Zoopity doo dah

Zoooooooooooooop!

And by zoop, I mean soup, of course. Oh, it's crisp and blustery outside and we all enjoy a nice bowl of soup this time of year and blah blah, but the real reason I like eating soup is my insane ritual of what I term "Zoop Zongs." Zoop Zongs (that is, soup songs) basically consist of any tune with either most or all of the lyrics replaced by the word "zoop," sung quietly or silently during the entire soup getting/making process. For instance, a week or two ago I made this turnip soup:


It was really good, but that's beside the point. While chopping the vegetables, I started off with the tune of the dreidl song you're supposed to sing at Hanukkah: "Zoopy zoopy zoopy, I made you out of zoop! Zoopy zoopy zoopy, zoopy zoopy ZOOP!!" Other favorites include "Row, row, row your boat" ("Zoop, zoop, zoop your zoop" -- especially popular while walking to the store to buy soup ingredients) "Super Trooper" by Abba (almost too easy) and, well, "Bananaphone" by Raffi ("Zoop-zooper Phone"). Uhhh, yeah. See, don't you want some soup now?! Zoop Zongs really work!

Ok, here is some news:

1) I made chili tonight! (Chili counts as soup, so there was singing.) I would rate it a solid B+, but the real news is that it was accompanied by the best cornbread I've ever had, which I picked up on a whim from the bakery at New Seasons. I love that the world's best cornbread has been hiding all this time in an unassuming supermaket bakery. Nom nom!

2) I have some new glasses.

I like 'em. The guy that works at the eye place (6 blocks from home, hooray) totally picked them out for me first thing, then waited patiently as I tried on thousands of other pairs before finally admitting he was right. By the way, he was from Peoria! Also, if you look very closely at the background, you'll see that my bed is holding a black mask, a package of tinsel, and two chocolate bars. I believe the phrase is, "That is how I roll."

3) Here is a typical weekday for me: Drudge drudge drudge, coworkers complaining, more news of downsizing, nearly being run over walking to the bus stop, getting crushed against the window on the packed bus back to Portland while everyone yells into their cell phones. Dejected, I am dumped off the bus into downtown Portland. And then I walk over the Hawthorne Bridge, and instantly forget I've ever had a problem:

Walking over the bridge is absolutely one of my favorite things, ever. There are always boats out, and the sun shines off the water, and you can see Mt. St. Helens. It's the country's busiest bike commuter bridge, so there are always tons of people whizzing by on their bikes, cheerful to be getting off work. Last week a car broke down in the middle of the bridge, and 2 bikers immediately hopped off their bikes and ran to help push the car, then cheered and waved goodbye when it picked up momentum and got going again. People here are kind.

From there it's about a 40 minute walk home (or, when it's raining, a 10 min bus ride). It's my favorite part of the day. It mostly looks like this:

I walk through a neighborhood called Ladd's Addition, which ends about 4 blocks from my house. I love it. It's like a giant maze, much bigger and more confusing than the map conveys (my house is just off of Division and 24th, which you can also see on this map):


But from the street, it looks more like this:

It's filled with alleys, and big houses, and kitties. Each roundabout has a (huge!) rose garden, with twisty paths and benches that you can sit on.


This sorry photo gives absolutely no sense of what it's actually like. The center roundabout is especially large; it's filled with big trees and you can't even see to the other side. One one of the streets there's a tiny cafe, which I occasionally stumble across but can never seem to find when I actually want a cup of coffee. If you don't know exactly where you're going, you'll never get there.

And then: this is my street! Hello, hello.

Unfortunately, it looks like I've run out of time, which is a shame, because we still have some things to talk about. In particular, I'm sure you'll all enjoy hearing the sad tale of how a bee defied the laws of physics and flew up my pant leg. (Spoiler: not a happy ending) Something to look forward to, I suppose!