it's nice for danny that the weather so far this week hasn't been as awful as was predicted on sunday. danny is visiting from pittsburgh. he moved there after a couple of years in portland, but it wasn't the climate that made him leave.
i ran into danny on sunday afternoon while waiting out the rain over a pint and the puzzle, halfway between home and the starbucks on barbur where the papers are free. more correctly, i ran into a friend who was waiting for danny, who had planned for the two of them and a couple of others to attend a "gay easter egg hunt" that evening. events like that one are probably what danny misses most about portland, although i didn't think to ask him if the kids in pittsburgh, the portland of the east (and so, effectively, the real berlin, pennsylvania), had gotten hip to that particular hep jive. i did, however, ask him how he liked his new city.
"my rent is so cheap. i'm paying a hundred dollars to share a house with a friend who bought it for something like thirty-five thousand. before that i was paying two-something for a giant bedroom at another place." then, tellingly, "it's nicer than i expected to be surrounded by people that aren't exactly like me," which, on top of commending pittsburgh's relative diversity, is another way of saying that the thrift stores there are cheap and aren't picked over.
rents in portland certainly don't rival those of any of the other major cities on the west coast, but they also aren't as low as they should be considering the city's self-styled reputation as a bohemian paradise -- or considering the ever restrictive employment situation. "i really like my job [in pittsburgh]," danny told me. "and i'm too old and fussy to spend a bunch of time [in portland] fighting for someone to finally get around to looking at my résumé so that i might get considered for washing dishes." danny didn't deliver that last statement with any gesture of innuendo, so i couldn't assume he was referencing any comment that had been written here, although i'm happy to take credit for evolving the meme.
the important thing is the jobs in pittsburgh. jobs that people really like. danny is blazing an important trail here, and he's been gracious enough to come back for a visit to let everyone still left in portland know about the next best place. our mutual friend started talking about chicago. there's a tech school there! go learn about electronics and get a a job in pittsburgh! portland is burning, and strangely, the rain just makes it worse. but don't worry, we'll hold it down somehow after you're gone.
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