9.19.99

    For you Rainy Day Confidential subscribers who are waiting in anxious anticipation: the performance review went really well. I was given high marks in all areas and had some nice things to say about me that I was surprised to hear. It also gave me an opportunity to offer some feedback on where I see the company growing and also how impressed I am with them so far. There are issues, of course, that need tending to but every company should be in a constant state of evolution so this, in my opinion, is a good thing. It sounds like I may be getting some sort of raise which will be determined when the president gets back in the office Monday. This was also a pleasant surprise and I'm very curious what it means for me.

    This weekend had been pretty long and active in a lethargic, do-nothing sort of way. Friday night, I went to the birthday party of one of T's coworkers. I met a lot of really nice and fun people but felt a little out of place. Everyone there had at least eight years on me and many had kids. I had a few beers and made some Vodka Butterscotch Martinis (which went over surprisingly well) and headed home about midnight with a headache. T. ended up staying over as he was too drunk to drive. I'm glad he didn't try to drive home but I was a little disappointed to awake at 2 a.m. and find him not here.

    I pulled myself out of bed at 8 a.m. for coffee and the newspaper. I sat on the living room floor in my underwear watching the morning news and petting the cat. Very liberating. Shelley wrote a really good entry awhile back about how it's impossible for her to hang around nude without M. (her other) interpreting that as a signal for white-hot, monkey love. Okay, maybe that's not exactly how she put it but you get the idea.

    T. ambles in while I'm getting dressed to go out. I have a date with the hairdresser, a man who makes me feel like a queen. Granted, he is a queen but it's all good. He uses the most wonderfully-scented products and gives a neck massage to die for. His newest thing is this mint conditioner which makes my whole head feel cool and tingly. We don't have a whole lot to talk about but he brings me coffee or wine and this makes me happy. I was going to this other lady who did a wonderful job but her hours were so inconvenient that I turned myself over to Jeff.

    After the hair appointment, I take my new 'do over to Byways Cafe for breakfast. I sat at the counter between a blonde boy with a nose ring and an older man with massive forearms and a battered cap with the Ford logo on the front. He made a few bits of conversation and then left me to mull over my coffee. When the boy left I turned to snag his Willamette Week and saw that he left his shirt draped over his chair. I grabbed it and as I turned to see if I could catch him, he was just bounding back in the door. He smiled and said thanks and flashed a bit of his silver tongue ring at me.

    Breakfast would have been pretty good if it hadn't taken so long to get to me. I ordered the Sunrise Special which consisted of three massive buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and juice. The last two times T. and I have been there the service has been really good. We have never done breakfast there, though. I was hoping for more but maybe lunches are really their thing.

    Afterwards, I went to Lux, a lighting store on Glisan to inquire after a rocket-shaped lamp T. and I had seen there. I was prepared to pay $50 but unfortunately it was $80. I had some fun looking around but everything was too expensive. On the way back to my car I stopped into a paper store and got some cards and a beautiful sheet of handmade paper in which to wrap my mother's two-months-late birthday gift. I also got these faux, silver, leaf applique type things that I don't quite know what to do with. They're twice the size of this scan and are just the 'veins' of the leaf. I don't really even know how I would attach them to something.

    I had then intended on heading over to the Portland Art Museum to catch the WeeGee exhibit but all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap. I'm already regretting bailing on the museum because it was the last day for the exhibit and I'd been mulling going for weeks.

    Got home and started cleaning up for the arrival of an out of town guest. Scott is one of our L.A. friends and he was up in Tacoma on business. We took him to a McMennamins for lunch and Rubinator and then to Powell's for book-buying. It was a somewhat frustrating experience for me since I hadn't been there since being back in town and two of my favorite sections, art and computers, are in completely separate buildings. The art stuff is a new "wing" which is only a block away but the technical bookstore is three blocks away. Not really a big deal but means more stops at the cash register. We skipped the art bookstore and I bought three things in the main store: a guide to Portland hikes, a copy of Adbusters magazine and a copy of a magazine called PLAZM in the small-press section. I was mostly looking for design inspiration but the Adbusters rag has been fun so far. I was privy to an impromptu poetry reading by an author reading someone else's poems that he liked. It was a good poem and he read it well.

    Afterwards, we headed to Bridgeport for some more beer and chat. Then we went home... for more beer.

    Today was really uneventful. Scott left early to drive up the coast. I made pancakes. I lazed around as much as possible. We went to watch a flag football game. Actually, I went to lie in the grass and read my magazine, which I did. T. kept apologizing since he thought the game wasn't very exciting but really, it wouldn't have mattered if it was. Today couldn't have been more summery — blue skies, hot sun, puffy clouds. Bit of an Indian Summer, I suppose. It made me long for my own yard with shade and a spot for a kiddie pool to dip my toes in.