Praise Portland

My last full day here was surprisingly eventful. I'd imagined I'd spend my last day mostly around the house, mostly packing, possibly out to one last lunch with a chosen friend. But love swelled up and compelled me to spend the day slowly migrating south to see them all. I had to see Lost Rocket again, and LS emailed me saying he'd like to see me again before I left. I wanted to connect with Senor Evergreen and give him a mix CD before leaving. I had lunch with Lost Rocket, and bubble tea with LS. Senor Evergreen wasn't home when I dropped off the CD, but I knew it would be hit-or-miss. The gesture, I think, will say enough.

Amongst it all, the weather today was a treat. On my last full day here, we finally got that real Portland rain I remember. More than a sprinkle but far from a deluge, it's the kind of rain that will keep your hair wet without soaking your clothes. The raindrops are plump, but they fall gently, moderately - raindrops pacing themselves for a long jog rather than a sprint around the track. Yet if you jog all day, you will burn a lot of calories, and so the rain saturates the city, forming small rivers along each curb, collecting in puddles that range from millimeter-thick sheen on the sidewalk to ankle-deep lakes where a drain is clogged. Less the biting wind, less the frigid cold, the rain simply makes the air wet, wet, wet - the kind of wet that sunny-faced Eugene in these steadily warming months is unlikely to offer me.

Thanks, Portland.