Today was our social event of the weekend. Last week’s Date Night was a wind up for this weekend. It went pretty well. We scoped out a place and I was able to recommend it to others. We bought a card game at Rainy Day Games in Hillsboro the weekend after my birthday. So, the dominoes were set and I knocked ‘em down.
I invited a guy I met at work that is socially active and has some interesting things in common with me. We have been able to carry on some conversations at work and lunch and we get along. He still considers himself new in town and we’re getting to the point where we really aren’t that new in town anymore. We should have hang-outs and a gang.
We made arrangements and met up. We had a great time playing cards and having a bite to eat. Squarrels is a great game and really makes me feel right at home in Portland with the mindset of a squirrel. It was fun with just the two of us, but having that added reward for paying attention and slapping the hoard pile first turns the tides from shear luck-of-the-draw.
We talked a lot about books and wound up inevitably going to Powell’s Books after we parted ways. Without any specific items in mind, we picked up The Beauty Myth, a book we have considered the last three or so visits, then a Card Captor manga, a Tanya Huff novel, and a book for me! I’ve been intending to get this book on biomimicry that Tom Foxen recommended at work, but instead, we stumbled upon a section on sustainable housing. We both agreed that The Northwest Green Home Primer was right up my alley–it even includes some technical drawings!
My book begins by saying Earth Day was founded in 1970 to point out some environmental trends. By 2000, some of the progress made had been reversed. In Athena’s book, feminism made some good changes but the movement has slowed significantly with the attribution of idea that feminists are mean, hairy, and mannish directly contrasting the beauty queen. These two ideas are in direct competition and divides women, while the intent of feminism is to firmly set the availability of the choice not to subscribe to one ideal or another but to be oneself and not inferior to men.
I would feel very intellectual and good about our purchases and in reading books, but her book also highlights chores. Household chores are endless, thankless, and unpaid work that is completely undesirable. And that reminds me that I still have to make dinner, bento’s for lunch, and smoothies for breakfast tonight.
By the way, you really should spend some time with this book–it’s fascinating! I love the parts about learning how to utilize and maximize space, to build smaller but with, in many ways, greater capacity. There’s this fantastic idea with shelving put into the top part of a staircase. That cuts out the need for one more shelf to hold things (like, ehm, books!), which means less floor space is needed to have something like a shelf.
Also, the “case study” stories are completely fascinating! It really allows you to get a feel for what kind of decisions have to be made, and what can be pulled off in certain places that may not be even an option in others. Including how this one couple ended up getting a several thousand dollar grant to construction by agreeing to let their home/construction be a case study for the state of Oregon!
So, I’d really like to see more about this book, and what you think about it, on this blog. Yup yup.