I don't roll on shabbos.

So, I'm getting really pumped about Oregon. Last week I was nervous, and I've been thinking a lot about how cool my family is, and how I must be crazy to want to leave them so far behind. Lots of people have sucky families, and I have a really great one. But they will always be there, and my youthful, adventurous spirit won't. So I'm off.

I thought to get even more into the spirit I would research famous Oregonians. I was so sure there'd be so many, having heard such great things about the places and faces of The Beaver State. Well.

First, of course, we have Matt Groening of Simpsons genius. I've known about this one for a while. I know that some of his characters have Portland street and/or attraction monikers. There's Flanders Street, Lovejoy Fountain. I think a Nelson in there somewhere too.

But that's about as cool as it gets. Raymond Carver, father of the American short story, is from some place called Clatskanie, and Amad Rashad is a Portland native. Beverly Cleary is a Beaver, too.

Rounding out our star-studded list are Sally Struthers and Lindsay Wagner. One made famous to our generation by the South Park episode "Starvin' Marvin," and the other was The Bionic Woman. Lindsay Wagner also makes me think of Nate Hayes' Sleep Number bed, Nick Kreager and his chupacabra, and the straight-to-VHS-movie, Buckaroo, all of which means nothing to you if you didn't work at Perk's at any time from 2006-2008. But the way my social circle goes, if you're reading this, you probably did.

Although my list was somewhat of a letdown, I'm not discouraged. I learned that Twilight was filmed in Oregon (Ooh, dreamweaver!), and I watched The Goonies save their hometown of Astoria, Oregon the other day on TBS. Or maybe it was G4.

So I say to you, Sally Struthers, I am honored to join your club. I hope you will welcome me with giant, open, waiting arms.

Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

I drive a car that was manufactured in the days before CDs were even a standard means of listening to music, so I plug in one of those cheap cassette adapters. One end goes in the deck, the other into my iPod. The thing's all messed up now, it shorts and it doesn't play right, and Wal-Mart is like, 20 minutes away and I don't feel like making the trip, so I've been listening to some tapes I've collected over the years. One is Madonna's Erotica (I also have an audiobiography of her, so I'll pop that in from time to time, too), one is Gang of Four, and the other is Tango In the Night, quite possibly the worst Fleetwood Mac album ever made.

But I also have a copy of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me by The Cure, and this one I like a lot. I plan to update it to mp3 format so I can listen to in the real world, not just in the Volvo. Here's a photo of Robert Smith at nighttime.



Aside from rewinding tapes, I've spent my summer so far reading transcript, swimming, and riding my bike. Also, I'm back at the Main Street Café, waiting tables and cooking food three days a week. Let's just say it's been motivational.

Also have started a pretty major writing project with JRahn. It's in the works, and I'd hate to reveal too much, but stay tuned and maybe you'll get a peek.

It's late now, and I have to be up early for work. Those pancakes don't cook themselves. I'm going to hope for no nightmares after that Robert Smith Google image search.

Buenas noches.

Bingo

Found it. My username was "twostripsobacon," and you gotta love that.

http://twostripsobacon.livejournal.com/

Reading this was fun. There was some stuff I'd forgotten about, including a little trip to Argentina I'd once planned . . .

Also, I capitalize again. I figure that it's pretty important that I do so if I'm going to be somebody's editor.

So there. Maybe it's not such a new pair of shoes after all.

je blog.

A new blog just feels like a new pair of shoes, does it not? Glad that you have it, but also ready for them to be broken in. They can be almost uncomfortable at first.

I'm gonna put shit in here. Lots of entries and photos and stuff. I say that, but really it's more that I hope I have time to do it.

I really want everyone to be able to keep up on my super-rad new life, so I'll try to keep it funky fresh. That way you'll all want to tune in from time to time to see all the cool stuff I've been doing.

But I'm not in Oregon yet. I'm still in Licking County, Ohio, and there's really not much to tell there.

Sadly, I think that my livejournal Europe blog is lost forever. I can't remember my username, and I can't access the email account I used, as I graduated over 12 months ago (seriously?) and OU shut down my webmail. Sigh. I would like to have it, and be able to find a way to merge the two into one really sporadic but really well-traveled blog.

I'll see what I can do. Until then, stay sweet.