GabrielMathews.com | Biological Log

I am so absolutely thankful to the universe for iLan and Vanessa. They really get me. They get me in such a way that it hurts my heart and head to be away from them for too long. I suppose I should keep them around as I am selfish like that…8)

I am officiating their wedding soon. I’m going to lose myself in that experience for sure.

Saturday, May 1, 2010 was one of the most resplendent and soothing days that I can remember having in a long time.

I woke up at 10:15a to a shuffling best friend doing his normal morning routine while I gave the morning a stretch. I sleep very well on his futon.

We waited for his fiance, and my friend Vanessa to come about. We decided to go to a place, that as I couldn’t see what it was called on iLan’s monitor, I called Baby Cafe but later found out to be called Macrina Bakery and Cafe.

We waited outside and snacked on some pastries. I had a “Rocket Muffin” which was composed of an amazing strawberry preserve. So moist and delicious. We were finally seated about a half hour later. Famished and drooling we sat at the bar and ogled the menu. I chose the “Market Special” which was 2 eggs over easy, peas and onions with baked gnocchi, a salad, and some fantastic bread with more of that awesome preserve. iLan had a sub-satisfying granola, and Vanessa had a waffle that I could’ve grown old with. It was ginger infused and amazing. I recommend stopping by and having a nibble if you are ever there.

After breakfast, we drove back to the house for a brief stretch before heading out. I should say this now: The biggest part of what made the day so wonderful was the fact that both of these lovely people wouldn’t spill any of the destinations we were headed to. With that, I couldn’t have any set expectations, as much as I probed, and was thereby forced to just enjoy the journey.

With both of my kites, Louis and Carlos packed in the trunk, and a flashlight equipped for whatever reason that I wasn’t told, we drove to the Edmonds Kingston Ferry. What a spectacular first stop. The ride is maybe only 25-30 minutes, but just enough to relax, enjoy the air, and really take in some amazing views of the Sound. When we got to the other side, we drove into Kingston for a slice of pizza and a cup of coffee before continuing on.

Elton John played songs while I dozed in and out, feeling the travel, seeing green landscapes. Another pit stop. We swung by V’s old grandparents area and scoped some nice views, hung out on a wobbly dock, and drove through what used to be forest; now retirement residence.

Continuing on, we finally pulled into Fort Townsend. We parked the car, and walked a path up a hill. Still not sure what was happening, I kept joking that they were taking me to the woods to shoot me. Not exactly. Instead they surprised me with an amazing abandoned Naval base on a bluff! We explored all sorts of little pocket buildings before heading atop the base, which was a beautiful field. Perfect for flying kites and catching a spectacular view of the water as well as a couple bald eagles. We flew Carlos and Louis for about an hour or so before I was told we had to go or we’d be late…

More mystery.

We packed up the kites, headed back to the car and back to the ferry. While we waited for the ferry, we ran out the car and grabbed some amazing iced cream. I had lavender with honey. *swoony pants!*

Finally the ferry came, we boarded, played a little hide and seek, and then de-boarded. We then drove back to the house, iLan asked me what I packed to wear. I told him jeans, underwear, shirts, etc. He seemed a little sighish before retreating to the bedroom. Through the door I heard mumblings of, “I don’t know if he can wear that”…”Maybe these?”…”He can wear mine”…

I chuckled at my curiosity. Finally we got back in the car and drove to our destination. Getting wound through an industrial complex, I was back to joking about them plotting to kill me before finally iLan surrendered to asking me to tell him if I saw anything awesome around while we drove. We got a little turned around before finally pulling into a parking lot. A giant building was in my peripheral vision. I caught a glimpse of an open garage door and nearly emptied my bladder in excitement. A freaking warehouse filled with trampolines!! I completely forgot that I had just said on Twitter a few days before how I really wanted to go to a trampoline house. Vanessa had taken it upon herself to plan an amazing surprise. Needless to say I was like a kid at Christmas. I was a little hesitant at first, but after seeing everyone having such a great time, I “jumped” right in. The building was subdivided into a birthday area, a dodge-ball area, open jumping, a foam pit for doing crazy flips, and a supervised area for kids 8 and under.
I felt really old when I had a passing thought of, “Sheesh, insurance for this place must be pretty expensive.” The old guy in me took a backseat almost immediately after my second or third bound off the bouncy walls. I did front flips, side flips, back-ish flips, and face-plants into the foam pit. I’m still sore from how much jumping occurred. 2 hours later we left, and I had burned, in my approximation, 60000 calories. Hunger had set in.

We then retreated to Safeway for snacks, drinks, the works. The night ended watching old Sealab cartoons from Adult Swim and eating nachos. I passed out almost immediately.

That concludes one of the most beautiful days of my life.

Later Taters.

-G

Next up: Spunky Monkey Junky

Portland, Oregon, 8am-”I forgot my camera…shit.”, I thought to myself while waiting for my flight out of Portland. My connection in Seattle was an easy one.

Fast forward. Michigan-8pm greeted by my step mom, brother, and Dad, we quickly exited the airport. I wasn’t feeling too hot. A combination of stress from the flight and work plus low blood sugar. I was starved. We wound up at a local seafood place. I had crab legs and crab cakes. Talked with the folks about life and times in Portland while intermittently accosting my brother with mouthing his forehead. It made for good laughs.

That night, I unpacked, claimed the couch, and passed out.

In the morning, I woke up, got some coffee with dad, Priscilla, and Zack. We were in search for a rental car for myself. Apparently this year was hard for a lot of people to find rentals. Eventually the Enterprise on Woodward and 13 mile was available to give me a good car. A Lincoln Towncar to be exact. Thank goodness for my charm…and my corporate discount…the normal price was close to 125 dollars a day. The representative gave me the car for $64 a day! Quite a deal.

Later I wound up at my old friend Tommy’s dad’s place as he was cutting lengths of metal stock for the family business. It was great to get to talk to him and hear him decompress about life and love. We wound up going back to his house and playing Left 4 Dead 2 and coffee bombing at Ram’s Horn. It was like old times…minus him salting my coffee when I wasn’t looking….;) After a while we picked up his wifey and hung out a little longer before I had to go home and catch some more “Z’s”.

Christmas eve I woke up and quickly left the house. I had to get gifts. I suck at getting gifts. I hate bringing gifts on the plane…so I usually default to gift cards. Be warned. I finished up earlier than I thought I was going to so I had time to grab some lunch. I found this great little crepe place called “What Crepe?” AWESOME crepes. I had a spinach, prosciutto, and cream cheese crepe followed by a dessert of strawberry, cinnamon, and butter crepe. I creped my pants…hahahah..ha..yeah…anywho.

The night was punctuated by my annual ass-kicking. This is where my sister Sierra invites me out to pool…then stomps me while giving me some updates on how her life is playing out. It was nice to hang. We wound up back at Ram’s Horn…drinking coffee, laughing, and gorging on salt and butter. It was great. I dropped her off at her house and headed back to the loft for even more “Z’s”.

Christmas morning was kind of special to me this year. As Zack has come to be under the impression that there is, in fact, no such thing as a “Santa Claus” there is more excuse and reason for him to sleep in…which means so do I. I made it to 830. It felt a little off not having Sierra and Adam not there in the morning. Sierra eventually came by around 5pm for AMAZING sausage soup and salad. She unwrapped gifts, hung out for a bit, then left. It was good to see her. The evening wrapped up with talks with the family, watching the movie “Up”, and having some reflection time. I slept well that night.

Saturday morning I was really excited. I got to drive up to Midland, Michigan and visit my friend Kate. I am a bit socially retarded (no offense Pearl) so I didn’t give Kate quite the heads up that she needed. So when I called to tell her I was in Midland, “What? Right now?…” It was funny. I didn’t know where she lived so I was waiting to meet up with her in a parking lot on the other side of town. While she got ready I went to a dollar store that was moving and liquidating and bought her a rubber monkey. It was pretty cloudy out. When she pulled up, like magic and metaphor, the clouds broke way and the sun filled the Midland Town Center Parking lot. I gave her a big hug and we said our hellos. We drove to a coffee shop, talked life, laughed and smiled. We then went to the Midland mall and tried to find a safe quiet spot at Barnes and Noble to talk more. We wound up sitting in those crappy black massage chairs that molest you for a dollar. It must have been serendipity that I had 2 one dollar bills in my pocket. We sat, received robot molestations, and decided to grab a bite. By the time it was time for me to go back south to Royal Oak, the sun was setting. She felt it obligation to give me something for the rubber monkey…so she scoured her front seat and center console of her car. She gave me a CD with Trespassers William on it. I hadn’t heard of them before, now I play it constantly. If Mazzy Starr and Beth Gibbons did a side project, it would be Trespassers William. I highly recommend it.

I drove home, drunk on my friends hug and interaction. I decided to drive around a bit longer before winding up at my favorite Michigan establishment, Andary’s. I texted Tommy that I was there and he should come. He brought Jackie and his nephew Andrew. I haven’t seen that kid since 1999 when he was 2. Holy smokes time flies. We went back to his house and played Wii and I enjoyed the company until it was time to once again retire.

Sunday morning, I had a breakfast date with my good friend Sarah and her daughter. We caught up, smiled, talked some more and then it was time for me to head back to the house. Adam had made it in so we had a second Christmas dinner with some family friends. Artists Greg Z. and Mark Arminski made great dinner conversation. It was a beautiful night. At last minute I decided to go catch up with some old stage crew friends from high school. It was a great end to the night.

In the morning I casually prepared for the trip home. I made it to the airport around 230p to allow plenty of time in the airport security dance I figured I’d have to do. Overall the commute home went smooth. I even talked to a stranger on the plane! Social Experiment_004 complete!

It is good to be back in PDX. I need some mental digestion time though. My head is in the clouds still. You can check out the sketches I made starting here.

Have a great evening everyone.

~G

Freebird is blairing into my skull via headphones right now. Kinda nice chill morning today. Let me recap the People’s party first.

I left for Eric, Brett, and Keri’s house at about 645p Friday for the presidential debate gathering. I got a bit lost thanks to my lack of trust in the map system. I wound up getting there at about 710p. No worries though, I wound up listening to the first 1/3 on NPR on the way in. We were all huddled around the TV and the gang were all doing a drink everytime Barack looked over at Mccain or Mccain cordelled at some sny comment. I got wated on Perrier and veggie chips…ha!

After the debate we all retreated to the back yard with a fire, conversation, Keri’s drumming w/Eric’s interpretive dance, and also Eric’s amazing cheerleader skill(z).

I went home with a smile and passed out a little after midnight.

This morning I got up at 7a after a bit of noise from the kitty. (Stevie Wonder_sunshine of my life playing now) Fell back asleep for another 4 hours. After waking up a bit I got ready for the day, I did a little research on places for good breakfast. Beulahland located at 118 NE 28th did the trick. (Police_Every step you take) They screwed up my order but I didn’t care, I just wanted something in the tummy. 2 eggs scrambled, egg bacon spinach hash, english muffin, bagel and cream cheese…yumcakes. T’was nice. I then hunted down a mailbox and continued on. I went down by the train tracks, Columbia Art Supply, and through the local Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood.

Now I’m at Urban Grind East-

Eating a big ass cookie, drinking IZZE blackberry and planning out the rest of my day. (Police_Roxanne) I am either going to keep biking till my legs fall off and eat a big bowl of fruit for dinner or go to a club per 2 posts ago.

The flickr pix from my day so far start here.

I’ll probably post again tonight to let you know how the rest of the day went. (Tears for Fears_Everybody wants to rule the world)

OUT.