Wine From These Grapes

If you read the little "about me" section, you know that I have an unhealthy obsession with Edna St. Vincent Millay. She was a poet who lived in the early and mid-20th century, and she was known for being wild and crazy--she was openly bisexual, lived with men she was not married to, was heavily anti-war (and since this was WWII, it was a serious deal), the works. In between being scandalous, though, she wrote some amazing, beautiful poetry. One of the earliest poems I remember reading was called "Wine from these grapes," and that phrase has always stuck with me. It's sort of like "when life gives you lemons make lemonade," for me, but more personal. That's how I've been feeling a lot, lately. Whenever the price of gas goes up more, or they raise the price for a TriMet ticket, or whatever happens, I keep thinking to myself that we just have to make wine from the grapes we have, and make the best of it.

To be honest, I think we have it pretty good here. I've been reading about other places, where people can't leave their cars parked in certain neighborhoods because gangs will siphon off their gas and sell it. I heard a story on NPR the other day about some gas thieves in the southeast who were fooling automated gas pumps with swipable gift cards from department stores, then pumping a full tank of gas into a bucket or something. I guess that's creative thinking, but it sure doesn't make me feel confident about the future. At least that stuff isn't happening here--yet. Or maybe I just don't go to the right neighborhoods.

In other news, my lease is up on my apartment at the end of the month and I've decided to move out. I've been living in Oregon City, which is almost-a-suburb-almost-a-town outside of Portland, where I've been working. I grew up on a farm, so I didn't want to move into a city when I came back to Oregon after college. I only have class two days a week right now, so I've been carpooling into town with my friend, but with all that's happened, neither of us can afford the gas and she's decided to sell her car. Or ditch it. It seems like you see abandoned cars everywhere these days. I guess they don't sell too well right now. The only kind of car you never see abandoned are the hybrids or the ones that get over 30 miles a gallon.

Anyway, I'm moving into an apartment in the city, where I can use public transit and walk to the grocery store and the farmers' markets. It's lucky Portland was so environmentally conscious before all of this started, because I don't think we've felt it as badly as some other places. I listened to what 52 said in his phone call, and while I'm not excited about the price increase for TriMet tickets, it's a whole lot better than paying $4.50 a gallon. I do see more bikes than I used to, though, even though Portland has always been a bike-friendly city. I'll look into getting one when I get my new place. It's pretty cheap, which is good, but it's a little noisy; there's a place right down the street that converts cars to run on biofuels, and there's a line outside day and night, my new neighbors say. I guess that's good, but I can't help but wonder if the people getting their cars converted aren't just putting off the inevitable, you know?