Portland Fucking Oregon, Part 1

Tried to find the t-shirt that actually says "PORTLAND FUCKING OREGON" on it, but no dice, so I settled for this SFW version. (PDX is one of Portland's nicknames. From the airport code. Yeah. It's gay. But there are still at least 12 million places I'd not live before I'd not live here.)

This is a great city. & I'm sure I'll expound on that to the point of tedium. But here's one reason: the people. Last night, I was walking down Hawthorne Boulevard, starting to cross one of the numbered avenues, & I saw a car coming up to the stop sign at a fair clip. I hesitated - I've been hit by a car as a pedestrian & while not horrifying, it definitely knocked the attitude I'd previously acquired during a summer of NYC walking straight outta me. This evening past, the driver saw me, & slowed, & I continued to cross in front of him. He actually rolled down his window & apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Are you kidding? Could the people here be any friggin' nicer?

I don't know exactly what makes Portland so friendly & laid-back. But it's the "nicest" place I've ever been. When I went to Music Millennium & bought a Caetano Veloso CD, in lieu of the usual record-store clerk disinterest I got a conversation about Caetano, which led to Pedro Almodovar, which led to Ryuichi Sakamoto. At the grocery store, an ID check leads into a discussion of my astrological sign. Asking where the bathroom is leads to a teasing question ("Are you sure you're old enough?") & response ("I promise I won't pee on the floor") rather than a jerk of the head indicating the direction. If I only have one thing to buy & the person ahead of me has a cart, they will actually let me go first.

Maybe it's the rain?

Um, also, there is this amazingly fantastic thing that apparently was all controversial & cost a lot of money to build & people are pissed or something. Its purpose is to transport people from one place up high to a hospital down low on the waterfront. I don't know why & don't really care what the story behind it is. The basic point is that on my drive to & from work, I get to see giant silver sausages floating over the freeway! Allegedly they're meant to look like bubbles, but I ain't having it. Those suckers are sausages. It opens to the public later this month, at which point hopefully I can find/take a better picture, one which is more truly reflective of its meaty float-osity. I am utterly enraptured & can't wait to ride it.