12.22.10 - 9:02 am

several tries to get it right. id come down stairs, a shameful grin on my face and look at derrick and julies reaction. derrick enjoyed everything i had created. julie rolled her eyes, scowling with vast disapproval. she wasnt going to appreciate anything i was attempting to achieve.

something i had always wanted was pointed tips.

the mass of hair in the sink and all over the counter and hands and razor was saddening. two months of sacrifice. shifting my outward social appearance from cleancutlatetwentysomething into crabfishermanfromalaska. i dont recall ever having a beard so thick and full. i loved it and hated it. i looked finally something like a grownup. my friend dan just turned thirty and looks like a man. olivia wilde is twenty six and looks like a woman. i still look like something in between highschool and college. its disappointing in many regards.

discouraged at the poor turnout for our annual christmas mustache sweater picture, i carried on the tradition anyways. unhindered by the sanctions of abstinence from my girlfriend and the mockery of my family i carried the beard to term, and then it was time for my birthday and party the following saturday.

a birthday weekend. something i dont think ive ever experienced before. hopefully next year ill turn it into a birthday week. pffft maybe a birthday month. one does only turns thirty once, so it goes. im jumping ahead of myself.

twenty nine.

thursday night brain was in town. i had missed out on the previous evening everyone had gathered for, including a post venezuelan kinney. so for the last night brain would be in town, we recruited a gjurg and a sphinx for a few hours in southeast portland. the seediest parts.
julie completely outdid herself by concocting a t-bone steak meal. complete with pasta and asparagus. there was wine. there was a costco sized bottle of A1 with colorful ribbons coiled around it. it was delicious. after a short period of digestion, i headed north.

we met at a strip club. we would attend four that evening. each one far worse than the one before it. the first was pretty decent. there were small fire tornadoes in the booths. it was too loud inside and too cold outside to discuss tax cuts. so we moved on. the next place had huge filthy piranha aquariums. several of them. tempted to leave my card, but embarrassed to do so. in retrospect, confidence should have fixed this. one drink and we were out. brain owes me two dollars.
the last two establishments were only briefly enjoyed. thats not the right word. endured. we only had to endure them briefly. i had started a brief conversation with the bartender at one joint, only to have brain and gjurg leave mid sentence.

after the disappointment of the last visit of the festering bars, i called it. time of death: 11:47 pm. i had to get ashton to school tomorrow by 8 am and i had learned my lesson hours ago....strip clubs on powell are a waste of time.

thursday evening end scene.