Stegosaurus, where are you?

"Nothing makes me happier than this cup, and you can't steal my joy!" That's what H told me this morning when I suggested taking the stegosaurus cup back to Provo with me. We each have one, and I thought that maybe this one was mine, until she reminded me that I had used mine for a paint cup forever ago and that this one was hers. I really did love that glass and I have no idea where it is now.

I went downtown on Saturday with H to help her friend out with a project that involved seeing things from another person's perspective. She chose to observe us and see Portland from the point of view of someone who's from Beaverton and is scared of downtown. We rode the bus, which I had sworn I would never do again, but this was in the name of science, or English, or whatever class it was for. Mostly we shopped. We went to Powell's - the best bookstore on the face of the planet, and to think I had never been there before. All I know is that I'm in love- Powell's is 4 stories and a whole city block of new and used books. I picked up Heart of Darkness for $1.95 and considered buying James Galvin's "X", but a sense of frugality stopped me.

I also went to Buffalo Exchange and got a sweet jacket, and at some point when we were walking around on the street I registered to vote - H did too as a matter of fact. It felt good. I'd been meaning to get registered, but had put it off because I was in Utah. I didn't know what to pick, so I checked Not a member of a party. I know nothing about government. I probably should learn what my political views are one of these days.

My youngest sister H2 spends a great deal of her spare time playing a video game called Harvest Moon. It's all about planting crops and chopping wood and gathering eggs -a video game about farming of all things. She was telling me about the game and this is how that conversation went-

H2: I need to get a wife. I'm supposed to go to the firework festival tonight.
me: Why the firework festival?
H2:Because that's where you go to meet people. I'm thinking about asking what's-her-face to marry me.
me:Oh really? Why her?
H2: Well, she works at the bar and she's really fun.
me: She works at a bar? That's not good. Why don't you marry so-and-so? She seems nice.
H2: Oh, no! She's too shy. Maybe I could ask that-one-girl. She works on her dad's ranch, so she could help me on my farm. I don't know - I just don't have time to get a wife.
me:Maybe you should take some time off from work or something.
H2: I can't take time off from work just to find a wife! I'm a farmer - I need to be here to take care of my crops.

It just makes me laugh to wander past the family room and hear my little sister murmuring about how she needs to get a wife.

Kitchen dancing! Now, don't be deceived - I do not like to dance, and I do not believe that people enjoy having to see me dance, but there is an exception to this, and it's kitchen dancing. I used to do this thing where I would dance in the kitchen if no one was watching, except for H, and she would see me kitchen dancing and try to tell others, but no one would ever believe her. Kind of like how Michigan J. Frog dances only for that one guy in the cartoons. I resurrected this tradition Christmas eve with a spectacular display of my kitchen dancing skills. It brings me joy to dance ridiculously when few people can see me, and especially when no one will ever believe those people when they try to attest to my magnificence.

Three more things. (1) Yesterday I finally understood the idea behind gutters after a lifetime of not understanding the concept of runoff. (2) My sister M and her husband A are flying into Portland tonight and I'm excited. They live in South Carolina so we're not going to see much of them over the next 4 years unless something important brings them to the west coast. In this case, A's sister is getting married in Provo, so M figured that since they were going all the way to Provo, why not go a little further to Portland? Anyway, I'm glad they're coming and I hope to get in some quality thrift shopping time with M. (3) M-Lite and I are finally renting a computer from campus so now we'll have some way to put all the music we stole from H onto M-Lite's iPod - apparently she went and picked one up this morning and has it up and running already.

I lied about there only being three. Lastly, and most importantly, I went to WINCO. WINCO is the greatest grocery store in the universe - I bought 7 pounds of gummi worms to ration out over the next 5 months that I'll be in Utah. If I love you, you'll get to sample some. I also bought some Tillamook ice cream for M and myself, because we don't have access to it full time like everyone else in our family. And juice - it's almost 35 cents cheaper here. I love WINCO, which is why I will need to live in Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, or Oregon for the rest of my life. There's just no other way.