Brrowr! It's delightfully frigid outside! I walked out to my mailbox just wearing my long-sleeved shirt, and by the time I was walking back to my door, I was starting to trip out and feel my mind expand. I love autumn.

So threeletters asked why Victoria was on my list of places to go and be. Well, with me, you ask for an inch and you'll get a mile.

Portland: Because it's a wonderful, wonderful city. I had the most homeful, beautiful experience there, and I already know I love it. How do I explain its beauty? It has seven bridges spanning the middle of town, all of them different. The manhole covers are emblazoned with roses. The streets downtown are brick, and there are perpetual drinking fountains that look like libra scales. The cafes and bars look like houses, and the neon signs look like visions. The people suffer from an epidemic of genuine hospitality. I can't wait to be a part of Portland.

Victoria, BC: I have visited Victoria briefly, and I have a very high opinion of it. It seems to possess a secret river of creativity and joy. No, I'm serious. I saw art there that blew me away, attached, of course, to fantastic organizations. It seemed a place that really enjoyed ivy and tradition, while under all that warm ivy people are creating weird stars. When I was there I sipped tea and looked through glass that held a flock of birds. You can also credit laura-jane for luring me to victoria. Her pictures of the city and the surrounding area are just lovely, and make me feel like living there would be quite, quite all right.

Los Angeles: Well, Los Angeles has always repulsed me. Truthfully. But I'm like a dowsing rod for weirdness (the good kind). However mainstream any place might be, put me there and I will find something very odd to enjoy. The times I visited my sister when she lived there allowed me enough days to find places that made me want to dance, I was so happy they existed. MJT. IFF. CLUI. Also, when I discovered Information Studies as something I'd be into, I found out that UCLA had the premier PhD program in that field. So I no longer want LA to drop off the face of the earth and hand the rightful crown to San Francisco; and I kind of even want to live there.

New Zealand / Australia: Don't think me a yokel for lumping the two together. I'm well aware of their distinctions. New Zealand equals sheep, Australia equals camping, right? No no, don't skewer me. That area of the world pulls me, and I know that both islands have beautiful, wide, and varied landscapes. I once met a professional traveler who spent over a year in New Zealand with little but himself and a set of clothes; he always found work, and safety, and many different kinds of happy love. His buddy stayed at one farm for about a year, shearing sheep for his stay and having a grand time of it. From all quarters I hear praises of New Zealand and its people. No really. Listen to the quarters and they will tell you.
Australia has a different kind of pull, but pull it does. It is a colorful land of dreams and wild magic to me; I know it has jungles, I know it has deserts and a-maz-ing rocks. Um, I hear people there are good-looking and weird but of a cheery nature. A sportive nation with an easy-going culture.

Boston: Um, I'm not sure why. I've always thought Boston would be nice, and the people I know from that area are interesting. It would be a good sample of the East coast to me, and I am interested in the east coast. As well, it's a young city, that is, full of young learned people, and I like that. I've heard it's actually very small. And oh! Shhh. Paul Laffoley.

Those are my five (six, actually) places. I'm glad a good two (three) are not in this country. It just seems important to keep that option open. I'll be sorry to leave California, but I'll never really lose it. I think it's in my genes.

10:15 p.m. 2004-10-19�