I choked a little on the rents of some of those lovely downtown Portland apartments, but we ended up finding a place that's completely worth it. I will never have to get on the highway to go to the grocery store again. Oh, hooray new apartment and your gorgeous amenities. And elevator! Did I mention that the Cincy place was a fourth floor walk-up? Not too bad in general but unpleasant when bringing home groceries (and a bitch for the movers).

The Dolphin II has been fairly good to me so far with only one shift being truly bad. And, really, Portland guys, you're great. You can have conversations that don't involve NASCAR and don't use racial slurs in casual conversation. It's a pleasure to talk to you. I especially had a blast yesterday with one fella who came in in the late afternoon and pretty much saved my day. It's so great; I'm so much happier when the customers entertain me and pay me, too. Hah.

Of course there is still lots of entertaining talk in the dressing room, though I am going to have to save one particular anecdote as it would be really cruel for anyone to hear it and then come looking for this dancer.

I haven't gotten reprimanded on the couch again, so I suppose I'm following the rules, whatever the hell they are. It's like a combination back-rub/lap-sit except you can't really sit on the guy's lap. Oh, hell, I can't explain them, you'd better just try one. It's definitely different from any other kind of table/lap/couch dance I've ever done, and I've even actually danced on top of tables.

I'll be heading to Austin on Monday and will work a few shifts at XTC while I'm there, so Austin folks, come on out and say howdy. Bring me some ribs and enchiladas, too.

It's already looking like another travel-heavy few months:

Dec: Austin for the holidays
Jan: Pasadena (Rose Bowl!), back to TX for sister's wedding
Feb: Possibly England for some Julian Cope shows
Mar: Again with the ATX for SXSW

(another great thing about being in Oregon, when you tell people you're from Texas, they're all, oh, man, you don't like Bush, do you? instead of being all oh, Bush country, yeah.)