Jack of Many Trades

Nyquil and Bridges

Originally posted: 2012-02-05

I got the cold that's been going around at New Job for at least two months. I was hoping I had missed it because nobody likes a headcold, but eventually I had to give in and admit I was sick. (Not until I was already at work yesterday, mind you, because I had appointments! And because I'm a workaholic!)

I took some Nyquil Thursday night, and had to get up early on Friday, and then between the sleep deprivation of my early Friday shift and taking some more Nyquil last night, I went to bed around 7, got woken up for dinner at 10 and immediately fell asleep again, and then didn't get up until 8am today. So obviously my sleep schedule is a mess, and NyQuil gives me really strange dreams.

The logical thing to do today would have been to stay home and take it easy, so of course I went out and decided to walk around Portland. I walked ten or twelve blocks, hitting a few spaces in Southeast that I'd been meaning to visit and hadn't gotten around to (including ADX, which is a makerspace with welding setups!) and then walking across the Burnside Bridge.

I've always been kind of fascinated by bridges, but I've recently gotten to know someone who's very into the history and physics of them and so lately I've been paying more attention to the personalities each bridge has. Originally I would have said that there was just the spirit of a city and then maybe a spirit associated with any major features, like a mountain or a river. Portlandia even has a statue - the second largest hammered copper statue in the US - and both the Columbia and the Willamette have their own personalities, but I've learned that lots more things do, too. I guess I'm becoming more animist? Now that I'm paying attention, I see personalities in bridges, parks, other major structures, even specific buildings.

Of course, lots of traditional beliefs hold the opinion that every tree or the like has its own spirit, so it makes sense that there would be lots of smaller spirits.