I used one of the city’s public restrooms, the “Portland Loo”, and saw a sign pointing me to the restroom’s website, with a notice to follow the “Portland Loo” on twitter and facebook.

Why does the Portland Loo have a web presence?  Yes, these things are preferable to the public restrooms which tend to turn into dens of drug dealing — but Does this web presence serve any functioning purpose to its mission? 

In the late 1990s I was always musing that the web’s not where it needs to be, that we’re going to have to be moving away from a technologlical imperative of staring at a screen in a central location eventually.  That’s an evolving proposition, of course, but today I suppose now in the early teens my thought is that  the web’s not there yet, because it is perfunctory to set up social media feeds to allow people to follow a public restroom.

“The People are finally waking up.”

I never trust anyone who says “The People are waking up”.  It suggests merely a perceived sway of political fortunes in their direction from a parcel of insanity — on a level that has never been seen in the history of America or the World.

“You mean Occupy?” I ask, obligingly.

“That’s part of it.  But no.  The people are buying guns.  Oregon alone had a record gun sale this year.  They’re getting ready.”
“Hm.”
“And they’ve gotten to Obama.  And make no mistake, Obama isn’t on our side… he’s with someone else.  The people have forced him to veto this bill passed by Congress which would set up internment camps.  This is real.  It’s not opinion.  It’s real.”
“OK.”
“That President.  He almost signed away our sovereignty at Coppenhagen.  He would have done so if he could have gotten away with it.  But he didn’t.  The People wouldn’t let him.  This was 2009.  Long before Occupy.”
“OK.”
“Because it’s the guns.”

I pass by a telephone pole with an odd image of Obama.  I guess.  “President Obama holds a press conference on the illegal activities of the Northwest Wacko Cult”.  I cannot really place this message politically.  I think it’s anti-Obama (elected off of style and image and with chants of “Yes We Can”, etc, while doing Wall Street’s bidding)… but it’s not really clear.  This competes against the latest iteration of a kind of obviously more Democratic Party activist who has moved back from some Perry jibes to … Romney… above the question “Who Let the Dogs Out?” — which is a reference to a forgotten piece of racial awkwardness from the 2008 campaign, and perhaps too an awkward dog travelling incident.

A boy, wearing a green hat which is shaped like a firefighter’s hat, is playing on playground equipment, and yells to his mom.  “Mommy.  I want to go back home so I can put on my [did not catch] costume!”

Mom affirms the child’s wishes.  “In a few minutes.”  I assume she would go home shortly anyway, but it’s good that she’s in accord with her kid.

Green hat kid is with a friend.  They run around the tunnel, which is apparently their gateway — or the hatted kid’s gateway — in and out of “Mushroom Land”.

His friend walks in, and announces that he is now in “Mushroom Land!”

“No you’re not.  You just walked out of Mushroom Land!  You go through there to enter Mushroom Land!”

I identify with this gate-keeper.  There have to rules and designations of what constitutes “Mushroom Land”. Otherwise, I’d be able to claim I’m in Mushroom Land right now.

But where does this “Mushroom Land” come from?  Retro-Mario Bros. fans (yes, you’re getting old — we can now call “Mario Bros” “retro”)?  Is there a piece of literature they enjoyed the other day set in “Mushroom Land”?  Or do they just enjoy the sound of “M” running against “ush” and then finished with that “Oom”?

Less likely, but a possibility — they picked up on older siblings’ drug habits.  I suppose this kid will move out of his “Mushroom Land” phase in a fortnight — heck!  It might just end when he puts on his costume when he gets home — but may just return in, let’s see… I peg him as age 7, so… he’ll return to “Mushroom Land” in, like 7… 8 years?

The Obama 2012 bumper sticker — and unlike the first time I saw the first t-shirt I did not bother to note the first time I saw the first bumper sticker —

“Hope and Change Are Working Out Quite Well, Thanks for Asking”.

Hm.  It’s a little too defensive for its own good, isn’t it?  I understand the thrusts of the Obama 2012 argument, but that bumper sticker slogan needs work.

Meantime — isn’t it about time to remove the “Impeach Bush” bumper sticker?  Or the Kerry / Edwards 2004 one?

In other items of interest — I saw the Scientologists peddle Dianectus machinery “tests” at a table outside Saturday Market.  It was just a few feet away from a Fortune Teller.

Someone should do an inventory of where “Anarchist symbol” graffiti shows up around town.  I take it that the Anarchists are claiming various items of public and private property — freeing them.  A “Portland Tribune” box down South.  A dumpster downtown.  There seems to be an upsurge, but maybe I’m just noticing them right this moment for some reason.

This is what Anarchy is all about!

………………

I caught the core of the Friday evening anti-war marchers — the part that remains, that makes some mincemeat off of the idea that Obama has exposed and showed the “anti-war movement” as a pack of partisan hacks.  They chanted a familiar slogan — “US Out of Afghanistan!  Can We Do It?” — bullhorn man.  “Yes we can!” — not in sync.  Generally speaking, the smaller these things, the more visible the “Zionist Control US” sign is — by dent of how few people there are here.  I believe the “Protest Warriors” — the Conservative pro-war Republicans who marches with the protesters waving sarcastic signs and chanting sarcastically, have shriveled away as well — I suppose in wait for the Romney Administration and the ensuing dying of the “Tea Party”.

The thing I wondered about with the “US Out of Afghanistan!” line — where’s Libya?  Still, even down to an upper single digit number — mildly attached the Democratic Party and not getting at one part of the Administration’s participation in war policy.

……………..

A group of, I guess I can say, stereotypical gay teenagers is walking through Powells.  I could elaborate and describe, but it might be too embarrassing for me, I don’t know… certain things pop out of “Queer Culture”.

They pass a book either on or by Michele Obama.  “God I hate her”, and call her some name or other — might be simply “a bitch”.  It’s based on the “nanny state” idea — her anti-obesity and junk food lobbying.  The one that has it as top line headlines on Drudge when she’s seen eating a hamburger.

I muse some thing over — hypocrisy over government nudgings, and given this group — The First Spouse of President Michele Bachmann will outdo First Lady Michele Obama on more serious grounds, won’t he?  (Not that Bachmann  is going to be President, but she’ll likely come in second against Romney.)

Smug looking Yuppie looking man on phone:  “I’ll have to reach back and get him.  He was the co-CEO of myspace.  Though, I haven’t seen him in a couple of years.”

I’m happy to say the thought popped in my mind then and not later — though, I naturally didn’t say it out loud: “Maybe you can catch up with him on facebook!”

Overheard… by a group of hipsters.

“We could get this covered in the Mercury.”
“Hey!  I know Aaron Mesh.  At least, kind of.  Met him.”

I hate this town sometimes.
Well, I suppose that guy has connections.  He has juice with Aaron Mesh.  He has… real Aaron Mesh Juice.

I’ll be sure to note if I see the grouping appear in a Portland Mercury story written by Aaron Mesh.  I assume this is how the media works, right?

Once again, an item of incongruity from whoever sticks the “At Least they Create Jobs.  Seriously” sticker on Willamette Week boxes.

I do note that the last time I made note of the sticker, it read “realy” instead of “seriously”.  No idea why the word change.

The cover story, and the logical item the sticker would be pointing to == it’s an interesting piece, I’ll give you that…

The sticker means to defend this guy, and if so… how is this guy creating jobs?

Odd moment that pops up and deserves a ponder.

I come up to a cross-walk.  The sign is on red, “don’t walk”.  There is no traffic.  Ordinarily I would go ahead and jay-walk BUT…

right behind me is a gaggle of children, being led by their school teacher or other temporary guardian.  Who are waiting.

I have no choice but to be a good citizen and example and wait for the crosswalk to change.  So I wait.

In this case, for a long, long time.

Maybe I should just walk ahead.  Give the children a lesson that when they get older, they’ll recognize the nuances of crossing the street — when to junk the rules.  I wouldn’t think about it except — apparently I was stalled right at the beginning of the stop mode and hence the long, long time.