Nook and cranny.

Welcome to my weekend. I should be doing homework, but Mason brought my computer over yesterday, and I've been playing with it since. Somewhere in the transfer from computer to computer, I lost about 400 songs, so I'm not real thrilled about that, but it will give me a chance to get to know my iTunes library again, I suppose. And that could be fun.

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from my friend Nicholas, who asked me to be his homework buddy around six. I agreed, for a number of reasons, but mostly because I knew that if I didn't go somewhere and do homework I would spend the evening watching movies - a complete waste of my time and energy, though fun.

When Nicholas picked me up I had no idea where we were going, and sometimes I think he does that to me on purpose. "Somewhere in Portland," he told me when I asked on the phone. This is not actually a legitimate answer, but I accepted it. I trust him.

We arrived at a place called "Coffee Time," on 21st and Irving just outside of the Pearl District. (Side note: Portland is amazing. One day I will live there.) It looks like a hole in the wall; smaller than a Starbucks from the outside, but inside...the further back you walk, the larger it gets. There were at least 50 people in this place, half of them playing chess. Nicholas and I found a nook and settled down for a spell; his apple cider dictating the smell of our space and my keyboard the sound.

The characters in Portland are always to die for, and this was no exception. Some people spend their time in Coffee Time painting, others studying, some selling their wares. Portland is eccentric and beautiful; a place like no other. At this point in my life, though I once desired to move to New York, I have no desire further than to reside somewhere in Portland. If you've never been - you're missing out.

Today I'll get back to the homework. I have a to-do list a page long that I've barely started on, and hopefully I'll be able to accomplish some of it. I wish I owned my own vehicle, though. I'd be back in that nook, absorbing the character of the city with my studies.