Strangness abounds.

I have been asked recently how the new job is going and I have to say “couldn’t be better”. Here’s a run down:
-I work with people I like
-I work for a company I believe in
-There’s a wine shop in my building that serves by the glass
-I get a transit pass so I don’t have to pay for downtown parking or battle traffic
-I am paid well
-So far I am good at my job
-I haven’t had to fill my gas tank since I left H&K
-There’s a bunch of beer and a bottle of champagne in the office fridge.
So I guess that says it all, pretty much. Happy happy, joy joy!

And speaking of my coveted and paid for transit pass, I ride the light rail train to and from work and that round trip each day could pretty much fill a blog entry a day on it’s own. Portland is an eclectic city full of people of diverse lifestyles along with a whole bunch of weirdoes so the trip into downtown (where the weirdoes go to congregate) is usually interesting to say the least. I hear Porltand is also the #1 city in the nation for lesbians to come out of the closet and the city has quite a few trans-gender folks as well. Yesterday on the train I noticed a woman who was evidently going through a gender change because she looked like a woman in every way, except for her goatee. I had heard earlier in the week that there were quite a few women in the downtown area sporting goatees but this was the first I had seen. A few stops into my journey I noticed a large woman sitting to my left (I was standing) fiddling with a “crackberry” in an opened book in her ample lap but thought nothing of it. The bearded lady was sitting immediately to her left, facing her, reading a book. A few minutes later a movement from the woman sitting next to me caught my eye; she was holding up the crackberry and evidently had it in camera mode because I could see the bearded lady’s face on it’s screen. “She is NOT going to take a photo of her” I thought to myself, and repeated the thought again when I heard a very audible camera-snapping-a-photo sound. I was aghast, HOW FUCKING RUDE! I mean she was sitting so close to her subject that the bearded lady knees were basically pressing against her fat thighs. The bearded lady looked up with disinterest look on her face, followed quickly by an pretty angry look. “Did you just take a picture of me?” she asked with a hint of impatience in her voice. The fat lady ignored her at first but then said yes without even looking in the speaker’s direction. “Please delete it” was all the goateed lady said, and repeated it when she got no response. “I will not, but thank you for asking” responded the plump paparazzi. The bearded lady shook her head and continued to read. I so wanted to tell the photographer she was a rude, fat bitch but I held my tongue; I am not yet sure of the protocol for a mass transit traveler. I’ll have to stop by my local TriMet ticket office to pick up a copy of their manners handbook because at this point I have no clue.

Also recent downtown incidents worthy of mention;
I saw a man walking a ferret on a leash
A cat riding on top of a bedroll balanced on a backpack strapped to a walking homeless person
I have been asked for spare change at least a million times
A stranger (homeless teenager) asked to borrow my cell phone. Yeah, almost fell for THAT ONE again. Pfffhh.

So yeah, everything is pretty much normal here in downtown Portland; I had forgotten how weird it was since I haven’t worked here in about 4 years. How’s shit in your neck of the woods?