beautiful, funny, sad & true

Today at work, my friend Melodie came over and asked, “Are you doing something tonight?”

“Not yet.”

“Would you LIKE to be doing something tonight?”

“Love to. Such as?”

“I’m going to see the live show of Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and I have an extra free ticket, if you’d like to come.”

“You mean the radio show? Heck yeah! I love that show.”

So I’m going downtown to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, to see a live performance and taping of the show. For free.

Sweet!

I found this on Eric Edberg’s site, and just had to try it for myself. Sheesh, I had no idea my blog was so tame. Good thing I didn’t try this rating system a month ago, after a particularly bummer day, when I dropped a huge F-bomb.

Well, here’s a gratuitous one for the censors:

Fuck.

Just trying to keep it real here, folks, and show what a hardcore I really am. And speaking of ‘keeping it real’, why is it that so many people insist on using that phrase? Have I been fake all this time without even realizing it? If I have been, I’m genuinely sorry.

I don’t know quite how to put everything into words, but I’ve been feeling things shift lately. After a very hard couple of months, it seems like I’ve finally come out of that metaphorical tunnel. You know, the one with the seemingly unreachable light at the end of it.

I’m not quite ready to start jumping for joy just yet, but things are definitely looking up lately, and for the last week or so, I’ve almost been feeling like my ‘unstoppable’ (John Vecchiarelli’s immortal description) self again.

I even consulted the I Ching today, for the first time in ages, and this is what I got:

———
The Hexagram:

#43 – Kuai / Break-through (Resoluteness)

Above – TUI / THE JOYOUS, LAKE
Below – CH’IEN / THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN

This hexagram signifies on the one hand a breakthrough after a long accumulation of tension, as a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or in the manner of a cloudburst. . .a change in conditions occurs, a breakthrough.
––––––––

I edited it heavily; there’s much more interesting interpretation at that link. This isn’t the same version as the book I have, either, but I had to have something to share with you.

This weekend I’m finishing up the mixing for the new Crystin Byrd song, spending some time with a really sweet friend of Alyssa’s who is visiting from Florida, looking at antiques with Saussha and a friend of hers, and I’m even meeting a new friend in person for the first time. It promises to be a good weekend. Oh, and I’m also going to take my car to Midas (again!) so it can get the adjustments it needs to hopefully pass DEQ this time. I was in and out of both places on Thursday, so keep your fingers crossed that it will be fixed relatively easily and cheaply. I wanna be legal, yo.

I feel like something big and great is about to happen, and I’d just like to say to whoever’s listening (or reading) that I hereby declare myself open to whatever that may be.

But like I said before, I may not be quite ready to start jumping for joy just yet, but I’m feeling much better, and I’m trying to simply ‘relax and pay attention’, as my friend Susan would say.

One of my friends at work has a little can full of little sayings by authors, philosophers, spiritual people, transcendentalists, people like that. Every day, we pick one and read it aloud. Here’s mine, from last week.

After I posted my blog entry on Sunday about that cool house (see here), I did a little poking around. I was wondering why they don’t just put it on the National Register of Historic Places, and have a chance at having the building renovated.

What I didn’t realize is that lots of owners of old houses are touchy about this subject. Part of having your building on the NR of HP involves making it open to the general public for a few hours each year. The ‘general public’ of course, means everyone, and that means the place has to be retrofitted with extra earthquake and fire protection, made handicap-accessible, all of the doors have to be a certain width, and a myriad of other modern treatments. Obviously, nothing of the sort existed in the 1880’s and ’90’s, when Portland Heights was being built, so to bring an old house up to today’s specifications can involve major surgery. This can ruin its ‘period charm’.

And in extreme cases, places like this would simply be laughably difficult to make accessible. It’s on the edge of a hill, the main entrance is up a bunch of steep steps, and I’m sure its earthquake and fire resistance are minimal. If the owners were lucky, the entire house would be taken apart and moved to a more stable location. If they were unlucky, it would just be condemned, dismantled and sold for its period fixtures, or its siding, or its trim, or its stained-glass windows.

I’d sure like to see it saved, and it’s so perfect where it is–with the raised corner room that overlooks the entire city–that I can’t imagine moving it. Modernizing it would seem to be impossible. I wonder if there’s a way to save it and improve it, using private funding or something, so they don’t have to carve it up or move it.

Something tells me it will eventually get the same treatment that the Simon Benson House got a few years ago, which would change it and make it look more modern, but at least it wouldn’t have to be completely destroyed.

* * * * * *

This may all be interesting and everything, but the real story is that last night I cried for two hours, until I finally was able to fall asleep.