How much is enough?

Last week, despite coming off four days of intense sleep and sloth, I was tired.  Tired, tired, tired.  Tired.  I got a boost of energy after getting my new air purifier in place -- my eyes started to feel less like pink sponges of blindness and more like actual eyeballs -- but still.  Tired. 

Friday I went to bed at a reasonable time, around ten I think, and I slept.  I slept until 1:00 p.m. Saturday.  Then I got up.... and relocated to the sofa where I did stay awake but did not do a whole helluva lot more than that.  By Saturday afternoon, I was bored.  Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.  It was too much nothing, even for me. 

I went to bed a little after midnight (before the time change) and was easily up by 8:30 (after the time change).  I had to do something. 

So something I did.  First I paid bills, then I voted.  Then I got showered and dressed and drove to the county elections office to drop off my ballot (Oregon is all vote by mail).  Civic duty all done, I drove around the corner (ish) to the Max (commuter train) station where I purchased an all day, all zone pass and waited for a train. 

My goal:  the Oregon Convention Center, where the Title Nine annual blowout sale and the Body Mind Spirit expo was happening.  Didn't know about either of those?  Clearly you are not reading the Oregon Convention Center website.  Which for some reason I was, a few weeks ago. 

The Title Nine sale was just a bunch of long tables with many boxes of clothes, shoes, and accessories.  For fairly dirt freaking cheap, considering their normal prices.  Bras?  $19.  Coats?  Most for $49.  Skorts and skirts?  $19.  Tank tops.  Short sleeve tees.  Long sleeve tees.  Capri pants (non-running, unfortunately). 

Oh, and all for an additional 20% off those prices. 

Sadly, I left empty handed.  I found some really cute running skirts but they were -- believe it or not -- too big.  The undershorts were fine for the most part, the skirt length was great, but the waistband on the skirt was loose.  I could tell that once I started sweating it would be really loose.  Maybe I'll have better luck at next year's sale.

So off I went to the Body Mind Spirit expo.  It's actually sort of a local event, having gotten its start in Ashland, and I've been once before here in Portland but years ago.  It is all very woo-woo.  More hard core woo-woo then I'm into.  I like the jewelry, I like aromatherapy and candles.  I don't like the readings.  I believe in a sixth sense, but readings make me jittery.  

There wasn't much at the expo I was interested in.  Some really nice and expensive jewelry.  Some not quite so nice but still expensive jewelry.  I ended up buying a chunk of Himalayan salt and this:

Which made the entire trip worthwhile.  This gal makes mostly custom pieces and not a lot of the off the rack stuff, so to speak.  In other words, I very much doubt that I'm going to see anybody else wearing a necklace like this ever. 

I capped off my day by a free trip to the Portland Art Museum to see their Greek Body Beautiful exhibit.  Once a month, Bank of America customers get free admission to the museum.  Turns out that Sunday was a free for everybody day.  Lots of people, lots of kids, but outside of the Body Beautiful exhibit not so much.  It was the first time I'd been through the Native American art exhibit which is amazing.  The Jesus room -- what I called the room with many paintings of Madonna and Child and various crucifixion and saint depictions -- kept me in a fit of giggles.  I wish I'd taken pictures.  It wasn't the religious depictions, although apparently there is this saint who converted to Christianity after encountering a stag in the woods, said stag having the crucifixion in between his antlers.  Picture it:  Big deer, foot long Jesus on a cross in beween his horns.  That guy converted to Christianity.  I would've suggested giving up drinking and drugs.  Anyhow, what legitimately cracked me up was that the perspective of a lot of the people in the paintings was skewed.  Like Baby Jesus's head that was about eight inches round but his facial features were maybe an inch and a half wide.  Encephalitis Jesus.   That artist maybe should've written a poem to show his devotion instead.   In another painting, I learned Baby John the Baptist had two lazy eyes.  One was a lot like a parietal eye on a lizard, looking back around his right ear.  The other was aimed towards his left eyebrow or maybe the Madonna.  It was freaky. 

And nowhere was the Baby Jesus hung.  You'd think, being all paintings by male artists, they would've embellished things for the Baby Jesus.  Helped out his rep a little.  But no.  The scariest was Baby Jesus's bris.  There was blood.  Lots of blood.  And what looked like an exacto knife.  In the background was a woman -- not the Madonna -- who is looking directly out of the canvas with this expression like "Hey, not my idea!" 

I had to leave the room so that I could stop laughing before I cried.  So going to hell.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl