weekend bike fun

[photo from bikeportland.org's flickr. I've seen this guy riding around in SE a few times] [EDIT: there is an article about this guy here]

Friday night I went to the opening of Filmed by Bike and then later to the Midnight Mystery Ride (MMR): both were firsts for me. Amanda and I hung out with some of her co-workers form the BTA, playing "bones" (aka dominoes) and drinking whiskey as we waited over an hour to get in. It was the first "biking" event I've really ever been to, and hopefully will be just the beginning for my involvement with the Portland bike culture. I had a lot of fun and was very glad that I went. Seeing so many people gathered together just for a shared love of bike was nothing less than inspiring. The short films were amusing and the drunken (and for some, stoned) revelry was both fun and frustrating. Like the other films I've seen that the Clinton St Theater, the audio was lousy and it didn't help when people kept yelling for more volume. However, this was the only down side to the evening.

I almost didn't go to the MMR, but I'm really glad that I did. During the short films I began to feel tired and was thinking I would just ride home with Amanda afterwards. But when we left she said she thought she check out the ride and I tagged along. The tiredness I felt while watching the movies quickly evaporated as I joined the herd of bikes riding off into the night. While I spent most of my time hanging out with housemates (Lindsay & Andy joined us for the ride, but weren't at Filmed by Bike), Amanda and Sabrina (who also wasn't at Filmed by Bike as she went with Colette to watch a different movie), I do hope that the more events I go to like this will lead to some new friends.

Recently I have a had little bit of reality sink in about how soon I can move to Shanghai. I still really want it to happen, but I also want to make sure my finances are in order before I leave. This could lead to me not moving till Fall of 2009, but hopefully not too much later than that. By fall of this year, most of my social circle will probably be gone. Lindsay & Susanna will be off to grad school. Amanda might be traveling or move out of Portland. I haven't heard anything from Sabrina about her long term plans, but I just have this sense that most of my reed social circle is exiting Portland. I need to expand my social circle for other reasons, but also just to create a new network of friends for eventual grad school exodus. Since work has not provided that much of a new social circle (and honestly that might be a good thing), I've decide that I will become involved in the bike culture here. So Friday was the first of many bike events I plan to go.