I went to Oregon to visit my best friend. I intended to leave here Friday night, but I ended up leaving Saturday morning instead. I was tired and had bad heartburn. Anyway, the weird thing about this trip was that I ended up taking my cat with me. I couldn't find anyone who could give him his meds twice a day so I went to the pet store to find something to block off my trunk so he could have the whole back area of my car (I have a two-seater hatch back, so it's not really a trunk). I ended up buying this net thing that turned out to be totally useless. It may work in a standard car, but my car seemed to be missing all the parts I was supposed to use to anchor the net to. So the poor cat had to be cooped up in his carrier for three hours straight. He was better behaved than I expected, probably due to the herbal sedative the pet store sold me.
Anyway, the trip to Oregon was uneventful. We (the cat and I) hung out with my friend for a while, then went for some pizza (minus the cat). Later we went to see Pan's Labyrinth with some friends. Do NOT take children to this movie! Very, very gory, very en espanol. It is a very pretty movie, sort of like The Little Prince. After the movie we went out for Thai food. The guy sitting next to me ordered a dish called "Evil Jungle Prince." We all thought that was really funny. When the waiter brought the food, he accidentally spilled Evil Jungle Prince into my Phad Thai. "Oh, no!" I said, "The Evil Jungle Prince is getting in my Phad Thai!" The waiter looked upset and was going to offer me a replacement, so I had to tell him it was okay. He didn't get the joke I guess.
One of the things that is weird about Oregon is that apparently if you are a man and you want to wear a hat, it should be an ugly hat. I say that because I kept seeing men wearing hideous hats the entire time I was there; purple hats that appeared to be made out of carpet, furry hats that sat offensively on their owners' heads like a rabid animal . . . Oh, how I longed to see a beanie or a regular ball cap!
The next day was writing group day and we attended a writing group at a small coffee shop. That was fun-I have never given any of my short stories to a bunch of strangers to critique before. They found some inconsistencies in Frank N. Stein that I didn't notice. They asked that I send them the rest of the story, since what I had sent ended in the middle of a sentence with an obscenity.
Monday morning I made the drive back and went to work for part of the day. This was supposed to be a vacation day, but things don't always work out that way. That night I went back to Oregon. By this point I was pretty "saddle sore."
We also worked out, walked all over the place, and I attended a class with my friend on Couples Therapy. The prof was talking about moving couples from the romance stage forward into their relationship. Most people want to remain in the romance stage. My theory is that this is because there is no name for the stage that comes after. It feels to people like moving into the void and that their relationship will probably end because our culture does not tell us that there is anything after romance. Of course, I am a Sociology person, not a Psych person, so I suppose it's normal for me to think that the problem is our social constructs. I challenged my friend to come up with a name for the stage that follows romance and to define what it is and what it isn't. After that, time to release movies and books about couples who are making that transition. I really don't believe it is boring. I believe we are taught to think it is boring because it is the end of romance, not the beginning of a closer more satisfying bond.
I came back last night with cat, still sore. I think I will stick with the elliptical machine until my hips stop hurting.
Anyway, the trip to Oregon was uneventful. We (the cat and I) hung out with my friend for a while, then went for some pizza (minus the cat). Later we went to see Pan's Labyrinth with some friends. Do NOT take children to this movie! Very, very gory, very en espanol. It is a very pretty movie, sort of like The Little Prince. After the movie we went out for Thai food. The guy sitting next to me ordered a dish called "Evil Jungle Prince." We all thought that was really funny. When the waiter brought the food, he accidentally spilled Evil Jungle Prince into my Phad Thai. "Oh, no!" I said, "The Evil Jungle Prince is getting in my Phad Thai!" The waiter looked upset and was going to offer me a replacement, so I had to tell him it was okay. He didn't get the joke I guess.
One of the things that is weird about Oregon is that apparently if you are a man and you want to wear a hat, it should be an ugly hat. I say that because I kept seeing men wearing hideous hats the entire time I was there; purple hats that appeared to be made out of carpet, furry hats that sat offensively on their owners' heads like a rabid animal . . . Oh, how I longed to see a beanie or a regular ball cap!
The next day was writing group day and we attended a writing group at a small coffee shop. That was fun-I have never given any of my short stories to a bunch of strangers to critique before. They found some inconsistencies in Frank N. Stein that I didn't notice. They asked that I send them the rest of the story, since what I had sent ended in the middle of a sentence with an obscenity.
Monday morning I made the drive back and went to work for part of the day. This was supposed to be a vacation day, but things don't always work out that way. That night I went back to Oregon. By this point I was pretty "saddle sore."
We also worked out, walked all over the place, and I attended a class with my friend on Couples Therapy. The prof was talking about moving couples from the romance stage forward into their relationship. Most people want to remain in the romance stage. My theory is that this is because there is no name for the stage that comes after. It feels to people like moving into the void and that their relationship will probably end because our culture does not tell us that there is anything after romance. Of course, I am a Sociology person, not a Psych person, so I suppose it's normal for me to think that the problem is our social constructs. I challenged my friend to come up with a name for the stage that follows romance and to define what it is and what it isn't. After that, time to release movies and books about couples who are making that transition. I really don't believe it is boring. I believe we are taught to think it is boring because it is the end of romance, not the beginning of a closer more satisfying bond.
I came back last night with cat, still sore. I think I will stick with the elliptical machine until my hips stop hurting.