i love being boring

i think i've been drinking way too much coffee every morning. that, or my eyes have already become adjusted to the low light of portland's usually cloudy skies and these strange, intensely sunny days we've been having here lately have been causing a my head to hurt. i just feel so tired every morning when i get to work; it feels like the cool night temperature has frozen my brain into a sludge and i can't think. so i drink a ton of coffee and by the time i feel awake around noon or so, my head begins really aching. when i ride my bike home in the afternoon, my headache lets up a little and i enjoy the sunlight and the weather. yesterday it was sixty degrees here in portland. i went for a jog. opened all the windows in the house. drank beer in the sunlight and fell asleep on the couch. went i woke up, my headache had returned. i really can't nap; i always wake up feeling mean and groggy and in pain.

but despite my headache after falling asleep yesterday afternoon, i did manage to scrap myself out of bed last night, throw on my coat, and bike down to helen and garrett's to meet booth. helen made us some indian food for dinner, and i stopped by whole foods on my ride down to pick up some wine. the food was delicious. i thought it was prepared perfectly and i really don't understand how helen knows how to cook so well. i generally get too distracted to cook well. and i have no sense of what would taste good with what when i'm cooking. i need to stick to recipes. however, i really wish i could make the meal helen made for us last night; i'd probably eat it every week if i could. indian food is some of my favorite.

and helen and garrett are some of my favorite people. this is the second time the four of us have met up for some dinner. i like sitting around on a weekday night and chilling with others, drinking wine and talking. it's good to see another face other than booth's, whose face i obviously see everyday more or less. and on these week day dates, there's no pressure, no heavy drinking. i can have a few glasses of wine, hang out with helen, garrett, and booth, then go to bed. it's hard enough to wake up so early as it is; i really can't afford to go out and get crazy during the week.

the other people i really love are actually the interpreters i talk to on the phone everyday. as i connect calls to these men and women sitting all over the country ready to talk to spanish and french and punjabi and somali and oromo speakers, i come to have favorite interpreters and get to know their personalities a little. like we have two interpreters named guadalupe, but i know which prefers to be called "lupe" on the phone, although now the other refers to herself lupe too when she calls to tell me something. and today teresa called to tell me her son had to go to the emergency room last night because he was in a carwreck; fortunately the child only has whiplash, but the car is totaled apparently. some interpreters tell me about the weather in the part of the country in which they live. one new interpreter lives in birmingham, alabama and i always want to say, "i just moved from birmingham!" every time i talk to her. and one woman screams at me every time i call her. it's strange how these people i talk so sparingly to have distinct personalities for me and how much it seems sometimes like i really know them.