And It Continues On...

So.... I like playful banter.... A LOT! In the last year and a half it has definitely become one of my many guilty pleasures, probably in the top three. It's fun, sometimes provocative and never boring. For me, I relate the feeling of good playful banter to when you first start to really like someone and you get the flutters and giddiness. It's one of the best feelings and natural highs in the world. Sometimes I think it's my safe zone because it's a game, seeing how far you can push things without actually going there (er, um, yeah....). Admit it, who wouldn't like to receive a text saying... 'Je tiens à vous mordre'... Hmmm???

Point being, I have slipped, if you indeed want to call it that. A week ago, I was left feeling a little 'eh' after talking to a certain someone and told myself, 'What's the point of continuing on'? Well, simply put, because I like how it makes me feel the majority of the time. This person most likely isn't someone I would call in an emergency, but they've been there, steady and true, for well over a year now. I can't say that about a lot of people, especially when I had my stint abroad both times. Anyways, they're fun and I know they're down for almost anything of any kind, and you know, even though I told myself all of seven days ago that it would stop, I've discovered that I just like it far too much to give it up just yet. Heck, it's not hurting anyone...

DUUUUUUUDE.....

Yep, that's what I yelled last night when I was having dinner at Pambiche's and a specific dude walked by. My friends thought I was a bit crazy, since I probably said it way louder than I should have. But this dude, whose name will forever be forgotten, has permanently sketched a place in my memory. The story is priceless and everytime I will see him, I will have the same reaction.

It all started on a Monday, four days after my return from back packing around Europe. I was jet lagged and a bit down. At the time I was living with two awesome roommates, one who has definitely become my PDX girl BFF. To cure my blues, NJ thought starting to drink at 4 in the afternoon and then going to the Doug Fir to hear angry girl music was a grand idea. Boy did we love our Bailey's and Jack and Cokes. The music was good, the crowd weak. Granted, what do you expect on a Monday night in PDX? Anyways, in-between acts we would go outside to the fire pit and continue are boozing and meet 'interesting' characters, one inparticular, the dude who walked by Pambiche's last night.

Brace yourself, as his description is priceless, and his story just a little bit odder than normal. He is a 'straight' dude that went to Thailand for a boob job. He insisted that he was straight (yeah right) and only got them because he liked how they aesthetically looked. He didn't want to show them off or dress them in girly things, he admitted to trying the later. Oh course, being myself, I had to get a look AND a feel. Come on, you totally would have done it too. He continued to tell us his story of why he moved to PDX. He came from Idaho, where his lifestyle and choices were not excepted and thought, hey, Portland's motto is keep things weird. It's a great quality to have in a city. After another drink or two, he warmed up to NJ and I a little more, and realized we're not the types to judge. He proceeded to ask if in the city, he would find a 'straight' girl that would like and love him for how he was, boobs and all. Remember, we were piss drunk. So of course, we nodded ours heads, smiled, and assured him that he could find someone. Personally, I'm skeptical and still do not to this day believe he was 'straight'. Don't get me wrong, I love me some gay man, but him being straight? All signs pointed to him liking other dudes. But hey, I believe anything is possible. So who am I to say otherwise. Maybe he is just some dude, who likes chicks and wanted boobs. Stranger things have happen, right?

Giant Rats

WTF!?! Giant rats really do exist? Great, it's my equivalent to uber poisoness snakes. There's an interest, but with complete disgust and a body twitch to hopefully never be in the presence of one without a large and thick glass in-between. When I was younger and used to watch the Princess Bride, I always hated the scene where Wesley and Princess Buttercup were trudging through that quicksand fire pit of a forest and were attacked by yes, GIANT RATS!!! Now, to my horror, they're not just a fable, but reality. Thanks telegraph.co.uk. Just lovely. You've totally made my day.

The article also brings to mind my first 'true' pet that was solely mine - a rat named Violet. I was quite young, somewhere under the age of five and I adored her like no other (yes, I was an eccentric child). The only reason I'm sharing that once in a blue moon I liked rats as pets, is because I remember going to this pet store in a small shopping mall (if you could even call it that) off of 9th Street and across from Bi-Mart in Corvallis. There, in my tiny state, I vividly remember seeing a 'giant rat'. It was stuffed into a normal rat aquarium, alive, with what I assumed to be it's babies crawling all over it. It couldn't move, as there was no room, and was left to just lie there on it's side offering itself to the young ones. Talking about this makes my heart sink a little and question if I actually saw what I remember thinking I saw. How sad a life would that be? Poor mini giant rat. Ew.

Anyways, enjoy the article, cringe a little, and thank god you don't have to run across ones that big in the street.

A giant rat with one-inch-long teeth has been caught in the southern Chinese province of Fujian.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai

The rat, which weighed six pounds and had a 12-inch tail, was caught at the weekend in a residential area of Fuzhou, a city of six million people on China's south coast.

The ratcatcher, who was only named as Mr Xian, said he swooped for the rodent after seeing a big crowd of people surrounding it on the street.

He told local Chinese newspapers that he thought the rat might be a valuable specimen, or a rare species, and had to muster up his courage before grabbing its tail and picking it up by the scruff of its neck.

"I did it, I caught a rat the size of a cat!" he shouted out afterwards, according to the reports. Mr Xian is believed to still be in possession of the animal, after stuffing into a bag and departing the scene.

The local forestry unit in the city identified the nightmarish creature as a bamboo rat from initial photographs, but said that it would need to examine the rat more closely before making a final identification.

Chinese bamboo rats rarely grow beyond ten inches and are found throughout southern China, northern Burma and Vietnam.

However, the Sumatra bamboo rat, usually found in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan and in the Malay Peninsula can grow up to 30 inches long, including tail, and can weigh up to eight pounds.

A "Giant Rat of Sumatra" is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes tale: The Adventure of a Sussex Vampire.

All bamboo rats are slow-moving and usually spend their time in underground burrows, feeding on bamboo. Chinese bamboo rats are often sold for meat in Chinese markets. The largest rats in the world are thought to be African giant pouched rats, which can grow up to 36 inches in length.

Done AND Done

Found possible 'dream' job. Check. Application in. Check. Waiting to hear back. Check. God I hate this part. I have no patience, never have. It's a defiant only child syndrome. I want what I want when I want it. Waiting, especially for something you want always seems to create a pit in the back of your throat. Even when you're more than 100% sure that something good will come, you still have doubt. It's a hard thing to fight sometimes. You trudge through, stand proud with your determination, no matter how many try to bring you down and hope for the best outcome. Ugh... I need to get my mind off it.

Happy Belated Love Day

For some reason this year, leading up to valentines day, I started to brew a mild hatred for it. Since being 'single' for the last few years, I typically brushed it off as just another day or was too tired from working to even care. But this year. This year became different. I relate it to pressure from some friends and family as to why I have chosen not to date much and tons of people I know 'finding' someone. One friend went as far as sending me text / calling on almost a daily basis of how this guy or that guy wanted to hang out with her. Great! I'm happy for you. Really I am. I want all my friends to be happy. But when not in the mood, or feeling down and out, sometimes you just don't want to hear about it.

Even with the disliking of the annual event this year, I somehow felt the need to design valentines day post cards; which I actually sent out. I know right, way to go me! Of course, like the often nerdy designer I am, they are not just any valentines. No, they are special, with a meaning and concept behind the entire design. It's my 'interpretation of loving someone (romantically, friend and / or family) from afar, where the ultimate decision is based on whether you desire to hold onto that particular relationship or let it slowly drift away'. The women holding on is strong and secure. There is no struggle to keep something if you want it, thus being just as easy to hang on as it is to let go. I used that as the basis of who I chose to send them to. If someone received one, it kind of means I'm choosing to hang on.

When the 'big' day actually arrived, I could have cared less. Brilliant! I met up with GS to start updating my website, talked twice with KOD (which I have to admit left me feeling a bit eh) and then had an unexpected night out with the ladies thanks to RC. All in all, a perfect carefree day with quality people. So, happy belated love day! It wasn't too bad after all.

Dear GB,

This one's dedicated to you. I know I've been bad, and the sight of a baby elephant in the womb is not your favorite thing to look at. So.... out of respect and love for you checking in, which I greatly appreciate, I'm giving you something new to read... for now.

In the last few days I've been thinking, heavily, about where and what I want to happen this year. Like months past, as many know, I have put tight deadlines on things I decide must happen, no matter how 'unrealistic' they may be to everyone else. Lucky for me, I seem to be able to accomplish the 'impossible'. So you ask, "What's the next big thing B"? Well, since I'm trying to be in a generous mood, I'll let you in on it. It involves a city far to the east (Burlington, VT), graphic design for a rad snowboarding company (yes, I want to be a snow bunny) and with a pending date to happen by the end of March, at the latest. Can and will this happen? Possibly. But I believe in the universe, and want it bad enough, so let's cross our fingers and send white light. Positive thinking gets you everywhere...