Last night I went out to the local gay bar (yes, THE local gay bar. Eugene, Oregon only has one). I was dancing with a friend, and I asked him if he's been to one of the other dance clubs in town. The one I was asking about is bigger, has a bigger dance floor, more bartenders, and no cover. Oh, and it's a straight bar, which I couldn't care less about. My friend, on the other hand, seemed to see this as a fatal flaw. His response was "Yeah, I've been there, but it's too straight."
"Too straight?" I asked.
"Yeah, too many straight people."

Read the rest at turtlebutt.wordpress.com.

It's only the greatest movie ever.
http://turtlebutt.wordpress.com

Hannah and I saw Brandi Carlile and A Fine Frenzy Thursday night. It was AMAZING. Read more about it over on my new blog.

If you rely on MySpace for blogs, don't worry. I'll still update this one when I blog on the other one. Usually. I just wanted something that allowed for more customization and whatnot. And MySpace blows. :D

So it seems like every time I decide to write a blog, I make a list of topics in my head that I'm going to address. Then, when it comes time to write them down, I forget most of them. Oh well.

For about two weeks now, I've been dealing with this annoying funky throat infection thing. I was certain it was strep (and was also absolutely convinced at one point that I had meningitis) but when I went to the doctor, they did a throat culture, which came back negative. So they told me to stop taking the antibiotics the doctor had prescribed, and thus the nastiness in my throat lingers. It doesn't really hurt so much anymore, but my tonsils are still red and swollen. And apparently I'm the only person bothered by this. Hopefully I won't have to get my tonsils removed.

I couldn't find Gloria (my iPod) yesterday, but turns out she was at my mom's house. Quite a relief, I must say. I wasn't looking forward to shelling out $250 for a new one. On a sadder note, though, I've also noticed my yellow hoodie has gone missing, and this one isn't turning up anywhere. That makes me really sad. I loved that sweatshirt. Sad panda.

People from Colorado are lame. End of story.

Hannah and I are going to see Brandi Carlile and A Fine Frenzy at the WOW Hall on Sept. 6., which I'm really excited for. It's going to amazing, I'm sure.

Anyone like stuffed bell peppers? Cuz I'm dying to make them, but Matt doesn't like them. My aunt gave me this ridiculous cookbook from the 80s called "Easy Cooking for Today." I'm pretty excited to make something out of it.

And finally tonight, I'm tired of people being passive-aggressive and using MySpace and/or Facebook to communicate things. I fully realize that I'm doing exactly that right now, but that's exactly the point. I want to make it clear how annoying it is when people make vague statements in blogs/bulletins/statuses. I mean, I'm a pretty passive-aggressive person in general, but I don't use MySpace or Facebook to tell someone I'm mad at them or something like that in a vague, roundabout way. Seriously, if you're pissed off at me, tell me so. Or don't. But don't write a blog about it. That's lame. See? Vague enough? I may or may not be talking about you. I may or may not be mad at you. I could be talking about anyone. Or no one. Who knows.

So there. *sticks out tongue* Let's all be adults here, K?

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Wednesday. I cried several times, I'm not going to lie. It's kind of weird to think that it's all over. I mean, I've been reading those books for almost ten years now. I was the same age as Harry when I read the first book and I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of each new book since the third one, but no more. It's kind of sad, but at the same time, it feels good for it to all be over. J.K. Rowling ended the story in a way that offered plenty of closure, so everything feels resolved and as it should be.

That makes ten books that I've read since the beginning of June. :) But with Harry Potter and The Dark Tower both completed, what books do I have to look forward to now? Don't get me wrong, there are LOTS of great books out there, and plenty of them that I really want to read, but I'm not going to impatiently waiting for the next book in a series anymore. Which is kind of sad.

On a related but also unrelated note, I've been doing a really terrible job of keeping up with my running (because of all the reading, perhaps?). I think it's been almost two weeks since the last time I ran. And it was two weeks before that too. Terrible. The only thing is, I can't really run in the evenings anymore. You're supposed to wait an hour and a half after eating before running, and since I work until 7, it's getting too dark by the time I set out to run. And I'm not a morning person, so I'm not about to get up early to run in the morning. And lord knows I'm not going to run in the winter when it's raining all the time. I need to actually start using the Rec Center...that way I can exercise whenever.

IKEA opened last week in Portland. I'm excited. Who's up for a trip up to PDX for a Swedish shopping spree?

I'm currently looking for a new job. The only thing is that I want to make sure I can get enough hours before I accept a job anywhere. I don't want to get stuck working ten hours a week...I might as well keep my job at KEZI if that's going to be the case. I've applied at Borders and Barnes & Noble so far. Anyone know of places that are hiring?

My whole life kind of feels like it's in a transition right now. I don't know why. It doesn't really make any sense. It's hard to explain.

I'm reading this story by Franz Kafka called "The Metamorphosis" about a guy who wakes up to find that he's become a giant bug. Let's hope I'm not making that sort of transition...

Hmm, so what do we want to talk tonight?

First things first: Pam and Jesse got married this last weekend! That was fun. Minus the whole crazy alcoholic uncles, but we won't go there. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable weekend in Klamath Falls/Dorris...really about as exciting as those two towns can be. I love Dorris, though, because the only thing you can do is sit around and relax. It's a town of around 1000 people right over the California border, so there's really nothing else to do. And at night you can see the Milky Way, which is rad. I would never want to live there, but it's a great place to stay from time to time.

So we got back from Klamath on Sunday, and I went back to work on Monday. And now I have my regular two days off. Hahaha. It's nice only working two days out of your work week but getting paid for five. :)

Matt and I went up to Portland today (Tuesday) for an advanced screening of "Hairspray." I wasn't sure what to expect, since I haven't seen the play and I didn't know anything about it. Except that it was written by John Waters, so I knew it had to be pretty fantastic. Anyway, it was pretty much amazing. The most fun I've had at a movie in a while. I wanted to get up and dance. It had a great cast, and I love the way it caricatured (I'm not sure that's a word, but spell check seems to be OK with it) the 60s. It was fantastic. I highly recommend you all go out and see it. Now I want the soundtrack. If you buy it on iTunes it comes with an instructional dance video, which is pretty much the awesomest thing ever. We all know instructional dance videos are amazing! ;)

Why do people drive slowly in the left lane? Ugh.

KT Tunstall has a new album coming out. I'm excited.

I've read six books since the end of the term. That's amazing. But there are still so many that I want to read, and I know I won't get around to them, which makes me sad. If I could get paid to just sit around and read every day, that would be fantastic. Maybe I should become a book reviewer so I can do just that. Anyway, I'm on book 7 so far this summer, which I have to finish by Saturday so I can start on Harry Potter when it arrives. And then I have two more books that I bought that I'm determined to read, so when it's all said and done, I'll have read at least 10 books this summer. *pats self on back*

Wow, I'm a nerd.

Today is the last day of my 8-day vacation. I haven't taken a vacation since I started at KEZI about a year and a half ago, so needless to say it was rather nice. I could actually go out on the weekend at a reasonable hour instead of waiting until I get off work at midnight and just overall go out and do things without worrying about being back at work. Fantastic. A quick summary of everything that went down:

Tuesday the 19th: Drove up to Portland to pick up Ryan (friend from Wisconsin) at the airport around midnight. Stayed overnight.

Wednesday: Puttered around Portland...went to the Body Worlds 3 exhibit at OMSI, which was AWESOME.

Thursday: Mellissa and J.D. came down from Salem. We went out to dinner at Taste of India (yum) and then met Lanette's fiance. Later that night was Stephanie's going-away party at Jackalope Lounge. Listened to Jack Madison ramble on about God knows what and said goodbye to the lovely Stephanie Ortmann.

Friday: I showed Ryan around Eugene (which didn't take long). Friday night Hannah turned 21, so we went out and all (except Matt, who was the D.D.) got good and drunk.

Saturday: Day trip to Florence, where we met up with Brian and Krystina, whose birthday was that day. So we had a barbecue and birthday cake.

Sunday: Ryan and I drove down to Crater Lake for the day. Beautiful drive, beautiful lake. Talk about blue water. See Facebook for pictures.

Monday: Went back up to Portland to stay overnight once again. I went to my first gay bar, which was certainly interesting. We went to one bar that was completely deserted, then walked down the street to another, where the bartender from the first bar started buying us drinks and craziness ensued...

Tuesday the 26th: I dropped Ryan off at the airport around 10 at night and then spent another night in the Rose City by myself. Didn't get to sleep until around 5 a.m. because the bastards in the room above me were stomping around or something, making entirely too much noise entirely too early. Then I had to get up at 9:00 in order to catch the crappy free continental breakfast. *grumble*


So that was my little vacation. Not all that extravagant, but nice. I think I'm sort of looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, which can't be healthy... :D

I've decided that I'm absolutely going to move to Portland one day. I thoroughly enjoy all the time I spend there, and it has so much more to offer than Eugene. Particularly in the romance realm; the pickings are slim here in Eugene. Well, they're slim anywhere, really. Only a small percentage of all the men out there also like men. There's a practically endless supply of straight folk, but not so with us homos. We're a small, discrete group, which makes trying to find a guy to start a relationship that much more difficult. Oh, relationships...how you cause so much unnecessary stress! I think I have feelings for a guy who doesn't feel the same way, which is a terrible situation to be in. But who hasn't been in that situation? I'll get over it.

On a lighter note, ya'll should listen to Mandy Moore's new album if you haven't. Don't worry, my taste in music isn't deteriorating and becoming more like Matt's :) Mandy's new album is completely different and pretty great if I do say so.

I finished my 10-page research proposal for PSY 468 this morning at 2:00. Whew. What a relief. The paper was on whether or not being in love increases people's risk-taking. The only bad thing is that since it's a research proposal, I didn't actually do any research and get any results so it's pretty much up in the air. And it's an interesting topic, so I kind of want to know the verdict. I've considered doing an honors thesis on it, but that would be a lot of work, and I really don't feel like it. :)

One more assignment and a test, and I'm done for the year. I can't wait.

My friend Ryan (#4 on my Friends List) from Wisconsin is coming to visit in three weeks! I'm so excited. We've known each other for I think four years now but have never met in person, and now we're finally going to! He's going to be here for a week, from the 19th until the 26th. I'm so freaking excited. We're going to have a blast, especially since I'm going to take vacation time for that week. Woot! He's flying into Portland, so we're gonna hang around there for a day, and I also have plans to go to the coast and probably the lake. We're gonna get summer started off right. I'm gonna put in my request today and hope that three weeks is enough advance notice.

It's official...Facebook is better than MySpace. Really, the only reason I keep my MySpace page is because of the blogs. Otherwise I'd ditch the piece of crap. They have "applications" that you can put on your profile now, and some of them are pretty rad, particularly Last.fm.

Speaking of Last.fm, CBS bought them yesterday. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Before, they were this cool little independent online company based out of London, and now they're owned by CBS, which is owned by megacorporation Viacom. I just hope it doesn't affect anything. We all know what happened when MySpace was bought by News Corp. At the same time, Viacom has dealings in the music/radio business, so that's good news for Last.fm.

OMFG, the National Spelling Bee is on ABC at 8:00 tonight! I'm SO excited. You have no idea. I fuckin' love the National Spelling Bee. I'm weird, I know.

So you probably know I'm in a running class this term. Let me tell you the story of the term.

We started out on the first day of the class, running a mile. Literally hadn't done that since high school. Didn't think I could do it, but I did. We've been increasing the distance we run a quarter-of-a-mile each class.

About 4 weeks into the class, my left ankle started to hurt. It wasn't that big of a deal, since I could still run on it. Well I think a week went by and my RIGHT ankle started to hurt. The left one was fine by this time. Now it was just the right one bothering me, but it was different. My left ankle had hurt on the outside, and not really all that bad. The right one hurt on the inside, and hurt to the point where I was limping when I walked. That was bad news. I skipped a class because of it and went to see one of the physical therapists in the Health Center. She told me I'm flat-footed (which I already knew) but apparently this was causing my tendon to rub against the bone or something. So she recommended getting some insoles to give me more support when I run. OK. So I bought the 27-dollar insoles she recommended. I put them in and walked around Amazon Park to break 'em in a little. So the next day I wore them in my running class. After our warm-up laps, I could tell my ankle was going to give me trouble again. And lo-and-behold, after that run (which was either 2.25 or 2.5 miles) my ankle hurt like a bitch, once again reducing me to limping. I was pissed off and stressed out and upset that the insoles weren't helping. I didn't want to have to stop running, because I'm honestly enjoying it. It was to my surprise, however, that I discovered my ankle was healing faster this time around. I wasn't limping as long, and by the next class, it actually felt good enough to run on. And I've been getting steadily better since then. We ran 3 miles (our longest distance) yesterday, and I'm happy to report that there was no limping afterward. My ankle still hurts a bit after I run, but not to the point of limping, and the pain doesn't last nearly as long as it did. So it seems like the insoles are working after all. And I couldn't be happier. It felt so fantastic to be able to run without pain the other day. And the fact that I could really push myself to run 3 miles on Monday and not have very much pain afterward was just amazing.

So now that I'm pretty much back to myself, I can continue running and hopefully keep it up as a regular activity. I want to try and run 3 miles every time from now on. It takes me about half an hour, so that seems like a pretty good distance to run regularly. And there are a couple 5k (about 3.1 miles) runs in town this summer, which I really want to do now. Anyone wanna be my running partner??