Subscribing to the blog rss feed includes increased feelings of excitement and joy.
Sleeping in close-knit student spaces is relatively affordable and cozy, eliminating the need for excessive sundry items or furniture that just doesn’t ‘fit.’ Since I would be only staying a few days and purchasing quite a few items, I tried to keep my eco-footprint in my friend’s place as non-obstructive as possible.
The couch was a narrow fit, pillows were large and engulfing and the rest of the apartment was very organized and tidy. Unfortunately however, the neighbors one floor above decided to welcome my first morning in Portland by acting like bunnies. 
We traveled across the river via transit, it’s unbelievable how many bridges have been built so that one can streak across the water via rails (or auto transport). I also sighted my first crumple break-up bridge en route to the film labs! 
It’s the dizzy effect of watching the bridge itself crack into two pieces so ships can continue traveling down the river uninterrupted.. a hitch-hiker guide to the galaxy-esque?
Once we had finished with the tasty black&white developed rolls and shared a delicious breakfast at Bunk’s Sandwiches, I was introduced to the coffeeshop hippie atmosphere of Stumptown.
The venue was quite, quite large and a high ceiling with brickwork and art scattered across the walls in a relaxing grid format. I collected a few of their business cards and art magazines too, it’s a serious weakness I love carrying on during my rambling travels 
Also, I met his friend’s sister visiting in town, learned some sad health-related news about another alumni-friend, and later redirected a shipment packaged order from the riverside centre to another location downtown.
And then!! We visited Amber!! 
Her studio office work space is quite roomy, with plenty of equipment and poster paper work scattered across the white walls. All three of us headed down to the comic book shop downstairs discussing lifestyles and graphic novellas, and then out and about again to a local vinyl toy and art deco shop.
And then Fisheye Boy kidnapped me away (on Amber’s order!) to explore Powell’s Bookstore. 
The building itself is famous, she’s told me stories of it’s expansive size encompassing a citywide block, with additional floors and rooms based on color naming sections per subject/category.
The walls and shelves and cases squeezed everywhere with as many books as possible with feeling suffocating. I loved it! 
There were many many books that one can’t find in stock at the local Chapters, or cheaper prices on design typography books. Yay! I’ll be posting a follow-up entry eventually discussing the books I purchased during my stay here. 
I feel asleep for a few minutes on the couch once we returned to her office space, so I missed the conversations about happiness and differential aspects of graphical data visualizations for her latest project. 
After I woke up we hopped to a pub for happy hour with velvety mac n’cheese and beer. Yay! I also met her fellow cyborg’s Aaron and Natronics for the first time it was interesting to finally meet the carbon version of their twitter avatars!
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