On a roll

Fucking incredible. That’s the only way to describe how I feel right now. There’s just so much. I love Portland. I love coffee. Stumptown is an incredible place. It all makes my heart swell when I let go of the usual restraints we each place on ourselves and just experience life. So much so that I had to come and write it down right away.

I nearly cried on the bus because of it. I might still. I’m missing the dogs, but it’s okay. I just saw this guy on the bus with his seeing-eye dog, and it made me think of the monkeys. That and the awesome mix of people on the bus, the diversity, although I realize it’s still a fairly white town and the diversity I notice is mainly among freaks and geeks.

The event at Stumptown was cool. I’m glad I had some company in the form of Christian and his boyfriend/lover, but I stayed for a while after they left and just watched the scene, drank my beer and read a magazine. And I was okay with that. I’m feeling more okay with just being myself, letting it be, not having to be a rockstar all the time or being uber-responsible and smart, but keeping things in check and not going nuts or getting upset at myself for my flaws.

Back to Stumptown: I got there a little after the event began at 6:30, but not much was happening yet. There were a bunch of French presses steeping with coffee to put in airpots and one of the baristas was dialing in the single origin Honduras coffee on the Mistral. Eventually, Christian showed up and we got some coffee. I had a taste of each of the micro-lots they had in the airpots and had a couple of shots of the Lot #3 coffee from this farm, Finca El Puente. (They say, “Espresso shots of Honduras Micro Lot [Matilde] have flavors of sage, evergreen, lemon zest, caramel and pumpkin pie.” They roasted this batch specifically for espresso as opposed to the normal roast they sell in their cafes.) The shots were in-fucking-credible. I wish I could do this at home or work at Stumptown.

So I had some coffee, and then I got a glass of Delirium Tremens on tap in a nice glass with pink elephants on the side. Yum! Later, after the short presentation by one of the guys from Stumptown familiar with the farm and the husband and wife that run the farm, I had some more coffee and then got a bottle (in a glass) of Aventinus. Yum x2! One of my favorite beers in a cool place, watching people and browsing Dwell magazine. How can life get better than this?

Oh yeah, I’m rocking out to Wilco on the bus ride home (still am). I’m going to be in the Honors program at PSU. I’m going to see Spoon next month and will probably get the wristband for Music Fest NW so I can see a show every night for four nights. Suddenly, I’m a social animal. Okay, not quite! But this is an incredible place and I’m doing what I can to take advantage of it.