Portland: Update

So when I last left off I was coping with loneliness superficially with a shopping spree at IKEA...

Well, I have a good looking apartment if I do say so myself. :)


I have not explored too much of Portland. Mostly because the weather has been unusually bad this spring and Portland is a very outdoors type of city (can't quite figure out how that came about in a northwest town). I also have a tendency to start chatting with people and then staying in one place for hours so I end up only exploring a small chunk at a time.

Portland is definitely more of a town than a city and I get the feeling the people here want it that way. So much so that anything seeming metropolitan or urban is shunned. The vibe of this town will take some getting use to. The people here are a lot more personable than in Seattle, and that I definitely like; that really was my main gripe about Seattle.

I live two doors down from a great dive bar where I know most of the regulars already, but also meet someone new every time I go. Really chill place where everyone goes to sit around and talk with everyone, and I mean everyone, and play some pool.

Just a few blocks away is a sports bar with amazing pizza, a great happy hour, and every sports package. This is the first season in years where I have been able to catch most of my Giant's games. Murphy's Law that it also one of their worst years, but actually now that I think of it, maybe that is a blessing in disguise because I am just so overjoyed to be able to watch my team that the pain of their suckyness is dulled. We'll see later on in the season...

As for the area as a whole, I am told by people that I either "live in the ghetto," or that I live in the only diverse area of Portland. The truth is Portland is super white, to the point that "diverse area" means that only 50% of the people are white, and Portland is soft. Here in "the ghetto" people leave their BBQs outside and they are not stolen, people at bars insist on walking you home because "it is dark outside," there is not a single place with bars on the windows, and a man across the street who belches is considered "a thug up to no good." I shit you not.

All in all it has been an experience. I am not falling in love with Portland, but I can live here for a few years.