The story: So. A couple of years ago right around this time of year, I was driving through SE Portland (it happened to be the street that passes the grocery store where the _Portlandia_ skit about bringing your own grocery bags was filmed, although that has nothing to do with this story). I hit a red light (at the other end of the block from the grocery store, in fact), which is not unusual, but it's why I had time for the rest of this anecdote to get placed in my brain. As I was sitting there waiting for the light to change, I noticed an older lady (probably in her mid-70s if not mid-80s) dressed to go out for a nice stroll on the lovely warm, sunny, spring day that it was. She had a leash in her hand. She was clearly talking to the animal at the end of the leash. It was a thin, lightweight leash like you might use for an small elderly dog that just needs a gentle tug in order to stop wandering off. I was curious to see what critter was on the other end of the leash (I was expecting an iguana, Gila monster, or Komodo dragon), so as I drove by, I looked down at her feet to observe…
A box turtle. About six inches wide and probably eight inches long. The leash was tied around its body.
Today, I feel like I had a quintessential fortysomething PDXer day. I went to Music Millennium (local fairly legendary independent record store) to pick up The Both's cd (Aimee Mann! Ted Leo!), and there was some sort of indie probably-Kickstarter-funded video shoot going on. The Both went directly into xAavier's (yes, my car is named after Professor X) cd player and remained there on repeat until I got home (and now I have it ripped to my hard drive and on shuffle), and I already have some songs memorized for singing-along purposes. Best $10.99 spent this year, and there was a coupon in the RSD swag bag for 20% at the Doc Martens store, so I'll have to remember to get there this week. I actually do have a new pair of Docs on my shopping list, but they have been on there for a few years at this point. I just keep putting them off. I stopped by Burgerville (local sustainable fast food chain) to get a turkey burger, and then I made the rounds of several Fred Meyers to try to find the essence Bloom Me Up collection in untouched condition (and then I realized after I got home that someone had used the shimmer powder. I put some rubbing alcohol on it to sanitize it). EVERY SINGLE PARKING SPACE at a couple of them were full. It was worse than Christmas Eve. Then I hit Trader Joe's (the only non-Portland/Pacific Northwest place I went today, now that I think about it. Okay, Freddy's is now a Kroger company, but it was totally PNW when I was growing up) to get some stuff to heat and eat for dinner because this is going to be another stress week at work, and I got the last parking space there, too! Crazy.
I had originally planned on staying home all day cleaning, but then I found out about The Both and the fact that it was Record Store Day, and plans changed mid-week. Oh, well. I can clean tomorrow. My apartment will still be messy. Until hell freezes over, my apartment will be messy. And tomorrow night, _Game of Thrones_ at my aunt's! Who's still celebrating last Sunday's episode, bummed it wasn't more violent, and anxiously awaiting the fallout?
(And tonight is what I usually do when it's Saturday night and I'm stressed out/overworked/tired: Horror movies, most likely on Netflix, and snacks. I'm not feeling up to even nuking something more solid for dinner. On the up side, seven hours of overtime on my next paycheck, and we get a helper bee temp this week to do all of the time-consuming stuff that anyone can do with no specialized training or system access. I have a sizable collating project that I am very much looking forward to handing over to someone so I can concentrate on posting payments. It took me half an hour on Friday just to print the files out, and it will take a hell of a lot longer to match all of the pieces, and I just don't have the time to do it right now.)
(So who is going to post a story next so this is no longer a Meagan's-exhausted-ramblings thread?)
/emoticons/
