So the place where I used to live in Portland was kind of a mess, but it was one block away from a cupcake store and two blocks from a movie theater that served beer, which is probably the closest I'll ever come to my own version of manifest destiny. It's where I wrote Apathy, and it's also where I found a dead rat in my garbage can the night I came home from that trip I took and then got evicted. And yeah the reason I'm getting nostalgic is I have a reading this Tuesday, the 14th, in Powell's on Burnside at 7:30 pm. It's right down the street from my old apartment and it's one of my favorite bookstores in the world, so the fact that I'll be reading in there is kind of ridiculous. If I was a different person I'd say it was special, but I really don't have that kind of sincerity in me. I like to save up all my emotions for hockey season.
I'm only blowing through town--I have to get back because my sublet is up in Berkeley at the end of the week and I need to move my stuff out and find another place to live, and I also have to get a job and all this other nonsense I'd rather not think about--but after the reading I'm going to head over to the Low Brow Lounge and hope some people come with me so I can mooch drinks off them. They have Guinness on tap and hot pretzels, which will probably end up being my dinner unfortunately, so if you're in Portland come on by and say hello............Paul
