Hello all! I hope the nasty weather back home hasn't been too crazy. It's somewhat ironic because Portland should be having cold/rainy weather but instead, it's upper 70's 80's while you guys have the nastiness. I like to giggle to myself thinking about this because of all of you (you know who you are!) that pointed out "Doesn't it rain, like, 350 days a year in Portland? Gosh, you guys are totally going to get rain all the time. So depressing." Well who's laughing now, huh!? Except we'll soon get that weather but still, we're beating you for now! MUAH HA HA HA!
Ok, I'm done mocking you all. Anywho, life around here has gotten significantly less interesting now that I've started school. I spend most of my free time reading epic amounts of scholarly articles and textbooks which in turn makes Danny bitter while I ignore him. It doesn't help that he usually decides to come talk to me just as I sit down to read or that when he does get the vibe that I'm busy and don't want to talk, he goes to the large empty corner of our living room (what he calls his tumbling area) and does handstands. Frankly, I'm not sure that I appreciate Danny attempting to walk on his hands but I'm also not sure that our neighbors below us appreciate the thumping around that results from this behavior.
Classes are going well, though, and I enjoy the time I spend on campus. It's beautiful up there (and I say up because seriously, the place is on a hill that I have to bike up every flipping time) and I have really enjoyed getting to know my classmates. I know I've brought that up before but most everyone seems pretty genuine and I love our class discussions that we have. Because my profession will inevitably have me interacting with persons of all backgrounds there is a large focus on understanding diversity and also how to confront some of the major issues that play into diversity. This often brings up a lot of interesting topics in class like the effects of gender and race in therapy as well as other factors like sexual orientation, ethnicity, past traumas, immigration, etc. I've always enjoyed discussing these things and finally having a classroom space that does these topics due justice is exciting. I can't wait to begin practicing therapy because of all of these wonderful points of view I'll get to interact with on a daily basis. Too bad that's still a few years away....
But enough about me. As Danny mentioned in his previous (somewhat dry) post it was his birthday last weekend. Indeed it was somewhat lackluster compared to past birthdays but we made it work. It didn't help that it rained that day (which by the way broke a 22 day dry streak here in Portland) which made it somewhat gloomy. But you know, I enjoyed the dinner we made together and I hope Danny knows that I love him dearly and hope to spend many more probably more exciting birthdays with him. Although if he keeps making me buy crappy food there will be hell to pay on some level... Tonight I'm taking him out to dinner (he still doesn't know where to) to make up for last weekend's flop. With the summer winding down there won't be too may nice evenings left for a night of (hopefully!) dining outside and enjoying the city. I tried hard to find some event to go to after dinner tonight but there just isn't much left. But since Danny won't read this until after we go to dinner it won't ruin the surprise if I tell you we're going to a restaurant called Ping. It's the sister location to another restaurant called Pok Pok (which was on food network, I think Danny mentioned that in a previous post). It's mainly Thai food which Danny and I both love so I'm pretty excited to take him there. It's also in Chinatown which Danny has been really curious about so I think I'll kill two birds with one stone by taking him out for Thai in Chinatown. Boom!
As far as biking goes and all of my complaints about it before, I LOVE it now. I never respected the activity of biking as much as I do nowadays. For those of you who despise bikers on roadways and see them as hazards, have you ever biked? It's a fantastic work out, it doesn't cost a sent for gas, you never have to change your oil, AND you get to fly by rush hour traffic. I used to have a lot of negative feelings towards bikers but now after being one and enjoying it so much, I can attest to the benefits it provides. I do end up sweaty and red faced no matter how far I bike whether it's 1 mile or 10 but I enjoy the rides because I get to know the area better and I get to smell all of the lovely gardens people have around here. I'm one of the only people in my program that bikes to campus but I can tell, everyone else is totally jealous :) Occasionally some bad things happen like the one evening I was biking back from class and two men were on their porch smoking cigars and one yelled out "Fu**er!" But poo on that man, I look adorable in my blue helmet and the dresses I wear while riding. And I may never know if he was actually yelling at me or not but hey, I will have a healthier set of lungs that than man ever will.
Other than this life is, as I mentioned before, slow. We've been cooking a lot and have made lots of bread, chocolate zuchini cake, my BEST pizza ever, and Danny's birthday frozen pie thing. We also had a beer last night that we got from a huge liquor store nearby with over 1000 kinds of beer. In Minneapolis there's a bar called the Kitty Kat Club which was my favorite bar and it served this Belgian beer Delerium Tremens. Apparently this brand also makes one called Delerium Nocturnum which we bought (one of those big bottles for $10!) and it was superb. One of my top 10 best for sure. So if you find yourself in a Belgian beer section of a liquor store check it out. Amazingness!
Well that's all for my ramblings today. I probably didn't explain anything too interesting so I apologize if you still are wondering things but feel free to ask if there is something on your mind. I hope you're all doing well!
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