What I've learned in Mark Baumgarten's attic/bedroom, stoned, tonight: I really am an eternal sucker for women who look like my old girlfriend A, except even more innocent. Welcome to Portland indeed. Edit: In light of some confusion, let me clarify this: I saw a waitress at a bar who resembled said ex-, and was mooning stupidly over her when I wrote that--which I did on Mark's dare, actually. Sorry, nothing actually happened to me in Portland in that manner, though you can always wish, right?

Something else I learned: I like an Arcade Fire song--"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" I think is the one--a lot. I've only played that record once all the way through, and loathed "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" after hearing it again; a lot of what I wrote below in Unfaves if fairly knee-jerky. I'm going to have to give it another shot. My hunch is I'll find it really uneven, but that song Mark's roommate Mike played me last night was really pretty great--New Ordery, even.