-Playing in an opera where the leading lady is this chickie. She's amazing and I really adore and admire the careful combination of professionalism and sexuality she puts into the role of Carmen.
-Dining in the rotating restaurant of the Space Needle, thereby experiencing a one-of-a-kind view of the city of Seattle. (Yup, it's as expensive as it sounds. Tom's grandpa totally paid.)
-Spending Labor Day weekend on Whidbey Island with some of Tom's relatives, enjoying the view, the wildlife, and the local winery.
-Eating at a place called Sushiville (I promised myself I would get sushi after my first opera paycheck). This is one of those restaurants you always see in traditional educational montages of Japan where the sushi is prepared and then cycled around the restaurant on a conveyor belt.
-Singing karaoke with my cousin in the Rose Quarter... pictures to be found on a beautiful montage in his travel blog.
-Cycling miserably between elation and lonliness while I face the first time in my life without a guarantee of friends Just Like Me in a built in social network like school. (This is also my first time I'm making a living entirely on my own paycheck. I'm 50% proud and 50% terrified.)
-Managed to get myself lost on a regular basis - whether it's taking a left at a stoplight that makes no sense (I can explain it sometime) and getting honked at, or driving around for 15 minutes after opera rehearsal trying to make my way back to the highway in the dark without the GPS, or turning too early off the highway and ending up in a complete strangers driveway, sitting there for a good couple of minutes with the lights shining in their window while I contemplated how to get myself out of that kind of situation.
-Stopping just the other night at a drive-thru Japanese place called (brace yourself): Big Daddy Teryaki. Yup, drive-thru. Chicken teryaki for $5.75. Took a big risk, and weighed the possibility of getting food poisoning superfast against the fact that I was starving, had only time for drivethru before rehearsal, and didn't want to resort to Wendy's. It's awesome. I got a punchcard - I get 9 more meals there and my next is free. (Yes, you're keeping track correctly: a drivethru teryaki joint with a punchcard named Big Daddy. It's probably the most amused at myself I've ever been.)
Yes, I've had some hard days without my friends. Some really hard days. I'm truly far away from everyone I've ever loved. Fortunately, I've never blamed Portland... I've had newness to blame. But Portland - Portland's been like a kind watchdog. Can't talk me through a rough spot, but makes me feel better about the decision to come here.
It'll happen - this city will become home. But there's a learning curve in place. For both me and Portland.
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