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Today I went down to the river and I thought about Portland. Because of the holidays, there's been some new, wacky thing every day when I get downtown. Monday was the ballet dancers. Tuesday was bagpipers. Today was Dickensian carolers in full Victorian dress.
There's a lot of things I love about living here, not the least of which is that moving here was the first time in my life I moved somewhere because I wanted to be there. Before that, locations were picked for me - that was where the school or program was, that was where my significant other was. But this was a place where I wanted to be. It helped that my S.O. wanted to be here too, but neither of us moved because of the other's desire.
We just did it because it felt right. Only later did I find out that my office was going to be shut down three months later, at which time it would have been much less convenient to move. We followed our instincts and it worked out, more or less. (Still waiting for that dream job, but that happens...)
As for the Longest Night? Well, I'm working today and I'm working tomorrow, so all-night vigils are unfortunately right out this year. I'll probably stay up as late as I reasonably can, though. One of my friends has inspired me to re-work my stang, so I'll probably be re-stringing that tonight. It seems like a good night for the work.
I've found myself with a three day weekend on short notice, but my girlfriend is working, so I've got to keep myself occupied over Christmas proper. I'm sure I can find something to amuse myself with. I'll let you guys know how the stang comes out tomorrow, assuming I manage to get something I like out of the process.