we are but older children, dear

I can't count the number of times I've discussed the non-defined definition of "hipster" with my Portland friends.

Here, for your delectation, is a link to a number of such definitions. I happened upon this while preparing my lesson on "slang." I don't think I'll be using "hipster." The definition, once again, proves too elusive.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster

Also, a definition of "vegan" I wrote 6 years ago in my heavy New Age period is actually #6. I think it's pretty good, though probably leans too far spiritual for most of my vegan friends. Still, I'm psyched it's up there. Vote down the top definition there too, if you get a chance. It's stupid.

I just wrote an article for my advanced students who wanted a lesson about "pets." It's on pet overpopulation and pet adoption in the U.S. It's a rough draft, but I'd say it's still as good as a lot of the material I've read in the ESL books at our school.

I'm going to save every word I write for these lessons. I think I could potentially make a living writing this stuff.

but, How oddly fitting for my first full week in Korea:

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): While reviewing the work of Angelina Jolie in
the film *Taking Lives,* A. O. Scott called her "the flesh-and-blood actress
most likely to be mistaken for a computer-generated special effect." I
don't expect you to rival Jolie's odd talent anytime soon, but I wonder if
maybe you'll be seeing a lot of that kind of stuff in the world around you.
Some of the characters who will be advancing the plotlines in your life
story may seem to be able to breathe fire, walk through walls, or change
the weather at will. At the very least, you'll witness phenomena that
resemble optical illusions. My advice: Try to get these exotic outbreaks to
work for you rather than against you. Embrace them, don't fear them.

I found a pair of used blue jeans a few weeks ago that fit so perfectly I couldn't believe it. Turns out they're Wal-mart brand.

Now, I have a huge thing against shopping at Wal-Mart for so so many reasons, but...

I can NEVER find jeans (or most pants, for that matter) that fit my butt and my waist at the same time without that horrible gapping thing happening. Plus they are long enough - luxuriously long, gloriously long.

So I'm actually going to Wal-Mart tomorrow night with my brother to attempt to partake of their jeans. Cause I sure as hell won't be able to find jeans that fit in Korea, and I don't have time to hope that there might be another pair that fits at the Bins.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=31559152009

I'm very glad I made the visit to Wisconsin, though I really wish it had been twice as long.

Still, Lee and I packed a lot of action into our week. And I am glad to be home.

More when I feel like I'm actually on solid ground again, which will probably not be until tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

I keep trying to write LJ posts about my wedding and the computer keeps shutting down just as I finish them. They are saved when the computer turns back on, but then I re-read them and they seem inadequate. This is try #3.

So Lee and I basically had one of the least-planned wedding this side of an elopement last weekend. But somehow, despite the lack of planning, everything turned out well.

We decided to get married at Punchbowl Falls, off the Eagle Creek hiking trail in the Columbia Gorge. For those of you who aren't Portlanders, this is a really beautiful, popular trail which winds its way, partially along a cliff edge, through woods, grassy areas and rocky places, and encounters several waterfalls (what the Gorge area is known for). When you hike down to Lower Punchbowl Falls you can see two sets of waterfalls - one going down to the right and one in the distance on the left. There's also an indented area in the rock - an overhang above a sort of platform - across some water. Maybe 2-3 years ago I told Nathan Buck that that was where I wanted to marry Lee, before marrying Lee seemed like much of a likelihood. That's where we got married. :)

The ceremony was beautiful. We were married by one of Lee's oldest friends, Bryan, and despite Lee's worry that his vows would pale next to mine, I'm afraid it felt the other way around. They were beautiful and he obviously spent a lot of time perfecting them. I spent my time trying to think of all the things I felt would be necessary for a healthy relationship. And so mine were less poetic and more a guiding statement to take me forward from the wedding. Before the vows, I sang Lee "It's You I Like" and Lee read a poem "To A Passing Stranger", I believe it was called. I can't remember if it was Walt Whitman or Robert Frost off-hand, though being an English major, it might be good if I had some idea of their differing styles. (So sue me, I never took a poetry class.) Anyway, it was a beautiful wedding.

We didn't invite everyone I would have liked to be there, some because they were far away, some because we already had more people than I felt would be manageable on such a trek, some I honestly just forgot to tell. In retrospect, I might have done things differently and insisted that some of my out-of-town friends be there, but I felt lame for having already invited them to my other wedding to Josiah, the traditional ceremony with all the guests and the gifts, etc. Which was also good. I think I needed to have a traditional wedding the first time. Lucky for Lee that he didn't have to participate in it, because he said he dreaded that sort of wedding.

At any rate, having about 10 people there was about right. Two of Lee's oldest friends and their girlfriends, my brother and cousin, and one of my oldest Portland friends (Jarrod) and his girlfriend. After we left Eagle Creek we met up with April, Jan and Nathan at Nicolas' and the night before we had sung karaoke with Coral, Rob and Coral's sister, Tabitha.

After the ceremony Lloyd took a bunch of pictures (which hopefully we will have soon to post), people snacked on trail food, and a few of us went swimming!

I'd never been brave enough to swim through the cold water to Punchbowl Falls, even though it looked beautiful from a distance. I'm glad I did this time, because it was INDESCRIBABLY beautiful up close. It was like being in a movie. That's probably the best I can do. It was literally like you'd walked into one of those fairy-tale places you see in a movie. Somewhere where people might go in "Lord of the Rings" or "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" or "Last of the Mohicans" (only with fewer orcs, British thugs or rival tribes). A bunch of us ended up making the swim, including Lee (who felt cold, but indulged me by letting me hang on him in the water), Jarrod (who went first), my brother (who stood on an embankment around the bowl, wielding a large stick as if he were a king, Bryan who explored the territory around the falls, and Annie and Jake. That was the best part of the whole weekend for me, and the one indelible memory that will stick with me, I think. I'll remember looking at Lee during the ceremony, of course. But I will remember better kissing him in the shadow of the waterfall, immersed in the pool. I wish every day could be like that.

As we were leaving Eagle Creek, the crowds were starting to arrive. It was like we had timed it perfectly. We also timed our arrival at Nicolas' perfectly, around 3 p.m. We ended up lucking into a seating area for 15 at a restaurant which usually has a line outside. Everything was very serendipitous in other words.

By the time we got home with Jake and Neesa and Bryan and Rachel, we were pretty much ready to collapse, but we had Jake and Ishtar sign as witnesses, then ate cupcakes and drank port until we all fell off to sleep.

All in all, a wonderful day. Thank you so, so, so much to all who participated.

And now, on to our adventures. Our mini-adventure to Wisconsin and our much bigger adventure to Korea, and, I suppose, the even bigger adventure of loving each other for the rest of our lives. :)

Love,
Jen

This one is my random catch-all entry, although much of it will have to do with progress on my half-assed diet and exercise program.

As to that, I now fit in the pants which were a little too tight for me when I bought them on sale for like, $12 at Macy's a week and a half ago. They are flax and tan-colored, and while I wouldn't have imagined wearing anything like them a year ago (too adult-looking, maybe), I'm now finding that I'm starting to feel like the adult who should be wearing them. They're for work in Korea, but they actually look kind of cute, too. And, of course, they're super-practical.

I've also been exercising fairly regularly. My new idea was just to try to do some type of exercise for at least 20 minutes a day but not beat myself up if I didn't. Turns out, this works well for me. I usually exercise a little more than the 20 minutes, I've started trying to do push-ups (something I haven't been able to do since gym class as far as I know), I've started jogging (which kind of makes me want to vomit, but I know I'll get better if I try), and I can see muscles in my legs again in places where they'd gone away. Plus, I'm actually EXCITED to exercise now. Sometimes when I come home I'm actually looking forward to it.

However, I am back on the sugar-train again. The weekend of the fourth was particularly taxing, in that I went to a horror movie fest at Nathan's where I gave myself permission to eat "whatever". "Whatever" mainly turned out to be half a can of Coke and an entire bag of Trader Joe's cinnamon almonds, in addition to some healthier stuff like hummus, so it could have been worse, but there were a hell of a lot of calories in those cinnamon almonds, and a lot of it was from the sugary coating. Oh well. I also ate ice cream cones on the 4th at April's, however. And I ordered a cookie at Laughing Planet today, which I haven't done in forever. So, for a girl who wasn't going to eat sugar for another two weeks, I sure have eaten a lot of the stuff. Meh. That's okay. I can always get back on the wagon. Not going to beat myself up anymore.

Feeling pretty good. My mood has been improving a lot.

Lee and I are definitely dealing with some stress, but I think that will be okay too. I may have started to turn a corner in that department anyhow. I'm starting to feel like maybe part of the adventure of being in a relationship is dealing with relationship problems and worries, and working through them. Like half the point is actually the work part. I could be wrong, but since Lee and I are healthy on so many levels, since we communicate well, we love and respect each other, and since we share so much in common, I feel like getting married is still the right idea and working out our problems will be beneficial in the end. It flies in the face of all those idealized visions I have of "people about to get married" - that I should be dewy-eyed and dopey. But, at the same time, Lee and I have been together for over 5 years and been through a lot during that time. So yeah. Maybe I'm just growing up, who knows?

Life is pretty good in general. I'm still a bit stressed out about money, since I'm putting a lot on credit cards this summer, but Lee is super-confident that we'll have jobs before the end of September, likely even sooner. And then it's off to a land where I can earn a decent wage.

Tim and I are talking again. Which is really good, because I didn't realize how much I missed him and how good of a friend he has always been until we weren't.

Life is trucking along, in short. The next few months are going to be all about: traveling, shopping for things for Korea, interviewing/taking care of paperwork, etc. for Korea, going through my stuff, packing, cleaning, and eating as much vegan food as possible.

About that last I am a bit worried. Part of me thinks I should buy some clothes 2 sizes too small, just in case I really do have to subsist on a diet of mainly bok choy, tofu, rice and mushrooms. Hopefully we'll find something more substantial to put in our gobs other than Jiffy peanut butter.

I was going to write a big Fourth of July entry too, but I'm feeling like moving around instead so I'll just sum it up - Horror Movie Party at Nathan's ("no, this is why they call it the pumphouse"), Swimming at April's, sex during the fireworks (fireworks really are overrated, it turns out), Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the Waterfront Blues Festival on Sunday night. Good times.

Hope Everyone Out There is Doing Well!

Love,
Jen

Lee and I went on the Bowie vs. Prince ride tonight.

I have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed.

I was expecting more dancing, louder and better music and more stops at more interesting places. Instead, the ride started late, I started the ride cold and didn't get much warmer, the sound system has some kind of problem which made it a bit too soft, there seemed to be very few songs on the rotation - like we heard "The Pope" (one of Prince's weaker songs) maybe 3 times and never heard "Gett Off" or countless other Prince classics -, we stopped only a couple places and only one of them was very good for dancing (oddly, the one that worked was in the courtyard of a new condo development without tenants yet. The whole ride ended up in this weird industrial area off of Interstate by the river. We left without checking out the final locale. Mainly because we were both pretty tired and worn out by this time, but also (on my end) because whereas if it had been a nice night I might have been fine hanging out in a weird industrial area by the river, it was instead really wet and cold still and it just seemed supremely uninviting.

I think the ride would have been more enjoyable to me if I was a person who enjoys drinking beer in parking lots. But I am not. In fact, drinking beer in parking lots is about the most boring thing I can imagine doing ever. I would probably rather sip green tea in line at the DMV, truth be told. I guess that sounds kind of nuts, but there you are. Drinking green tea in line at the DMV, my mind would grow sharper and I could observe all the crazy people in line, and maybe make idle conversation with one of them.

Drinking beer tends to make me sleepy pretty quick and maybe horny. But if I'm horny I generally don't want to be in a parking lot. (Well, not since I was 18, at least. ;)...) And if I'm sleepy, I definitely don't want to be on a bike ride. Really, if I'm going to not be alert, I'd much rather be in bed with my man. But I guess it's a moot point, because I didn't drink any beer in the parking lots anyway, but that's what most people were doing.

Anyway, the ride probably would have been about 5x better with either a better sound system, a better playlist or nicer weather.

As it was, it was kind of - well - good exercise. And I got my donut at the end, even though we didn't stop at Voodoo Donuts on the ride. Lee and I went there on our own and I finally ate a Vegan Fruit Loop donut and it was divine.

Tomorrow night I'll probably check out the first part of the Solstice Ride and drop in on Jesse's birthday party.

This summer is already going by so quickly.

Current Mood: slightly cranky

So it's looking like-

Bachelorette Party on Saturday, 25th of July
Wedding on Sunday the 26th at wild and beautiful spot yet to be decided on
Reception-ish thingamajig same night, no idea where or what - probably just a nice meal out or something, since Lee's sister and her family will coincidentally be arriving in town

What do people think? I'm not sure how big the wedding itself is going to be yet - notice on that VERY SOON - but I'll take as many bachelorettes as I can get! "Dirty Dancing" in the park followed by karaoke madness and possibly getting me lightly (not completely) drunk, as there is no precedent for what happens to drunk Jens the following day and I don't want to test it on my wedding eve.

- work as little as possible without going broke
- try to obtain one more credit card so can go on trip to Wisconsin to visit sick father, grandma's house about to be sold, beloved lake - hopefully taking Lee with me on said trip
- live on very small daily budget in order to facilitate not-working thing
- cook a lot (goes w. budget)
- appreciate all the many free and cheap things Portland has to offer (bike fair, outdoor movies, people-watching, use PSU I.D. to nefariously attend NW Film Center screenings post-graduation, fountain-hopping, street fairs, art openings, outdoor Shakespeare, $5 festivals with bands, bike trails, etc.
- appreciate all the free and cheap things I can do wherever I am - meditate, reading, writing, exercise, biking, cooking, baking, collaging, zine-making (well, not free if you print copies, but Lee does work at Kinko's again), digital photography, hanging with friends in parks, picnics, videos
- live in borrowed luxury for 1 week at family reunion near Santa Rosa, California, right on the Russian River and near the Ewok Redwoods!
- sift through 7 years of my life so I can figure out what's worth taking/storing and what needs to be let go of
- READ for PLEASURE!!!!
- Exercise every day (ambitious, yes, but if I keep it to 20 minutes as the minimum and count things like yoga stretches for off-days, then this should be a snap)
- Re-watch "Lost" with the Doc Arzt Lost Blog "Lost" re-watch. It's conceivable I'll even start my own "Lost" blog. I know, terrible, right?
- Get my shit together for future recommendation letters, etc. for grad school within the next 3 years. Meet with as many professors as possible to discuss what it's like, how they got to be a professor, etc.
- Enjoy time with my brother while I have it. I will miss him terribly when we move to Korea.

May. 28th, 2009 04:02 pm an interesting meme I got from offloe

I know, I know, another book meme. But I enjoyed this one. It was quick and it gave me insight (which I will reveal below the cut, so as not to prejudice anyone's list.)

Basically, just list (fast as you can - try not to edit) 15 books that will always stick with you. Mine are below the cut - GO!

( Read more... )

So today, Lee and I:

- went to brunch at Sweetpea, where I broke my sugar fast a TINY bit in order to have some of the berry cobbler. But I ate a nice, small portion, and only that because it was part of the buffet. I don't regret it. :)

- rode down to the Waterfront and hung out by the fountain and on the lawn near the Rose Festival.

- went to Powell's and Buffalo Exchange where I found no dresses that fit, but Lee found a pair of sneakers he liked a lot.

- Ate at Blossoming Lotus - the tempeh maple avocado sandwich is one of my new favorite things to eat in Portland. Very healthy for a sandwich with sprouted bread, even. I also had "live fudge" (no sugar, but very tasty) and Agave Lemonade.

- Then we crossed the river again and sat on a pier for a while looking at the water, the Festival across the river and a number of adult and baby geese and Lee asked me to marry him. (just seeing if you're paying attention.) I said yes. :)

- Then we went to People's and got some groceries and stopped at a rummage sale on our way home.

It was a good day.

Love,
Jennifer

I have a small piece of wood lodged in my ass.

Which is almost like saying "I have a stick up my butt," but not quite, and it definitely feels different.

I imagine, however, that both sensations would be unpleasant.

Somehow I have to find non-existent time tomorrow to try to convince PSU Health Services to remove this stick from my ass. Wish me luck.

I saw some dead blossoms flying off of the trees while I was biking today and I thought - "Oh well, there's always next year."

That's when I realized that it's difficult now to imagine living anywhere without cherry blossoms, even though I had never lived anywhere with cherry blossoms prior to 7 years ago.

The woman who organized the Sam Adams rally back in the day (and whom I friended on Facebook) wrote on her status - "Vegan cupcakes are a sign that we've taken this whole Portland thing too far." Then in her comments she said they leave a weird aftertaste and wrote "ptui!"

WHAT????

A) Who the hell doesn't like vegan cupcakes? I mean, unless she was eating weird mutant cupcakes, I haven't met anybody vegan or not who doesn't like a vegan cupcake when they actually try one.

B) She's just commenting on this phenomena? I mean, how long have vegan cupcakes been around in Portland for?

C) Again, who doesn't like vegan cupcakes?

Alright. Mini-rant over.

I realize this isn't really of earth-shaking importance, but there you go.

The irony is, too, that I was eating a vegan cupcake when I read her update.

Tickets to Wisconsin the first week of August are $248 round trip, including taxes. I think I should go. Any people in the Minneapolis area interested in meeting up if I do? ;)

Well, no more Tim and Jen...

Not that I was very good at being long-distance anyways.