"Wait, you were gone!?"
Yes, my friend. Yes I was. My darling dearest and I, Cynthia, went on an adventure to experience the almost complete contrast to this flat land home of Texas. That place was Oregon. We left in June of 2015 and just arrive home, safe and sound on the first week of January.
Portland was good to us.
I nailed a steady job at a commercial print shop. Mainly signage for big furniture retail stores, but such a great bunch of people to work with at Moso Graphics. I did pre-press (a fancy name for making things print ready), challenging at first, but then got the hang of it by asking a crap ton of questions.
Cynthia had a plethora of awesome work experiences too I'm so proud of her, she really hustled for some great opportunities while in Portland. From a downtown spot to a miles away from town wilderness art camp on a beautiful lake, I hear.
There were definitely some things I had to get used to fast.
- Commuting to work across the city was no picnic the first six months.
- The Sun! OMG i never thought I'd miss the sun so much. You feel it too. Later i learned that feeling was something called Vitamin D Deficiency!
- Unlike Austin, there's hardly a main strip of venues and attractions you can visit to get your fill of nightlife. There are all encompassing little districts spread all across town. Each with its own feel and range of awesome.
.:more pics:.
In the end...
We had a ton of fun. No regrets. There were times when the city pushed, but we pushed back and made strides. Having and helping each other along the way. We saw and experienced things that we had never, and could never, here in Texas.
It's still settling in and took a week or so to really kick back in that we were home. I even picked up a few shifts back at Music Lab to keep steady. I don't know what my immediate plans are, but i know I want to make more use of my time and create more than I have been these past few seasons. I've made plenty of excuses for myself and shunted my hands and creativity. My greatest enemy is execution....but i'm trying to get better about it. Better, in this case, meaning breaking through my overtly laid plans.
ps. I want to do more of these.
Credits:
All photography was taken by Lorenzo Garcia