"life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

Rainy day. Coffee and conversation drift through the air. The clank of saucers stacking. Electronic music. The ceiling fan in my side vision. A yellow & blue Trimet bus on Albina. The man next to me leaves with the newspaper and his backpack. He was writing with his left hand in a large unlined notebook. Oatie sleeping on my lap. 

I'm waiting for my mom and Chuck to arrive this evening. The house is ready. My mind is calming. I look up writing workshops. Request library books. My soy latte nearly empty. Searching for houses again. Not the right one yet but getting closer. The girl at the grocery store told me not to give up- keep going. It's wet- the buyers aren't so hungry. Houses sit sadly on the market, prices drifting down. Less anxiety. More civilized. Less frantic. Less impulsive. Thoughtful. Pensive. Like fall. 

Justin bought a Suburu. He's wanted one forever. It's used but new to him. Less miles than my mini. But one year older. We can sleep in the back. It came with a plug-in cooler. And racks and heated seats. He's a cold weather wimp so they will serve as weather therapy. 

I bought a one-way ticket to Iowa. Overnight through Chicago on October 26th. I plan to take a week and a half off. Go trick or treating with my nieces. Hitch a ride back with Justin and see him through the mountains and the snow. He's still green in both areas, having only lived on the east coast. He wanted me to ride with him. At first I thought, he's a big boy, he can do it himself. Then I thought, you can be nice, you know. So why not. 

After months of working extra days, I can take two off. Besides I like driving the Wyoming to Oregon part. If we could delete Nebraska that would be nice. But not likely. I have a lot of friends from Nebraska who might get upset. So I think that it's perfect. Even though I thought I didn't want to. Drive back that is. We will for the first time, enter Portland together. Enter the west on the ground, a pair, taking a chance on a real life together.

BMW Welt Munich: One of the coolest things in Europe (if you love cars)

This weekend, I train-jaunted to München for a couple days, meeting some friends from Katterbach clinic and wandering around town. Munich is incredibly walkable and I'd guess liveable also. (I sort of wanted to move there.) Yesterday we walked around town to the Marienplatz (where the famous clock is- they were having a Vegan fest!), Viktualienmarkt (food and nicknacks), a flohmarkt and then to the Hofbrauhaus for several hours before dancing into the wee hours of the night. Very fun.

Today a few of us headed to BMW Welt, where the Munich plant is located, with a showroom of about twenty new BMWs and adjacent museum with cars, planes, engines, motorcycles dating back to 1918. Pretty amazing. We were there for several hours. I could've stayed all day.

The last section we walked through before leaving was a spiral ramp around the rotunda of the museum. At the bottom of the rotunda sat an inspiration car with the following written on different parts of the car:

"Protect me from what I want."
"Lack of charisma can be fatal."
"Monomania is a prerequisite to success."
"You are so complex you don't respond to danger."
"The unattainable is invariably attractive."
"What urge will save us now that sex won't?"

Very interesting indeed. I would go back. I thought it rather fitting that the 1972 Olympic park is right next door- both are full of wonderment and inspiration.

(I am sorry no pictures.)

These boots were made for walking... and more

I decided last night that I should really break out my maroon boots with buckles down one side that Carrie cajoled me into buying while I was back in Portland the last time. They were on the sale rack on the second floor of Shoe PedX. They look like Carrie. They're actually comfortable.

My internet decided to pull a fit on me yesterday and stopped. After one whole day without internet and a failed attempt by a friend to fix it, I got up this morning and booted and rebooted my computer, uninstalled and reinstalled my software. Rebooted again. And Voila! It was fixed. I felt happy. I knew this was a good omen for the day.

Off to work.

I ran into my assistant in the parking lot. "You have sexy legs! Those are great boots." Compliments from a woman are the best. (No dirty undertones!)

Next I'm seeing a patient, who decides to ask me, "How long have you been a doctor?" and "When did you graduate from high school?" I said, "I'm six years older than you." Patient: "What do you like to do in your free time?" (More than once.) Oh no. Oh yes. Next thing you know, he's trying to ask me out. Later he tells my other assisstant, "I tried to ask your friend out. She said no." Assistant: "Where's your wife?" Patient: "Oh, we're separated." Really classy. Thanks to him, we all got a good ab workout.

I decided after all that I should run at lunch. Eight miles. It was easy. I feel accomplished that anything under ten miles seems like a cake walk.

After an uneventful afternoon, I went home with jumper cables in the passenger seat.

The Hooptie was dead. And I was going to fix it.

In my boots.

Ok, so I almost did it by myself. Luckily, Ernst and a neighbour man were out and helped me a little, pressing the gas down in the mini and checking connections. After about two and a half months of not starting the Hooptie (it was unidentifiable as a car- so covered in snow), the battery was a wee bit dead.

But we got it going and I took it into town for a little gas. Returned home and finally removed my boots.

My, I feel like I accomplished a lot! What will tomorrow bring?

My first BMW

When Stanley drove up, I thought, "Oh man, that's ugly. No way." A light champange four-door. A 1988 BMW 5-series, which I think I'm going to buy. Because it seems good enough, has manual window rollers, and heater that will dry my hair in five minutes if I get out of the shower too late. Did I mention that there are separate heat controls for the passenger and driver side? All this in a car made when I was the glorious age of twelve.

It reminds me of my 1987 Buick Century and Carrie's tuna can, the 1987 Chevy Cavalier. It's got a good number of miles on it. But it's in very good condition, drives well, has a new transmission, tires, brakes, etc. I could go on. I probably shouldn't. It drove so well and was obvious from his email and the conversation that he had loved and taken care of the car. It's one of the ugliest BMWs I've seen. Which makes me laugh. And this is all about laughing. My mom will appreciate that there's a bit of car between me and the next.

If nothing else, driving it for a month would be the same as renting a car for a month. It will get me where I need to go. It's comfortable. It feels solid on the autobahn. And now people will be looking at ME instead my car. No competition.

How comical. I move to Germany. I buy the German-made car. It's just not quite what was expected. I think I like it that way.

The military... so far.

I'm having a great time in the military. Really. Granted I'm not IN the military, just immersed in the culture of it. Everyone's so nice. It's like a giant family. There's all colors of people. It's laid back. I laugh all the time. I got paid to walk around base and orient myself and go to the grocery store today. I took a class and test this morning and now have a temporary European driver's license- the official one'll be in the mail in about two weeks. Tried out the postal system today- US rates--- so easy. I got a military library account set up, which is good for all of Europe.
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Yesterday, I met my techs and they're two black ladies- one about 30 and the other about 45 I'd guess-- both cool and helpful and asked, "coffee or tea" and what equipment I needed ordered. They said it's very laid back, "We listen to a lot of music back here." We'll see. I'm working with one other optometrist- Amber-something- (so our dept is all ladies) who I think is probably a newish grad. I'll only be seeing military and their families and contactors like myself also. All English- speakers. Currently the optometry department is housed in a portable building, as they've constructed a new one, which we're scheduled to move into in March 2010.
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I decided against moving to the other pension. I was told the other place was a party place and I wouldn't get much sleep. So I am staying where I am where my bike is secure also. I've been scoping out cars- saw a cute (black inside and silver out) 1998 BMW 325i for 6,000 Euros, which is about $9,000 US or an adorable (black with camel leather) 2005 of the same for $17,000US. Any opinions, anyone? Then also a newish Ford Ka which is mini and gets kickin' gas mileage for 3400 euros. just have to keep my eyes peeled. I'm sure I'll figure it out.