Rehearsed today with Jack and a new friend who is playing bass with us. All is going well so far, it’s fun to play some big rock. As is required, we’re outside taking a break with some beverages and smokes for those who partake.

There’s not much that needs to be said about this. World Naked Bike Ride 2009 here in Portland, Oregon. Clothing becomes the new being naked. You’ll feel out of place for certain if you’re still wearing something during the ride. It was a great ride except for the huge bottleneck downtown near Burnside where a lot of people had to end up walking their bikes instead of riding. This year seemed much larger than last, I’d guess well over 3,000 beautiful naked people taking to the streets.

The season for late night bike rides is upon us. Tonight was the first ride I joined for pedalpalooza 2009 – the midnight mystery ride. The idea is that all cyclists meet up at a location before the ride (at midnight) which then leaves to the secret location. Only a few people leading the group know where it will end up. It’s a great event – riders of all backgrounds and bikes of all types. There were bikes covered in lighting, there were bike sidecars, there were bike boomboxes, there was even a bike grill (propane tank included). A wholly amicable group where socializing is easy and definitely encouraged. Pictured here is a tall bike covered in EL wire that was sound-responsive. Pretty neat.

And so our flight was pushed back two more times today. Originally scheduled to leave at 20:00, we didn’t hit the ground in Cancun until about 1:30. Apparently we were pretty lucky to have gotten out as the Cuban government decreed that there were to be no more flights to or from Mexico for the entire month of May. Good thing we got out in time, I’m not sure what we would have done otherwise. At any rate, we were back to being knee deep in idiots as hysteria about the swine flu overtook the common sense of most people. The International Red Cross aided in the exaggerated threat by setting up these infrared cameras to monitor the temperature of those people catching flights. Woo prevention, right?

Ten minutes into our visit to Cuba and just about every stereotype you may have heard comes true – people driving rusty classic American cars, enthusiastic people excited to meet Americans, mentions of Fidel and Che around every corner. Today we left our casa particulare on the beach in La Boca and received a ride back into town in one of these vintage American autos. It’s really impressive to see their ingenuity for fabricating replacement parts and keeping these decades old cars up and running. Again a stark contrast in comparison to the wastefulness and obsolescence here. Our drive promptly dropped us off at the edge of town in Trinidad as to not run into any police trouble for taxiing tourists without the proper credentials.

If I recall correctly, this was our second night in Trinidad. I’d been having a hard time winding down probably due to the coffee that we’ve been offered while we’ve been in town. I decided to go for a stroll tonight and capture some nighttime photos. I was out of luck as far as finding dinner but did manage to get some cool shots of the town at night. Finding food was pretty difficult in this city. Most restaurants were difficult to find, didn’t have very much to offer (if anything at all and let alone at 23:00). Restaurants in Cuba are a funny thing – citizens of the country are not allowed to patronize the same places tourists do. That alone probably explains their lack of availability. Aside from the huge outdoor techno concert going on in the old center of Trinidad, everything was pretty quiet tonight.

I think Katie’s expression says it all. Spent most of the day lounging around the beach in Playa del Carmen and wandering around the town. The water was stunning!

Jack and I had a little jam session today. He’s been hot to trot on playing some cheesy 80’s-esque metal and we decided to play together for a little while tonight. Although this picture above might suggest we were playing some heartfelt singer/songwriter nonsense we were indeed writing songs about dogs with rocket engines. It is a good excuse to play on the 14×10 snare drum and a good excuse for him to crank up his amp to absurdity. Jack designs custom guitar effects pedals and repairs pedals and amps – you should check out some of his work at <a href=”http://www.jackdeville.com”>jackdeville.com</a>

I blew off most responsibility today. Met up with my pal Jack on Hawthorne for some drinks in the delicious spring weather. Met up with a few other friends and eventually made our way over to the Moon and Sixpence to listen to some bluegrass music. They provided a really great ambiance for the evening.

It’s true, she loves the NELA center. This is one of the few students that I tutor from time to time. I’m not so sure she’s going to be thrilled with being plastered on interwebs.

I attended the NELA volunteer appreciation party tonight where we watched Grosse Pointe Blank via netflix streaming. This photo really has nothing to do with that except for being outside the NELA center.  More fun with flash, despite the subject matter. This is probably my favorite photograph I’ve ever taken. I’m just in love with the results.

Admittedly I’m hard pressed to remember exactly what it was that Kathryn and I did tonight. Really, all I can recall is that we were searching for some late night eats and ended up at the Aalto lounge. She drew this happy picture on my hand, it was cute.  The end.

<a href=”http://myspace.com/bruxingbruxing”>Bruxing</a> played a show tonight at &quot;The Space&quot; in Salem, Oregon. We played with 3 other bands including Justin’s brothers (Harvest the Rabbit). Cool to see them with a bass player in the lineup now. Justin and I played our new song, &quot;Moist Ointment&quot; for the first time in front of a crowd today. The whole show went very well. I was excited enough to break two sticks in our last two songs. Pictured above are some people standing outside the space between bands.

This is a glimpse of what I believe to be the highest concentration of polyester and other synthetic fabrics in Portland on this day. Katie received an invitation to go to a porno-themed brunch on this Valentine’s day. Everyone was encouraged to wear their interpretation of a 70s porno film actor or actress. I think the best accessory of the day goes to the girl wearing anal beads as a necklace. Walking around in our ridiculous outfits to buy champagne in Fred Meyer’s for the party was pretty fun. As were the penis and breast pancakes, gay porn and high waisted pants.

More seriously, this was probably the best valentine’s day. I don’t normally celebrate such events but Katie and I decided to have a little fun with it this year. I was speechless at the end of the day, due in part to KLL making me a fantastic dinner from scratch, presenting me with a new straighrazor and writing me a very sweet and heartfelt note. Awesome in the literal sense.

There are moments when I think we’ve all privy to a certain level of prescience. For no particular reason I was feeling like this when I cam home today. I later went and met some friends at this club called Holocene to see a DJ spin (Drop the Lime). These aforementioned moments of introspection are often met by the most unexpected challenges. I felt elated and confident that my decisions were right, that everything is exactly where it is supposed to be, at least for tonight.