I'm not as clever as you all give me credit for. I appreciate it, but as an English teacher, I need to give credit where it is due. "Decreasing world suck" is not a term I came up with: www.fightworldsuck.org has been around for a while and each year the Project for Awesome raises money and a worldwide community votes to give the resources to causes that they vote for. My sincerest thanks for the benefit of the doubt you all gave me, but the odds are that my clever phrases are allusions to the Nerdfighter community or some obscure literary icon. [...]

We went a different way home from Starbucks. Sarah found a landmark in the skyline, and we worked our way back through other slopes in the city until we found the Main Street that leads back to REHAB.[...]

This is my story, this is my song. Sometimes the plot is hard to follow, or the melody is difficult to hear, but I have a blessed assurance none the less. [...]

Yesterday I caught my doctor in the hall and asked if I could have permission to go with Sarah into the city for a couple hours this afternoon. He said yes with no hesitation, and before the end of the day, I had a signed pass for my first outing outside of REHAB. There was no hesitation in my choice of location.[...]

I woke up this morning ready for coffee as usual and feeling no more energized than normal though just as determined as ever. I ate my breakfast at a leisurely pace, and after a nurse helped me wash in bed and put my socks on, she left me with my clothes and a handy tool from the occupational therapy department to help me dress myself. I spent the next several minutes methodically dangling my pants in front of my feet and maneuvering my feet into the appropriate holes before reaching out and pulling my pants up and rolling side to side to get them all the way over my hips. My shirt is no problem now that I have the freedom to sit up on my own in bed. The new obstacle this morning was to put on my shoes myself. I practiced once with Isabelle, but it was a long and laborious process.[...]

This summer I met a delightful Canadian couple, and when I introduced myself as being from Portland, Oregon, the woman giggled.
"My wife isn't laughing at you," the husband quickly explained, "we've just finished watching two seasons of Portlandia on Netflix."
"Ahh," I smiled understandingly.
"Is it really like that?" The woman sheepishly asked, almost embarrassed to think such a caricature could be grounded in truth but desperate to know from a genuine source.
"Actually, yes. It's almost exactly like that. In fact, when the show first came out, I was shocked to discover people did not put birds on things and call them art. My roommate from Reno, Nevada had to explain to me that was a distinctly Portlandian thing to do."[...]

Really, it's a wonder I haven't had a more literarily inspired post sooner. Anyone who has ever heard me mention any book has seen my face ignited with passion as I expound on some literary wonder. If you don't like reading, well, honestly, what are you doing reading a blog, but consider this your warning that I'm about to set off on a highly "LAD" inspired post. That is to say, these are the thoughts I would have once shared with just myself (L), Amanda, and Desiree as we mutually got excited about the wonders revealed about the universe through quality literature.[...]

Every action has consequences and effects, some more far reaching than others. Some little things end up having huge influence. My life has several such examples - like going rock climbing with friends in the middle of January.[...]

Like any human, I have limits, and yesterday was an opportunity to find mine. Take your arms and hold them in front of you; now bend your torso forward. Did you fall over? Probably not, but yesterday I discovered my abs couldn't hold me up in that position.[...]

I have been a Blazers fan since I knew how to walk. I have a running list of reasons Robin Lopez is my favorite player, and five or more may or may not be related to our shared love of Powell's City of Books. This is bigger than my favorite number being three from the time I learned it was Cliff Robinson's number until I read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Guess what number RoLo wears? That's reason #2 on my list of why he's my favorite. I love Sideshow Rob more than Robinson, more than Sabonis, more than even Derek Anderson - the only athlete to ever make it up on my bedroom wall in poster form. I mean, have you seen Fropez dunk? This guy is unstoppable in the key, and his greatest aspiration is to have a cameo in the sequel to The Goonies. He never says die.[...]