Friday
What’s in a day? At my best, each morning feels like the beginning sentence of a new novel. I haven’t been that present for a few weeks, though, and I’m struggling to remember my Friday morning. I know that it was pretty relaxed, but I couldn’t tell you what I did.
Work was no heavier or lighter a burden than usual. I watched the movie Earth To Echo with some kids that had earned that privilege as a treat. Ned Nickerson, an old coworker, came to volunteer for the day, and I decided to make plans with her for the evening.
After work, I rounded up my roommates and we decided to join Ned and one of her friends for pizza and drinks. We hit up Sizzle Pie and Rontom’s, and generally all had a good time with each other’s company. I had planned to go to the Academy for Inherent Vice, but I missed the showtime, but no matter. I liked Rontom’s a lot. I’m sure that one of the reasons that it’s popular is that it looks like what a “cool bar” should look like, but I’m trying to embrace the fact that I think that style matters, and just roll with it.
After drinks, I decided to get stoned and watch a movie. I got stuck in the awful anxiety of movie selection, but settled on Edge of Tomorrow. It was not as good as I remembered it, and this time through couldn’t see past the terrible writing, videogame cliche’d setpieces, and the wince-y (and very unsexy) sexual dynamic between Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.
Saturday
During the day I had an Eliott Smith day. I woke up to an empty house, but got up pretty quickly. Having no computer makes the in-bed wakeup process go a lot faster. I went to my old neighborhood to get a haircut, then didn’t really have anything to do or any plans. I wanted to find someplace to get some coffee and read a little Moby Dick or journal. As I was headed into Southeast, I suddenly had to pee pretty urgently, so I stopped into the New Seasons on Division to take care of that. As I was headed out, I caught sight of the community response/customer feedback board and got transfixed for about 20 minutes reading the dialogue between the most anal customers ever and the cheery community manager that needs to tiptoe the line between down-to-earth realness and quirky Portland friendliness.
I realized that I was near Spielman’s Bagels, and I had just been talking about their lox with Hunter Thompson at Rontom’s the night before. I decided to just get lunch, and had the (very excellent) lox plate. As I was leaving, I overheard a conversation between a customer and two guys behind the counter talking about the use of simple language and silence in the works of Camus, which is one of the most Portlandy moments I’ve ever witnessed (though not participated in, due to sad lack of reading any Camus other than L’Etranger). I was walking to my car and ran into Hunter himself, so turned back around and got a coffee with him.
In the afternoon, I did some charliework and read a little bit, listened to some new music. I met up with Jesus Christ, and we played for a little bit, then got a drink at Scandals and went to his place to watch some American Horror Story. I was feeling a little out of it to be honest, probably a sign of the day ahead of me, and I went home feeling vaguely unsettled.
As I was falling asleep, I decided to start watching the movie Frances Ha. I had remembered some of the buzz about the movie when it came out, but something about it felt a little too real, maybe too raw, and I didn’t think I could handle it. Last night felt like the right time though, and it was a great instinct. The movie was perfect medicine to my spirit, yet unsettling enough that my heart was in my throat during scenes that felt too close to my life. One of the themes of the movie is Frances’ relationship with her best-friend/roommate, and the deep need that Frances has that is filled by her friend, and it made me think very hard (and I’m still thinking about it) about similar dynamics between me and my friends.
Sunday
On Sunday, I was anxious all day for no real reason. I feel like I wasted an opportunity to have a good day by being in my head the whole time, so I think I’m going to leave it at that.
hammer & jack 