The Good Times....And The Bad Times

This last weekend was somewhat busy for Danny and I. Some parts of it were really fun and good and others were not quite so good...

Friday I had convocation which is like the opposite of graduation. It's a celebration of beginning school where all of the programs in the College of Psychology and Education come together to chat about our core value: social justice. We had a quick lecture in the chapel on campus and then heard part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "Beyond Vietnam". After hearing about 20 minutes of his speech, we had 10 minutes to write a response to it and then we were split into small groups to discuss what we had written. After all of that was done (and I gloss over it to save you the boredom of "I said this, some other guy said that, it was fun.") there was free cheese, veggies, and fruit along with wine and beer. Joy! I got to sit outside and talk to some people in my own program and other programs and mingle with the faculty. Overall it was a great experience and I got to talk to even more of my peers which is something that I have really enjoyed this whole time.

Saturday Danny and I had plans to go downtown to the Saturday Market and also to just wander around the area for a while. When we got down there we realized Danny's cousin's husband, Robert, was participating in a Dragon Boat tournament on the Willamette River. Dragon Boats are kind of like really big canoes that seat maybe 20 people (?) and have decorative dragons off the front. People can join the club and practice is I think 3 times a week. Danny went once with Robert when we first got here and found himself pretty tuckered after paddling for a couple of hours. So anywho, we found Robert and found out when his next race was and then since we had some time to kill we walked further down the river to the Saturday Market. The Saturday Market is pretty popular around here, especially the produce/food part which is located a few blocks up from the river on the Portland State University campus. We had gone to that one before and the produce is really wonderful. People sell organic/local fruits, veggies, baked goods, vinegars, pops, beers, you name it! It's a bit pricey but the quality is beyond anything you can get at a grocery store so I personally think it's worth it. But the part that we had not yet gone to was the crafts part located down by the river. People sell all sorts of homemade things like art, clothing, candles, soaps, etc and there's also live music and food vendors there too. Of course, Danny was primarily attracted to the weird, kitschy things like tribal masks and some sort of whistle that was popular in Zelda... Needless to say, I lost Danny a few times as he mindlessly wandered off to another vender in a state of useless crap bliss. He also got dragged into a street performing act considering he was one of the few people clapping enthusiastically and with that same blissful look on his face of when he was craft shopping. The guy had him and three other guys make like a human table and also do a drum roll while the guy juggled. Nothing too impressive but funny of course :)

After our time at the market we headed back to watch Robert and his team win their race and then chatted it up with Robert afterwards. He happened to mention that his wife (Danny's cousin Christie) and their daughter were coming back at 4 pm from a week back in Wisconsin and that they needed to be picked up from the airport. Considering Danny is unemployed and I had nothing to do either we said we would go get them. This entailed driving their nice car which I was more than happy to do :) After we got back from that we headed home and I busted out a sweet soufflé for dinner like it was nothing. Danny brags about his "artisan" bread all the time (which he has made once but it still deserves constant praise in his mind) but this soufflé totally rocks the socks off any bread he'll make. It rose perfectly out of its dish and did not fall until we began eating it. Superb. After dinner we went to this really great old theater reminiscent of the Rivoli in La Crosse and caught the movie "The Help". I highly recommend the movie to all of you readers out there and Danny even liked it so that's saying something. A wonderful Saturday it was.

But then came Sunday. Oh Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Here's a little background info for all of you out there: I recently bought a new bike from REI here because of their wonderful end of the summer sale. After buying the bike we were looking around on their website for something or other and happened upon a local event schedule for things going on outdoors. Hooray, right? Danny found this thing that just said "Clackamas River cleanup. September 11. Pre-register." Danny being one who takes things at their word and does no further research assumes that this info must be all encompassing, no other info needed. Oh contraire mon frere. One thing you should know about Danny is that he brings this approach to most activities, he likes to ignore important details in lieu of focusing on what he wants to see. On one of our recent hikes the trail was a little vague so he referenced the book we were using. "It says there should be a "y" in the trail soon and that another trail passes through in about a half mile". With that in mind we keep walking but I'm not totally convinced so I ask to see the book again only to find that this "y" and trail intersection are much further ahead like a mile and half and also a number of other details Danny had failed to mention because he had not read the book. With this in mind, I should know better by now than to trust Danny's word but yet, I didn't trust my gut instinct to do my own research until we were well on our way out to the river cleanup. I start looking up websites on my phone (there were an endless amount) saying things like "bring your own kayak/raft" "over 400 people attended last year" "get ready for a day on the river!". Slowly I came to realize that I was 1. Inappropriately dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes since I would be out on a river getting wet 2. Not wearing sunscreen because I thought this would take a couple hours tops 3. Inadequately supplied with food 4. SIMPLY NOT PREPARED. I tell Danny all this and he says, "Oh silly Caitlin, don't you worry. Everything will be fine." All the while a pit is growing in my stomach.

We pull up to the parking area of this park where we're starting to find hundreds of cars with their own kayaks and rafts and people decked out in waterproof shoes, swimsuits, and quick drying clothing. I start to feel out of place... We walk to get registered only to find out, oh woops, you guys should've pre-registered online and most if not all of the spots are taken. Well that's dandy. I look at Danny to see a look of guilty terror coming over his face as the lady goes to check on spots for us. She comes back to tell us there are only 2 spots remaining...in separate boats....and there's a $20 registration fee...and it's a whole day thing...and you'll be walking in the water as you raft down so that you can pick garbage out of the river. Did I mention I'm wearing shorts a t-shirt and tennis shoes? Not a swimsuit? But hey, why not? We just drove 40 minutes out here and I am not about to just go home. As angry as I was at Danny I shoved that aside and tried to convince myself this wouldn't be that bad. Ultimately it wasn't that bad at all. My group was all people that had come alone and we had a generally good time floating down our 5 mile stretch of the river picking up such things as beer cans, an electric blanket, more beer cans, golf balls, bricks, metal piping, fishing line, more beer cans... (people who are reading this and also use the river as your garbage can, I must say I am appalled by you. You should be ashamed of yourselves!). Despite my anger at the beginning of the day, this was a legitimately good experience and I'm happy we stuck it out and went ahead with it. When we got back they provided a wonderful dinner, live music, and the opportunity to pay $25 for Keen brand waterproof sandals (originally $90!).

With all of that having happened my anger with Danny slowly dissipated. But I have learned my lesson. If Danny ever comes to me with a plan again I will check and double check his information until I am sure I have a complete picture of what will be happening that day/night. This will happen for as long as we are together no matter what.

So that was our weekend! Busy busy and angry angry but I had a great time overall. My classes have been going well and Danny actually had/has 2 job interviews today. The first went well although he's still unsure of what is going to happen with it and the second one he's actually at right now. We'll see how it goes! I've been home this whole time baking and so far I've made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies (amazing!) and two loaves of bread. I have also managed to overhear an intense argument from our neighbors downstairs which resulted in the man throwing a few dishes out onto their deck and then cleaning it up soon after. I thought about calling the police but from what I heard it didn't get violent outside of the throwing dishes and it seems they have resolved their issues from what I have heard since. Hopefully this is a one time thing! Our upstairs neighbor is more of a headache though. Danny has nicknamed him Stomps because he consistently sounds like he is doing a mixture of jumping, running in place or in circles, dropping dictionaries on the floor, and just all around not staying still. He also apparently sawed something out on his deck yesterday that made our whole apartment shake like the apocalypse was upon us. I'm tempted to find an excuse to go up there and introduce myself just to see what the balls he's been up to.

Until next time, adios our dear readers!