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September 30, 2005

Today

Worked hard, did good work.

Got an unexpected, awesome, offer. Turned it down, because what I already have is better.

Ate free pizza. Listened to Dolly Parton and Warren Zevon. Totally dug it.

It started raining today. It probably won't stop for seven or eight months. Eventually, the incessant drizzle and the long, dark nights will start to wear on me. I feel too good right now to worry about that.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:42 PM | Comments (1)

I hope Laura had a happy birthday. I worked too late and didn't get to call her. But everyone knows I suck at these things, so hopefully she forgave me.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:03 AM | Comments (1)

September 29, 2005

I get check ups every year, and so far my cholesterol and blood pressure are low and my body weight is healthy. I worry, though, about what will happen if I continue to love butter, think about butter, desire butter and eat butter as much as I do. Butter is so good, though, that I can't imagine ever giving it up.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005

Ben and I did not do our customary two loads of dishes over the weekend. I can only imagine how messy the kitchen will be by next weekend.

In other bad news, I bought a ticket but did not win the lottery. I guess this means I have to work for a living.

In good news, though, I once again have an air popper in my life. For months now I've been making my four or five weekly bowls of popcorn on the stove. No more!

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:18 PM | Comments (1)

I had a nice, mellow weekend, hanging out with Ben and the cats. Still haven't bought that lottery ticket.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2005

I was going to buy a lottery ticket yesterday, because my five-day vacation left me yearning for a life of leisure. I forgot, and I forgot again today. At this rate, I'll never get rich.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

I finally got my Washington state driver's license and registration.

Even though both are administered by the state Department of Licensing, they're done out of different divisions of the DOL on opposite sides of a river. So that was tricky.

I paid for all this with checks from Dolph Court, where I lived in 2001 and early 2002 after first moving to Portland. My car title said 17th Avenue, where I lived with Rian when I bought the thing. My Oregon driver's license said Alder Street, where Ben and I lived until a few months ago. I presented my Social Security card as secondary proof of id. I got that card in 1987, and my signature is a lot different now than it was in third grade. Nobody blinked an eye, everything went smoothly.

I had to present proof that I live here to get a library card, but not to get a driver's license.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2005

My five-day vacation ends here. I had two-and-a-half unused vacation days that I was going to lose forever if I didn't take them by the end of October, so I stayed home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

During my two years at The Chronicle, I earned a total of five paid days off. I used three in bed when I came down with pneumonia. I took a few extra vacation days by working overtime earlier in the week or by going without the extra money.

Having a full two weeks of vacation -- plus personal days, plus sick leave -- is such an improvement. Over the past several days, I've found time for web surfing, books, magazines, newspapers, puzzles, movies, hikes, TV shows, parties and long meandering strolls.

Leisure is so nice. I don't think I'll ever get enough of it.

After a half week at home, going part time seems incredibly appealing. It's not in the cards. I could probably take home bigger checks in fewer hours if I looked at jobs in another field. Too bad I love my job, with its bad hours, worse money.

Tomorrow I'll get up before sunrise so I can return to the daily grind. I hope the energy and excitement of the workaday world are hovering over my desk when I get there, because they seem to be missing from my comfy, lazy home.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2005

I think I may have just run the dishwasher with a scoop of laundry detergent by mistake. I hope the dishes are still safe to eat off of.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:16 PM | Comments (3)

September 19, 2005

I wimped out twice today. First, because it was cold. Second, because it was dark.

I planned to go hiking all day up on the south side of Mount St. Helens, camp in the woods, and come home tomorrow. It was so cold when I got out of bed this morning that I decided I'd rather return home to a warm, comfy apartment than deal with higher elevation chills. So I decided to hike around a bit, then call it a day.

I drove up to the Ape Cave, which has become one of my favorite hiking spots this summer. There was nobody else there, and after traveling a short distance into the pitch black cave alone I got spooked. It's fun with good company, and I might even go it alone on a crowded weekend. An isolated Monday with no cell reception just seemed like a bad idea.

I hiked a couple of above ground trails instead, though I did go through a very short cave crawl on the Trail of Two Forests. The cave was formed when a several large trees fell into hot flowing lava. The lava hardened into rock above and around the fallen trees, which rotted, leaving underground tunnels in the woods.

When I got home, I learned that my Powells order had shipped. The Guns of August, The Anti-Bride Wedding Planner, Middlesex, Razors Edge, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and A Voice Through a Cloud will all be here soon.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:40 PM | Comments (2)

September 18, 2005

Friday, I went to a party. In attendance: two tragic men, one a woman-hating cowboy, the other a martyr in the making. Also the crew of a tattoo and piercing shop. A sleep clinician brought her husband. Several parents were there. They talked about La Leche League. I was the designated driver. The wind was crisp. I was glad to be wearing my new heavy corduroys and my heavy brown sweater.

Saturday, Ben built a new computer while I lay about. I watched a movie about a reporter and I read Ethan Frome. I took a long nap in the middle of the afternoon.

Sunday, Ben and I found a Zagnut on the ground. We went for a walk. I wore a frivolous green skirt and a soft green sweater. A Zagnut is a candy bar. I told Ben to eat it. I made him share it with me. "I think eating candy you find lying on the ground is one of those things my mom warned me against," I said. It tasted like peanut butter and coconut. We also had a fancy buffet breakfast at a mansion.

I'll get up early in the morning, just to claim as much of the day for myself as I can muster. Tomorrow night, I plan to sleep in the woods.

After that, I don't know. The week is mine until Thursday. I had some vacation to burn.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2005

Day one of my five-day weekend has arrived. Rawk!

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2005

I'm going to be the designated driver at a party tonight. I'm going to allow myself two drinks in the first hour, to dull my social phobias in a crowd where I know virtually nobody. After that, sobriety will be my motto.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)

September 15, 2005

It's really easy to fall into the mistaken belief that buying stuff will make life better. I'd rather save for the future than fill my already crowded apartment with more stuff I don't need. I want more beautiful, glorious things, but I've been doing pretty well at reminding myself that this sort of desire is a trap.

Over the last couple of days, though, I have succumbed to my grosser urges. I bought two new skirts. Two cardigans. Corduroy pants. Seven books. I also picked up a new, heavier, camping stove, because my old lightweight stove is just too hard to get started.

All this senseless consumerism has filled me with a strange euphoria.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2005

what did you know, and when did you know it?

Ignore the blame that city, state and federal officals are shovelingat one another over flaws in the early aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and read the New Orleans Times-Picayune timeline,
which may surprise you. Is there any other reporting of this calibur being done in real time? If so, please leave a comment. I'd like to read it.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

calm evening in town

I went for a really long walk this evening. On the side of the road, I found a Puff Daddy CD and a tube of unused lipstick. Now I'm at home, watching funny television, browing through Foreign Policy magazine, and eating dry oatmeal with brown sugar.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:11 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2005

Last night some folks I know through work and I went to the Taste of Vancouver, which was kind of weird because there wasn't actually all that much food at this big huge food festival.

Vancouver is right across the Columbia River from Portland, and has a bit of an inferiority complex. The Taste organizers seem to have turned away any booths from Portland-based restaurants. As a result, there were only about 11 vendors, and most of them were selling curly fries and elephant ears.

Then we went to a karaoke bar, crowded with virtuosic voices and ruined bodies. I think karaoke is what happens to the stars of high school musicals who still dream of fame but never moved far from their home towns.

While at the karaoke bar, we saw on the screen that Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist had died. This old guy we'd been chatting with bought us all beers and said, "I feel bad for you ladies. I hope none of you ever wants an abortion now." That was weird.

We spent the night in town, and played with a baby in the morning.

Last weekend, Susan was here. We did all kinds of outdoorsy things, including several trips around Mount St. Helens.

Susan has been one of my best friends for more than a decade now, and she constantly surprizes me with her intelligence and depth. She is an amazing woman.

She also got me addicted to a new game, Sudoku. It's kind of like a crossword puzzle, but with numbers.

Now Ben and I are about to drive to Astoria for a Labor Day dinner.

Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:51 PM | Comments (1)