Spring?

In this post:
*The fire hydrants are orange!
*Weather is about the same...but somehow spring?
*Tanya Harding Was Here
*Rain!
*No job yet....

Friday, February 14: Went to Hawthorne Street to the always interesting (and cheap!) Bagdad Theater to watch the Lego Movie. Very fun movie! “Everything is awesome!”

Later, ate some milk chocolate with toffee and almonds that was sooooooo good. So creamy and sweet and perfect. Let me tell you, when you don’t eat that stuff for a long time, it’s seriously mind-blowing when you do!

Hawthorne Street Sign

A gold star to anyone who can guess the reference for this food cart name! It took me a few days, but one morning I woke up with the answer looping through my head (Hawthorne Street).

Saturday, February 15: Dee let me ride along with her for a Fred Meyer run, so I stocked up on all kinds of food. Very nice to use a car to transport stuff. Read for awhile in the afternoon and then went to the library and worked on WordPress and watched tutorials. Am trying to learn WordPress for a job I’m interested in, but after making this website with Weebly, WordPress just seems beyond tedious. But no companies advertise for Weebly know-how, they all want WordPress. Have created a mock site that is beyond dopey, and no, I’m so NOT going to give you the address!

Ate chocolate again today (but it was on sale!!!!).

Sunday, February 16:  Was at a bus stop today and while waiting started taking pictures of moss (of course!) with this old stone church in the background--like this:

...and noticed this interesting fire hydrant (below). And since then have noticed that all the fire hydrants in Portland are orange! Never noticed that before (that's something I really like about photography--makes me see things I would normally miss). There's a hydrant right on my corner that I pass by several times a day at least, but I never really paid attention to it until I saw this one by the bus stop. And now all I seem to see are orange fire hydrants everywhere I go!

Does Holland have a single color for all of their hydrants? Do most cities? And if so, why??

Near another bus stop

The one on my corner--not sure what the knitting is about

Monday, February 17: Have still been attempting to learn InDesign and other Adobe Creative Suite programs though books and on-line tutorials. I’m realizing that my tech skills (limited to MicroSoft Office Suite for the most part) are not going to cut it for the kind of jobs I’m interested in. But can I put it on my resume if I learned it out of a book?? Also still attempting to navigate horrible WordPress.

Tuesday, February 18: Penelope likes to hang out by the table while I'm working. She has her own little doggy bed, so it works out well. However, I had to stop giving her treats out of my leftover pan because she was getting too excited. And it's not so hygienic, I guess. I let her lick out my pan the other day and Jae came down the stairs and saw us and said, “Oh. My. God.” We completely scandalized her!

Wednesday, February 19: Gah! Went to UPS box and it was raining, as it often is, but it turned out that it was raining rather more than I thought. A new kind of rain--spring rain! I got sopping wet. For some reason, I thought that it would be a good idea to try out my new Goodwill raincoat for this long trip instead of a normal way to try it out, like for a few short outdoor trips. Or in the shower. And it wasn't waterproof! Nope. Found out the hard way. First of course, I noticed my feet and then my jeans—by the time they were both good and drenched, then I started to notice that water was invading my sweater area. I was in a seriously grumpy mood, marching home through the puddles. Vile, hideous, detestable rain.

Was very, very glad to finally get home and get warm and dry, throw everything in the washer, and put some sweet potatoes in the oven. Am eating a ton of sweet potatoes lately. Very cozy and warm food! (And orange!)

Thursday, February 20: Raining again. I said to the rain, ha ha, I’m inside! And the rain said to me ha ha, you’re inside! Stupid rain.
This appears to be the beginning of spring; hard to tell due to weather not really changing much except becoming a bit rainier, but there are crocus all over the place that emerged soon after the snow from a couple of weeks ago. I thought they looked pretty in the rain, but after my incident, I must say I prefer them all cheerful and happy in the sunshine!

Friday, February 21: Jae left early today, so heated up stinky asparagus for breakfast! The scent issues continue, and I spend a lot of time airing out the house from things that I cook and from her perfume. But I like Jae a lot, she is very fun to talk to. She is moving back to the east coast in a few weeks, because she misses her friends and family. Sad news! But she gave me her bike, so yay for that. 

Spent the day cleaning and trimming hair (don't ask--it's pretty bad) and getting some sunshine.

Sunday, February 23: Decided to go out and see Sellwood, a neighborhood in south Portland. When I've mentioned that Portland feels too big for me, a couple of times people have recommended Sellwood, said that I might like it--and I did! It snugs up next to the Willamette River with a big marshy park area, and it's calm and has a small town feeling. No tattoo parlors, two tea places vs. one coffee place, and a cat hospital! Cats only! So cats rule in this part of Portland whereas everywhere else seems to be very much about the dogs. So I will go back, check it out more. If I end up staying here, I need to start making some connections and trying to settle in. The thought of moving is SOOOOO unappealing, but I have to remind myself that even changing youth hostels was horrible at the time.

The Olympics are finishing today and there was a documentary on Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding this evening, and as I watched it, I realized that Tanya Harding is from the Portland Oregon! And! She practiced at a mall near my house! It’s the Lloyd Center Mall! Small world moment!

Tuesday, February 25: Watched a 2-minute Portlandia blip called, “She’s Making Jewelry Now” that made me feel a little better about the whole job thing. Or least able to laugh at it for a moment!

Have figured out the problem with everything: I live just off of Failing Street! Failing! How can I find a job when I’m constantly being told I’m failing?!?!? Seriously, who names a street that? 
I could use it for the title of my first song for the Serious Bummer band--"I'm living on Failing Street" sounds like a hit, don't you think?

Of course there are street signs, but all the corner sidewalks have the street names on them, too.

Wednesday, February 26:  Daffodils are blooming now, and the rosebushes are waking up, unfurling little red-green leaves. Have been seeing hummingbirds and hearing lots of bird song. So, spring is here--and it's heading your way next!!!!! Really!!!!!!!!!!

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Thursday, February 27: Saw this van parked in my neighborhood, and thought, are you sure about that??

Friday, February 28: Rather low today. No jobs on the horizon yet. I’m waiting to hear back from one interesting possibility, and then if that doesn't work—and assuming I don’t hear something back from one of the less interesting possibilities—I’m thinking to look into working at a tea shop or something. I can't live on that, but I can't not have an income of some sort and getting so many rejections has got me thinking that no jobs will happen, ever. Which of course leads to re-thinking the whole being in Portland thing…it's rather stressful wondering if I'm going to have enough for rent every month, and I'm not sure how much longer my nerves are up for it!

I'm trying to be patient and not freak out. Also doing lots of writing, and it always helps me to have a creative outlet at any time, but especially when I’m stressed. I’m getting so much positive feedback about the blog, so thanks for that everyone! My friend Melanie suggested selling photos on-line, so I've been looking into that, and also working hard to submit some of the stuff I've been writing. It just all takes time! Patience! I've never been good at the patience thing.

I'm guessing that I'll still be here through March at least, if for no other reason than I need to figure out what to do next. I'll keep you posted! And thank you for your continued support!

And really, spring is coming soon! Hang in there!!!  :)