This Month

2007

SNAP COUNTRY USA
WHY READ THE INTERNET
ANYWHERE ELSE

DING

June 30

So: Something that is both a surprise to you and me is that I will actually be working at camp this summer. This is something that will be part of my celebration of Oregon, rather than my initially planned celebration of Portland. I am excited about camp because I have not worked at camp in years, and it is the best job I could really ever hope for.

Last night Kelly had a dinner party and we processed a knuckle of sirloin into feast portions of burgers and beef stew. If you are a vegetarian, and you recently started eating meat again, large investments of beef can be daunting. A knuckle, for those that don't frequent the meat counter, is the size of a large turkey. We went to the Original Steer House on 122nd and bought over 12 pounds of top sirloin, soaking in blood, sealed in plastic. Also we bought a couple of steaks wrapped in bacon, held together with a skewer. I guess we forgot to eat those. Anyway, we kind of hit a wall when we realized that the meat grinder we bought in South Dakota wasn't really giving us the ground beef we sought. It was giving us mush. And mush is not a burger. So Kelly had to make a plan B in the night, and B is for Beef Stew, and it was AWESOME. Cubes of little beef! Browned with onions! And then cooked in a stew with wine and stock! And then potatoes!

Also we ended up saving half the knuckle, and I cut it up with a huge knife and my hands! I borrowed my parents' food processor and put the meat in it right before the party, and made ground beef that way, and then I put in salt and pepper and ketchup and steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce and an egg and bread crumbs and hot sauce and THEN I mixed it up with my hands. And then Ben and his friend from Milwaukie and I lit the grill, and we put the burgers on it, and it was just delightful. I can't believe I ate so much beef. Ahhhh.

Anyway, I have to get ready to go to camp now because I'm old and I have to remember how to work there. Do I know how to swim? Where are my gay looking hiking pants? Do I have socks? What is my name?

PS Yesterday my brother met Mark Hoppus at Music Millenium.

June 29

The last couple of days I have been thinking about Mr. Rogers, because I saw a video of him talking to congress in 1969 about funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Then I saw another video of him saying goodbye, and it made me have a lot of feelings. I told my mom about how sad I was that he died because he was so great about telling kids that it was ok to express feelings, and that he likes you just the way you are. Which is amazing! My mom then told me that "of course he said that, because he never had to meet you."

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE MAD THAT YOU FEEL.


Also here are a bunch of pictures from my trip. I finally got a portion of the photos processed and they put the photos on a cd. I don't really "care" about Flickr like I think some other people do but if you like larger pictures you can look at this directory, which I called "sea," as in "Sea to Shining Sea." My g-ma wrote me letters in the month before I drove away and at the end of each of them wrote that she could not wait for my journey from sea to shining sea. I hope that you like pictures, because there are a lot of them.

June 21

Hey guys - Kelly & I drove across the country and we got back to Oregon over a week ago, but I am just not keeping up on my internetting, I guess. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and a lot of miles. (Miles of smiles?) And we took pictures.





Since I've been home I got a bike and Ben and I played Battleship today. Ben sank my battleship. Also I saw Grindhouse againnnnn. It's just the best.


I really like this video, and I don't care what you say. I think it is because Lil Mama is excellent, and Ben and I have been listening to Avril's new album in the car on top volumes since he came back to the USA.

You can't comment but you could email me. Sorry.