Portland. Part 2.

Wednesday: Went back to PSU, but the teacher who I wanted to see wasn't there! Walked around for a while, got a cup of coffee at this little cart that came highly recommended (Spella's cafe is I think what it is called, corner of like 9th and Park? It has an Italian flag outside). I talked with the guy there for a while, and then he recommended a Japanese cart up the street from him (same block, called Samurai) And as I walked past, I heard them speaking Japanese, so I decided to order my lunch in Japanese, and I spoke with them for a long time too, which was lots of fun. Made my way up to MLC, where I saw old friends, and then John and I walked up to 23rd, we walked around there for a while, then he left, and then at 1, I met Ana! I was in the same kindergarten class as her, and have been friends ever since then, even though are paths split for several years, but when you used to be called brother and sister in elementary school, it is unlikely that you won't stay friends. We met at Music Millenium, walked around, she bought a CD, we ate lunch at Pepino's, walked up to Chapman, my old elementary school, we sat and chatted for a while outside Chapman, spoke with several old teachers who came out, and then we kept walking around my old stomping grounds, which was really strange. We started walking up the trails into Lower Macleay Park, but it started to rain so we stood under the Thurman St. Bridge for a while, walked up to her house, which I have memories of from her elementary school birthday parties(!) and I talked with her parents for a while, who were friends with my parents. I left, walked back as far as somewhere, and then caught the MAX home. Slept.

Thursday: Got dressed in my uniform again, went to PSU hoping to see one teacher, who didn't show up during his office hours!!!, called Mr. Halpern, who had talked about having lunch with me, but then said he couldn't, a typical Halpern move, called Roger, and we spoke about work (will get to problems with that in a minute), walked up to Lincoln, saw Mr. Millar, and we are getting an independent study going! After that, Dash and I went downtown for lunch, I took him to the Japanese cart, we had affogados(sp?) at Spella's, which were fucking amazing! Then we went to Powells, where I got some of the books that Mr. Millar told me to read (Devil in the While City, Growing Up, and Hard Times), then we were going up to PSU, but got a ride from Gad Alon, who we ran into on the street, went up to PSU, this time 2 of the teachers were at office hours for me to talk to them! Which was kinda fun. Then we split up, I went home, changed, ate, and went to a movie, where I met Dash again. We saw the new Satoshi Kon (though it should really be Kon Satoshi) film, Paprika, which was just weird. It was very pretty, and I liked the music, and I thought it OK, but the audience was stupidly obnoxius and kind of ruined it for me. We drove around for a while, ate at VooDoo, walked up and down 23rd only to find that both the places we had thought about going were closed, and then we drove me home.

I have been in Portland about 3 full days, and it is already getting on my nerves. Sure, it is nice to see friends again, but I'm not really sure why I came back. I don't really have anything to do here. I will try to get the independent study thing done as soon as possible, but once that dries up, I don't really have anything for me in Portland, which is a really weird feeling. I kind of don't like being here.

I REALLY hope things start going my way at Stanford with Alex.