Odd thing is that
StationToStation recently bought
much new underwear.
Maybe he felt the JUB Meet didn't warrant the best stuff?
Maybe next time he should just freeball...
And now, the much-awaited third installment...
Li'l Bit's Rememberies, Part III
Saturday
Saturday was a busy day...
Swerve, despite having only gotten three hours of sleep, came down and joined me for breakfast at our hotel. He had tried to call me and let me know how exhausted he was, but I was in the shower, so I missed him. In spite of the sleep deprivation, we had a lovely breakfast (I got the banana-walnut pancakes this time, along with scrambled eggs and veggie sausage. Apparently Swerve and I get very different brands of veggie sausage at home, because he thought the hotel's sausage was spicy, but I thought it was pretty mild. All in all, though, it was a great meal.) Opinterph even managed to make an appearance, if only to grab a cup of rather disappointing coffee before going back upstairs to shower and change.
Swerve and opinterph needed a bit of time to wake up and get ready, so I met Thad and Frank to take the tram to the Saturday Market. I may be getting my days mixed up, but I believe this was the day we saw the most unusual car accident ever. A guy rear-ended another car, which in turn hit the car in front of it. The three drivers pulled around the corner and off to the side to exchange information. Nobody was hurt, and the damage to the cars wasn't particularly extensive. The surprising thing, however, was that everyone was smiling and pleasant! Everyone exchanged information without yelling or pointing fingers, and once they were done, they all went on their way. Never let it be said that Portland is an unfriendly city!
When the three of us got to the meeting place at the market, we were the first to arrive. Almost immediately, a woman with a badge came up and gave the three of us a citation! Frank was cited for an attempted mustache, Thad was cited for "being just my type and resisting arrest," and I was cited for being "too good-looking."
Turns out she was collecting money for hot meals for the homeless. I had to admire her approach, so I gave her a donation, and I got a hug out of it.
Eventually everyone arrived, and we wandered around the market for a while. As Frank can tell you, I live in an area that takes its arts very seriously, and we have a lot of skilled craftspeople, so I was really impressed by the goods for sale at the Portland market. I ended up buying a neat little ceramic oil lamp. There were some other things that caught my eye, but I didn't have much room in my luggage to take stuff home.
After that, we met up with SinfulSimon and walked along the waterfront for a while. SS had a busy schedule, so he wasn't able to spend much time with us, but I really enjoyed meeting him.
IIRC, our next stop was the Oregon Health Sciences University, where we took the aerial tram down the hill. We got an interesting view of the city, and swerve got a great video of the ride.
After that, I think our next stop was the underwear store, where there was a (very unenthused) live model, whom Thad took for a mannequin. :~) I managed to find a few lovely items in purple (which figure prominently in a later incident...)
At this point, my timeline gets really wobbly. I think our next stop was a little park that was reclaimed from an industrial waste site. It was a neat little place, and it seemed to be a popular spot for sunbathing. (We found one particularly lovely young thing laying out in nothing but a Speedo. We passed by his way several times, and I believe someone got him on camera.) :~) This was also where swerve got interviewed.
From there, I believe we caught a bus to 23rd street, which was a neat little commercial district. We walked for a while, checking out the cool businesses and interesting people, and we eventually ended up back at NoC and StS's place, where we were met by JustBelieve18. It turns out that he's much less enigmatic in person than he is in his avatar. :~) We had a nice chat about teaching, and he discovered that NoC mixes a lovely G&T.
Dinner was a laid-back affair in the apartment, and we spent most of the evening sitting around and chatting. At around 1 a.m., I was one of the last people there, and I figured that I had missed the last tram back to my hotel, so I asked StS if he could call me a cab. He suggested that we go to Matador (StS's favorite hipster bar), and I could get a cab from there. I was fine with that, so I waited a few minutes for StS to change into appropriate attire. (Apparently hoodies are
de rigueur for hipster bars. NoC was stunned, because he had never seen StS in a hoodie.)
While StS was getting changed, I suggested that NoC, Kuli, Sausy, and I greet him pantsless in exchange for the lovely display of ratty underwear from the previous evening. His reaction was underwhelming, unfortunately.
We got to the bar, got our drinks, and went back to the dance floor. It was big enough for one and a half people, and I think there were five or six of us dancing, so it was an interesting experience. The DJ looked like a frightening librarian out of a Tim Burton film, so of course I immediately loved her. There was a photo booth in the bar, and on the side there was a card that said "We <3 boobs! Please share!" and the wall was covered with boob shots. I was enthralled, and when I pointed it out to StS, he suggested that we get our pictures takes (without boobal showage). (I'll post the pictures once I figure out how my scanner works), and as we were waiting for our photos, two guys decided to make out in the booth. I think StS was jealous, because he kept giving them the stink-eye.
At closing time, StS had trouble hailing me a cab (they were all full, apparently), so we walked back to his place, where he called me a cab. It was at this point that I realized that I had left my shopping bag (containing my oil lamp and my purple undies) at the bar. Fortunately, I was able to call them and ask them to hold on to it for me, and I picked it up the following day. (StS went with me. Before I could even open my mouth, he loudly announced to the whole bar "He left his underwear here last night!" Clearly subtlety is not one of his virtues.)
I think I finally got to bed around 3 a.m.
