorials later, I can do everything I wanted to do in the first place. In your face, Photoshop Elements at PCC!

One "Portland" thing a week - check.

Week 1: hiking Dog Mountain, which, although not technically in Portland, "counted" according to my friend.

Week 2: baking gluten-free, egg-free brownies from scratch. What? That is SOOOOOOO Portland, people.

Week 3: Mates of State and the Black Kids at Wonder Ballroom, the NE's answer to the Crystal Ballroom (and let's be honest here, it's the better answer).

Week 4: volunteering for a Friends of Trees benefit BBQ.

Week 5: Storm Large's Crazy Enough at Portland Center Stage. Oh yeah, she's Portland. For sure. When her show comes to a city near you, RUN, do not walk.

Week 6: The Shins at the Crystal Ballroom. I know it's not the better answer, but it's THE SHINS. Also this week, Portland's Best New Band show, free at Berbati's. Can't say I was blown away by either.

Week 7: Yelp Portland gave me two tickets to Loney, Dear at the Doug Fir. That's right. Elitism has its privileges. It was an amazing show.

Week 8: I think going to Bend for a three-day weekend is a Portland thing to do. Yep. I do.


Week 9: This is the week I should've gone downtown to the Starlight Parade, part of "the" quintessential Portland thing - the Rose Festival. But there was a hockey game to be watched, and also, I heard that like 250,000 people go downtown every year for this. So I stayed in and watched some of the live coverage on TV after the hockey game. Much better view, 0% of the hassle, and when I got bored with the parade I switched over to House reruns. Win!

Week 10: The aforementioned Canterbury Castle demolition.

Week 11: Hiking in Forest Park to break in the new boots after the Portland Pride parade (where I overheard the best conversation between a gay boy and a man holding a sign saying that homosexuals would burn in hell: "You know what the worst part of this is? YOU WILL BE IN HELL WITH US! Oh my Gawd that SUCKS!" and also saw the best sign held by an old lady marching in the parade: "Better gay than grumpy!" I love Pride parades).

Week 12: I had hoped to go to one part of the "best of" School of Rock shows Saturday, because really, who wants to sit through a whole Floyd or Zeppelin show? So "best of" sounded like a perfect compromise. But part one conflicted with my haircut and part two conflicted with my (apparently much-needed) nap. Later this week I went to an organic brewery for happy hour. That's pretty Portland.

Week 13: Portland roller derby championship bout... followed by a Broadway show. I had a hard time with the transition from one to the other, and my ears are still ringing from both. But it was worth it.

Early Friday five.

Patton Oswalt is a funny, funny man. I saw him at Cobb's a few years ago and recently learned that someone at work had his album, so I borrowed it and have been giggling incessantly in my cube ever since. Five favorite quotes that don't really require hearing the full story, but need a little 'splainin'*, in no particular order:

• "We're thinking of having an invisible kid named '10 hours of sleep a night' " - response to his friends' incessant questioning about when he and his girlfriend were going to have kids
  
• "America is like a giant trust fund kid with nuclear weapons 'this country is nice can we have Disney World here?' ('but this is Paris...') 'DISNEYWORLD!' " - response to the Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin that they probably had to tear down a bar from Ulysses to build
  
• "Every time you eat a steak, a hippie's hackey sack goes into the sewer" - no 'splainin' necessary
  
• "You wouldn't give a crippled crab a crutch!" - from a crackhead who wandered into open mic comedy one night and did a bit, which Patton recreates verbatim, which was probably one of the best open mic night bits I've ever heard
  
• "The Continental was one of those hotels where everything looked like it had been rubbed in ham" - because we've all stayed at one of those...

________________
* Remind me to tell you the book group story someday. Offline.

Almost too pretty to eat.

Almost.

Penguin mania countdown: 243 days.

Early Wednesday three... Three favorite excerpts from my "Preparing for your adventure ship expedition to Antarctica" booklet I received yesterday, in no particular order:

• "There may be an opportunity for a polar plunge during the voyage, so we recommend that you pack a swimsuit."
• "Our expedition members are independent-minded travelers from around the world with a strong interest in exploring remote regions."
• "Fur seals are usually dangerous, therefore keep a greater distance than 5 meters from them at all times."
  

Here's the thing.

I HATE HATE HATE that I even feel the need to go here, but since everyone else (on Facebook) apparently also feels the need... And because I can't formulate anything constructive on my high school friend's post which states that she is clearly distressed by all of this... And because I'm really trying to be constructive on FB because there is so much negativity potential there (do you know these people? no? then what the hell are you crying about?!)... I have to unleash here. Sorry in advance.

I used to watch Jon & Kate Plus Eight because their kids were FREAKING ADORABLE. I had personal issues with the whole "have twins then have sextuplets then get your own TV show even though you clearly hate each other" concept, but those kids, they were FREAKING ADORABLE. So I watched up until a few seasons ago.

And now it's a huge debacle and I'm appalled that J&K are still accepting money for doing the show and that TLC is supporting/sponsoring this. So much so that I've added channel 38 to my list of channels to "skip right by" when I am surfing. (Other channels on auto-skip include FOX News and the 18,457 public access channels that Portland offers. I'll just be living "What Not To Wear" every day on the MAX, thanks.)

Same-sex couples who ACTUALLY love each other cannot legally marry in more than 3 states nationwide, but this crapdrama is financially rewarded and given all this media attention.

Really?

P.S. Hey J&K&8 fans - what's going on in Iran? I'm just saying...

One new recipe a week - mostly.

Week 1: Aforementioned gluten-free, egg-free brownies. When chilled, they were actually pretty good.

Week 2: Umm... I did cook up the most beautiful hard-boiled eggs thanks to a farm-fresh dozen and Julia Child's "recipe"... That counts, right?

Week 3: Umm...

Week 4: Spinach, Tofu and Sesame Stir-Fry from the New York Times. I had most of the ingredients already, and it was simple and pretty healthy. I upped the amount of red chili flakes and ginger, and added mushrooms (because I had some to use up) and water chestnuts (because I {heart} water chestnuts). I also halved the spinach because I needed the other 3 oz to add to beets and some amazing sheep's milk cheese with rosemary for dinner that week. Added to some brown rice, it was hearty, pleasantly spicy and delicious. Also this week, cocoa oatmeal raisin cookies and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I took about two dozen of each to work. All were gone in 60 seconds.

Week 5: Umm... more hard-boiled eggs (why is this so hard?).

Week 6: Enough with the ummms already! This week I purposely bought things I really like but rarely cook with (kale and fennel), to encourage this goal. Saturday night I eeked in this easy rosemary kale with black-eyed peas. I embellished with a little tofu and it made 2 lunches for the following week. It was tasty enough, and quite pretty...

... though I wish I'd added couscous or some other grain to turn it into three lunches.

Week 7: For the fennel, I found this ridonkulously simple soup. It seemed too easy to be true. Sunday night I whipped up a batch for one including a small potato. It was okay, but I think it would've been better without the potato.

Week 8: Get your fiddleheads before they turn toxic... I found it hard to believe that Emeril could create such a simple recipe, but this was quite tasty. I skipped the "essence" ingredients and other than needing garlic it was fine. I also skipped the truffle oil, which the recipe called for but which I just don't have lying around.

Week 9: I bought rainbow chard from the farmer's market. I'd never cooked chard before - always opted for kale. But I blanched it and threw it in with some couscous, sweet corn and red pepper flakes, and it was good. (Improv recipes count, right?)

Week 10: (Is it July yet?!) OK, this week I tried these two asparagus recipes from Sunset. I preferred the orzo recipe... and I also prefer what beets do to your pee.

Week 11: I tried this Mediterranean wrap recipe and this green bean pasta recipe this week. Both were very tasty. I kept the wrap fixings in separate containers (onions in one, cucumber/carrot/pea mixture in another, yogurt mixture in a third) and they lasted a full week in my refrigerator so I didn't have to eat the same thing three days in a row (and everything didn't taste like onion when I did eat it). The wrap filling would be great on its own, mixed together as a summer salad. Also made some everything-free cornbread for a dairy-intolerant friend's birthday... I added a diced jalapeno and 1 tsp cayenne, since my favorite cornbread recipe includes these. It didn't look that appealing but it was actually quite tasty.

Week 12: This week I am most definitely making these strawberry shortcake cookies. And maybe this chard lasagna, or a black bean salad, or maybe these cornmeal ricotta blobs for book club.

I'm a little sad that "simple" seems to be the theme with all these non-baked-goods recipes, but when I get home from work the last thing I want to do is stand around in the kitchen. And on weekends, the last thing I want to do is stand around in the kitchen.

That said, I've had fun with this and I think I'll keep it up.

Public service announcement.

If you're considering dicing a jalapeno pepper and then touching your face before washing your hands... DON'T DO IT.

This is your face: awwwww!

This is your face after being touched by hands that just diced a jalapeno pepper: OWWWWW!

Wednesday three.

Three things that do not suck:

• Patton Oswalt
• David Cross
• David Sedaris

I play their concert CDs/book audiotapes incessantly these days.

Unrelated, I'm a big fan of "if you don't really wanna know, don't ask the question." I stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home from work, and those people are just so nice. The guy pricing my items asked me how my day had been going so far, and I replied, "honestly, not so great..." He seemed truly sad that my day had been crappy, so I asked about his day in a peppy voice, and then I gestured to the bottle of wine and spaghetti makings in my handcart to indicate that my day was fixing to be a lot better. And he smiled, in an "oh you pathetic office drone I love my job so much more than you" way, and now I'm enjoying a glass of wine while he's still at work, so who is the joke really on?

He could've been my soul mate. We'll never know.

Last night in the sauna that was the Wonder Ballroom, between sets of the amazing show that was the Tragically Hip, I was leaning against the wall (the only cool place in the building - seriously, it was at least 90 degrees in there).  A not-altogether-unhandsome, very very drunk guy walked over to me.

 

Very very drunk guy:  "You look bored.  Are you bored?"

Me: "Actually, no, I'm not."

VVDG: "Are you bored enough to talk to me?"

 

[I paused - briefly - to consider this inquiry.  On the one hand, it could pass the time.  On the other hand, the conversation had crazy-making potential, and what if he didn't go away after the show started back up again?]

 

Me: "Nope!"

 

VVDG gave me the "thumbs up" sign, smiled and walked away.

 

If only people in my everyday life were so polite.

Monday FTTDS.

Most things about today, also known as MONDAY, did really suck, but here are a few things - five, in fact! - that did not:

• Finally listening to Jason Lytle's Birds Encouraged Him, NPR's Song of the Day from a few days ago, which is really great and also kind of ironic because I never really liked Grandaddy all that much, and also because the book I'm about to finish (Adverbs, by the grown-up Lemony Snicket) keeps referencing magpies. Booker T's instrumental of "hey ya" from a few days ago is also really, really great. Who am I kidding - everything they feature is brilliant. I {heart} NPR's song o'the day. And when my IT department takes away my ability to stream NPR songs o'the day, I am going to burn the building down.
• Being able to help a friend in need who has been a friend indeed for over 20 years.
  
• Skipping the gym in favor of some wine and cheese. And subsequent pizza, but that hasn't happened yet.
• Filling out my Antarctic excursion paperwork. I dreamed about penguins last night (real, live penguins, not the Flightless Birds although they do not suck either right now) as well as tomatoes. "Why have we been rooting through tomatoes for an hour? There are PENGUINS right outside this Antarctic Safeway!" (I think you had to be there.)
  
• Sunshine in my apartment at 8pm on a Monday. That can't be a bad thing.
  

My summer project ...

... and yours, should you choose to accept the mission: infinitesummer.org. And I'm not just doing this because HE is.

I mean, how hard could 75 pages a week really be? (She asked naïvely.)

Early Friday five.

Five buzzwhacky phrases from a pretty good book I read last night, in no particular order:

• the "cc game" - passively aggressively copying your boss when resending a document you've already sent (and hand-delivered a paper copy of, and copied to the server with a link in the original email reply) to someone your boss reports to, and ending the email with an ingenuine "thanks!"
  
• "keep me in the lopp" - a new take on an old phrase, as typed by a spelling-challenged upper manager
  
• "deprotion" - a promotion sharing the hallmarks of a demotion
• "does anyone want anything from the outside world?" - a common phrase uttered by non-management who are aching to get out of the office
• "that doesn't work with my comfort level right now" - used by a manager to reject the simplest of requests that would make an employee's life more tolerable... AKA my new catchphrase

Not listed: Friday's FB status.

"Have fun storming the castle!"

Today's adventure involved visiting an 80-year old local castle that was about to be demolished because the lame-assed Jaguar-, Ferrari- and Land Rover- owner who bought the house next to it thought it blocked his view of the city. (Allegedly.)

A lot of PDX police cars, too many hipsters and a local band, playing pretty much on the street, were involved, but my friend and I successfully avoided arrest and/or confrontation by heading up ahead of the pack to quietly view the castle remains, and by taking a side adventure into an invitation to a (just under) $1M open house.

So allegedly, it originally looked like this:


And that was just 10 years ago. Now, it looks like this:


(If you look closely you can see the drawbridge crank.)

This made me sad. Which is not to say that I'm surprised at all. People with money do the strangest things.

Friday five.

Urban tumbleweed...

... does not photograph well. Neighborhood trees (in sepia tone) and flowers, on the other hand...



... not too shabby. But the best photograph, by far, is this one:

My next two weeks' notice letter.

Haha, just kidding. (I think.)

This is part of an art project called "Street Wise" along SW Yamhill at SW 3rd downtown. There are at least 80 plaques in the sidewalk, ranging from the "silly"...


... to the "wise"...


Here's the one I decided to put on the outside of my cube:

I wonder how long it be before I'm asked to take it down.

Just the interesting facts, ma'am.

No one cares about most of the stuff on the original FB list making the rounds, so I pared it down to some rarities.

You can ONLY answer Yes or No. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks.

Held a snake? --- YES
Driven a vehicle at more than 100 mph? --- YES
Sang karaoke? --- YES
Ridden a motorcycle? -- YES
Ridden in a helicopter? --- YES
Shaved your head? --- YES
Eaten a whole habenero pepper (or other hot peppers)? --- YES

Actually, I don't think anyone will care about this stuff either...!

Not really Friday five.

It's been a month since Her Maj passed, and I've noticed some major changes in my day-to-day, even from before she was sick. Obviously the credit card bill is significantly lower these days, but five other things I've not been sad about, in no particular order, include:

• Not vacuuming for a month.
  
• When I sit down? I can just get right back up again. And then? I can just sit right back down again. There's no need to shift a fuzzball off my lap only to have her sit right where I was sitting, and subsequently relocate her when I return. (It sounds dumb, but this has returned a subtle quality of life I'd forgotten about.)
  
• I went to Bend. And just had to get in the car and go. And that was amazing.
• I can open a can of tuna in peace.
• You know that game that one-year-olds play, where they're in the crib, and they throw a toy on the ground, and you pick it up and give it back to them, and they laugh and throw it back on the ground again? Well, whenever I changed the sheets on the bed, Her Maj would jump on the bed and sit in the middle. First, I would pick her up and put her anywhere but on the bed. She'd jump right back up. Lather, rinse, repeat a few times. Then, I would snap the sheet to startle her and encourage her to get off the bed. She wouldn't flinch. So, I would put the sheet on the bed on top of her, where she would whine and cry and eventually weasel her way out from under the tucked-in sheet. This happened every time I changed the sheets over the last 11 years. I know she thought it was funny somehow, but it was also a royal pain in the ass. (No pun intended on the "royal.")

All this notwithstanding, I still turn to say goodbye to her when I'm leaving in the morning. I still expect her at the door when I get home, and I still feel like I'm forgetting something if I get home late after a happy hour or leave for an all-day trip. I still laugh at the LOLcats site and I still stop to pet the neighborhood cats sunning on the sidewalk.

But someone at work has a cat who just had kittens, and the pictures circulated. And man, are they cute. And boy, do I remember the early days of Her Maj and His Maj climbing up clothes hanging in the closet and chasing each other across the bed at 3am. I remember stressing about arranging for feedings over vacations, and never wanting to go away for too long because of the stress it would cause them and especially her when it was just her. I remember the months leading up to April 30.

And that's when I book the 3-week polar cruise... and get up and then sit down and then get up again. I don't think Crazy Cat Lady is in my blood. Yet.

Hey Ma! I didn't fall asleep!

I have (sadly) shunned John Cusack movies of late, but when something wins anything at Sundance I feel morally obligated to check it out. I'm not sure if the 90 pounds and "dad glasses" he put on for his role in Grace Is Gone added to my experience watching this movie... The girls playing his daughters were pretty great too, and overall it was most definitely watchable. Catch it on TNT or USA, because that's surely its next stop.

Taking a break from anti-Iraq-war movies to re-watch Freaks and Geeks, AKA those great people before Judd Apatow got his grubby hands on them.

[Ed. note - turns out, Judd Apatow is responsible for Freaks and Geeks. But why do I love it so? The world is an imperfect place.]

Incidentally, why didn't anyone tell me that Kevin Smith was responsible for Zack and Miri Make a Porno? I totally would've gone to see it... at the $3 theater. I might just have to hold out for this next genius endeavor. The song itself is awesomely bad.

On that note - go Penguins!

"You still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie?"

I gave The French Connection 30 whole minutes. Never did find out why they kept asking that question. I kept thinking I should really like it, given my obsession with The Wire and my obscene until-now-closet-crush on Roy Scheider. (The way he kills that shark the first time... sigh. RIP Roy.)

It came down to me not being able to watch more than 30 seconds at a time of Gene Hackman, which for me, has been true of any movie he's been in (except for The Conversation, for some reason - that was a great movie). For the life of me I couldn't put my finger on why, so I googled all his past roles.

None stood out, in fact I haven't even seen most of these movies except... Ohhhhh. Lex Luthor in the original Superman. It's all clear now!

But to add fuel to my fire, he was originally offered the leads in Jaws, Close Encounters of the First Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, (allegedly) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Silence of the Lambs, and... the Brady Bunch?... (seriously?)... but turned them down due to insufficient salary offerings.

So that's why I love Jake Gyllenhaal and not Gene Hackman. I don't care who picks their feet where.

And... scene.